University System News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Demonstrators demand higher wages for college workers
By Eric Stirgus
About 50 demonstrators demanded during a midday rally Wednesday at the Georgia Capitol that state lawmakers do more to address “unlivable wages and exorbitant fees charged to graduate students.” The demonstrators, part of the United Campus Workers of Georgia, want lawmakers to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 a hour for full- and part-time University System of Georgia employees. They also want fees waived that graduate students pay for various campus services while also working as teaching assistants. One speaker, Gabi Lichtenstein, a graduate student at the University of Georgia, said she receives a $14,000 stipend for work she does at the school, but pays 16% of that money in student fees. Lichtenstein said she could use some of that money for additional health care services.
The Brunswick News
College to host second annual Coastal Scholars Showcase
By LAUREN MCDONALD
College of Coastal Georgia will host its second annual Coastal Scholars Showcase this week. The event will highlight the work of the college’s faculty and staff in their fields of study. …The event invites faculty, staff, students and community members to not only see the work of participants but ask questions and provide feedback.
Tifton CEO
ABAC Georgia Museum of Agriculture Takes Two Top Awards
Staff Report
Two of the top awards at the annual Georgia Museums/Alabama Museums Association Joint Conference belong to the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Georgia Museum of Agriculture. Museum Curator Polly Huff brought home the 2020 Best Museum Exhibition Award, Category One, for “One Small Step: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Moon Landing Day and Everyday Life in 1969” and the 2020 Special Project Award, Category Two, for “A to Z: A Story of Hope, Healing, A Book, An Exhibit, A Springboard.”
Henry Herald
Piedmont Henry opens new teaching simulation lab
By Heather Middleton
Piedmont Henry Hospital has opened a one-of-a-kind Simulation and Training Lab. The new facility will give current and future nurses an opportunity to learn and experience any number of medical situations from a heart attack to the birth of a baby. Chief Nursing Officer Paula Butts said she and her staff are excited about the new lab. …The hospital partners with several colleges, including Clayton State University, Southern Crescent Technical College and Mercer University, as well as health care programs in Henry County Schools. All partners will have access to the new lab. The lab features two “patients” — Hank and SimMom. Both can be programmed with any kind of health scenario hospital staff can “dream up.”
Columbus CEO
CSU’s Leadership Institute Announces Speakers and Format for The Forum 2020, August 24th-25th
Staff Report
For the 15th year, The Forum, hosted by the Leadership Institute at Columbus State University, will bring a lineup of the best and brightest minds in the world to Columbus. The two-day event, held at the Columbus Iron Works and Convention Center, begins at 1 p.m., Monday, Aug. 24 and runs through Tuesday, Aug. 25. This year’s event theme is “Leadership in Hindsight.” “We chose this theme because of the many ways you can approach it,” said Jessica Drake, director of The Forum.
Athens Banner-Herald
Student-made robots compete in Athens
By Sara Freund, Correspondent
The halls of Athens Academy were abuzz with activity over the weekend as students from across the state gathered to compete in the 2020 Georgia FIRST LEGO League State Championship in conjunction with Georgia Tech. FLL is an international competition for students in elementary and middle school, in which they use robots they have constructed to complete challenges, solve real-world problems and learn to work as a team with other students.
Coastal Courier
The Coastal Health District HIV Prevention Program will hold free HIV testing events at several locations throughout the month of February in observance of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD). HIV testing in Hinesville will be Monday, Feb. 10 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Georgia Southern University Liberty Campus.
Statesboro 18 year old charged with rape at Georgia Southern University
Graham Cawthon, Digital Media Manager
An 18-year-old man was arrested this week in connection to a rape reported back in November on the campus of Georgia Southern University. Brandon Daniel Harris, of Statesboro, was taken into custody Monday and charged with felony rape.
WTOC
GSU police reflect on arrest from Oct. 2019 shooting
By Blair Caldwell
It’s an arrest that police say was months in the making. Dominique Tukes was arrested last week for a shooting at Georgia Southern University’s Armstrong campus. Now we’re learning more about how Georgia Southern University Police made it happen. Georgia Southern University Police have a big job. To serve and protect students, faculty and visitors on campus. It’s a job they take seriously and are specially trained for. If you’re on campus you’ll notice patrol cars all over watching campus. But in addition to patrol, University Police also has an investigation unit.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Man earns multiple life sentences in robbery, fatal shooting in Atlanta
By Asia Simone Burns
A Fulton County judge sentenced a man to two life terms in prison plus 15 additional years after he was convicted of robbing a former Georgia Southern University student and shooting him 13 times. Denzel Atkins, 24, was sentenced Monday in the death of Elijah Wallace, according to Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard.
The George-Anne
Opinion: Eagles in the Super Bowl
By Mitch Smith
Georgia Southern University alumni made history and brought inspiration to our campus as they become the fourth and fifth Eagles to make it to the Super Bowl. Matt Breida and Jerick McKinnon who now play for the San Francisco 49ers continue to set great examples as two former who took advantage of their opportunity and worked hard to succeed.
CBS46
CORONAVIRUS: UGA experts discuss risks, how to protect yourself
Mea Watkins
Coronavirus experts at the University of Georgia recently shared their thoughts on the outbreak and what people should do to protect themselves. José Cordero, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UGA’s College of Public Health, said wearing a surgical mask is not likely to protect healthy people from coronavirus. Those who are immunocompromised or undergoing cancer treatment should ask their doctors if they should wear a mask. “It is important to wear a mask if you’re ill and if you have a cough and a fever, you think you may have flu or another respiratory infection,” Cordero said. “It’s very important because you don’t want to spread your condition, your infection to others.”
EurekAlert
Gene variants provide insight into brain, body incongruence in transgender
Some of the first biological evidence of the incongruence transgender individuals experience, because their brain indicates they are one sex and their body another, may have been found in estrogen receptor pathways in the brain of 30 transgender individuals. “Twenty-one variants in 19 genes have been found in estrogen signaling pathways of the brain critical to establishing whether the brain is masculine or feminine,” says Dr. J. Graham Theisen, obstetrician/gynecologist and National Institutes of Health Women’s Reproductive Health Research Scholar at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.
11Alive
Georgia Senate approves bill keeping local regulation of e-scooters
The bill passed by a 47-0 vote, sending it to the House for consideration.
Author: Michael King (11ALIVE)
The Georgia State Senate approved a bill on Tuesday which would keep regulation of electric scooters in the hands of local governments. Senate Bill 159 was passed by a 47-0 vote, sending it to the Georgia House for its consideration. E-scooters have already been approved for use in Atlanta, Brookhaven and Decatur, along with the campus of Georgia Southern University.
Marietta Daily Journal
Georgia lawmakers take break to try to ease budget worries
By JEFF AMY Associated Press
Georgia’s lawmakers will take an unscheduled break and use the time to try to patch up the state’s ailing budget. House and Senate leaders announced Wednesday that the chambers will adjourn until Feb. 18. During that time, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Terry England said House budget subcommittees will keep meeting. “This year, I think the biggest question is ‘What do you cut?’” House Speaker David Ralston, a Blue Ridge Republican, told members Wednesday. “I don’t think it behooves us as a body to come down here and speed through spending $28 billion in taxpayer dollars.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
House bill to tinker with teacher pensions pared back after backlash
By James Salzer
A plan to make changes in the pension system for Georgia teachers was pared back Tuesday after lawmakers were flooded with emails from educators and retirees. Teacher and retiree groups started a campaign recently against legislation pushed by state House Retirement Chairman Tommy Benton, R-Jefferson, that he said was aimed at making the giant pension plan for 400,000 teachers, University System of Georgia employees and retirees more financially stable. “We’ve got to start doing something,” Benton told his committee. …Now, if approved by the General Assembly, new teachers in the future would not be able to count sick leave toward their pension, something that can add $1,000 or more a year to their pension when they retire. In addition, cost-of-living pension increases — which are 3% annually — would be tacked on once a year. Currently, retirees get 1.5% twice a year. Changing it to a once-a-year increase would save the system $17 million annually, Benton said.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kemp wants fewer tests, especially in high school
By Ty Tagami
In a move that will likely please many teachers and students, Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday announced he will back legislation that reduces the number of high-stakes tests in schools. Kemp traveled the state last year and heard from school leaders, parents and teachers who complained about how tests had come to dominate classroom time. “Today, we’re sending a clear message: We hear you and we’ve got your back,” he said in a brief speech in his office. “Georgia simply tests too much.”
WMAZ
Georgia lawmaker introduces bill to raise student drop out age
If the bill becomes law students wouldn’t be able to drop out of school until they turn 17.
Author: Wanya Reese
Austell state representative Erica Thomas is introducing a bill that would raise the age students can drop out of school from 16 to 17. 13WMAZ learned how one central Georgia district feels about the potential change and spoke to a student who says she almost dropped out. Students in Georgia can drop out of school at the age of 16, but that could change if House Bill 783 goes through.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
OPINION: Why teachers are upset over retirement bill
By Maureen Downey
Historic and current events make teachers leery of legislators seeking to alter their benefits
It wasn’t the ideal way to open a legislative hearing on House Bill 109, which seeks to change the Teacher Retirement System. State Rep. Tommy Benton, R-Jefferson, the clearly frustrated chair of the House Retirement Committee and sponsor of HB 109, began by recognizing lawmakers were being flooded with irate comments about his legislation, citing a colleague who received 1,800 emails. Saying he owed the House as a whole an apology for the onslaught, Benton said the emails represented a “scare tactic to get retired educators and current educators to write their representative. It is obvious the people who wrote the emails, most of them, had no idea what was in the bill, they just wrote what they were told to write.”