Athens has elected Dexter Fisher as our first Black mayor, 53-47.

Today is the runoff for Athens' local election and statewide primary. You can vote anytime until 7pm. If you get in line by 7, you'll be allowed to vote no matter how long it takes. You can check your polling location and sample ballot at www.mvp.sos.ga.gov.

The fy 2027 ACC budget passed unanimously tonight. It's the 19th consecutive budget that Girtz played at least a small role in crafting, but it's also the last. His colleagues had a little celebration for him after the vote. 🎉

A final mayoral debate will be held TONIGHT at the ACC Library at 6 pm, hosted by the Athens Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority in partnership with the Junior League of Athens.

I'm looking at the bill that Dexter Fisher mentioned at the debate which supposedly removes our ability to fund fare-free transit with sales taxes and this is what it says. I don't think this stops us? Fare-free was never the purpose of the TSPLOST project. The purpose is transit operations.

The ACC Elections Department made this handy graphic about the election results:

The AthChat podcast crew is hosting a mayoral runoff debate between Tim Denson and Dexter Fisher on May 30 at the Morton.

Some photos of Tim's (partial) victory speech tonight at Athentic:

Ebenezer Baptist Church West is having a get out the vote rally on Monday at 6:30 pm with Michael Thurmond, candidate for governor.

There have been a lot of mayoral forums, but very few questions on energy and the environment. We plan to change that! Join us at the library on Monday, April 27 at 6:30 pm and help the mayoral candidates realize that there's a lot of people who care about these issues in Athens. 🌞

The Tim for Athens mayoral campaign received two unsolicited $1,000 donations from Rock Nobster records, but after recent allegations have come to light, Denson is donating this money to DIVAS Who Win, The Cottage and Project Safe.

The Georgia Center for Employee Ownership is hosting a free screening of "We the Owners," a documentary about three worker-owned businesses. After the film, you can learn how to transition your business to employee ownership after you retire, allowing it to endure.

Looks like we've got a Democratic primary for State Senate, District 46! Ray Smith, software engineer and vice chair of the Oconee County Democrats, is running against William Gaulden, Jr., who last ran for ACC Coroner. Smith held his campaign kickoff today at Athentic.

The Table at UGA is hosting Nico Lang this Saturday to discuss their book American Teenager, which celebrates the resilience, courage and joy of trans youth navigating today’s challenging world.

A potentially nefarious attack on Georgia's election laws is underway. The changes to SB214 seen here would force the hand counting and tabulation of paper ballots, which is time consuming, inaccurate and could allow for challenges. The midterm could be at stake. drive.google.com/file/d/1qh0c...

The protest against ICE that was scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed until February 8.

The Coalition of Athens Scientists is hosting a panel of researchers who have been directly impacted by federal funding cuts so we can all hear their stories. ➡️ Thursday, January 22 at 7 pm at Little Kings.

Rock the Ark! Jan 24! The Ark is a local nonprofit that helps families in crisis avoid eviction and pay their bills. Now they need OUR help: they're holding a benefit concert at the Georgia Theatre on Saturday, January 24. For more information and tickets, please visit: athensark.org/rocktheark

Last night, concerned residents held a candlelight vigil in downtown Athens for Renee Good and the other victims of ICE violence over the past year.

Indivisible GA-10 and other groups held a "Hands off Venezuela" protest at the UGA Arch today, condemning the Trump administration’s "unauthorized military attack on Venezuela’s capitol...in clear violation of international law."

The chair of the Oconee Democrats wrote a response:

Have you heard about this absolutely wild column that ran in the Oconee Enterprise about the District 121 election? It assumed that Eric Gisler lost -- before the results were in! -- and then chided him for not buying an ad in their paper, implying that was a reason he lost. 😅

Representative-Elect Eric Gisler in his victory speech tonight: “This is going to be a shockwave. It will be hard work to keep this seat next year, but it sends a message right now that next year, we’re coming.”

Lexy Doherty, candidate for US Congress, is hosting a protest song open mic and karaoke event this Wednesday at Hendershots. www.facebook.com/events/17757...

FINALLY we're seeing the ridership boost on Athens Transit that fare-free bus service was always expected to bring. Article coming soon.

Thinking about running for political office? The Athens-Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting a "political leadership academy" on October 18 and November 1. "Participants will gain professional training and insights on campaigning, fundraising, branding and other key aspects of civic engagement."

I was out today taking pictures of Flock Safety cameras taking pictures. Watching the watchers. It's all very meta.

Here is the 2-min video version of my article about the community garden the commission just approved: www.youtube.com/shorts/xspXp...

Athens is standing up today at the corner of Alps and Baxter for 'Workers over Billionaires,' part of a nationwide protest. Pro-immigrant, pro-LGBTQ as well as anti-Trump and anti-fascist signs were also common.

ACC Commissioner John Culpepper wants to use TSPLOST sales tax dollars, which were intended to fund fare-free operations on Athens Transit through 2027, and use that money to buy fare-boxes again. In the opinion of APN's editor, Chris Dowd, that would be a very bad idea. youtube.com/shorts/w8UxL...