Consumer Stories

Awards/Celebrations

CSRA bankers celebrate milestones with trip to New York

Ding ding ding! Ring the bell. Three area bankers, along with Colony Bank’s executive team, board of directors, and division leaders, just got back from Wall Street. The July 15th bell ringing on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange was a joint celebration of Colony’s move onto the NYSE and its 50th Anniversary. “We have been publicly traded for many years on the NASDAQ but made the decision to move to the NYSE last fall,” said ABD member Hugh Hollar, who attended the ceremony with colleagues Chris McLaughlin and Jennifer

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Consumer Stories

Taking flight with air taxis in Augusta

The Japanese company that is developing an air taxi that could begin serving Augusta next year is providing demonstration flights. SkyDrive has its model SD-05 at the Expo 2025 in Osaka, where it will hold a demonstration beginning July 31 and running the rest of the summer. This is the model Bravo Air, the private charter jet service based at Augusta Regional Airport, will get next year. Bravo Air and SkyDrive signed a letter of intent at the Fifth Annual Innovation XChange Forum last year for Bravo Air to buy

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B2B Stories

Simon Says: Hurricane Helene job impact

As the 2025 hurricane season gets underway, the first county-level data capturing the labor market impact of Hurricane Helene last September has just become available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Across the 13 Georgia counties of the Central Savannah River Area Regional Commission (CSRA), employment fell between the third quarter of 2024 and the fourth quarter in 6 counties. The largest decline was 1.75% in Lincoln County. Other counties that saw declining employment were Columbia (0.27%), Hancock (0.68%), Jenkins (1.21%), McDuffie (1.17%), and Washington (0.27%). In Georgia, employment increased

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B2B Stories

Company helps 1,000 students prepare for the fall

Felice West lives in Grovetown and takes care of her elementary school-aged granddaughters for the summer. The girls will go to classes in Savannah next month. “They needed paper, pens, and notebooks. This really helps me out, “the grandmom said. More than 100 families were in line outside the Bell Auditorium starting an hour before the Hawk Law Group Bookbag Bash on Saturday. The annual event is a perfect fit within the “Hawk Helps” ongoing campaign. “We do personal injury law and try and help families every day, “said Marketing

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Food and Fun

“Family Affair” at the Lake

By day, Samantha Valkenburg and her husband Matt (far right) have a routine. He runs a manufacturing company in Greenwood, South Carolina, and she is a stay-at-home mom with her three children under age eight (pictured playing together). “Sometimes I need a break, “said “Sam”, as her family and friends call her. Her first cousin, Trey (far left), and his wife, Jasmine, also love to come to Hester’s to decompress. They are willing to travel 3.5 hours each way from Charleston to go to the campground with their two children.

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B2B Stories

Rezoning request for major Aiken County employer

The Aiken County Planning Commission has approved a request to rezone two parcels in Graniteville. The request was from Rolls-Royce Solutions America, Inc., on behalf of MTU Detroit Diesel, Inc., for its facility in the Sage Mill Industrial Park. The request calls for re-zoning 73.41 acres on Bettis Academy Road from Rural Development (RUD) to Industrial Development (IND). One parcel has access to Bettis Academy Road, the other has access to Sage Mill Parkway and Power Drive. The site has manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution operations. The rezoning application stated, “Rezoning

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Food and Fun

Week in the Life of a Working Vacation

The Work I’ve had thousands of assignments through the years. NONE were as fun as my week at Hester’s Bottoms Campground. Not many campgrounds have Wi-Fi service. Hester’s does. Ironically, WC Fiber is the company providing service to Hester’s and Gordon’s home office. In a normal week, I work remotely from my home, preparing our Augusta Business Daily publications. I’ll take this view any day of the week! Excuse my 5 o’clock shadow (and beyond). Part of my job this week was gathering photos and video with my wife, Melissa,

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B2B Stories

Franchise expands more in CSRA

The newest 7 Brew Coffee drive-thru will be opening on Whiskey Road in Aiken. The signs are up, and the next step is clearing the land. The Walton Way Extension store opened in June on the former Smith’s Chevron property. Once the land was cleared, the store opened in less than two months. There is also a Peach Orchard Road location open in the CSRA. Visit the number 7brew.com for menu information.

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B2B Stories

SPLOST project can help grow part of CSRA

Augusta-Richmond County Commissioners are preparing to finalize the list of projects for Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) 9. The initial wish list of projects totaled more than one billion dollars. County Administrator Tameka Allen whittled it down to $426 million over seven years, and the tax will be collected. One of the projects that made Allen’s list would have a substantial impact on developing South Richmond County. The Augusta Economic Development Authority (AEDA) is requesting $25 million to extend residential, commercial, and industrial sewer capacity through South Augusta.

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B2B Stories

Milestone set in quest for more CSRA Cyber professionals

More than 1,000 STEM students are one step closer to a career in Cyber-related fields. The recent class stepped into a larger venue in downtown Augusta to make room for the influx. 102 students are wrapping up their CyberPatriot advanced camp week on Friday. More than 100 others attended the standard camp course in late June. All told, more students have attended this basic CyberCamp in Augusta than anywhere else in the United States. The Alliance for Fort Gordon says it had to move this year’s camp to a larger

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