Augusta, Richmond County, GA | featured news

An Augusta man has been arrested in connection with a home invasion Saturday that hospitalized one man.
Gerry McNair Haynes, 38, of the 500 block of Brooke Lane in Augusta, was charged with home invasion in the first degree and aggravated assault regarding the incident in the 2200 block of Morningside Drive. The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office said more charges could be brought against Haynes as it investigates similar incidents on the street.

ATLANTA — Authorities have found most of the nearly 80,000 bottles of beer that were stolen from an Atlanta brewery last week, but the company says every last drop will have to be thrown away.

SweetWater Brewing Co. spokeswoman Tucker Berta Sarkisian said in a news release that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Southeastern Transportation Security Council on Wednesday returned 30 of the 40 pallets of beer that had been stolen, minus a few cases.

 
 
 
 
ATLANTA — Authorities say a woman has been shot near an Atlanta shopping mall after two men followed her and her boyfriend inside the mall and then tried to rob them.
 
Atlanta police spokesman Sgt. Warren Pickard tells news outlets that the suspects followed the 23-year-old woman, her child and her boyfriend to their car Wednesday evening after the couple had shopped at Lenox Square in the Buckhead neighborhood.
 

 
 
 
 
COLUMBIA — Attorneys for the federal government and the state of South Carolina are in court arguing about a lawsuit concerning an unfinished plant to turn old plutonium into commercial nuclear reactor fuel.
 
A federal judge in Columbia is hearing arguments today in South Carolina’s lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy over the mixed oxide fuel project at the Savannah River Site near Aiken.
 

 
 
 
 
SUMMERVILLE, S.C. — A Publix supermarket in Summerville was evacuated after fire officials responded to reports that people were experiencing shortness of breath and having difficulty breathing.
 
Fire Chief Richard Waring tells news outlets that 10 people were treated for breathing problems Wednesday afternoon, but no one had to be hospitalized.
 
Fire officials do not know what caused the symptoms. Waring says there was no odor or any signs of a gas leak.

COLUMBIA — Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia says it’s found high bacteria levels in the nearby Saluda River.

The State newspaper reported bacteria levels high enough to make people sick were found in the river near the zoo.

Riverbanks uses water from the river only for irrigation of plants and ponds where four elephants and 40 flamingos live. There is no indication the animals have been sick.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — With the summer driving season here and the Fourth of July weekend approaching, AAA Carolinas is urging motorists to avoid distracted driving.

The motor club based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is launching a new safety campaign even as new research finds that distracted driving, especially using cellphones, can be just as dangerous as drunk driving.
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JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. — A law enforcement official said Thursday no active shooter was found at a military post outside Washington, and the base said a lockdown was lifted except for the building where an active shooter had been reported.
The law enforcement official was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Joint Base Andrews tweeted just after 10:30 a.m. Thursday that the lock down had been lifted with the exception of the Malcolm Grow medical center.

Police are seeking a man who exposed himself several times Tuesday in a Grovetown shopping center.
Wal-Mart employees told police they saw the man walking through the store about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday exposing himself to customers. A manager and several other employees were following him through the store with the intention of stopping him when the unknown man saw them and fled through the garden section. He was last seen running into the woods behind the store.

The sprawling industrial plant that helped make Augusta a major chemical manufacturer a half-century ago will shut down by the end of 2017.
The Netherlands-based owner of Augusta’s Fibrant LLC caprolactam plant, known for decades as DSM Chemicals, said Thursday it will shutter the nearly 600-employee operation due to weak global prices caused by an oversupply in Asia.