Area briefs: Diego Ibarra indicted, Riley Gaines to speak at UGA

A federal grand jury hands up indictments in the case of Diego Ibarra. The brother of accused Laken Riley killer Jose Ibarra was arrested last month in Athens, accused of having a fake green card. Jose Ibarra is in the Athens-Clarke County jail, charged in the February 22 Riley murder. The 22 year-old Augusta University nursing student was beaten to death on the University of Georgia campus; Jose Ibarra was arrested the next day.

She lost an NCAA swimming title to a male competitor: Riley Gaines, now the face of a national movement for fairness in women’s sports, speaks this evening in Athens, a 6 o’clock appearance at the University of Georgia.

An Athens-Clarke County Commission work session is on tap for today, underway at 5:30 this afternoon at Athens City Hall. More Commission talk about efforts to help Athens’ homeless population is on the agenda.

The committee that is looking at plans for a Tax Allocation District for the eastern edge of downtown Athens meets today, getting a first-hand look at the new Classic Center Arena in a tour that begins just before 10 o’clock this morning.

Bear Hollow Zoo at Memorial Park is scheduled to reopen today: the Zoo at the park in Five Points in Athens has been closed for the past two days while crews removed trees.

Today will put the wraps on four days of parent-teacher conferences in Clarke County schools: parents of students in grades Pre K through 8 have been meeting with their children’s teachers this week in Athens.

There is a pending retirement in Toccoa, where Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley has made official his plans to step down at the end of the year. Shirley, first elected Sheriff in Stephens County in 2008, is not running for reelection. Three possible replacements—Dennis Bell, Rusty Fulbright, and Harold McCroskey—signed up to run during last week’s candidate qualifying period.

A Barrow County man is in the Hall County jail, arrested on fraud charges. Jerry Manders is 54 years old, from Auburn. He’s accused of using customers’ credit cards to make purchases from his flooring business in Flowery Branch.

©2024 Cox Media Group