Athens Politics Nerd
@NerdAthens
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Independent, progressive journalism for Athens, Georgia.
Athens, GA
Joined January 2019
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Join APN to support independent journalism:
✊ Hold government & businesses alike accountable to the public interest.
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Deborah Gonzalez has won and will be the next District Attorney of the Western Circuit!
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The ACC budget passes 7-3.
This includes fare-free transit (permanently, for everyone), $15 an hour for all ACC workers, jobs training programs, alternative crisis response teams and a lot more.
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College Square is being closed
The Confederate monument is being moved
Rainbow crosswalk in its place
Fare-free nights and weekends
Juror pay raised
911 dispatching brought under public control
^^ all decided tonight
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The people yelling don't represent Athens. If you talk to anyone who lives here, they know the mayor is not at fault for this tragedy.
Georgians call for the resignation of Athens-Clarke County mayor at this morning’s press conference.
“Liar!” “Resign!”
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The people have spoken! The University of Georgia has been awarded APN's first Turd of the Month award!
UGA earned 784 votes, with second place going to Donald Trump with 35 votes.
For due process, I will allow UGA to appeal this ruling. They have 60 seconds to do so.
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The Gaza solidarity encampment is alive and well on UGA campus, with some protesters rejoining the group after getting out of jail. They say they'll be there for several hours at the least.
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US Congressman Jody Hice has been “fan[ning] the flames of fascism” and “undermin[ing] our democracy,” according to Commissioner Mariah Parker.
That's why she is preparing to run for his seat.
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Students for Justice in Palestine held a rally yesterday calling on UGA to disclose, divest from Israel and to reverse the suspensions of the protesters.
#FreePalestine
#StudentsForGaza
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Here's a graph of the race and gender breakdown of the Georgia Legislature, split by party. In case you're interested!
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Kelly Girtz has won re-election and will serve another term as Athens-Clarke County Mayor.
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Can we all drop the phrase "outside agitators?" They use it because it sounds scarier than "protesters from out of town."
Gasp did you know that some of the protesters were from out of town? 😮 People from Atl come to Athens and vice versa, just chill pls
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Applause from the audience as cannabis is decriminalized in Athens in an 8-1 vote.
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The hate and racism on display right now is mind-boggling.
We've got to pull America back from the brink of fascism. We've got to fight for a better world for all, including and especially undocumented immigrants.
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Mokah Jasmine Johnson was endorsed by President Obama:
I’m proud to endorse these outstanding Democratic candidates who will work to get the virus under control, rebuild the economy and the middle class, and protect Americans’ health care and preexisting conditions protections. Support these candidates––and vote early if you can.
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Deborah Gonzalez made history (and national news!) by:
-being the first Latina DA in Georgia
-being the first woman elected DA in the Western Circuit
-being the first Puerto Rican woman elected DA in the whole country
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S. Finley Street from Baxter to Cloverhurst Avenue has been renamed to Linnentown Lane in honor of the former neighborhood that once stood at this location.
Former residents and elected officials spoke during the unveiling ceremony today that also featured live music and cake.
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Yes, the ACC Commission is raising their salaries. That's because they're incredibly underpaid. They deserve to get $15 an hour just like everyone else does. If anyone objects, they either don't believe in living wages or they think elected office is just for the rich & retired.
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Commissioner Melissa Link calls out US Representative Jody Hice for supporting insurrection and demands that he be removed from office.
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The mayor and commission just voted to add $80,000 to the Board of Elections budget to mail out absentee ballot applications to every registered voter for the
#2020Election
.
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CCSD had no idea how big a story this is. It's national news now, as it should be.
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Real workplace democracy is on the ballot!
Creature Comforts workers will get to decide whether they want to be represented by the Brewing Union of Georgia on OCTOBER 3. ✊ 🍻
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This is a high-profile, emotional event. But let's keep things in perspective.
Athens has a 5-year average of 6 homicides a year. That's <5 per 100k population. The CDC says 7.8 per 100k is the avg nationwide.
Athens is a relatively safe place to live.
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Commissioner Mariah Parker is asking for detailed maintenance and insurance cost information for any military-grad equipment owned by ACCPD, such as the Bearcat.
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Commissioner Mariah Parker announced that the initial plans for the eastside Library should be ready by September 2023, and construction will be complete by 2026. So, that's something to look forward to! 📔
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ACC employee COVID vaccine mandate passes unanimously.
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In the Creature Comforts Union case, the National Labor Relations Board just decided in the union's favor. There will be a union election! 💪
#UnionStrong
Story coming soon.
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About the Linnentown Walk of Recognition, it's embarrassing that UGA is not supporting it. However bad it looks to admit what you did, UGA, it looks even worse in 2022 to be refusing to admit it. Absolutely shameful.
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Commissioner Mariah Parker
@MariahforAthens
explains why they will be voting no tomorrow on accepting grant money to defray the cost of fighting the drug war in Athens.
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Commissioner Tim Denson says he wants to fully fund the ACC Library's budget request to pay all employees there at least $15 an hour as one of his primary budget priorities.
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Seen at the corner of Timothy Road and Atlanta Highway:
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Something else good -- Athens Transit will be fare-free for the next six months at least! 🚌
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It's official: a portion of S. Finley Street will be renamed Linnentown Lane in memory of the former neighborhood. The street sign will be changed in a matter of days.
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Fascism is clearly on the rise in Athens. But those with hearts full of hate are a tiny minority here. Don't forget that! Our government should not either.
APN will never stop fighting for an Athens that works for all people, including refugees and the undocumented.
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ACC Commissioner Jesse Houle echoes Mariah Parker in asking to sell ACCPD's Bearcat, which Parker says is valued at $240,000 and costs $10s of thousands a year in insurance, at today's budget work session.
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The commission has voted unanimously to move the Confederate monument to the edge of town, off the loop by the Battle of Barber Creek Civil War site.
It's official! ✊
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It greatly bothers me when people who don't know anything about me accuse me of being a transient who isn't invested in Athens like they are.
Commissioner Dexter Fisher, I've lived here since I was three years old and I will never stop fighting for our community.
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The ACC Commission re-established the mask mandate tonight unanimously. Remember to mask up around other people in public, especially indoors.
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Very tentative at this point, but firefighters are unionizing in Athens and it sounds like the commission might officially recognize them with a resolution. Commissioner Parker, Denson and Houle are talking about it in their end-of-meeting comments.
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Commissioner Tim Denson just sent out an email reporting that the eviction prevention program he championed (run by Athenian First Development Corporation) has kept 109 households in their homes over the first three months.
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The Athens Justice and Memory Project asked the commission to rename S. Finley Street to "Linnentown Lane" between Cloverhurst and Baxter Street, and they just voted unanimously in favor.
I'm sure UGA will love this!
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Barbara Daniel has lived in Lexington Heights for over 20 years, but she now faces displacement after investors purchased her home and raised the rent by 40%.
Hundreds across Athens are in the same situation, their rents set to skyrocket in September.
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UGA Students for Justice in Palestine packed city hall last night to demand the ACC Commission support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
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I'm writing this article about UGA reopening and getting myself REALLY ANGRY. 😡😡😅
It just doesn't make any sense. We're in the middle of a massive (but still developing!) public health emergency. How do they not know better? Aren't these people responsible adults?
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"the City of Athens and the University System of Georgia perpetrated an act of institutionalized white racism and terrorism resulting in intergenerational Black poverty"
Just a little something the mayor and commission are voting on tonight, nbd.
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And the public restroom thing, get over it! Stuff costs money and people are peeing in alleyways right now.
This is what passes for controversial in Athens? It's absurd. God forbid we install a public restroom. 🙄
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Mayor Bob Smith of Watkinsville has asked the legislature to create a new judicial circuit for Oconee county.
I'm sure this has nothing to do with the recent victory of Deborah Gonzalez to the position of DA for Athens and Oconee county. 🤔
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The ACC Mayor and Commission is looking at a packed agenda-setting session tonight:
➡️Cannabis decrim.
➡️A clean & renewable energy plan
➡️An affordable housing strategy
➡️A Prince Ave safety pilot project
➡️A resolution to protect abortion access
Votes will be on Aug 2.
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Are people interested in a podcast to replace the Athens News Matters panel (which is now off the air)?
Would you tune in?
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"It's a shame we have to pay people to get a vaccine that protects their lives and the lives of everybody around them. It's also a shame we live in a community where the largest employer (UGA) refuses to or is unable to mandate vaccination."
-Commissioner Melissa Link
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Elisa Zarate has won the contested ACC Clerk of Courts election, defeating Andrew Griffeth 64.5% to 35.5%.
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Commissioner Tim Denson is reporting that AirBnB regulations are moving through committee and will come before the full commission for a vote on December 13.
They are so far supporting a complete ban on full-time AirBnBs in single-family neighborhoods.
@TimDenson4ATH
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Hundreds of thousands of college students are now discovering their government supports genocide but has nothing but contempt for them & views them as terrorists.
But remember to vote for the status quo in November everyone!
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Wait, are you telling me that in any other state but Louisiana, Warnock would have already won re-election? That runoffs are totally unnecessary and have racist roots?
How did I not know this until now? 🤔
(Thank you, Jami Mays of the EJC for letting me know!)
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The Firefly Bridge over Trail Creek at Dudley Park is now open!
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Mariah Parker has resigned as ACC Commissioner, citing a lack of power to effect change.
“Leaders are needed in the streets to help build new mass movements insistent on a level of transformation that far transcends what we as commissioners can deliver.”
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I'm seeing calls to vote, vote, vote! And voting is great, we should do it, all of us.
But our democracy has failed, it's time to admit that. Voting by itself won't solve it. We have to get out in the street. We have to be willing to go to jail in large numbers.
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Mike Collins, our congressman, has been joking about extrajudicial executions of migrants, prompting Twitter to briefly suspend his account.
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UGA Social Work graduates called on their school to recognize its role in the destruction of the former neighborhood of Linnentown with their graduation caps.
In the 1960s, a UGA social worker was hired to visit Linnentown and mark houses as condemned before they were destroyed.
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UGA students are installing the Linnentown Mosiac temporarily today outside of Memorial Hall. More photos to come.
If you want to encourage UGA to allow the mosaic to be installed permanently, you can sign this petition:
(There is no need to give $)
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We need nationwide rent control. If you're going to jack rent by 40% or more in one year, you should have to justify that to a federal agency in my opinion.
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Speaker says the homeless have no excuse not to have a job and that they enjoy being homeless. Okay I think I'm going to stop tweeting about these comments now..
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Did you ever think you'd live through this kind of right-wing social shift? When this is all said and done, no matter what happens our country is not going to be the same.
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No matter what happens, Deborah Gonzalez
@DG4DA
ran a campaign for the history books, showing incredible determination against unprecedented obstacles thrown in her path.
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Protesters marched for
#ReproductiveJustice
in downtown Athens today from the UGA Arch to City Hall to the courthouse.
They'll be asking the local government to establish a Reproductive Justice Commission at their meeting on Tuesday night.
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Creature Comforts workers have won their petition with the National Labor Relations Board after seven months.
That means they'll have an election to decide whether they want to be represented by the Brewing Union of Georgia sometime soon.
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Three progressive commissioners will now be prevented from running for re-election. The gerrymandering of Athens is complete.
Gov. Kemp has signed HB 890, the controversial Athens redistricting bill. No action yet on any other controversial proposals, I don’t think.
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Biden is headed towards an electoral defeat because of messaging like this. There is no reason to add a "but" there.
He's saying loud and clear he doesn't want votes from the left. Then when he loses, pundits will blame us. We're tired of it.
President Biden on college campus protests: "There's the right to protest, but not the right to chaos."
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Brewing Union organizers are alleging that Creature Comforts is using union-busting tactics to dissuade their employees from voting yes on the union.
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It sounds like College Square may be temporarily closed to car traffic (for six months) to allow for outdoor dining for local restaurants.
It might become an area reserved for pedestrians, permanently. Commissioner Melissa Link has talked about this for a while.
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This kind of response should be a no-brainer for any Democrat. I don't understand how so many are getting it so wrong. Looking at you Biden!
Disavow what they're saying if you must, but support their right to say it. Isn't that the liberal way?
Protesting war is not anti-semitism, it’s a display of our free speech rights.
Student protests at
@UWMadison
are reminiscent of the anti-war protests of the 60s that helped end the Vietnam War.
We must protect all students from anti-semitism & Islamophobia. Always.
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31%! And somehow 7% inflation is what most media outlets tend to focus on.
Georgia as a whole saw rents increase by 31% from 2020 to 2021, and the average rent across the state was $1,478.
The National Equity Atlas’ rent debt dashboard estimates there are 251,000 Georgians behind on rent.
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So do the Democrats keep lying to us over and over? They don't care about any of us and we keep voting for them because the alternative is literal fascism? Is that what's happening?
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The Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement held a 'Unite Against Asian Hate' rally today protesting the recent murders of Asian women in Atlanta and calling for an end to gun violence.
The protest briefly took the street between the UGA Arch and City Hall.
#StopAsianHate
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UGA is pressuring the Flagpole to run a public relations-crafted op-ed in order to obscure the impact the university has on the Athens housing market.
Apparently, they think certain facts make them look bad.
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As Commissioner Houle and Denson just said, this TSPLOST, if approved by the voters, would give a 5-year commitment for fare-free bus service, which is a really big deal.
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Are wages in a city like Athens, always set at the perfect level based solely on supply and demand?
I would argue they're not. I'd say we need unions to put workers on even footing with employers to get fair wages.
The same thing is probably true with rents, not just wages.
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The ACC Commission began the process of reimagining police tonight by approving a pilot program for an alternative crisis response team.
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It sounds like Commissioner Parker is going to vote no on all Classic Center Arena-related items until they take child care and living wages seriously.
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The mayor and commission has voted unanimously to close Newton Street between Prince and Meigs (temporarily) at the request of The Grit and Tazikis, who want to expand outdoor seating during the pandemic.
There will still be bike and pedestrian access.
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Stephanie Johnson, who is running for commission in District 6, is threatening to file a restraining order against me to silence my coverage of her campaign.
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Mayor Kelly Girtz just announced that he signed a proclamation today for apology and recognition for Athenians displaced by urban renewal.
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The commission has designated June as Athens Pride Month and has decided to fly the progress Pride flag and support the first ever Pride march this Sunday at 2pm.
This resolution passed 9 to 1 with Commissioner Thornton voting no.
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There's a huge mayor and commission voting session tonight including a resolution for abortion access, cannabis decriminalization, a pilot project for a Prince Avenue road diet and more.
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Creature Comforts has failed to voluntarily recognize the Brewing Union of Georgia, causing workers to submit their petition for a union election.
Union members say the company's stated value of 'Be for People' "essentially demands a union.”
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Like it or no, this Lexington road development is an accomplishment for Commissioner Parker. It would not have passed without her support and work, negotiating with developers, making it better.
She is making good on her promise to bring more affordable housing to her district.
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The ACC commission voted yes -- Casa de Amistad, the Athens Land Trust and The Ark will receive $213,000 each ($75,000 from the federal stimulus, $138,000 from the county's general fund) to tide them over through February.
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Commissioner Mariah Parker is bringing up the wealth gap between Millennials and older Gen X / Boomers as a reason to raise commission salaries.
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"With a 58.2% tree canopy cover, Athens-Clarke County has the highest canopy coverage percentage of any known city of over 100,000 people in the United States."
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The ACC Commission approved an official homeless camp in a controversial 5-5 vote, with Mayor Girtz breaking the tie, after nearly two hours of mostly negative public comment led by the Athens GOP.
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I visited the First Step camp today to check things out. I didn't tell anyone I was visiting, but Charles Hardy was there working, as I'm told he almost always is, and he gave me a tour.
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Athens is 100% in, so I can report that the homestead exemption has passed, as we expected it would, by a huge margin, 85.7 to 14.3%.
Low-income homeowners in Athens rejoice!
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UGA Students for Justice in Palestine and Athens Against Apartheid set up a Gaza solidarity camp yesterday that was quickly broken up by police.
Later that day, they were back at it on the same spot. They plan to continue protesting there indefinitely.
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Today on
#NationalComingOutDay
, the Athens Pride and Queer Collective and the ACC government held a ribbon cutting ceremony for downtown's new rainbow crosswalks.
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"Jason Riley, the father of slain nursing student Laken Riley, spoke out in an interview for the first time since his daughter's death -- telling NBC News he feels her death has been used politically and that it makes him 'angry.'"
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I am continually impressed with how hard our mayor and commission work. That was a 5 hour plus meeting and they never stopped asking detailed questions (even though I wished they would sometimes!)
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Commissioner Hamby made four calls to state representatives on Jan 6, after the Republican proposal for new commission districts dropped, presumably to thank them as Senator Cowsert said on Tim Bryant's radio show.
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The Linnentown resolution has passed unanimously in very close to its original form, including the phrase “institutionalized white racism and terrorism” to describe actions taken by Athens and UGA during urban renewal.
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