Augusta, GA
VA eliminates office helping minority veterans with benefits
AUGUSTA, Ga. – The Department of Veterans Affairs, a huge employer in the Augusta area, has eliminated an office created to help minority veterans.
It’s all part of the DOGE-led efforts to cut about 80,000 employees from the government agency that provides health care for retired military members.
With a two-campus hospital in Augusta and facilities in outlying counties, the agency is a major employer in the CSRA.
The agency employs about 2,700 people across the VA Augusta health system, which includes the two medical centers in Augusta and clinics in Athens, Aiken and Statesboro.
A VA spokesperson said the Veteran Benefits Administration’s Office of Equity Assurance is “no longer needed.” The office, which was created under President Joe Biden, helped minority veterans with disparities in how the government provides benefits.
Sen Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., blasted the closure.
“This undermines the progress we have made in making the VA more responsive and accountable to our men and women in uniform,” he said. “I urge the administration to reconsider this reckless decision and ensure proper treatment of all veterans remains at the core of the VA’s mission. Veterans deserve better, and I will keep fighting to get them the care they are owed.”
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Rep. Mark Takano, of California, is the top Democrat on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. He called the office’s closure “reckless.”
As part of President Donald Trump’s effort to shrink government, the VA has cut a few thousand employees and hundreds of contracts. It is expected to cut 80,000 jobs before the end of the year.
VA Secretary Doug Collins, a former Georgia congressman, said the agency is aiming to cut the jobs as part of its “department-wide review” that is being carried out in response to President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency and Workforce Optimization initiative.
“This will be a thorough and thoughtful review based on input from career VA employees, senior executives, as well as the top VA leaders,” Collins said. “Our goal is to reduce VA employment levels to 2019-end strength numbers – roughly 398,000 employees from our current level of approximately 470,000 employees. Now that’s an 15% decrease. We’re going to accomplish this without making cuts to health care or benefits to veterans and VA beneficiaries.
Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., has criticized the cuts.
“The administration must immediately and publicly withdraw any proposal to gut the VA and imperil veterans’ care and benefits,” he said last week. “Already, the chaos, incompetence, and disruption are unacceptable. Veterans earned their benefits through selfless service. It’s a contract, not a gift.”
Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham has been apprehensive about how the cuts were communicated.
The chair of the Senate Budget Committee said he was displeased that the VA had not given lawmakers an advance notification of the changes, saying it was “political malpractice not to consult Congress.”
“Maybe you’ve got a good reason to do it,” Graham said last week, leaving a lunch with Musk. “But we don’t need to be reading memos in the paper about a 20% cut at the VA.”
Copyright 2025 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
VIDEO: Greek Festival returns downtown
The spring Greek Festival returns to downtown Augusta held this weekend.
Another downtown Augusta hotel is preparing to go vertical four years after the city approved the project.
Augusta has seen a spate of hotel construction and renovation recently. The former Sky City building on the 1100 block of Broad Street has been demolished to make way for an Embassy Suites. In November 2025, interior demolition began at the Ramada by Wyndham Augusta Downtown Hotel and Conference Center at 640 Broad St. to transform it into a distinctive Marriott property called The Conroy.
Now, subcontracting bids are being tendered to construct an extended-stay Residence Inn by Marriott at the corner of 13th and Walker streets. Plan holder Optum Construction of Gainesville, Ga., is accepting bids until 1 p.m. on May 13.
American Concrete successfully petitioned the city in 2022 for a zoning variance on the property to allow the hotel’s construction.
The land was sold in November 2022 to a limited-liability company associated with PeachState Hospitality. The Warner Robins-based company’s property portfolio includes the Residence Inn and the SpringHill Suites at 1110 and 1116 Marks Church Road, respectively, and the Fairfield Inn & Suites at 3023 1/2 Washington Road.
The 2-acre parcel of property shaped like a piece of pie was the former site of local business American Concrete, now on Wheeler Road.
The land had been an industrial site for much of the past century, as the longtime site of Perkins Lumber, then of paving contractor Southern Roadbuilders.
Now the property finds itself amid a downtown revitalization, including improved roads and riverside activities, such as a pedestrian bridge and a planned outdoor activity center featuring a zipline over the Savannah River. The future hotel would sit near downtown, the city’s bustling medical district, and a new entertainment complex taking the place of the former James Brown Arena.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – It will be something new for canal visitors to dig.
“This is a huge shot in the arm, it’s a most visited park by far and you couldn’t be more excited by the opportunity,” said Mayor Garnett Johnson.
The opportunity is this new canal trail that will connect the Village at Riverwatch to the canal trail by crossing over a new pedestrian bridge spanning the canal, leading visitors to even more amenities.
“It’s going to be great. We’re going to have fishing pods off the bridge, we’re going to have a kayak launch a nature walk through the wetlands at the clearing, we’re anticipating having musical groups there,” said Russ Gambill, Interim Canal Authority Director.
The improvements are funded in large part by a $3 million-dollar state DNR grant.
“We worked hard on it with Russ Gambill, with several, to make sure the Department of Natural Resources recognized the unique and regional draw of this and the connectivity it provides. We were excited to get the maximum amount,” said State Rep. Mark Newton.
Augusta must provide a 30 percent match. Those funds are part of the next special purpose sales tax on the May 19th ballot.
Work will take about a year and a half before canal visitors will be able to cross this bridge when they come to it.
“We already have two existing bridges that people use every day, but this one being so connected to one of our most visited shopping centers in the region, certainly will assist,” said Mayor Johnson.
It’s a major step for enhancing the canal.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public for assistance in locating a man who who has not been since Sunday.
Christopher Floyd, 31, was last seen May 3, 2026 on the 3500 block of Melody Drive. He was last seen wearing blue shorts and white t-shirt.
Officials say Floyd is possibly in possession of a 2007 Cadillac Escalade.
Anyone that comes in contact with Christopher Floyd or has any information as to his location is asked to contact RCSO at (706) 821-1080 or (706) 821-1020.
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