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Georgia embraces Germany’s apprenticeship model

Jan 26, 2018
Manufacturers are worried they will not have enough skilled workers in the future, so they have started to create apprenticeship programs to train high school students.
Georgia Piedmont Technical College received funding to open a new Advanced Manufacturing Center in Covington. It includes five labs for training in machine tools, electronics, mechanics, automation and process control, as well as industrial wiring and motor controls.
Tasnim Shamma/ for Marketplace

A university lab gives members of the public a chance to control a swarm of robots

Dec 25, 2017
The Robotarium, a lab at Georgia Tech, allows users to control a swarm of miniature robots remotely, opening up the field to researchers and low-incomes students alike.
The Robotarium has about 100 ground robots that glide along a white surface. Each has a Wi-Fi chip on top and small rubber wheels on the bottom. 
Tasnim Shamma/ for Marketplace

Helping low-income residents benefit from solar power

Oct 3, 2017
Brunswick, Georgia is trying to install solar panels in a field, so it can sell the power to the local utility for a rebate that can be given to low-income residents.
Travis Stegall looks at what he calls his “field of dreams,” where he plans to install solar panels to help subsidize energy costs for low-income residents of Brunswick, Georgia.
Emily Jones/ for Marketplace

In an era when water ownership sparks disputes, one Georgia water agency wants to share its supply

Jul 27, 2017
Use less water, share more of it. One Georgia water agency bucks the water wars stereotype.
The pond at Starr’s Mill is one of the reservoirs that Fayette County operates. The water system is allowed to use water from this reservoir, but it doesn’t, choosing instead to let it flow downstream for other uses. 
Molly Samuel/for Marketplace

Georgia's weighted charter school lottery aims to give disadvantaged kids better odds, but few schools use it

Jul 3, 2017
In Georgia, the name of a child eligible for the weighted school lottery can be entered up to five times.
Students line up to leave lunch at the Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School in the Grant Park neighborhood recently.
Grant Blankenship

Georgia aims to make its websites accessible for all

May 17, 2017
So far, the state has upgraded more than half of its 130 sites to federal standards. Enabling screen readers is one improvement.
Annie Maxwell, who is blind, shows how she uses a software program called a screen reader to access web pages.
Tasnim Shamma/WABE

Community near Georgia nuclear plant looks at an uncertain future

Apr 25, 2017
What will Westinghouse's bankruptcy mean for its nuclear projects in the U.S.?
Plant Vogtle in  Georgia sits just west of the Savannah River.
Grant Blankenship

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Political parties spend big in Georgia's special congressional election

Apr 13, 2017
Republicans and Democrats are testing how far outside money goes in the Trump era.
Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old former congressional staffer, is the leading Democratic candidate for Georgia's 6th Congressional District.
Johnny Kauffman

School choice can put some rural districts at risk of losing funds

Mar 27, 2017
Communities like Talbotton, Georgia, have few options beyond public schools.
Jack Catrett, Talbot County schools superintendent, worries expanding school choice will widen the gap between haves and have-nots.
Sam Whitehead/GPB

Emory University chooses to be a 'safe harbor' instead of 'sanctuary'

Mar 21, 2017
Students protest the school's decision, but the careful language may keep it from losing state funding.
Students, staff and faculty members walked out in protest and gathered in front of this administrative building at Emory University in February to pressure the university's new president Dr. Claire Sterk to label the university as a "sanctuary campus."
Tasnim Shamma/WABE