Blake Aued

The Athens-Clarke County Commission unanimously approved a $377 million budget for 2027 at a called meeting June 9, keeping the property tax rate the same at 12.25 mills. Commissioners made only minor changes to the budget proposed by Mayor Kelly Girtz—his last budget as he prepares to leave office at the end of the year—including a slight increase in raises for county employees from 3.5% to 4%, adding a part-time municipal court judge and funding for an investigator for the public defender’s office. “We had a lot of consensus on this as a group, and we are moving through in a conflict-free, calm, responsible way,” Commissioner Carol Myers said. That’s in contrast to the horse-trading that often takes place on […]

Maybe we shouldn't rely so much on diesel to fuel buses or move so much freight by truck.

A lack of smart planning and political willpower contributes to climate change that is costing Americans money

Ideas for speeding up infrastructure construction in the U.S., where it's slower and more expensive than any other nation.

Out of 3,000 U.S. cities, the number that scored well on People for Bike's metrics more than doubled to 555 between 2025 and 2026.

A New York Times interactive feature shows why larger vehicles are more deadly for pedestrians.

“Twenty years ago to the day,” Charlie Maddox told me, reminding me of his race against then-mayor Heidi Davison in 2006. He was a little bit off—local elections back then were still held in the fall—but a clearly emotional Maddox could be forgiven for misremembering the exact date. He had just seen Dexter Fisher achieve what he did not do back then: become the first Black mayor of Athens. “We finally got it,” Maddox said. “I feel great.” He should. His campaign invented the formula for Fisher’s victory—teaming up Black and Republican voters. Four years later, Nancy Denson would add a smattering of moderate white Democrats on top to beat progressive Gwen O’Looney. It didn’t work for Harry Sims in […]

Historic Athens formally submitted a petition during a Juneteenth festival to name a new downtown pocket park after Athens’ first two Black state representatives. The petition seeks to name the space Richardson-Davis Park for Alf Richardson and Madison Davis, two African Americans elected to the Georgia legislature in 1868, after the Civil War and subsequent Constitutional amendments created equal rights for former slaves. Tragically, this era of legal equality ended along with Reconstruction in 1876. With Jim Crow laws suppressing Black voting rights, Athens would not elect another African American for 100 years. The third Black state representative from Athens, Michael Thurmond, told those gathered for the ceremony that he was inspired to run when he came across a dissertation […]

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Even Europe is not producing enough clean energy to save itself from climate change.