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After the pandemic, too many kids are still missing school
On the first cool day of fall in Macon, Bruce Elementary Principal Kizzie Lott walked out the back door of her school in a floppy green poncho and baby blue rubber boots. Then, sitting in a plastic chair, she faced about 20 of her students who each had their own red bucket of water. Then, […]
Headed to Trump’s Macon rally? Know the COVID-19 infection risk
President Trump’s barnstorming rallies are nothing new. They still have some of the same classic rock tunes for a soundtrack. They still pack out airport tarmacs. But what is new in this final month of the presidential campaign is the likelihood for Trump’s rallies, like the one planned for Macon on Friday, to spread the […]
Health officials blame prison for COVID outbreak in rural SE Georgia
An error in COVID-19 data reporting has obscured an outbreak in a Georgia prison and in the community surrounding it. The count of coronavirus cases in rural Wheeler County nearly doubled last week when CoreCivic, the Tennessee-based, publicly traded company that runs the Wheeler Correctional Facility, reported 145 cases to the Georgia Department of Public […]
Middle Ga. students and families struggle to start school online
A few weeks before the start of school in Macon, Tayesha Banks came to Heritage Elementary School to pick up a laptop for her child. Because of community spread of the coronavirus, the Bibb County School District would start the year fully online. That meant the district had to distribute 13,000 laptops to parents and […]
Georgia Supreme Court to hear case of mentally ill man Tased to death
A case before the Georgia Supreme Court this month could have important implications for how police officers are held accountable when they kill while on the job. The question here is how Georgia’s stand your ground law applies to law enforcement. On a blisteringly hot day in July 2017, Helen Gilbert called 911 in Washington County, […]
Frustration grows over Georgia’s COVID testing lines, results backlog
Donald Black’s green Honda CRV inches along the pavement, one of dozens of cars snaking around the corner at a pop-up coronavirus testing center set up in the parking lot of Community Church of God in Macon. Black has been waiting for almost two hours. “I’m canceling a doctor’s appointment because I’m not getting out […]
Middle Ga. coronavirus spread shifts from long-term care to young people
Two central Georgia counties are experiencing “severe” coronavirus spread fueled through community transmission among the young, according to the weekly report from the North Central Health District. Per capita deaths in Hancock County are the highest in the state. In Baldwin County, cases have doubled over a two-week reporting period. Outbreaks in both counties began in […]