Georgia | featured news

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — More than 100,000 residents were without power in coastal Georgia as gusty winds strengthened and rain grew more severe with Hurricane Matthew swirling toward the region Friday night.
Outages could climb through the night in the storm-struck counties of Chatham, Glynn, Camden and McIntosh, Georgia Power spokesman John Kraft said. He said utility company crewmembers are expected to head toward the storm-hit areas Saturday after the weather clears.

The Red Cross is asking Augustans to volunteer to help keep shelters for hurricane evacuees staffed.
Opportunities to volunteer at Red Cross shelters are expected to continue through October 14, and can include helping distribute food, water and hygiene kits. 
Volunteers must be at least 18 years old, must pass a background check and motor vehicle check and must be in good health. Training takes place on site.
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Time is running out to register to vote in the Nov. 8 presidential election - and advance voting starts in eight days.
Local elections officials say applications continue to pour in ahead of the Tuesday registration deadline.
“We’ve got several thousand that we’ve yet to process, and they continue to come in pretty steadily every day,” said Lynn Bailey, executive director for Richmond County Board of Elections.
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The Augusta Fire Department and Emergency Management Agency has canceled the Family Emergency Ready Day Program scheduled Saturday at the Augusta Mall.
The new date for the emergency readiness event will be announced at a later time.

 
The Glenn Hills-Laney game originally scheduled for this weekend has been moved to Wednesday because of the threat of storms from Hurricane Matthew.
The Wildcats will play host to the Spartans at Lucy C. Laney Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
The two teams were initially set to play Saturday and both have bye weeks the following week. Laney has won the past eight meetings dating back to 1998, including shutouts in three of the past four matchups.

Richmond County schools will be closed Monday to help shelter evacuees from Savannah.
A decision on making up the day will be made at a later date, according to Kaden Jacobs, director of communications and community engagement for Richmond County schools. No students or faculty are required to attend Monday.
Richmond County schools previously planned to use Monday as a makeup day for closing Sept. 2 because of Tropical Storm Hermine.
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ATHENS, Ga. — While Georgia’s football operations staff was on the ground in Columbia making sure a new site for the team to stay in met its needs, athletic director Greg McGarity Friday morning laid out some behind the scenes maneuvering that led to the rescheduled game at South Carolina being pushed back a day.
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Two weeks after the PGA Tour season ended, the next one starts Thursday and for some fans it can’t get here soon enough: Tiger Woods is returning to golf.
Woods made it official Friday by entering the Safeway Open in Napa, Calif., the first event on the PGA Tour’s wraparound schedule. He has said a month ago that he hoped to play the Safeway Open at Silverado Resort, but had until Friday afternoon to officially commit.
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SAVANNAH, Ga. -- A dusk to dawn curfew for all of Chatham County has been put in place during Hurricane Matthew and will stay in effect until lifted by local officials.

Bused Savannah evacuees now number 1,800 in seven Augusta shelters but more fleeing Hurricane Matthew are on the way, officials said Friday at a morning news conference.
“We expect based on our Chatham County MOU the last one of those to come in today,” city Fire Chief Chris James said.
“As far as the self-evacuees, they will be coming in all day and probably until the storm hits. We have no way of telling the number of those that will stop in our community.”