*UGA students in Athens are signing a petition for the University to bring back the blue-light emergency call boxes it removed in 2004. It follows the murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley on campus last Thursday. The petition had over 10,000 signatures by Friday afternoon. The school says it removed the call boxes partly both for disuse and because their 1988 technology would require an expensive upgrade to sync with current technology.
*A Georgia Senate committee passed a bill last week 6-3, increasing legal protections for religion. The bill would limit the government’s ability to pass or enforce laws that conflict with religious beliefs. Several religious leaders and gay right advocates tell the AJC it could be used by religious organizations and businesses to deny them service. Since in 2016, religious rights legislation has routinely been introduced in the Republican-majority Senate. The-Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed a similar measure several years ago.
(Georgia News Network contributed to this report.)