Tag: University of Georgia

Laken Riley’s Alleged Killer Arrived in Georgia on ‘Humanitarian Flight,’ Roommate Testifies

Daily Caller News Foundation
Jose Ibarra

Jose Ibarra, the alleged murderer of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley, traveled from New York City to Georgia after requesting a humanitarian flight, his roommate testified Monday.

Ibarra is currently standing trial after being charged for the murder of Riley, who died in February from blunt force trauma to the head outside of the University of Georgia’s campus. Ibarra’s roommate, Rosbeli Elisber Flores-Bello, testified that she and the suspected murderer arrived at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City and requested a humanitarian flight to Athens, Georgia, in September 2023.

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Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars Pour Into House District 53 Race

The Center Square
Susie Greenberg and Deborah Silcox in front of the Georgia State Capitol Building (composite image)

While many of Georgia’s 180 state House of Representative seats are not competitive, District 53 is where Democrat Susie Greenberg hopes to flip the “most flippable” seat back blue.

Incumbent Republican Rep. Deborah Silcox was first elected in 2022 by a margin of less than 1,500 votes, after many years of Democrat representatives. She previously was a representative in District 52, before losing that seat in 2020.

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Commentary: Migrant Pain for the Heartland

Georgia Star News Staff

Although the Badger State is 2000 miles away from Mexico, the fallout of Biden’s open border bleeds into the American heartland, literally so in many cases. In reality, the Biden-Harris open borders agenda transforms every jurisdiction in America into a border town, including small villages like Whitewater, Wisconsin. That previously tranquil small town of 15,000 in southern Wisconsin has been flooded with about 1,000 new migrants during Biden’s term, mostly from Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Such a mass influx places intense strain upon public resources, including schools ill-prepared to handle so many new students, many of whom do not speak English. Whitewater city council member Brienne Brown told Wisconsin PBS that “we are a poor town that has limited resources.”

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Commentary: Americans Don’t Know About Laken Riley’s Murder

Georgia Star News Staff
Laken Riley

How do we stop tragedies like the murder of Laken Riley if Americans do not even know the details of her horrific yet completely preventable homicide?

Thankfully, highly politically engaged citizens know well the details of Laken’s vicious murder on the University of Georgia campus one month ago. In broad daylight, the 22-year-old nursing student was out jogging when she was brutally slain in an unprovoked attack. Jose Antonio Ibarra has been charged with her murder.

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Georgia Latino Coalition Demands UGA ‘Denounce’ ‘Hateful Rhetoric’ After Murder of Laken Riley

Tom Pappert
Laken Riley

A number of Latino and Hispanic organizations in Georgia signed a Monday letter to the University of Georgia (UGA) president to demand action against alleged “hateful rhetoric and fear mongering” they claim started following the murder of nursing student Laken Riley on the university’s campus. Police say Riley was slain by Jose Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela.

Sent by the GALEO Impact Fund and signed by over 100 organizations and individuals, the letter claims “the community in Athens has been plagued by hateful rhetoric and fear mongering,” with “some Latino students” allegedly “afraid to walk to class alone” following Riley’s death.

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UGA Refuses to Release Audio, Provide Details of Attempted 911 Call by Laken Riley

Tom Pappert
Laken Riley 911

The University of Georgia (UGA) declined to provide details to The Georgia Star News on Monday about the attempted call to emergency services by Laken Riley, the nursing student who police say was killed at the UGA campus by Jose Ibarra, who illegally immigrated to the United States from Venezuela.

An arrest affidavit filed against Ibarra on February 23 offered new details about her death, including the revelation his alleged attack disfigured Riley’s skull, and claims the nursing student attempted to dial 911 for help during the attack but was stopped by Ibarra.

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Wife of Illegal Immigrant Who Allegedly Killed Student on UGA Campus Admits They Married to ‘Join Our Asylum Cases’

Tom Pappert

The wife of Jose Antonio Ibarra, the 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela who police arrested Friday for the murder of nursing student Laken Riley, 22, at the University of Georgia (UGA) campus, revealed in a Saturday interview that the couple originally married with the goal of furthering their cases for asylum in the United States.

Layling Franco told the New York Post on Saturday that she and Jose Ibarra entered the United States illegally through El Paso with her five-year-old son on September 8, 2022. Franco said the alleged killer made money by delivering food for Uber Eats, DoorDash and a local restaurant.

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Athens’ Homeless Problem Could Lower University of Georgia’s Enrollment Numbers, One Resident Says

Chris Butler

Athens-Clarke County officials use taxpayer money to lure in greater and greater numbers of homeless people from around Georgia, but the consequences to the county and to the University of Georgia (UGA) are too great to ignore. This, according to two Athens residents who said they have observed the city’s homeless epidemic up close.

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University of Georgia Set to Rename Buildings After Prominent African American Alumni

Cooper Moran

Following a request from University of Georgia President Jere W. Morehead, members of the University Cabinet voted on Wednesday to recommend renaming two facilities after prominent African American alumni.

The unanimous support would change the name of the Science Library in memory of Shirley Mathis McBay and a new residence hall in honor of Harold A. Black, Mary Blackwell Diallo and Kerry Rushin Miller.

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University of Georgia Professor Says Kyle Rittenhouse Verdict Shows It’s ‘Open Hunting Season on Progressive Protesters’

Chris Butler

A University of Georgia (UGA) professor said in a recent column that the not guilty verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial will motivate members of the political right to inflict violence upon the left. That professor, Cas Mudde, teaches international affairs, according to his UGA profile.

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Georgia Protestors Gather in Groups to Demand Mask Mandate

Peter D'Abrosca
favor of mask and vaccine mandates

In defiance of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for group gatherings, Georgia faculty and students have coordinated weeklong protests of the University System of Georgia. 

The students are gathering to demand that the University System implement a mask mandate on all of the state’s publicly-run university campuses.

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Another Georgia Professor Quits Over COVID-19 Concerns

Peter D'Abrosca
University of North Georgia arches

Just days after two professors at the University of North Georgia resigned instead of teaching classes in person, another professor at a public university in Georgia has decided to call it quits over COVID-19 concerns.

Irwin Bernstein, am 88-year-old retiree-rehire at the University of Georgia, abruptly quit his position in the middle of a class after a student refused to pull her mask over her nose, according to WSBTV.

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University of Georgia Professor Bettina Love Tasks ‘Co-Conspirators’ to Not to ‘Spirit Murder’ Minority Students

Georgia Star News Staff

Bettina L. Love may not have the same public profile of Ibram X. Kendi or Robin DiAngelo, but she is still an active and influential voice among Critical Race Theory and anti-racism scholars.

A professor at the University of Georgia and founder of the Abolitionist Teaching Network, Love promotes Critical Race Theory across the country in children’s schools.

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Former UGA Professor Ordered to Prison, Must Register as Lifetime Sex Offender

Chris Butler

A former University of Georgia (UGA) professor who admitted to authorities that he possessed hundreds of images of child pornography was sentenced to federal prison and will have to register as a sex offender for life. This, according to a press release that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia published this week.

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University of Georgia Professor Told Students Not to Cite FOX News or Other Conservative News Sources

Chris Butler

Members of The Young Americans Foundation and Campus Reform this week reported that a University of Georgia professor told his students not to cite conservative-leaning news sources, such as FOX News. Both groups identified that man as Scott Connelly, a UGA ecology professor.

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Higher Ed Students in Georgia Would Have Greater First Amendment Rights under New Bill in General Assembly

Chris Butler

Georgia State Rep. Josh Bonner (R-Fayetteville) has put forward a bill in the Georgia General Assembly that, if enacted into law, would grant greater free speech rights to students at the state’s institutions of higher learning. Bonner named the bill the Forming Open and Robust University Minds (FORUM) Act.

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