Fifty Georgia Colleges, Universities to Increase GI Financial Aid

Nearly 50 colleges and universities in Georgia have signed on to a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs program to improve financial aid for the Post 9/11 GI Bill.

The 45 campuses include Georgia Tech and Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Mercer University in Macon and Savannah College of Art and Design. The institutions have agreed to pay up to half of the tuition, housing and textbook expenses for veterans who sign up under the Yellow Ribbon Program.

The program is part of the new GI Bill passed last year, offering veterans the most significant expansion of educational benefits since the original GI Bill in 1944. The VA expects nearly half a million veterans to participate in the coming year.

On the Net: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: http://www.va.gov

(Associated Press)

Another College Student Robbed at Gunpoint

Another college student has been robbed at gunpoint at the same apartment complex near Georgia Tech for the second day in a row.

Eric Mills is a student at University of Phoenix, a national college with six campuses in the Atlanta area.

Mills said he was walking to his apartment in the Centennial Place complex about 1 a.m. Wednesday when he was attacked by two men wearing masks, and one was armed.

He said they asked for his phone, but he threw his backpack down and told them it contained his laptop. They later took the backpack after the man with the gun threatened to shoot Mills. Eventually several cars showed up and them men got back in their car and left.

(AP)

Georgia sports roundup--Wed, Dec. 31st

Bowl games for Georgia Tech/Georgia--

Georgia Tech's Yellow Jackets look to wrap a successful season under first-year head coach Paul Johnson with a win in tonight's Chick-Fil-A Bowl from Atlanta. Tech is aiming for its first 10-win season since 1998. Johnson earlier this month earned ACC Coach of the Year honors. Tech, ranked 14th in the nation, will face LSU in the bowl game tonight from the Georgia Dome.

Georgia's Bulldogs put their #16 ranking on the field in Orlando tomorrow afternoon for the Capital One Bowl matchup against Michigan State. The Bulldogs began the season with ultra-high expectations, ranked as a preseason #1. Georgia fans will wonder if this will be the final game for quarterback Matthew Stafford and tailback Knowshon Moreno, who both might consider leaving school for the NFL Draft.

Atlanta Falcons--

The Falcons are deep in preparation for their first NFL playoff game in four years, this Saturday afternoon in Phoneix against the Arizona Cardinals. Meanwhile, an honor for rookie quarterback Matt Ryan. The first-year QB earned Associated Press honors as Offensive Rookie of the Year. The Boston College product helped lead the Falcons to an 11-5 regular season record, following a dismal 2007 for the franchise.

More theft charges for state worker

A Georgia Tech employee convicted of stealing state funds faces new theft charges. Cobb County police say they think Donna Gamble stole money from a middle school marching band. A warrant says Gamble is suspected of taking nearly $12,000 while she was treasurer of the Marietta Middle School band boosters in 2006. The 43-year-old is serving a 32-month sentence in a Florida prison after admitting to a five-year spending spree of more than $300,000 in personal expenses on her university credit card.

(Associated Press)

Macy's parade has Georgia flavor

If you tune-in to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade from New York later this morning, there will be a Georgia connection to watch for. The marching band of Georgia Tech will perform in the event. The group of 360-plus will hit the streets in New York a little after 10 o’clock this morning. The Yellow Jacket Marching Band is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

Wal-Mart names Ga. Tech grad to be CEO

Mike Duke (AP)

Wal-Mart announced a surprise change in leadership Friday, naming a Georgia Tech grad as its new CEO.

Mike Duke, who joined Wal-Mart in 1995, will take the reins from Lee Scott, currently the company’s CEO, on Feb. 1.

Duke landed his first job at Rich’s department store in Atlanta — and stayed in the department-store business for 23 years as an executive at department-store operators May Stores and Federated Stores Inc., now known as Macy’s Inc.

As Wal-Mart’s vice chairman of its international division, Duke, 58, has made some key moves, including pulling out of some countries and expanding in others, such as Brazil and India.

Before that, Duke had held various senior logistics, distribution and administration posts since joining the company in 1995.

That makes Duke a “capable” executive who knows the company “inside and out,” said Adrianne Shapira, an analyst with Goldman Sachs.

Duke became chief executive and president of the Wal-Mart Stores U.S. division in 2003 and switched over to head the international division two years later as Wal-Mart increased its focus on international growth.

Duke, who has two daughters and a son with his wife, Susan, graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in industrial engineering in 1971. Duke also has served on the Morehouse College board of trustees since 2005.

Barrett H. Carson, vice president for development for Georgia Tech, said becoming Wal-Mart’s CEO places Duke as the highest-ranking Georgia Tech alum.

“Taking the top position there, I think, puts himself certainly first among peers at this juncture,” he said. “I have goosebumps.”

Carson said that Duke is a very humble and self-effacing guy, the kind who will look for your golf ball in the rough. Carson, who has known Duke since 1997, said Duke was very active on the Tech advisory board, and kept Tech football memorabilia in his Bentonville, Ark., office.

“This will all be very embarrassing for him. At the end of the day, he simply is a really good guy.”

In 2003, Duke helped inaugurate Tech’s Technology Square development in Midtown with Gov. Sonny Perdue and others. In his speech that day, Duke said Wal-Mart couldn’t handle its massive supply chain or millions of daily transactions without innovations led by schools such as Tech.

In 2006, Duke was involved in major changes in the company’s international strategy, including exiting the German and South Korean markets, where the company was faltering before Duke took over.

Click here for more GPB business coverage.

(AP)

Food banks get competitive

It's being called the "Beat Tech Food Drive." The Food Bank of Northeast Georgia has challenged Georgia Tech's respective food bank, the Atlanta Community Food Bank, in a drive to collect the most food through Nov. 26. UGA and Tech are competing in the food drive in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 29 football game between the two schools in Athens.

(Associated Press/Athens Banner-Herald)

Emergency alerts might be faulty

Emergency alert emails might not be as reliable as many colleges and university hope. A new study by a Georgia Tech scientist found emergency notification systems failed to reach 85% of a population within 10 minutes. The systems send text messages and voice calls to cell phones when there is an emergency. The study found that text messages are vulnerable to fraud, since hackers could send out false alerts and like e-mails, texts could be delayed. And in emergencies, a flood of calls to loved ones could overload a cell network and interrupt emergency 911 communications.

Three schools among top 100

Three Georgia colleges rank in the top 100 of the nation’s best schools, according to U.S. News & World report. Emory University ranks 18th where tuition is $36,000. Georgia Tech ranks 35th where in-state tuition is 52-hundred dollars. University of Georgia ranks 58th where in-state tuition is $6,000.

First Chinese Olympic gold for Atlanta

A Georgia runner expects to bring home Atlanta's first gold medal from Beijing. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports Angelo Taylor won the 400-meter hurdles competition yesterday. Taylor attended Southwest DeKalb High School and ran for Georgia Tech.

Transportation secretary: system 'broken'

Today the nation's Transportation Secretary told a crowd at Georgia Tech in Atlanta that the federal approach to transportation funding is "broken." Mary Peters unveiled a plan to improve federal spending on building and maintaining interstate highways. Her plan calls for consolidating 102 federal transportation programs and replacing them with eight comprehensive projects. Congress must adopt the plan before it is implemented.

Search to resume for new Georgia State president

The search for a new president for Georgia State University will resume in a few weeks. The nationwide search came to a halt earlier this month after all three finalists for the job withdrew their names for various reasons. Longtime Georgia State President Carl Patton, who's been in office 16 years, is delaying retirement indefinitely as the search continues. State officials also are set to launch a search for a new Georgia Tech leader in coming weeks.

Georgia sports for Friday, May 23rd

Atlanta Braves--

The Braves continued their hot-play at home, completing a 4-game series sweep of the rival New York Mets at Turner Field with the 4-2 win on Thursday night. The 3 runs scored in the 7th inning to turn a 2-1 deficit was highlighted by Chipper Jones' go-ahead RBI-single. ]
Tim Hudson earned the pitching win with a strong effort, his 7th victory already this season. The Braves are 6-1 on this current homestand, and winners of 13 of their past 14 at Turner Field. The homestand concludes with a 4-game Memorial Day weekend matchup against the Arizona Diamondbacks, opening tonight.


College baseball-State teams' conference tournaments--

Georgia's Bulldogs were eliminated from the SEC baseball tournament with their 5-2 loss to Alabama Thursday. Georgia was the top-seed in the SEC tourney.

Georgia Tech was a loser in their Thursday game from the ACC baseball tournament, 15-12 to Miami. Tech will play next on Saturday morning, facing Clemson at 10am.

Georgia Southern's Eagles ended their Southern Conference tournament game at 2am this morning, falling to Elon College 16-5. GSU plays an elimination game this afternoon in Charleston against UNC-Greensboro.

Former Georgia Tech employee admits theft

A former Georgia Tech employee has pleaded guilty to cheating the university and the National Science Foundation out of more than $300,000. Donna Renee Gamble of Marietta admitted to using a state credit card to buy personal items over a five-year period. Auditors said her purchases included season tickets to football games and a $1,900 frozen drink machine.

Judge sides against gay website

A federal judge has ruled against a gay rights Web site sanctioned by the Georgia Institute of Technology. The judge ruled that the Safe Space site cannot use language that discriminates against religions that condemn homosexuality. He called it a violation of the separation of church and state. University officials say the information has been off the site for a year.

GA Tech employees investigated for fraud

At least one of two Georgia Tech professors being investigated for fraud and theft was warned by his boss months ago that he was in danger of violating university policy.

Francois Sainfort and his wife, Julie Jacko, are being investigated by the state attorney general's office after the university turned over documents alleging the duo continued to collect paychecks from Georgia Tech after accepting jobs at the University of Minnesota.

University officials say they have identified nearly $100,000 in questionable spending by the duo so far.

Two Tech professors suspected of fraud

Georgia Tech has asked the State Attorney General's office to consider legal action against two professors. The school has not released the names of the faculty membrs, but in a press release the University says its investigation shows that $100,000 are not properly accounted for.

The faculty members are suspected of dual employment and double billing their time to Georgia Tech, falsifying travel reimbursement documents, and other potentially illegal actions.

Tech officials call this an isolated incident and say that it does not reflect the character of the Tech faculty. The University has initiated the tenure revocation process for the two faculty members.

Georgia Tech will work closely with the Attorney General's Office as the investigation continues.

Former state employee charged with racketeering

A second former Georgia Tech employee has been charged with bilking the school out of thousands of dollars. Michelle Harris faces one charge of racketeering for ringing up $173,000 in personal expenses on her state-issued credit card. At least 17 university employees have so far resigned, been fired or retired because of p-card misuse, and disciplinary action in other cases are pending.

Georgia sports for Monday, March 24th

The Atlanta Braves are heading into the final week of spring training from Florida. Their season opener is ahead next Sunday. Yesterday, the Braves were 4-2 winners over the Houston Astros in preseason action. Pitcher Mike Hampton looked good again, throwing 6 innings and allowing only 2 runs. His ERA for the spring stands at 1.98.
One roster move of note from the weekend: The Braves said goodbye to catcher Javy Lopez. The 37-year-old was trying to complete a comeback to the Braves' roster, but the team decided to go with other options at backup catcher. After learning the news, Lopez announced he will retire from baseball. Lopez was a career .287 hitter. In his 12 year career with Atlanta that ended in 2003, he amassed 214 home runs with 694 RBI's.

Georgia's women's basketball team has advanced in the NCAA Tournament. The Lady Bulldogs on Sunday beat Iowa 67-61. Georgia will face North Carolina in the 2nd round. Bulldogs' state rival Georgia Tech lost their first-round NCAA game Saturday to Iowa State.

Georgia sports for Monday, March 17th

The Georgia Bulldogs' men's basketball team completed an improbable run over the weekend, culminating in earning a berth to the NCAA Tournament. Georgia beat Arkansas 66-57 Sunday afternoon to clinch the Southeastern Conference tournament championship. The victory was the fourth in 4 days for the Bulldogs, who won only 4 conference games throughout the regular season. Because of the tornado that hit Atlanta Friday night, the final two days of the SEC Tourney had to be played in Georgia Tech's arena nearby. With Georgia's scheduled game Friday night postponed, they were put in the position of needing to play two games, and win both to advance--they did. Georgia earned a #14 seed in the NCAA's--they'll play Xavier on Thursday. The Bulldogs' weekend run also saved head coach Dennis Felton's job, as Athletics Director Damon Evans announced Felton would return.

Spring training baseball out of Sunday--victory for the Atlanta Braves over the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2. Yunel Escobar nailed a 2-run homer as part of the offense.