Richmond County, GA | featured news

Several apartments were damaged Sunday morning when a fire broke out at a downtown senior public housing complex.
Fire departments spokeswoman Dee Griffin said firefighters were called to Peabody Apartments, 1425 Walton Way, about 8:30 a.m. for a fire in a fourth floor apartment. Residents were evacuated immediately.
Officials determined an oxygen generator caused the fire. Several apartments on the second and third floor sustained water damage. The Red Cross is assisting displaced or affected residents.

Autopsy results indicate a man killed in a Wednesday crash died from injuries sustained in the wreck.
Boyce C. Williams, 57, of Augusta, died at AU Medical Center about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday after crashing his vehicle into a tree about two hours earlier. Police said Williams was the sole occupants in a 1996 Saturn SL when he left John C. Calhoun Expressway to enter Crawford Avenue, but failed to stop at the Crawford Avenue stop sign. The vehicle crossed the road and crashed into a tree in a yard on the 300 block of Crawford Avenue.

Seven years after Augusta boxer Vernon Forrest was shot and killed during an armed robbery,  an Atlanta jury has now convicted the shooter of murder.
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News, Charmon Sinkfield could face the death penalty in the July 2009 murder of Forrest during a robbery outside a gas station along Whitehall Street.
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Former McDuffie County Sheriff William Swan died Monday morning following an extended illness.Swan was elected sheriff in 1964 at the age of 27 and was one of the youngest serving sheriffs in the state of Georgia.He retired after serving 27 years.Details on his funeral services are not yet available.

DETROIT - Lexus, Toyota and Buick are the most reliable brands in Consumer Reports' latest survey, a reward for their conservative approach to new technology.
It's the fourth straight year that Lexus came in first and Toyota came in second. Two of their hybrids — the Toyota Prius and the Lexus CT 200H — were named the most reliable vehicles. But Buick — General Motors Co.'s near-luxury marque — is the first domestic brand to crack the top three since the magazine began tracking vehicle reliability in the early 1980s.

CHICAGO - It was a striking image. A photo of an 89-year-old man hunched over, struggling to push his cart with frozen treats. Fidencio Sanchez works long hours every day selling the treats because he couldn't afford to retire. The photo and his story went viral and thousands of people donated more than $384,000 for his retirement.
His story is a window into a dark reality: Many low-wage workers say they can't afford to retire.
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An Augusta man was shot early Saturday in an attempted robbery.
About 1 a.m., deputies responded to the 3000 block of Wrightsboro Road, where a 35-year-old man was suffering from a gunshot wound to the hand. According to the incident report, he was taken to AU Medical Center with injuries that weren't life-threatening.
The man told deputies that an unidentified black male attempted to rob him before shooting him in the hand.
A description of the suspect was not immediately available.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — A tour bus slammed into the back of a semi-truck on a Southern California highway early Sunday, killing 13 people and injuring at least 31 others, some critically, authorities said.
The passenger bus was going much faster than the truck, but it's not yet clear if it was speeding on Interstate 10 just north of the desert resort town of Palm Springs, California Highway Patrol Border Division Chief Jim Abele told reporters.

Someone stole $120 worth of political signs from the front of the Democratic Party of Georgia office in the 1000 block of Claussen Road.
According to a report filed Friday with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, the signs were taken between late Wednesday night and Thursday morning. At first it was assumed the landscaping company had moved the signs.
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Textron Specialized Vehicles will add from 100-150 jobs to its Augusta workforce during the next year as it combines operations with Jacobsen, of Charlotte, N.C., a leading manufacturer of turf-care equipment under the Jacobsen, Dixie Chopper and Ransomes brands.
Those new jobs will come in addition to an expansion announced earlier this year, which will create about 400 new jobs over the next five years, said Brandon Haddock, the director of communications for Textron Specialized Vehicles. The company expects to have about 1,100 employees in Augusta at the end of 2017.