Consumer Stories

B2B Stories

Grade Inflation: Both a Cause and Sign of America’s Weakening Competitiveness

Publisher’s Note: When interviewing a candidate at your business in the CSRA, do you expect their GPA to be a true indicator of how dedicated and intelligent he or she is? Students’ grades are up across the country from a while ago until now by 10-20%. But why? Dr. Rick Franza takes a look at an academic challenge that needs course correction. Grade inflation has been rampant on college campuses for decades, particularly since COVID, when this trend became exceedingly evident and problematic.  Having done my undergraduate work in the late

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B2B Stories

Helping entrepreneurs while checking off your Christmas List

There is a special retail event tomorrow at Augusta University (AU) on a campus more commonly associated with cybersecurity. The Holiday Maker’s market is on Friday from 11 AM to 3:30 PM at the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center (GCITC) on Grace Hopper Lane. Tina Baggott, AU’s interim executive vice president for Strategic Partnerships and Economic Development, told ABD the market has two goals. First, to offer early Christmas shopping with unique items created by students and faculty. The second purpose is to foster entrepreneurship, particularly among student vendors.

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Consumer Stories

Local & Holiday shopping expected to hit record levels

A leading industry organization has checked the trends, conducted surveys, crunched the numbers, and believes spending for the 2025 holiday buying season will top $1 trillion. Ray Carnes, founder of Recteq in Evans and part-owner, says he can tell already it’s going to be a strong holiday season. Friends and others are constantly asking, “When will Black Friday sales start?” Carnes says the earlier people ask, the better their season is. The National Retail Federation (NRF) lists the time between November 1st and December 31st as the holiday shopping season.

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Consumer Stories

Asbestos and Mold Regulations: What every Georgia & South Carolina business owner should know

Publisher’s Note: My wife and I discovered black mold at a West Augusta office building we lease. What responsibilities do employers or building owners have when hidden mold and asbestos get discovered? Joseph Galpin from Augusta’s EnviroPro 360 explains. https://enviropro360.com/blog/is-your-building-breaking-the-law-asbestos-and-mold-regulations-every-georgia-south-carolina-business-owner-should-know/

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Consumer Stories

National toilet paper/paper towel brand launches in CSRA

In 2009, Augusta’s Ray Carnes built his family-focused legacy with Recteq. In 2023, he expanded his brand with Ray Ray’s car wash. Now, he hopes to be king of the paper towel and toilet paper space, designed for healthier homes and cleaner living. “At Recteq, we built products that changed the way people cook — Throne Bamboo does the same for how people clean,” said Ray Carnes, founder of Throne Bamboo. “We spent 18 months perfecting every detail so families could have products that are good for their homes and

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B2B Stories

Succession Planning: A Braves New World

On Monday, the Atlanta Braves named Walt Weiss as its 49th manager in franchise history, taking over for Brian Snitker, who retired at the conclusion of the 2025 season after being the Braves manager since early in the 2016 season. Snitker took over the Braves amid a team rebuild but helped quickly turn things around, leading the team to six straight National League East championships from 2018 to 2023, with an additional playoff appearance in 2024 and a World Series championship in 2021. Since 1901, only Snitker’s mentor, Bobby Cox,

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B2B Stories

Zoning for a major development in South Augusta

The rezoning of a portion of a 280-acre tract clears the way for the development of a major warehouse project near the Augusta Regional Airport. If the deal goes through, a 300,000 square foot building will be built on the property. Members of the Augusta Planning Commission approved a request to rezone 100 acres from Agricultural (A) to Heavy Industrial (HI) at 1550 Four H Club Road. Ashley Catterton, development service administrator with Augusta Planning, noted that nearby tracts have already been rezoned from A to Light Industrial (LI). The

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Consumer Stories

Rallying around Federal workers at Augusta’s airport

As the Federal government shutdown enters its second month, employees at Augusta Regional Airport (AGS) are rallying around coworkers going without a paycheck. Impacted employees include those working with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Those employees are part of what are considered “essential workers” who must continue to report to their jobs. Nationwide, an estimated 730,000 essential workers are going without a paycheck. Herbert Judon, Jr., the airport’s executive director, briefed members of the Aviation Commission on how the shutdown is being felt at

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Consumer Stories

World-famous company partners with Aiken Tech

A company whose name personifies quality and luxury is joining with Aiken Technical College (ATC) to train new employees. An information session on Thursday will go over how to enroll. Rolls-Royce Power Solutions America is collaborating with the school to create a new, pre-apprenticeship program. Dr. Steven Simmons, Dean of the School of Technical and Continuing Education, told ABD that it will provide individuals with the basic knowledge and skills of a particular discipline, like machine tool technology, to have those skill sets prior to going into a full apprenticeship

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B2B Stories

Simon Says: ADP job survey is telling for Georgia/South Carolina

Publisher’s Note: ADP is a major employer in Augusta and has represented more than 26 million employees through payroll and HR-type services since 2010. Today, Dr. Simon Medcalfe utilizes their numbers as an alternative to Uncle Sam. Although the continued government shutdown has restricted timely economic data releases, there is still economic data to be found from other sources. The latest ADP report indicated that private employment fell by 32,000 in September (we do not have the official government data for September). This was on top of a smaller 3,000

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