The Maxwell Football Club named Mill Creek standout Caleb Downs on Thursday as the 2022 Maxwell Football Club National High School Player of the Year.
Downs starred on offense and defense last season as Mill Creek won the Class AAAAAAA state championship, the program’s first. The Hawks finished 14-1 with a No. 11 ranking nationally in the final MaxPreps Top 25. In a state finals win over Carrollton, the 6-foot, 190-pounder made 13 tackles and rushed for three touchdowns.
He finished the season with 83 tackles, five interceptions (two for TDs) and 10 passes defensed on defense, in addition to rushing 57 times for 383 yards and 20 TDs and catching 36 passes for 422 yards and three TDs on offense.
Downs graduated in December and enrolled early at Alabama, where the five-star recruit is expected to contribute immediately at safety. Downs joins past winners of the Maxwell high school honor that include Bryce Young, Trevor Lawrence and Derrick Henry.
Gwinnett County government and local tourism officials are investing half-a-million dollars in COVID recovery funds in efforts to improve security around county attractions and hotels, and to support arts recovery and film education programs.
The county announced the $500,000 investment that government and Explore Gwinnett officials will make into the programs on Thursday. The goal is to use the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery funds to boost areas in the hospitality and tourism industry that were hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The funds were made available to the county as a result of the American Rescue Plan Act.
There are three main areas that the funding will be spent on, including film education and training programs for high school students, a program to support nonprofit arts groups and efforts to improve security at the Gas South District District, Coolray Field and more than 100 hotels in the county.
The long-awaited return of the Hometown Holiday Parade is among the highlights included in the city of Lawrenceville’s 2023 events calendar, which was released in late January and includes nearly two dozen events.
The parade, which has not been held for several years due to the COVID pandemic, is scheduled for Saturday, December 2.
Also planned is the two-day “Around the World in the DTL” celebration, providing a variety of culturally-rich experiences and events in the city’s collaboration with the Atlanta International Nigh Market.
Also, the “Cultura Fiesta Latina” returns in 2023, offering a Latin heritage festival filled with food, dancing and music during National Hispanic Heritage Month. In addition, the “Live in the DTL” concert on June 16 will take place on the Lawrenceville Lawn as part of the Juneteenth Celebration.
The city will tip its collective cap to law enforcement during National Police Week in May with “Light Lawrenceville Blue” and on March 10 the Lawrenceville Legacy Leaders Youth Council will presents it inaugural youth-organized mental health awareness event on the Lawrenceville Lawn.
Events in the city are free to attend (although some may require pre-registration due to space limitations) and sponsorships starting at $500 are available.
Legislation establishing regulations for the fast-growing third-party food delivery industry in Georgia has been introduced in the General Assembly.
Senate Bill 34 is an outgrowth of a Senate study committee chaired by Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, that held several meetings last summer and fall to talk about an industry that has no federal oversight and only patchwork state and local regulations.
Third-party food delivery was virtually non-existent before the pandemic closed restaurants to in-person dining. Apps including Uber Eats and DoorDash sprang up so quickly and grew so rapidly that health regulators couldn’t catch up, resulting in complaints from customers of unsanitary practices.
The industry also ran afoul of restaurant owners, who complained third-party food deliverers were running ads featuring their names without authorization, touting relationships that didn’t exist. Senate Bill 34 would put an end to such practices in Georgia, prohibiting third-party food companies from advertising non-existent connections with restaurants and requiring them to enter into contracts with restaurants before picking up and delivering food from those facilities.
The legislation also would require vehicles used for third-party food delivery to be clean. No smoking or vaping would be allowed inside delivery vehicles, and pets would be prohibited unless they are service animals.
Food containers delivered via a thirty party would have to be closed, sealed and tamper resistant. Thermal containers would be required when necessary to keep food at the proper temperature.
Parent’s bill has bipartisan cosponsors, including Republican Sens. John Albers of Roswell and Frank Ginn of Danielsville. Democratic cosponsors include Sens. Harold Jones of Augusta and Sally Harrell of Atlanta.
Fernbank Museum continues to celebrate its 30th Anniversary this year with special exhibits, giant screen films, themed Discovery Days, nighttime nature adventures in WildWoods: AGLOW, Fernbank After Dark adult science nights and more.
Fernbank kicked off the year with the new giant screen film, “Fungi: Web of Life,” which opened on January 7. This film follows scientists to forests in Tasmania and China as they search for unique lifeforms, including bioluminescent mushrooms, that could help solve some of humanity’s most urgent problems. “Wings Over Water” opened on February 4 in the Giant Screen Theater. Audiences can fly alongside three different types of birds as they defy the odds and migrate to America’s largely unknown but awe-inspiring prairie wetlands. Guests will learn about the science of navigation, flyways, bird behaviors and this unique ecosystem. February will offer a vivid immersion into the science of color in the new special exhibit “The Nature of Color,” which opens Feb 11. “The Nature of Color” offers an in-depth exploration of the way color carries information in nature, including how organisms use it to find food, warn off predators and reproduce.
The exhibit also delves into the use of color across cultures, where different colors can signal a wide range of meanings, impact emotions and ultimately influence the society around us.
For more information head over to Fernbank dot org.
“I billed myself as a triple threat: attorney, author, and artist,” Darryl Hines, one of Tannery Row Artist Colony’s newest members, said. Yet at the “tender age” of 72, Hines finds himself totally immersed in one of these talents — creating works of visual art.
Hines has accomplished many things in his life, but art has been a constant “companion” that never left him. His journey to Tannery Row has been filled with experiences, an array of talents, a variety of schools and study, and successful careers outside the art world. Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, his parents recognized his talents at as young as five. However, he was unsure about making a living in the art world. Utlimately, he started a law firm while commuting back and forth to Atlanta to support his wife’s broadcast career. While helping his son start a t-shirt company, his love for art was rekindled. In August of 2020, Hines enrolled at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and earned his MFA in 2022. “At the tender age of 72, I returned to metro Atlanta. Finding a studio space led me to Tannery Row at the suggestion of Carolyn Wright, formerly of The Lona Gallery in Lawrenceville.” He finds the atmosphere at Tannery Row encouraging. Hines has gained the interest of collectors like Hollywood filmmaker Michael Sherman who sits on the boards of the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.
Hines is hoping to spark interest in gallery owners and museums in Atlanta and elsewhere, pursuing several artist residencies and fellowships, and hoping to teach art as an adjunct professor.
If one is lucky, visitors might catch Hines in his area of Tannery Row, located at 554 West Main Street in Buford.
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