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Area businesses are ready for customers

North Augusta Mayor Briton Williams was joined by a group of downtown business owners to update storm recovery in the city. “One of the things I’m excited about is we have power in our downtown and Riverside Village, and we are open for business,” said Williams. Joining Williams were representatives from Fleet Feet, Orange Otter, The Grove Gourmet Market, Cavalier’s Coffee and Shoppe 3130. Jenny Elliott, owner of Shoppe 3130, said businesses and citizens are all part of the same community. “I feel like our neighbors and our business neighbors

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B2B Stories

Businesses and Non-profits provide aid to a struggling CSRA

Editor’s note: Pictures are worth a thousand words. The one above is in Harlem, where folks are waiting in line to get nourishment from the Cantina Food Truck. Those scenes are being played out across neighborhoods. Families still can’t get out of their driveway because of downed trees, others need ice to keep insulin cold for their diabetic family members. They are your neighbors. They are employees of businesses. They and we, are all trying to survive and put the devastation behind us. Today, there is some good news. Financial

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Shawna Woodward

Real Talk Real Estate: Homeowners Insurance Woes

Editor’s note: In the wake of Hurricane Helene’s damage across the CSRA, homeowners and renters have many questions about what their insurance covers and how FEMA might help with disaster assistance. For more information: Go online to DisasterAssistance.gov, use the FEMA App, or call 800-621-3362. Lines are open every day and help is available in most languages. In the Best of Real Talk Real Estate, Shawna Woodward offers more practical advice for homeowner and renter insurance. In recent months, I’ve noticed some concerning trends affecting homeowners across the country. You may have

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B2B Stories

Helene’s impact on the local tourism industry

Local tourism and hospitality leadership is assessing the impact Helene has had so far, and will have in the coming days, on Metro Augusta. Destination Augusta estimates as much as $8.5 million has been lost in economic impact from events that have been canceled and will be canceled for the foreseeable future. “With the news that hurricane Helene was going to impact Georgia, we began to see conferences and conventions cancel their plans. Obviously, the first major thing to go last week was the Iron Man event that was supposed

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B2B Stories

Businesses step up and area Chambers provide resource lists

As the CSRA continues to fight back from the devastation of Hurricane Helene, area businesses are stepping up to the plate, one of them literally. The Augusta GreenJackets announced plans to open SRP Park from noon until 5 p.m. yesterday offering air conditioning, a chance to recharge phones, and hot dogs and soft drinks from noon until 2 p.m. People will also be able to take home two – 10lb bags of ice. “We’re kind of monitoring around here,” Tom Denlinger, GreenJackets Vice President, told ABD. “But we are fortunate

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B2B Stories

Augusta is not forgotten: Update for Helene’s damages and recovery efforts

Editor’s note: There have been hundreds of social media posts about how the national media has not reported on the damage to Augusta. Hurricane Helene was catastrophic in the CSRA, but help is on the way. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) visited Augusta on Monday to review storm damage, get updates on recovery, and provide the latest information on what state agencies are providing. A news conference was held outside the James Brown Arena, where personnel from electric utilities and companies were staging with their vehicles. Those then fanned out

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B2B Stories

CSRA takes a $6.5 million hit from event cancellations: Chamber events also canceled

A weeklong schedule of activities that was set to kick off today has been canceled. BSidesAugusta organizer, and COO of Security Onion Solutions, LLC, Phil Plantamura shared the update with ABD on Sunday. “Completely canceled. We’ve canceled all events for BSidesAugusta, the Security Onion Conference, and the training. We had a speaker dinner. It’s been canceled, volunteer orientation, and all that has been canceled. We’ve issued refunds to all ticket purchasers, including for the training,” he said. Destination Augusta had estimated the full week of activities, originally set for Sept.

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B2B Stories

CSRA businesses gear up for major hurricane impact

Georgia and South Carolina are bracing for the impact of a major hurricane. Power companies have made final preparations for anticipated damages, including the potential for widespread power outages. With a forecast of flooding and high winds from Hurricane Helene, the storm could still be a Category 1 when it reaches the CSRA, according to WDRW Chief Meteorologist, Riley Hale. “Our area is on the east side of the storm, it’s the bad side. High winds could reach 60 mph or more. We’ve already had 4” at Daniel Field and

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B2B Stories

Continued economic development in Georgia and metro Augusta

The Sept. 20 ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the start of operations at the Aurubis Richmond, LLC plant in south Augusta highlights the growth of new business and job opportunities. Gov. Brian Kemp (R) attended the Friday event. It was held just over a week after Area Development Magazine named Georgia the top state to do business for the 11th year in a row. Kemp met with reporters prior to the event. ABD used the opportunity to ask the Governor if Aurubis is an example of why Georgia continues to lead the

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Consumer Stories

Good Deeds: “All in Faith” for Martinez business

Robyn Kelley (right) and Lisa Merritt (left) are both in the hair business. Both want to make women look and feel beautiful. Robyn owns Trendz Salon and her team takes hair off. Lisa runs a wig boutique there and puts hair on. Wigs are for women like Faith Owens (center), who typically lose their locks due to a serious illness. Through the generosity of Trendz and first responders from Burke County organizing a fundraiser, the Owens’ out of pocket costs were $750 for a $5,000 special order wig made with

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