Baby koala out of the pouch at Riverbanks Zoo
Lottie, one of the koala bears at the Riverbanks Zoo, birthed a new joey in December that is beginning to become more active and leave the confines of his mothers pouch, according to The State. The unnamed male baby koala is the ninth joey Lottie has given birth to during her 11 years in captivity at the Riverbanks Zoo.
Lottie has proven herself to be an extremely rare koala, considering only seven joeys are born per year in the 11 U.S. zoos that have koala exhibits, and only two of these joeys were born in 2014.
Jimmie, a male koala at the Riverbanks Zoo, has fathered seven of Lottie’s nine offspring.
According to typical koala breeding practices, she will have three more seasons of breeding, during which the zoo hopes to see even more joeys from Lottie and her partner.
— Lauren Shirley, Assistant News Editor
Bodies found could be missing Craigslist Couple
According to WISTV, Georgia investigators have found two bodies they believe might be an elderly couple that was deemed missing after they drove across the state to check out a Craigslist ad.
Elrey and June Runion, a couple in their late 60's, were traveling from Marietta to McRae, Georgia after seeing an advertisement for a car on Craigslist. Their family called authorities on Thursday after they had not heard from the couple.
Telfair County sheriff Chris Steverson reported that they found the bodies next to the car that the couple had been traveling in. The car was in a body of water, however, the bodies themselves were not.
Ronnie Adrian Towns surrendered to the authorities on Monday after being named a suspect in the case.
— Lauren Shirley, Assistant News Editor
SC Supreme Court rules against rehearing education case
The South Carolina Supreme Court denied Gov. Nikki Haley’s request to rehear a landmark case regarding a school-funding lawsuit, The State reported.
Last November, the same court ruled 3-2 that the state had failed to provide children in poor, rural districts with adequate public education as required by the South Carolina Constitution.
The South Carolina Supreme Court ordered the school districts to work with lawmakers in order to come up with a plan that would address the problems that had been identified during the case. These problems lay chiefly in the weak rural tax bases, the aging facilities of the rural counties and the difficulty of gaining quality teachers in rural areas.
“We are unable to discover that any material fact or principle of law has been either overlooked or disregarded, and hence, there is no basis for granting a rehearing,” Chief Justice Jean Toal wrote with regards to the request for the rehearing.
— Lauren Shirley, Assistant News Editor