• UGA will use $50 million in revenue bonds from the Athens Housing Authority to fund the construction of a new residence hall on East Campus.  Apparently this will free up cheaper housing in Athens.  The residence hall will meet LEED certification (ABH).
• The Red and Black reports on an employee at the UGA Registrar’s Office (with access to sensitive information, including Social Security numbers) was arrested a year ago and recently convicted on charges of felony theft by deception.  The employee plead guilty and will serve a prison sentence of 10 years.
• The Red and Black has a good follow up piece on the Zinkhan shootings, why no one was concerned about Zinkhan’s previous behavior, and whether something like this could happen again.
• You also might want to read the documents (warning, PDF) with this Red and Black piece, relating to Dr. Carroll’s issues with Zinkhan.  At several points she writes, “Stay away from me!”.

And in UGA sports news:

• Matt Stafford got UGA an NCAA violation when he accepted tickets to a Falcons game from Jay Cutler (ABH).
• Backup offensive lineman Tanner Strickland will miss the season after having surgery to repair a pre-season shoulder injury (AJC and R&B).
• UGA football received their 13th commitment for next year from an explosive defensive end (Georgia Sports Blog).
• Not a surprise, national pollsters believe UGA football will do better this season than Georgia Tech (AJC).
• A walk-on defensive tackle was just awarded a scholarship (AJC).

As for the details, the Chi Phi fraternity received $1.75 million to move from their Lumpkin Street house, and the Kappa Alpha fraternity received $600,000 to move from their house.

The land purchased by UGA will see an expansion of the Terry College of Business, the School of Family and Consumer Sciences, and a Special Collections Library.

While it seems as though UGA did “purchase” the land from the fraternities, the ABH points out that the land was owned by UGA prior:

According to UGA officials, most of the old houses, all on UGA-owned property on Lumpkin Street, needed serious repairs.

What do you think?  Is this the way UGA should be spending money during bad budget times?

The UGA Key is the University of Georgia Course Review Book, which contains grades and course syllabi to assist UGA students in registering for classes.

Their release follows:

The UGA Key developers would like to let University of Georgia students know that the Beta Key (here) now contains Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 grades.  If you are interested in seeing only grades assigned within the past year, you can look at this filter.

With this update, UGA Key now has grade data on 32,366 classes!  Over thirty-two thousand classes!  And syllabi!

If you have any problems, please please PLEASE get in touch with us and let us know.  We have fixed several bugs in recent weeks thanks to input from students.

Along with this update, we have made the Beta Key significantly faster loading.  The English subject just loaded for myself in less than 5 seconds (in Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers).

Up next, we are going to move the Beta Key over to the main UGA Key site (we’ll still leave up the old version for anyone attached) and we will add more syllabi.

Enjoy using UGA Key, and tell your friends and classmates where to determine which classes to take and which to avoid!

~The UGA Key Developers

Georgia Power cut the electricity to most of downtown in response to the fire, so red lights are out and the Athens Banner-Herald has been unable to post updates.

Coverage: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Athens Banner-Herald (note: updates are on homepage as they can’t post news), Red and Black, and the Georgia Sports Blog.

For history of the Georgia Theatre, look here.

*Update, 10:30am*

The Athens-Banner Herald frontpage says downtown Athens will be without power until noon.

*Update, 11am*

Pictures from the Red and Black.

A writer from the ABH is saying ”Goodbye to the Georgia Theatre”.  The pictures, though, don’t show that much exterior damage, but the roof has collapsed and the interior is gutted.

*Update, 11:30am*

The Athens Banner-Herald has now posted a story, and here is what they are saying about the condition of the building:

“It appeared to have started on the second floor and broke through the roof shortly thereafter,” George said this morning. “We’re in defensive mode now. It’s hard to say if they’ll be able to rebuild. There is at least going to be extensive damage.”

Wilmot Greene, the building owner, said the building is a total loss but exterior walls are “probably alright.” Green said he hopes to rebuild and he does have insurance. Greene has already talked with organizers of AthFest about holding AthFest events in the Classic Center or at Legion Field.

*Update – noon*

Electricity service to downtown Athens has been restored.

• Breaking: UGA students lose appeal on noise ordinance (AJC, ABH, R&B, Opinion, comment by students’ counsel)
• The Brain Train, a light rail linking Atlanta (Emory) and Athens (UGA) was likely passed over for this light rail project

Sports news:

• 11 Georgia Bulldogs baseball players were taken in the MLB draft, a new record (AJC)
• UGA Football’s 2009 home opener against South Carolina (September 12) will likely start at 7pm and be broadcast on ESPN2 (Georgia Sports Blog, AJC, ABH)

The baseball team dominated Ohio State on Friday, but then lost to Florida State on Saturday and lost to Ohio State today, ending their tournament run.

The women’s softball team fared slightly better this weekend.  They lost to Washington on Thursday, but followed the loss up with wins against Missouri and Michigan on Saturday.  They beat Washington on Sunday afternoon in an amazing game, the highest-scoring game in Women’s College World Series history.  The Bulldogs lost this evening to Washington, ending their tournament hopes one game from the championship series.

Last week the Athens Banner-Herald got the warrant applications used to justify searches of Zinkhan’s house, office, computer, and several other areas.  Among the information discovered in the warrant applications was information that Zinkhan had recorded a conversation between himself and his wife about her affair with Tom Tanner.  Tom Tanner was the first victim shot by Zinkhan during his shooting spree.

Today, the Athens Banner-Herald also published an article about Zinkhan’s relationship with UGA professor Barbara Carroll.  Among the 1,600 page Open Records Request were documents detailing the many fights between the two and allegations of sexual harrassment.  Carroll went into hiding when a map to her house was found in Zinkhan’s abandoned Jeep.

Junior tight end Bruce Figgins and redshirt sophomore defensive end Justin Houston (both projected starters this fall) have been suspended for violating team rules.  Figgins will miss six games and Houston will miss two games.

Redshirt junior wide receiver Tony Wilson also violated team rules, but “is in the process of being medically disqualified
 from competition due to slow recovery from a severe ankle injury originally 
suffered in the spring of 2008″ (UGA Athletic Association press release).  This sounds as if Wilson is off the team.

The press release notes this quote from UGA football coach Mark Richt:

“I’m very disappointed in the poor judgment of these players,” said 
UGA head coach Mark Richt. “They’ll have to pay an appropriate price and 
I’m confident they will learn an important lesson from their mistake.”

The University of Georgia administration sent out two emails to students, faculty, and staff today.  The first email announced the discovery of what was likely Zinkhan’s body and included a statement from President Mike Adams:

Subject:Athens-Clarke Police announcement and President Adams statement
Date:Sat, 9 May 2009 21:25:57
From:Official UGA Announcements <archnews@UGA.EDU>
To: <ARCHNEWS-E@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>

TO: UGA Students, Faculty and Staff

The Athens-Clarke County Police Department announced today that it, along with federal and state agencies, has continued to search an area off of Cleveland Road near the Jackson County line with cadaver dogs in the search for former UGA marketing professor George Zinkhan, who is wanted in the shooting deaths of three people off-campus in Athens on April 25. The search area has been expanded from where Zinkhan’s vehicle was recovered on May 1. This morning a canine response team found a concealed body during its search of an area approximately 1.3 miles from where Zinkhan’s vehicle was recovered. The recovered body has been transported to the State Crime Lab for positive identification. Police say evidence at the scene is consistent with the description of George Zinkhan, but emphasize that no positive identification has been made at this time.

UGA President Michael F. Adams issued the following statement this afternoon:

We are grateful for the professional work of the local, state and federal law enforcement agencies that have cooperated to bring this intensive investigation to this point. I am especially appreciative of the UGA police for the measures they took to ensure that the campus community remained safe and secure as we have continued university business during this very trying time.

Again, I express my sincerest condolences to the loved ones and friends of the victims of this tragedy. Our hearts go out to each of them as they try to bring closure to and cope with the pain and sorrow these losses of life have caused them. May they ultimately find healing and peace.

##

The second email came later this evening announcing the positive identification of the body as that of former UGA professor George Zinkhan:

—– Original Message —–
Subject:Zinkhan identity confirmed
Date:Sat, 9 May 2009 22:45:35
From:Official UGA Announcements <archnews@UGA.EDU>
To: <ARCHNEWS-E@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>

TO: UGA Students, Faculty and Staff

Athens Clarke-County Police announced Saturday evening that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the State Crime Lab have confirmed that the body found earlier Saturday off Cleveland Road in Clarke County is that of George M. Zinkhan III, the former UGA marketing professor wanted for shooting three people to death off-campus in Athens on April 25.

*UPDATE*

A Sunday article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

We will post updates to this story as they come in.

Stay with UGANews.com for breaking news from the University of Georgia.

*UPDATE*

WAGA news in Atlanta is reporting (and now the Atlanta Journal-Constition is as well) that police have found the body of George Zinkhan close to the location of his Jeep.