Local News

An Athens community activist and organizer is announcing his intention to run for local office.  Jesse Houle is running for the District 6 Commission seat, currently held by Commissioner Jerry NeSmith.

A media release sent out Wednesday states Houle’s campaign platform focuses on economic and racial justice, green energy and infrastructure, transforming public safety, affordable housing, and “looping in” District 6 so residents there enjoy the same services as in-town neighborhoods.

A third Republican state lawmaker has entered the race for a heavily conservative Georgia congressional seat, two weeks after Republican Rep. Doug Collins announced he's running for U.S. Senate. Collins said in January that he's challenging recently appointed GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler in a special election in November. That provides an opening for Republicans looking to take Collins' current seat representing Georgia’s heavily conservative 9th congressional district. Republican state Rep. Matt Gurtler of Tiger tweeted on Wednesday that he planned to run. State Sen.

On February, 21, the University of Georgia School of Law will host the 32nd annual Red Clay Conference starting at 9 a.m. in the Larry Walker Room of Dean Rusk Hall. This year’s daylong conference is called “Overcoming Toxic Relationships,” since it will focus on toxic contaminants, which include coal ash disposal, brownfield redevelopment and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water.

The NAACP is honoring John Lewis for his Congressional service and long history as a civil rights activist. The nation's oldest civil rights organization announced Tuesday that it will bestow the Chairman's Award on Lewis later this month at its annual arts and entertainment awards show.

The 79-year-old Democrat announced in December that he has advanced pancreatic cancer. Lewis is the youngest and last survivor of the Big Six civil rights activists, a group once led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.