A group of five Forsyth County high school students gather at the Forsyth Central High School track for an Out of the Darkness walk March 26, 2022, including the event's organizer, Ali Norris (center). (Ellen Eldridge / GPB News)
 

Ali Norris, a Forsyth Central High School senior whose brother died by suicide when she was a freshman, supported friends when a classmate died by suicide in March 2021. 

• "I went to his celebration of life, and it just hit too close to home, and I realized that I needed to do something," she said. "And I couldn't just sit back and there was something that needed to be done."

The “something” was to organize a countywide Out of the Darkness Campus Walk, which the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's Georgia chapter hosts around the state to raise money for suicide prevention. Organizing that took until this March.

WHY IT MATTERS: The pandemic has intensified an existing crisis in child and adolescent mental health, a coalition of the nation's leading experts in pediatric health said. 

• "Across the country we have witnessed dramatic increases in emergency department visits for all mental health emergencies including suspected suicide attempts," they wrote.

Read more from GPB’s Ellen Eldridge.

(Unsplash)

What's the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia? There's good and bad news.

THE BAD: In January, the leading cause of death for Americans between 45 and 64 was COVID-19, and more people aged 15 and older died of COVID than of cancer — both thanks to the omicron wave of the virus. And now a sub variant of it, omicron BA-2, is in Georgia.

THE GOOD: Vaccination, boosting and natural immunity from infection has hospitalization numbers as low as they were right before last July’s delta wave, despite BA-2 making up 60% of cases in the state.

• “This is much more of a ripple than a wave,” said Dr. Cherie Drenzek, the state director of epidemiology. 

This artist's sketch provided by Spaceport Camden shows the launch pad complex of the proposed Spaceport Camden in Camden County, Ga (Spaceport Camden)

Camden County is forging ahead with plans for its spaceport despite last month’s referendum vote that overwhelmingly rejected the county’s purchase of the property for the dreamed-of facility.

• WHAT HAPPENED: Last week, three executives from Spearhead Capital Advisers gave the County Commission their plans — in very broad terms — to raise funds for a public-private partnership in Camden. 

Spearhead bills itself as a “boutique financial services firm focused on providing customized solutions for ultra high-net worth individuals, family offices, and asset management firms.” 

The Florida-based company oversees about $2 billion in assets.

A March 8 referendum attracted 5,782 voters, with 72% of them voting to repeal the county commission’s resolution to buy the spaceport property.

University of Georgia freshmen eat lunch behind one of the main dining halls. (Grant Blankenship / GPB News)

College costs have been steadily rising. But for almost all of the 340,000 students at Georgia's public universities and colleges, they'll be going down next fall. 

That's thanks to a big boost in state funding granted in exchange for eliminating a budgetary hangover that had lasted more than a decade.

University System of Georgia regents approved tuition and fee rates for the system's 26 schools that will result in overall costs going down by 7.6% at the typical school. Students will save anywhere from $226 for a full two-semester load at Georgia Southern University's Armstrong campus in Savannah to $1,088 at Georgia Tech.

• A charge called the "special institutional fee" was imposed in addition to tuition amid $1 billion in state budget cuts during the Great Recession in 2009 and had remained even though it was supposed to be temporary.

• BUT: Last December, a legislative committee recommended getting rid of the fee. Then, university leaders said the $230 million it generated was too much to eliminate, unless it was replaced by state money. Because of dazzling growth in state revenue, Gov. Brian Kemp and lawmakers agreed to do just that.

A Delta Airlines aircraft taxis in December 2021 at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Delta Air Lines lost $940 million in the first quarter yet bookings surged in recent weeks, setting up a breakout summer as Americans try to put the pandemic behind them. 

Shares jumped more than 6% before the opening bell Wednesday on strong revenue numbers.

The Atlanta airline still faces stiff headwinds, including a sharp rise in fuel and labor costs. And it is not clear whether spiking inflation will throttle travel spending.

• On Tuesday, the U.S. reported that inflation in the past year rose at its fastest pace in more than four decades, led by soaring fuel costs, which is the second largest expense for airlines after labor. 

Delta's costs for jet fuel is up 33% from just the last quarter. Total adjusted operating expense reached $9 billion in the first quarter, up 11% sequentially because of fuel prices and also the ramping up operations from the pandemic.

Screenshot of an Argentine tegu lizard. (Georgia's Department of Natural Resources)

Georgia's Department of Natural Resources is asking residents to report sightings of an invasive lizard that can pose a threat to native species.

HARD TO MISS: From South America, tegu lizards can grow up to 4 feet long and weigh up to 10 pounds. And the large black and white reptiles have a big appetite, too. 

• "They can live almost anywhere and eat almost anything," Daniel Sollenberger, a DNR wildlife biologist, said in a news release.

But tegus like eating eggs of turtles, alligators and ground-nesting birds, threatening the propagation of those native species. 

So far they're only known to be in Toombs and Tattnall counties in Southeast Georgia.

Read more — and watch the DNR's video about the animals — here.