News & Current Events

Students in Georgia are taking an average of about six years to get a bachelor's degree, instead of the traditional four, according to both the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and educational experts. The number is similar to a national trend, and could be due in part to an increase in older students who need more time because of family and job responsibilities, and minorities who are the first generation in their families to attend college, according to Alan Richard, a spokesman for the Southern Regional Education Board. The board studies education policy in southern states. But a big reason, he says, could be the rising cost of higher education. Students could be prolonging their schooling to spread out tuition costs. The Regents earlier this year adopted a measure that gives students a break on their tuition if they take a full-time course load of 15 hours or more at the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech, and even more hours at other state universities. But they have also eliminated a program that guaranteed four-year fixed tuition rates for students. And, they've increased student fees. "You're going to face increases as other students do," says Richard. "That's probably not going to make it easier for people to finish as quickly as they need to." However, John Millsaps, a spokesman for the Board of Regents, says prolonging education means a degree ends up costing a student more money in the long run, since student fees, rooming, board and other expenses are paid throughout additional semesters. It also costs the universities more money, he says.

The editorial page of the Brunswick News today called on House Speaker Glenn Richardson to resign. In doing so, the paper becomes one of the first dailies, if not the first, to call on the powerful Republican to step down from office following a suicide attempt. The editors write, "Given the trauma in Rep. Richardson's life, given his attempt at suicide just weeks ago and given the tremendous revenue problems pressing down hard on the state and its taxpayers in all 159 counties today, it would be best for all concerned for Richardson to resign as Speaker of the House... And the sooner, the better. It's difficult enough to deal with inner turmoil without the added load of having to deal with a grizzly bear of a budget mess because of a sick economy." Richardson revealed that he attempted suicide in a statement from the House communications office earlier this month. The Hiram Republican says he’s struggled with depression for the past two and a half years since his separation and divorce, and he’s being treated by a physician with prescription medication. Richardson says he felt compelled to speak out in order to “possibly help others.” The Republican leadership in the house rallied behind him immediately after the statement was issued. The newspaper's full editorial can be found at the following website. The Brunswick News usually allows free access only for a limited period of time. http://www.thebrunswicknews.com/open_access/editorial/

One of the state's seven psychiatric hospitals is no longer accepting new patients. Following a week long visit by the United States Department of Justice state officials made the decision to quit taking new patients at Central State Hospital in Milledgeville until they can make some changes. Right now 450 Georgians with mental illness and developmental disabilities live there. Tom Wilson is with the Georgia Department of Health and Developmental Disabilities. He says federal investigators found three main problems. "One would be patient on patient aggression. Second would be some of the environmental factors with the physical buildings themselves, and then third would be the effectiveness of the treatment models." Wilson calls the diversion of patient's temporary but open ended, or until the facility can be made safe. But, he says with decades of challenges fixing things won't happen overnight. He says there are no plans to close Central State Hospital.

The Public Service Commission has asked Georgia Power to come up a with a solar only option for its Green Energy program. Currently, customers can purchase blocks of renewable energy but most of it comes from landfill gas, with up to ten percent coming from solar. The PSC wants the utility to present details to the commission like how much it would cost and its feasibility in 30 days. Georgia Power is a monopoly regulated by the elected body the Public Service Commission.

With state revenues plummeting, more cuts to the state budget are a near certainty come next legislative session. Lawmakers have said no agency will be spared, including public education. Already many teachers are furloughed, several schools have gone to a four day school week to save money, others have volunteers in for substitutes. Last summer, State Superintendent Kathy Cox said schools were down to the bone. Yet, Republican House Education Committee Chairman Brooks Coleman says more cuts are likely coming. "We've cut programs all we can cut and then you get to the point... well you have salaries at about 90 percent of the dollar and you get to the point, hopefully we don't have to, but we may have to look over cutting some more days... rather do that and spread misery across the board, rather than letting people go and lose jobs." Coleman says shortening the school year by five days probably won't happen until next school year because he says he thinks there's enough money to carry schools through the remainder of this year. He says the $900 million in stimulus money will also help schools through 2011. Economists predict Georgia won't see significant recovery until then after banks are repaired and jobs are created.

The Georgia Ports Authority posted a modest increase in traffic last month, its first positive container count in more than a year. The state’s deepwater ports in October handled 1.7% more container traffic compared with the same month last year. Port officials are “cautiously optimistic” the increase signals better times ahead for the ports. “The increase in container tonnage reflects our continued strength in export volumes,” says Curtis Foltz, GPA’s Chief Operating Officer. “The GPA is well-positioned when the economy strengthens.” Foltz noted the addition of a new service, Indamex, calling on the Savannah port next month. Indamex serves India and the Eastern Mediterranean. Container tonnage also increased in October. It rose by 12.3%. Vessel calls increased by 15.1% percent. October container traffic was 234,000 TEU’s, or Twenty-foot Equivalent Units, a standard measure of port traffic. At the same time, however, quarterly numbers are off by about 10%.

A state official says Georgia's largest mental hospital will stop admitting new patients. According to the Macon Telegraph, a spokesman with the Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities says Central State hospital in Milledgeville will remain open for now. But new patients are being diverted to other facilities. Federal investigators visited Central State about two weeks ago as a follow-up to an ongoing investigation of the state's psychiatric hospitals. Among other issues, investigators found problems with the facility’s physical environment, like removing faucets with angles that can be used as an anchor for a rope.

The state is having a hard time finding housing for former inmates with special needs, so it’s trying to tap assisted living and nursing care facilities to help out. Officials with the Department of Corrections and the State Board of Pardons and Paroles are touring the state to spread the word they’re looking for homes for nearly 600 newly released parolees. Anita Cloud with the state board classifies them as problem residents. "These are individuals who have broken ties with the communities, they have no place to go. And they’ve tried all their families and friends and for some reason the plan is invalid." Cloud says the group includes the elderly, sex offenders and violent offenders, and generally those in need of medical and mental health care. So the state is trying to match their needs with services already available at nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The tour is an effort to ramp up an initiative began in 2006. 28 providers are already on board. But Cloud says the state needs more, or else the parolees will have to live out their maximum sentences in prison which is costlier than finding them homes. She notes the program should also reduce the chance they’ll return to prison for a new offense.

Police locked down North Clayton High School and used hand-held metal detectors to search students after reports of a gun being seen on campus. Clayton schools spokesman Charles White said officers escorted students from their classes to buses and to the parking lot as school dismissed. White said the school was on lockdown for more than two hours Thursday afternoon as police searched backpacks and lockers. Clayton police Sgt. Kevin Hughes said a student apparently saw another student with a gun. But police said they searched the campus and did not find a weapon.

Attorney General Thurbert Baker is getting some high profile help for his bid to become Georgia’s first black governor. Former President Bill Clinton will headline a New York fundraiser for Baker in December. Baker praised Clinton for building a strong economy saying he would do the same in Georgia if elected to replace Governor Sonny Perdue. Baker is in a four-way race for the Democratic nomination for governor.

The University of Georgia’s current mascot, Uga 7, died unexpectedly Thursday morning at his Savannah home. Owner Sonny Seiler says the four-year-old white English bulldog apparently died of heart-related causes. This particular mascot was named “Loran’s Best,” after well-known football reporter Loran Smith. The dog made his first appearance at Sanford Stadium in August, 2008, before a game with Georgia Southern. Uga 7 was only in his second season, making his sideline time the shortest in the history of the bulldog line. Some of the mascots have been prominently featured on the covers of Sports Illustrated, Time, and Newsweek, and in several movies. The previous mascot, Uga 6, died of heart failure after a nine-year reign. He and the other mascots are buried in a corner of the stadium. Plans for Uga 7's burial have not yet been finalized.

Federal officials say time is running out for September’s flood victims who want low interest loans. They say 20,000 Georgians picked up applications but haven’t returned them. The applications must be postmarked by Monday November 23. The loans cover losses not covered by flood insurance or federal grants. So far more than $40 million in disaster loans have been approved.

A first-of-its-lind county-by-county look at national obesity rates finds a wide swath of Georgia with obesity rates exceeding 30%. The study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the first to give county-level snapshots of obesity across the country. It finds, the Southeast, Appalachia and tribal lands in the West have the nation's highest obesity rates. In Georgia, huge sections of East, Central and Southwest Georgia have obesity rates exceeding 30%. The mostly rural areas correspond with areas of high rates of diagnosed diabetes and high rates of poverty. The state's worst obesity rate is Terrell County's 34.9% percent. Metro Atlanta and the coast fare better. The lowest rate is Fulton County's 22.8% percent. The study suggests focusing diabetes prevention efforts on areas that need them most. To look up and compare your county's obesity rate to the rest of Georgia and the nation, click this link: http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/ddtstrs/ To see how obesity relates to poverty, click this link: http://www.poverty.uga.edu/maps/

Officials with the Georgia Department of Labor say record turnout at two career expos in the state today are encouraging. About 2000 people attended an expo in Dalton, the agency's largest job fair ever in northwest Georgia, and another 500 showed up at the other in Augusta. The large attendance means people haven't given up hope of finding work, says Michael Thurmond, the labor department's commissioner. But those high numbers also mean that competition for jobs is tough, something not lost on jobseekers. "Every time you go to a job fair in this area, you're looking at a thousand people, two thousand people, so it's getting really hard," says Gerald Higgins, who attended the expo in Augusta. Higgins was laid off from a job manufacturing military vehicles. The Augusta area's unemployment rate held steady at 9.4 percent in September, the last available month for metropolitan area statistics. The Dalton area in northwest Georgia had the state's highest unemployment rate at 12.4 percent. The region has been largely battered by a slowdown in its once thriving textile industry. The statewide unemployment rate increased slightly to 10.2 percent, the same as the national rate, officials announced on Wednesday.

Unless Congress intervenes, millions of metro Atlantans will lose access to water from Lake Lanier by 2012. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is already making plans for that cut-off and opened a public comment period Thursday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can’t wait for Congress to decide the final chapter of Georgia’s on-going water war. It has to plan now because of a federal judge ruled in July that metro Atlanta is illegally drawing water from Lake Lanier. The judge gave Georgia three years to work out a water-sharing deal with neighboring states and get Congress’s approval … or be cut off. Pat Robbins with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says, "These are the parameters that we will develop the water control manuals around based on the judge’s ruling, unless things change. So that’s what we are soliciting comments on." People can submit their ideas on the Corps’ website for the next 45 days. However, with that’s not the only place the public can have influence. The Governors of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida face increasing pressure to work out a deal.

Unless Congress intervenes, millions of metro Atlantans will lose access to water from Lake Lanier by 2012. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is already making plans for that cut-off and opened a public comment period Thursday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can’t wait for Congress to decide the final chapter of Georgia’s on-going water war. It has to plan now because of a federal judge ruled in July that metro Atlanta is illegally drawing water from Lake Lanier. The judge gave Georgia three years to work out a water-sharing deal with neighboring states and get Congress’s approval … or be cut off. Pat Robbins with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says, "These are the parameters that we will develop the water control manuals around based on the judge’s ruling, unless things change. So that’s what we are soliciting comments on." People can submit their ideas on the Corps’ website for the next 45 days. However, with that’s not the only place the public can have influence. The Governors of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida face increasing pressure to work out a deal.

The Public Service Commission won’t reconsider a gas surcharge they approved last month for 1.4 million Atlanta Gas Light customers. The AARP asked for a rehearing and sued the PSC and the gas company because it says the surcharge is unfair to customers. The $0.39 fee on bills this month will gradually go up to $1.18 and stay there for the next 13 years. AGLC says it needs the money to put in bigger pipes to keep up with growth around Atlanta. The AARP challenges how the project is being paid for saying customers should not pay for it upfront. The lawsuit is still pending a judge’s hearing.

Unless Congress intervenes, millions of metro Atlantans will lose access to water from Lake Lanier by 2012. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is already making plans for that cut-off and opened a public comment period Thursday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can’t wait for Congress to decide the final chapter of Georgia’s on-going water war. It has to plan now because of a federal judge ruled in July that metro Atlanta is illegally drawing water from Lake Lanier. The judge gave Georgia three years to work out a water-sharing deal with neighboring states and get Congress’s approval … or be cut off. Pat Robbins with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says, "These are the parameters that we will develop the water control manuals around based on the judge’s ruling, unless things change. So that’s what we are soliciting comments on." People can submit their ideas on the Corps’ website for the next 45 days. However, with that’s not the only place the public can have influence. The Governors of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida face increasing pressure to work out a deal.