Economics

There are fears of inflation, but the numbers for the Augusta Leading Economic Index seem to be heading in the right direction. The Augusta Leading Economic Index (LEI) ended the year 1.8 percent higher than in December 2024.  Because of the government shutdown in the fall, the release of data for November and December was delayed until last week for some components of the LEI. Specifically, new privately owned housing units authorized increased in November and December by 21% and 17% respectively, although the total number of permits for 2025

For North Augusta Mayor Briton Williams, the most intriguing part of Augusta 2035: Blueprint for Action report is Augusta Tomorrow’s proposal to introduce water taxis. Those would be used to shuttle passengers between the Augusta side and the new boat dock near the Sharon Jones Amphitheater on the North Augusta side. “Neither one of our communities has truly understood and embraced what it means to have a body of water in between us,” Williams said. “Communities in both our states would love to have water as part of what they

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in early February at USCA creates a partnership with a company on the leading edge of developing new ways to generate power. The MOU is with Antares Industries, a California-based company that specializes in nuclear fission energy systems, including fission microreactors, also known as Small Modular Reactors (SMR). Tom Mancinelli, Head of Federal Strategy and Policy at Antares, told ABD that their work right now is primarily for defense and space. They also work with the Pentagon and NASA to provide reactors for energy