Richmond County, GA | featured news

 
A woman gave birth to a baby boy at a Lumpkin Road convenience store this morning, according to first responders.
Gold Cross and firefighters were dispatched to Circle K at the intersection of Lumpkin and Deans Bridge roads about 11 a.m.
Fire Department spokeswoman Dee Griffin said the woman was already delivering in the restroom when firefighters arrived at the scene. She said mother and child were doing well and transported to an area hospital.
The mother’s identity has not been officially disclosed.

Part of Robert M. Bell Parkway will close at 6 p.m. Saturday to allow for the installation of the new pedestrian bridge at USC Aiken.
According to a news release, South Carolina Highway Patrol troopers will divert parkway traffic around the USC Aiken Convocation Center via Champion Way and Proud Pacer Road.
The regular traffic pattern will resume as soon as possible Sunday unless bad weather forces delays.
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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Officials say a fire at a Huntington Beach State Park nature center killed several animals and destroyed the property.

Midway Fire Rescue Chief Doug Eggiman tells news outlets that the fire started Wednesday morning and was likely caused by a lightning strike.

Several animals, including snakes and small alligators, were inside the three-story nature center during the fire. Eggiman says there was no way they could have survived.

Recent rainfall might have greened up your yard, but it didn’t make much change to the region’s rainfall deficit.
According to the National Weather Service, the Augusta area received at least daily trace amounts of rainfall Friday through Tuesday, with the largest amount recorded Saturday at Daniel Field with 3.49 total inches. A Tuesday storm in Columbia County uprooted trees, knocked out power and brought some hail. The chance of thunderstorms continues through Friday, then returns early next week.

Augusta’s personnel board has upheld the terminations of two firefighters who admitted picking up items from a Columbia County wreck scene.
After a two-hour hearing Wednesday, the board quickly voted 8-0 to affirm. Member J.R. Riles said the board wanted to send a message.
“The fire department and the police department, you’ve got to be able to trust them to take care of your personal stuff when you’re in a difficult situation,” Riles said.

Old Evans Road will be closed this weekend as work continues on an extension of Riverwatch Parkway.
The road will be closed Friday for construction and realignment approaching the Old Petersburg Road intersection, according to a Georgia Department of Transportation news release. That morning the Riverwatch Parkway intersection at Blue Ridge Drive will be opened, allowing crews to close Old Evans Road to thru-traffic from south of Blue Ridge Drive to Briarwood Drive until Monday morning.

 
The draining of the Augusta Canal is allowing two downtown bridges to be restored.
Work has already begun on the Archibald W. Butt Memorial Bridge on 15th Street and the Broad Street bridge over the Augusta Canal. Although both are structurally sound, traffic engineers said it will allow for some rehabilitation.
Crews started Monday injecting a waterproofing material into the cracks in the underside of both bridges.

 
 
 
 
COLUMBIA — Richland County sheriff’s deputies say a man shot and wounded his son to prevent him from burning himself and a home in Columbia.
 
Multiple media outlets reported that 31-year-old Felton Wayne Swindler doused himself with gasoline and tried to set himself and the house on fire Tuesday morning. Sheriff’s spokeswoman Brittany Scott says Swindler’s father shot him to prevent the fires.
 

Augusta is on its way to opening a riverfront substation for the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.
The Augusta Commission voted 8-1 on Tuesday for City Administrator Janice Allen Jackson to secure funds to renovate an area in the Port Royal building at Riverwalk Augusta for the station.
Commissioner Sammie Sias was out for the vote while Commissioner Bill Fennoy, whose District 1 includes the riverwalk, downtown, Harrisburg and east Augusta, was the sole “no” vote.

JASPER, Ga. — A judge has dismissed the charges against a north Georgia newspaper publisher and his attorney who were jailed in an open records dispute.

Multiple news media report that Senior Judge Richard Winegarden on Monday dismissed the charges against Fannin Focus publisher Mark Thomason and attorney Russell Stookey after holding a hearing.
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