Augusta, GA
Start your engines: Augusta Tech gets $6.8M grant for new auto institute
An Augusta Tech plan to create an automotive service training center downtown finally has the funding to get rolling after more than four years of planning.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has approved Augusta Tech’s application for a $6.8 million grant to complete the Jim Hudson Automotive Institute, the workforce development school announced this week.
The campus will use the former site of Johnson Motor Co., a longtime Augusta Cadillac dealership on Walton Way that closed in 2021. Augusta Tech completed its purchase of the 6.5-acre property in December 2022.
“This grant is a powerful investment in Augusta’s economic future,” said Augusta Tech President Dr. Kendricks D. Hooker. “The Jim Hudson Automotive Institute will directly address critical workforce shortages while creating pathways to high-wage, in-demand careers for our students.”
Within a week of each other in April 2022, the Augusta National Golf Club and Columbia, S.C.-based Jim Hudson Automotive Group donated $1 million each to rev up the program.
“Anybody can sell a car,” company founder and principal Jim Hudson said at a June 2022 donation ceremony in the showroom of his Lexus dealership on Washington Road. “It takes a really good technician to keep it sold.”
Vehicles today aren’t just powered by gasoline or diesel fuel. Hybrid and electric vehicles are rising in popularity, and with it, the demand for more auto mechanics with high-tech training to repair increasingly computerized vehicles.
The facility will occupy about 33,000 square feet, or about half of the dealership building. The property’s layout as a working auto dealer will help flesh out the institute’s design “to support dealership operations, fleet maintenance and emerging vehicle technologies, while providing hands-on, industry-aligned instruction that responds to both regional and national labor market demand,” the school said in a statement.
Then-Augusta Tech President Dr. Jermaine Whirl told The Augusta Chronicle in 2022 that the school spent months talking with local auto dealers, transit companies, and other industry stakeholders to gauge interest in helping increase the auto-repair talent pool in the Augusta area.
The Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration approved the full grant request of $6,808,307, months after U.S. Rep. Rick Allen supported the grant application in a July 2025 letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
“Not only will this grant funding enable Augusta Tech to develop a Center for Excellence in Automotive Technology in Richmond County, but it will also equip hundreds of students and workers with the skills needed to succeed in our booming automotive manufacturing industry,” Allen said Tuesday.
Medical marijuana is having a moment in clinical trials
Cannabis has medical promise, but doctors still can’t prescribe it. A Harvard psychiatrist explains why science and policy lag behind.
A Vietnamese restaurant that closed in Columbia County more than three years ago will be the site of Georgia’s newest medical marijuana dispensary.
When Georgia’s Senate Bill 220 officially becomes law on July 1, it will expand requirements and qualifying conditions to participate in the state’s medical cannabis program. Co-sponsors of the “Putting Georgia’s Patients First Act” included state Sens. Lee Anderson, R-Grovetown, Harold Jones, D-Augusta, and Mark Newton, R-Augusta.
A company called Fine Fettle operates three cannabis stores in Georgia, eight in Connecticut, and two in Massachusetts.
The Fine Fettle dispensary, slated for 4300 Towne Center Dr. in Evans, will occupy the former Pho Bac restaurant. The Asian eatery opened in 2011 but closed in 2023 when it merged with another restaurant, Pho Augusta, at 4045 Jimmie Dyess Parkway.
At the store’s June 26 grand opening, patients and their families can learn about new product categories, qualifying conditions, and how to obtain a medical cannabis card, according to the company.
Fine Fettle received a provisional license from the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission in 2023 to start growing and selling cannabis products statewide. Evans was one of its proposed locations with an original opening for a low-THC oil dispensary planned for spring 2024, but the new state legislation upgraded the product level from the lower-potency oil to actual strains of cannabis.
Another cannabis company, Trulieve, opened its fifth Georgia store in Evans in September 2023 at 4218 Washington Road in Evans, near the shopping center anchored by Academy Sports.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Augusta election leaders met Monday to discuss a lawsuit filed by a former mayoral candidate.
Dr. Lori Myles is suing the Augusta Commission, as well as state and local voting leaders.
Myles alleges those involved with the May 19th primary destroyed absentee ballots and eliminated from the overall vote count.
“So the Board of Elections received a lawsuit from Lori Myles contesting the election asking for a recount, said Travis Doss, the Board of Elections director. “The Board discussed in executive session and when they came out of executive session they voted to authorize the county attorney to file an answer to that lawsuit basically that answer will be asking a judge for a dismissal on that lawsuit and it will be filed tomorrow.”
WJBF NewsChannel 6 will keep you updated on the next steps of the lawsuit as that information becomes available.
Photojournalist credit: Regynal McKie
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Augusta will welcome community leaders to its Legislative Day on Monday.
The event will provide an inside look at the impact of the organization’s summer programs and year-round youth development initiatives.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Augusta becomes an even more critical resource for local families during the summer. The organization provides supportive environments where local youth continue learning, building relationships and preparing for their futures.
During Legislative Day, community leaders will meet with staff and Club members, and experience how Boys & Girls Clubs is helping young people succeed through workforce readiness programming, academic enrichment, mental health support, nutritious meals and snacks and caring adult mentorship.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Augusta serves youth throughout the region by providing high-quality programming focused on academic success, healthy lifestyles, character and leadership development and career readiness.
The event will start at 11:30 a.m. at E.W. Hagler Boys & Girls Club, 1903 Division Street.
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
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