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University System News:
Northwest Georgia News
Georgia’s new nexus degree program yields first graduates
By Dave Williams Capitol Beat News Service
Madeline Ramos and Louis Sanville made history this month when they became the University System of Georgia’s first nexus degree graduates. Ramos and Sanville completed the 60 credit hours required to graduate from Columbus State University with nexus degrees in film production. Columbus became the first of the system’s 26 colleges and universities to offer the nexus degree when the Board of Regents approved the new program two years ago. The nexus is the first type of degree created in America since the associate’s degree came into being in the 1890s. “A lot has changed in 100 years. We need to create a new degree for a new time,” said Tristan Denley, the university system’s executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.
See also:
Savannah Morning News
Georgia’s new nexus degree program yields first graduates
The Augusta Chronicle
Georgia’s new nexus degree program yields first graduates
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia lawmakers to be tested for COVID twice a week
By David Wickert
Georgia lawmakers and their employees must be tested for COVID twice a week in the upcoming legislative session as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage across the state. …For the upcoming session, the COVID tests will be administered two mornings a week by Georgia Tech. Results generally will be available by the end of the day. Both chambers will employ contract tracing in the event of a positive test result.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Tiebrary” meets neckwear need
Most patrons of the DeKalb County Public Library in Decatur drop by to borrow books, DVDs, audiobooks and music CDs. But a few leave with a tie. The “tiebrary” is a free service created by reference librarian David Russell after he made an interesting observation. “The county courthouse is so close that we often get people in here printing out paperwork,” he said. “One day, this guy came in to do that, and he didn’t have a tie on. I had one in the back, so I offered it to him. He thought it was great.” When the same situation arose a few weeks later, Russell hit on the idea of lending out ties as a library service. …Russell, a self-professed tie enthusiast who owns “tons” of them, pulled from his own collection to stock the supply. …Since the tiebrary launched in March, the service has expanded to the Wesley Chapel Road branch, and 10 ties were donated to WorkSource DeKalb, an agency that connects county residents with job opportunities. Russell also plans to establish a tiebrary at the courthouse law library when it reopens to the public post-COVID-19.
Other News:
Savannah Morning News
Leadership Southeast Georgia announces 2021 site coordinators
Leadership Southeast Georgia (LSEGA), a professional development program, named the five-member team of community leaders who will serve as site coordinators for 2021:
• James Coughlin (Camden County)
• John Lester (Bulloch County)
• Justin Callaway (Glynn County)
• Leia Dedic (Chatham County)
• Randy Mayfield (Bryan and Liberty County)
Established in 1999, LSEGA works to educate and empower community leaders to effectively promote positive growth while improving the quality of life in the coastal Georgia region. The 2021 site coordinators will guide participants through a five-month program held at various locations in the 10 counties LSEGA serves. …The 2020 program was interrupted due to the pandemic and has now been rescheduled in alignment with the 2021 program. The 2021 program kicks off in February in Glynn County. Justin Callaway, Executive Director at United Way of Coastal Georgia, will cover natural resources. Following in March, a symposium on education and agriculture will be led by John Lester, Vice President of University Communications and Marketing at Georgia Southern University, in Bulloch County.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Dec. 30)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 9,808 | Deaths have been confirmed in all counties but one (Taliaferro). This figure does not include additional cases that the DPH reports as suspected COVID-19-related deaths. County is determined by the patient’s residence, when known, not by where they were treated.
CONFIRMED CASES: 558,177 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia planning coronavirus vaccine expansion for older adults
By J. Scott Trubey and Helena Oliviero
In perhaps as soon as two weeks from now, Georgia is planning to add people 65 and older, police officers and other first responders to the current cohort of persons eligible for COVID-19 vaccination, Gov. Brian Kemp’s office announced late Wednesday. In a news release, Kemp said seniors, law enforcement officers, firefighters and other first responders would be added to the current Phase 1A group eligible for vaccination. This planned expansion could begin within two weeks, if the state can obtain enough doses. Few details about the plan were included in the governor’s news release. But Kemp and Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the state’s public health commissioner, have scheduled a media briefing Thursday morning.
accessWDUN
Phone scam offers in home COVID tests
By Kimberly Sizemore Anchor/Reporter
A new coronavirus scam is now making the rounds, according to the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office. They are reporting that some citizens got a phone call saying they could get a medical visit, or a COVID test at their home. The Sheriff’s Office says it’s not a good idea to ever let someone into your home, regardless of what they seemingly have to offer. They advise to check with your local physician, or other trusted source, to schedule any medical care that would enter onto your private property.
Daily Mail
A Health center worker from Milwaukee ‘intentionally’ removed 57 vials of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine from the refrigerator and then failed to put them back rendering them useless. The employee has been fired as a result of their actions according to Advocate Aurora Health. Over the weekend, 57 vials – or 500 doses – of the Moderna vaccine had to be thrown out after the worker took the vials from a clinic refrigerator in Grafton. Originally, Aurora Health Care said they ‘were inadvertently removed from a pharmacy refrigerator overnight,’ but on Wednesday night it was determined that the employee did so ‘intentionally’ and never returned the vaccine.
Best Life
This Common Supplement Could Help You Avoid COVID, Study Says
Researchers Say That This Supplement Could Prove Beneficial In Fighting Off The Virus.
By Zachary Mack
On a day-to-day basis, keeping COVID at bay typically comes down to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) golden rules: wearing a face mask, social distancing, and regularly washing or sanitizing your hands. But as the pandemic has progressed, scientists have done more research to gain a better understanding of different ways to treat or lessen the risk of infection, including certain vitamins that could give your body a defense boost. Now, a new study published in the journal PLOS Biology has found that you can add melatonin to the list of supplements that could help prevent COVID.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Opinion: COVID-19 vaccines are a global public good
By Christina Chandra and Aniruddha Deshpande
Here in Georgia, frontline healthcare workers are receiving the first doses of life-saving COVID-19 vaccines. The development of these vaccines and the large-scale trials in which they were tested are a major scientific achievement that may bring about the turning point of the U.S. epidemic. However, while people in the U.S. benefit from this scientific discovery, government officials are blocking expanded access to COVID-19 vaccines for people who live in low- and middle-income countries through the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). …There have been valiant efforts to secure vaccines for low- and middle-income countries, but, unfortunately, they are falling short. The World Health Organization (WHO) created a COVID-19 Technology Access Pool to facilitate companies sharing knowledge, intellectual property, and data on COVID-19-related health technology, including vaccines. Similar to the TRIPS waiver, this pool would allow for the mobilization of more manufacturers of vaccines to ensure coverage for the global population. But participation is voluntary, and to date, no major pharmaceutical company developing a vaccine or COVID-19 treatments has joined the pool.
Higher Education News:
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Their Stories Helped Lift a 26-Year Ban on Pell Grants for Prisoners
A college education transformed former inmates’ lives. But some critics fear low-quality programs will rush in.
By Katherine Mangan
Every time Vivian D. Nixon has publicly testified about the power of a college education to transform the lives of those behind bars, she’s drawn attention to one of the darkest and most shameful periods of her life. It was during the three years she was confined to a medium-security prison in upstate New York, tutoring peers who could barely read, that she started a decades-long fight to expand educational opportunities for people serving time. Nixon, who went on to earn a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, the latter in fine arts from Columbia University, became an ordained associate minister and leads a nonprofit that helps eliminate barriers to college. She would prefer to be known for those accomplishments. Still, in statehouse testimony and campus lectures, she travels back through the barbed-wire gates of the State Correctional Institution at Albion to describe the effects of incarceration and educational deprivation on its disproportionately Black, largely impoverished occupants. …In December, Nixon thanked other prison activists whose stories helped persuade Congress to lift a 26-year ban on federal Pell Grants for prisoners. That move, part of a year-end Covid relief and omnibus package, could make nearly half a million inmates in federal and state prisons eligible for the need-based grants. The Pell victory, she said, made the painful retelling of their stories worthwhile.