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Discount retailer Kmart’s last retail store in the Augusta metro area, at 1647 Gordon Highway, will close by mid-December.
Kmart owner Sears Holdings Corp. confirmed Monday the south Augusta store will be shuttered following the conclusion of liquidation sale that began late last month.
Earlier this year Kmart closed its Big K store on Martintown Road in the North Augusta Plaza shopping center. The Washington Road Kmart in Martinez closed in 2012.

Augusta Christian Schools officials told police someone damaged and stole items from the concession stand area, resulting in hundred of dollars in food spoiling.
Columbia County sheriff’s deputies were called to the school on Baston Road on Thursday after a school representative discovered someone had entered the unlocked concession stand and broken the lock of a drink refrigerator. According to a report, the bandits took various drinks and candies. The representative said they also turned off the breaker box, causing $300 worth of meat to spoil.

Columbia County deputies are seeking a thief who stole rims and tires from Chevrolet Camaros at a Washington Road car dealership and then abandoned them at a nearby apartment.
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Two Columbia County teams will face off Friday night in a game with potentially-crucial region implications.
Grovetown will travel to Evans at 7:30 p.m. in The Augusta Chronicle’s Game of the Week.
The Columbia County region always proves tight each season, and this year could be one of the more competitive races in Region 3-AAAAAA. Two of the stronger programs within that region will meet when Evans and Grovetown pick up its back-and-forth series.

The Glenn Hills-Laney game originally scheduled for this past weekend has been moved a second time.
The two teams are now set to play Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at Lucy C. Laney Memorial Stadium.
The Wildcats were originally scheduled to play host to the Spartans this past Saturday, but conditions from Hurricane Matthew forced the game to Wednesday. Richmond County schools will remain closed today to house hurricane evacuees, and the game was pushed back again.

 
A 31-year-old Hephzibah man is facing multiple sex and drug-related charges after video showed him performing incest with a small child.
Anthony Christian Smith, of Patiller Road, was booked into the Richmond County jail Sunday on charges of incest, sexual exploitation of a child, aggravated child molestation, possession of methamphetamine and misdemeanor possession of marijuana.
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SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Chatham County officials say a mandatory evacuation order will be lifted this afternoon but they are encouraging people to wait until Monday to return home.
 
Local officials said this morning the order will be lifted at 5 p.m. Sunday. Officials say crews are focused on clearing essential roads and are making progress.
 
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Sunday morning delivery of The Augusta Chronicle may be delayed by a couple of hours.
The printing of today's Augusta Chronicle is delayed due to efforts to assist other newspapers whose printing operations were affected by Hurricane Matthew.
We apologize for the inconvenience.

If weather allows, contractors plan to close both the entrance and exit ramp from River Watch Parkway to Broad Street early Sunday morning to improve its surface.
 
According to a news release, work was to begin at 4 a.m. and run into the night. Traffic may still access both River Watch Parkway and Broad Street by using 15th Street. The Interstate 20 interchange will be unaffected.
 

 
 
WASHINGTON — Hurricane Matthew’s close-but-not-quite-direct-hit path along the Florida and Georgia coasts skirted the difference between disaster and catastrophe, meteorologists said.
 
Even though Matthew eventually made landfall in South Carolina as a minimal hurricane Saturday, the path it took in the days before was a stroke of luck for the United States that meteorologists will spend years trying to understand and explain.