A bill regulating hemp products, licensing and restricting their purchase to customers 21 and older awaits its fate on Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk after state lawmakers successfully passed it during this year’s legislative session.  The bill, related to “The Georgia Hemp Farming Act” and sponsored by Republican Moultrie Sen. Sam Watson, would require testing for all hemp-derived products, including CBD and Delta-8 edibles and drinks, and prohibit sales to minors. The Senate sent the bill to the governor late in the session, and he has until May 7 to sign it, veto it or allow it ..read more

A man who is trying to oust Sheriff John Q. Williams and District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez from office was escorted out of a town hall meeting on public safety Wednesday night after interrupting the speakers and going on a rant about child molesters, ICE and “Obama policies.” About half an hour into the event—hosted by Gonzalez, Williams and Police Chief Jerry Saulters—James DePaola interjected that the meeting was sparsely attended because the public “has lost faith in [elected officials].” The moderator told DePaola he would have an opportunity to speak later. Then an Athens-Clarke County L ..read more

Downtown business owner Jason Jacobs is challenging incumbent Commissioner Melissa Link in District 2, an area that includes Boulevard, Normaltown and part of inner East Athens. Link has been an ACC commissioner since 2015, except for a brief hiatus in 2022–2023, when the state legislature placed her in former Commissioner Mariah Parker’s district, causing Link to lose her seat. When Parker stepped down, Link ran again, winning by a large margin in the new district against former school board member Kirrena Gallagher.  On paper, a progressive incumbent like Link should be difficult to def ..read more

Athens native Tommy Dorsey is trying to unseat incumbent Sheriff John Q. Williams, who was first elected in 2020. Both have years of experience in law enforcement. Williams, a native of Gary, IN, moved to Athens in 1997, right before graduating from Iowa State University with a degree in speech and communications (which he later finished online). His married sister was getting a master’s degree at UGA, and he lived with her family and worked several part-time jobs before landing a full-time position in 1998 as a dispatcher with the UGA police department. He stayed there four years before takin ..read more

Joe Biden has a problem. Seven months ahead of the presidential election, some progressives, young voters and Muslim American voters are showing serious reservations about the Democrat’s reelection campaign as his administration backs Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “For some of those people—maybe a critical number—what’s happening in Gaza is so salient and existential that they really see this election as a referendum on that issue,” Larry Jacobs, the director of the Center for the Study of Politics at the University of Minnesota, said in an interview. The pushback has played ou ..read more

Republicans Exploit Free Speech I wanted to respond to James Cobb’s article “Free Speech on Campus” in the Feb. 14 edition of Flagpole. Cobb’s article does an exceptional job at laying out the modern history of this issue.  C. Vann Woodward, for those that do not know, was one of the most influential and respected historians of the 20th century. Much of his work is still used today by a number of academic historians. He is one of the historians that actually pressed American history into a study that includes far more voices from across the spectrum of race and gender. A man and academic ..read more

The Athens-Clarke County Commission will vote next month to allocate almost $3 million in funding for homeless organizations, including building a new shelter. The biggest chunk of the funding—between $1.3 million and $1.5 million for a “low barrier” shelter that will not turn away people for drug or alcohol use alone—will go to Advantage Behavioral Health Services as gap funding for a Mitchell Bridge Road inpatient mental health facility. Along with other local, state and federal grants, the additional funding will allow the $14 million facility to expand to 50 or 60 beds starting in November ..read more

University of Georgia and state officials broke ground last week on a new building for UGA’s future medical school. “Today is an exciting and transformational day for the University of Georgia,” President Jere Morehead said at an Apr. 19 ceremony attended by hundreds of people. UGA has operated a medical school on the Health Sciences Campus in partnership with Augusta University (formerly the Medical College of Georgia) since taking over the former Navy Supply Corps School in 2010. But earlier this year the Board of Regents approved a medical school solely operated by UGA, and Gov. Brian Kemp ..read more

Although Athens nursing student Laken Riley’s alleged killer was never booked into the Clarke County Jail until his arrest on murder charges in February, immigration-related policies at the Clarke County Sheriff’s office have come under scrutiny due to Jose Ibarra’s immigration status. In 2018 Sheriff John Q. Williams’ predecessor, Ira Edwards, stopped holding inmates for Immigration and Customs Enforcement pickup past their release date. Williams continued that policy because a judge’s order that a person be released supersedes any request from ICE, he said at an Athens Anti-Discrimination Mo ..read more

FLAGPOLE CELEBRATES THE CLASS OF 2024! Show your grad how proud you are by featuring them in our Congrats to Grads section. All graduating High School or College students are welcome! Notice: JavaScript is required for this content ..read more