Columbia County is still aiming to complete its $35 million Performing Arts Center by the first of the year.All it needs is an opening act.”A lot of performers are not committing to perform because of COVID,” County Administrator Scott Johnson said. “So we might have a venue that’s ready to go but no acts to…
Augusta man killed in North Augusta hit-and-run
An Augusta man was killed in a hit-and-run Saturday in North Augusta.The Aiken County Coroner’s Office was called to Jefferson Davis Highway at Buena Vista Avenue in North Augusta Saturday morning after the body of Christopher L. Bovian, 30, was found on the shoulder of the road by a passerby, according to Coroner Darryl Ables.Ables…
Man injured, in custody after shootout with Richmond County deputies
A man is in custody after a shootout with Richmond County deputies early Saturday morning.According to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to the 1300 block of Anderson Avenue around 2 a.m. in reference to a domestic dispute.Upon arrival, deputies encountered a man armed with a gun who fled the scene on foot as…
12-year-old boy killed in Aiken drive-by shooting
An Aiken boy was killed and another child injured in a drive-by shooting in Aiken early Saturday.According to Aiken County Coroner Darryl Ables, Aiken Department of Public Safety officers responded to a residence in the 1000 block of Wyman Street at 3:48 a.m.Edward F. McKenzie Jr., 12, was found inside the home with at least…
Aiken County teachers protest return to in-person learning
Aiken High School teacher Francesca Pataro said she would love to have all students back in classrooms full-time, but now is not the right time.”It just is not sound science or medicine to do that,” Pataro said. “It’s important to us to speak out about this right now.” Pataro helped organize a protest outside Aiken…
Voting absentee in South Carolina: Your questions answered
South Carolina is allowing able-bodied voters to vote by mail for the very first time and many are likely unfamiliar with the state’s version of the process.As of Oct. 8, 13% of the state’s 3.5 million registered voters had requested an absentee ballot, and 319,994 had been mailed one, including 9,419 voters in Aiken County.The…
No concerns among experts about flu shot shortages as demand expected to increase
As a new flu season arrives in the midst of a pandemic, local experts are not worried about a possible flu shot shortage as a result of an expected increase in demand for the vaccine.East Central Health District Director Stephen Goggans said they haven’t heard of any issue of flu shot shortages in the area.…
College soccer championship coming to Columbia County
Columbia County will play host to a national collegiate soccer championship next spring that’s expected to deliver an economic impact of more than $600,000.The county has been awarded rights to hold the 2020 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Men’s Soccer National Championships at Blanchard Woods Park May 4-10, 2021.COVID-19 conditions caused the NAIA to move…
Facebook grant to assist with Augusta elections
A grant from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is helping Augusta cover the extra expenses of the 2020 elections.The Richmond County Board of Elections was given $386,279, the full amount it requested Friday, Executive Director Lynn Bailey said.”It is such a generous gift and will go a long way toward making voting even more convenient, safe…
Raphael Warnock, son of Savannah and U.S. Senate hopeful, brings his message home
A few dapper Black men gather before a little restaurant between a title-pawn shop and a U-Haul lot alongside a stretch of Abercorn Street miles south from Savannah’s Historic District. Across the busy road, a car dealership’s flag hangs at half-mast; the day before, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died.More well-dressed men and…
Five suspects arrested in murder of Evans man
Five people have been arrested in the murder of an Evans man.According to the sheriff’s office, Tyquan Rouse, 21, Tyrese Rouse, 20, Jaylon Herrin, 18, Bristan Curry, 19 and Montell Harling, 18, have been charged with murder in the death of Gage Cameron Reynolds, 28, in Martinez. Reynolds was found shot and lying in the…
Gov. Brian Kemp touts COVID-19 progress in Georgia, urges flu shots
ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp touted an encouraging decline in the number positive COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Georgia Wednesday while urging people to get their flu shots immediately.At a news conference, Kemp noted new positive cases have dropped more than 60% from their peak in July and the two-week positivity average – a key…
Accounting error costs Georgia, tax collections stay strong
ATLANTA — Georgia is taking a one-time $240 million hit to its bank account because accounting software wasn’t sending the right share of sales taxes to local governments.The payments were made last month after an audit by the state Department of Revenue, sending state revenue into the red in September, according to figures released Tuesday.…
Savannah doctor sees vitamin D as a tool to fight COVID
Savannah primary care physician Dr. Maulik Patel has taken care of about 60 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 since March. They’ve all survived the virus.”I haven’t had one mortality,” said Patel, an internal medicine physician who focuses on geriatrics at Memorial’s Adult Primary Care practice on Lexington Avenue. “Even a 96-year-old with dementia.”He attributes that in…
Trans community mourns death at Augusta park
Friends and advocates are grieving the shooting death of a transgender woman discovered at an Augusta park Saturday.”HRC is mourning the loss of Felycya Harris, a transgender woman killed in Meadowbrook Park in Augusta, Ga.,” said Elizabeth Bibi, senior communications advisor for the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ-advocacy group.Richmond County Coroner Mark Bowen ruled the…
Augusta Commission to continue virtual meetings
The Augusta Commission will continue to meet online on Zoom rather than attending scheduled in-person meetings today.Mayor Hardie Davis said late Monday that Augusta-Richmond County remains a high-transmission county with 380 new coronavirus cases in the past two weeks. Augusta is ninth in the state for deaths with 167 and 11th for hospitalizations at 578.”After…
Augusta area anti-abortion groups form Life Chains, call for reform
There are lots of conventional ways teenagers can spend their weekend, but 15-year-old Lucy Wingate and her friends spent their Sunday outside an Augusta abortion clinic, doing what they believe is right.”It’s just horrible what’s going on, how many children are being murdered every day,” Lucy said. “We need to stand up against that and…
Oct. 5, 2002: Mayhem, arrests crash First Friday in Augusta
Monthly downtown festival never recovered from disruption. Top Featured Tags: – Georgia News Press Release Distribution Service
UGA should update or include ’more truthful context’ on historic markers and statues, group says
Public art and historic markers on the University of Georgia campus contradict the stated UGA core values symbolized by the UGA Arch, according to the Athens Cultural Affairs Commission.The values are wisdom, justice and moderation, but UGA should examine the markers and art to “update a narrow, exclusionary history plagued by white supremacy and nurture…
The Way We Were: Augusta’s Arthur Hazel was a man of many spiritual designs
Arthur Hazard knew what worked when it came to worship. Top Featured Tags: – Georgia News Press Release Distribution Service
Oct. 4, 1918: Deaths took toll at Augusta Army base
Spanish Flu of 1918 proved deadly to soldiers. Top Featured Tags: – Georgia News Press Release Distribution Service
Augusta man dies in I-20 motorcycle crash in Aiken County
An Augusta man died Saturday afternoon in a motorcycle crash on I-20 in Aiken County.According to Aiken County Coroner Darryl Ables, at 4:04 p.m., Richard Schadle, 75, was riding his 2004 Harley Davidson motorcycle on I-20 West near mile marker 10 when he ran off the right side of the road and hit the guardrail.Schadle…
