University System News:
Athens Banner-Herald
Clarke County school board sets town hall meeting on legislative agenda
By Lee Shearer
The Clarke County Board of Education has scheduled a town hall meeting to explain and answer questions about the board’s 2019 legislative agenda. The forum is scheduled for 6-7:30 p.m. Jan. 31 at Oglethorpe Elementary School. Here are the six legislative priorities the board adopted prior to this year’s session of the Georgia Legislature, which began this month:
- Fund need-based financial aid for post-secondary students.
- Allow immigrant students to attend all institutions in the University System of Georgia and pay in-state tuition.
Albany Herald
Georgia Southwestern, Albany Tech sign pathway MOU
Agreement will allow ATC students to flow into GSW’s long-term care program
By Terry Lewis
Albany Technical College President Anthony Parker officially signed a pathway program memorandum of understanding with Georgia Southwestern State University on Wednesday, an agreement that provides an avenue for associate’s of applied science degree graduates at Albany Tech to make a seamless transition to GSW. AAS graduates who choose to take advantage of this agreement will have the opportunity to remain in their communities while completing the requirements for the bachelor of science in Long-Term Care Management degree in an online or classroom setting.
Tifton CEO
Georgia Power Dollars Result in a Fitzgerald Scholar at ABAC
Staff Report From Tifton CEO
When sponsors invest in An Evening for ABAC at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, their dollars really do turn into ABAC scholars. The Georgia Power Company was a Gold sponsor for the annual ABAC scholarship fundraising event in 2018 and invested $2,500 which resulted in a scholarship for Luke Guy from Fitzgerald. Guy is a sophomore biology major. Georgia Power has also agreed to a Gold sponsorship for this year’s event.
Georgia Growing
Council of Garden Clubs Donates Fulwood Garden Center to ABAC Foundation
One of the most historic homes in Tifton is now a part of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College after the recent donation of the Fulwood Garden Center to the ABAC Foundation by the Council of Garden Clubs of Tifton, Inc. “We appreciate the generosity of the Council of Garden Clubs of Tifton, Inc. and we look forward to utilizing this important piece of Tifton’s history for many special events in the future,” ABAC President David Bridges said. Bridges will formally accept the facility for ABAC at a recognition ceremony for Virginia Pennington at 11 a.m. on Jan. 31 at the Fulwood Garden Center. Pennington, president of the Council of Garden Clubs of Tifton, Inc. and second vice president of the Garden Clubs of Georgia, will be honored during the ceremony which is open to the public.
Athens Banner-Herald
UGA archaeology lab adds some elbow room for ancient artifacts
By Lee Shearer
History doesn’t live in a certain place. Nor does prehistory. But if they did, they might choose to reside in an unassuming but solid-looking building on Whitehall Road near the University of Georgia’s Whitehall Forest. The building once housed UGA Central Research Stores, but now it’s home to the University of Georgia Laboratory of Archaeology. Much of it’s taken up with row upon row of tall shelves full of hundreds of boxes marked with legends such as “Ocmulgee,” “Allatoona,” or “Carter’s Lake.” Most of the laboratory’s collections are now in the new building. No one really knows how many artifacts are in there. “It’s way up in the millions,” said retired lab director Mark Williams. Some are whole or nearly whole items, like bowls or pipes, but “most of it is flakes and tiny potsherds,” he said. Artifacts in the lab can date from thousands of years ago, long before white settlers came to displace American Indians.
Bloomberg News
Transgender Queer Eye Guest Tests State Health Insurance Rules
Skyler Jay raised money for his own chest surgery, and then sued his employer to get it covered.
By John Tozzi
Skyler Jay, a University of Georgia catering manager, organizes VIP parties for top school officials. In court, he’s suing them to get his health insurance to cover sex reassignment treatment. “Being an actual face to these people, and not just another name in the system, I feel called to do this,” Jay said. His lawsuit puts him in the center of a national legal fight over the medical care of America’s estimated 1.4 million transgender adults. Increasingly, employers cover treatments such as hormone therapy or the $8,000 double mastectomy Jay underwent in May 2017. When they don’t, transgender people must decide whether to skip care, pay their own way or fight to change the health plan. Jay, 31, decided to fight. While an increasing number of plaintiffs have won such cases, courts have disagreed on the issue. …The University System of Georgia is represented by state Attorney General Chris Carr in Jay’s case. The school and the attorney general’s office declined to comment, as did the system’s health insurance provider, Anthem Inc. subsidiary Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia. Anthem covers gender transitions for its own employees.
The Newnan Times-Herald
Opioid curriculum available to private, home schools
By SARAH FAY CAMPBELL
A series of lessons on the dangers of opioids will be taught in Coweta public high school classrooms this spring, and the curriculum is also available to home and private school students. The Coweta Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition has purchased the rights to the Heroin and Prescription Painkillers curriculum prepared by Hazelden, an organization that publishes educational materials on drug addiction and operates drug treatment facilities. The coalition, which includes representatives from the Coweta County School System, has been working over the past several months to launch the curriculum in high school health classes. Now that work is substantially complete, and the curriculum team has discussed ways to get the information in the hands of more Coweta youths. …CSAP’s other outreach to students, known as the SPF-RX program, is through West Georgia Technical College and the University of West Georgia. That group is building its youth team and working on its pre- and post-surveys for peer presenters, who will go into classrooms and onto campuses to give presentations on the dangers of opioids, said Tonya Whitlock of WGTC.
Augusta Chronicle
Davidson students get primer on cyber dangers
By Tom Corwin
About 150 students got an education Wednesday about cybersecurity at the Georgia Cyber Center, as well as a healthy dose of cautions about the dangers lurking online. Emily Broadwater, 13, is trying to decide between pursuing one of Augusta’s most established professions – medicine – or perhaps one of its newest and fastest growing, cybersecurity. “I wanted to be a doctor but this is interesting,” she said Wednesday during a break in a cybersecurity session at the Georgia Cyber Center. “I like things like this. I like working on computers.” Emily was among 150 eighth grade students from John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School who visited the center for a primer on cybersecurity and the potential dangers that await them online. During a puzzle-solving exercise, Emily was the team leader for Fancy Bear, named after a famous group of Russian hackers, who quickly realized the puzzle they were assembling had two extra pieces that clearly did not belong. They ended up working with other teams missing those pieces to help them complete their puzzles. Those are both cybersecurity skills, problem-solving and teamwork, said Sarah Rees, director of the Cyber Workforce Academy.
Emanuel County Live
TONIGHT! EGSC presents special MLK Program
by KATELYN MOORE
Tonight from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., join East Georgia State College for a special Martin Luther King, Jr. Program in the Luck F. Gambrell Center Auditorium.