Technical Howl: Georgia Tech cries foul as UGA looks to add engineering courses

UGA is on its way to implementing new engineering majors. The University Council's Curriculum Committee voted in December to add majors in civil, electrical and mechanical engineering and the Executive committee will vote on those same requests Jan. 20 to further the process.

If UGA receives these majors there will be some overlap in course offerings between Georgia Institute of Technology and UGA. I spoke with the senior vice provost for academic affairs at Tech to find out what the Institute thinks of the possibility of UGA getting these majors. I also spoke with three students at Tech to get their perspective. Click here to find out what they all had to say.

Board approves positions

Yesterday was the first Georgia Board of Regents meeting for the semester and not too much happened. UGA received the OK to establish two chair positions and a professorship. Chancellor Erroll B. Davis also spoke to the Board about budget cuts. Click here to read more about the items approved by the Regents.

UGA science professors awarded at White House

My first article of the spring semester came out today. I interviewed two science professors at UGA who were recognized at the White House over the break from school. Click here to read more about the ceremony and the award the professors received.

Student suffers severe eye dammage after bar fight

This will be my last article for the semester as the crime reporter. There was a fight downtown early Saturday that left a man with severe eye damage. One of the main problems I've found this semester in writing crime is that people are often not willing to talk, which leaves a lot to be desired in a story. I spoke with one witness of the incident who was more than willing to tell me what happened, but wished not to be quoted so that was unfortunate. Click here to read what the police report said about this incident.

Student claims roommate urinated on her dorm bed

This article was one that left me with some questions and I wish I had been able to get in touch with the other party involved. It seems to me that with the crime beat it is always difficult to get every bit of information because I normally don't find out about what happened until the afternoon, which leaves little time to contact people before the story is due. I'm trying though. In this article a pair of roommates were having a feud and, well, the rest is in the article. Click here to read more.

Student confronted, robbed by armed man

Sometimes doing the crime beat and seeing all of the police reports gets a little unnerving. The amount of break-ins and thefts that I have seen is just crazy. Click here to read about a student who was robbed in his apartment by two armed men.

Fake ID possession lands two with felonies

Two UGA students learned Wednesday that having a fake ID is a big deal. They were both arrested and charged with two felony counts of possession of a fake ID. Click here to read more about the incident.

Chambliss race tightes, may face runoff for U.S. Senate seat

I feel so lucky to have had the chance to go to Atlanta and attend both the Jim Martin and Saxby Chambliss election night parties. It was such a great experience as a reporter and the night was great. We started at Chambliss' party and spoke to a few people about their support for him and why they wanted him to win the race. Then it was on to Martin's party, where the cycle was repeated.

It was so interesting to see the differences between the two parties, from the location to the dress of the people in attendance to just the overall feel in the air. I would not have traded my experience for sitting in front of the TV all night watching history unfold on CNN. It was a wonderful experience to retire to a coffee shop and write up my portion of the article to submit before presstime. It's nice to see that Atlanta dateline. Click here to read more about election night in Atlanta.

Student accuses other of crime, holds on headlock

Well I had my first experience in breaking news reporting yesterday and I must say there are many things I learned. If I could have a "do-over" I would definitely try to get some more information from people who witnessed the event. Don't get me wrong, I tried...but most people were unwilling to talk (story of a reporter's life?).

I do wish we had addressed the issue of the crime the student was accusing the other of, though. It is sensitive in nature and there have been no police reports filed on the accused crime, but that should have been made more transparent to the reader.

I am looking at this as a learning lesson and welcome such instances so that my writing will improved. Click here to read about the headlock incident, and I apologize if you end up scratching your head. I did too.

Three women report sexual assualt crimes from weekend

Sexual assaults are a very sensitive subject and I think I handled the situation with sensitivity. At least I hope I did. Click here to read more about the reported sexual assault crimes from the weekend.