AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Augusta’s Pride celebration looked different this year, with the event moving to the Augusta Fairgrounds because of Broad Street construction, according to Beats on Broad organizers.

This year marks Augusta’s 16th year hosting Pride. Organizers said the goal remains to make people feel supported beyond the event itself.

Kourtnee Pope Kollins, identified on-screen as MX Augusta, said it was their first year attending Augusta Pride, though not their first Pride experience overall.

“This is actually my first year at Augusta Pride. I’m the current MX Augusta Pride. But Pride in general, I’ve been going since I was little, so I’m excited to be here,” Pope Kollins said.

Attendees and organizers speak on the event’s meaning

Attendee Nick Horvath said the celebration holds personal significance.

“My favorite moments of Pride are always seeing the little kids that are out getting to interact with performers like myself and just — there’s nothing wrong with loving who you are and getting to see them show appreciation for that,” Horvath said. “It’s just nice that we have one event throughout the month that can just really, you know, just like, show people Augusta is just not about hate. It’s also about love and spreading positivity.”

Resources available year-round, organizers say

James Mintz, identified as Pride treasurer, said the event is meant to reach people who may not feel represented.

“I think what’s always important is you may not always feel like you’re being represented in the community, but you would be surprised at who comes out. And even if you’re not ready to come out or feel comfortable coming, there are many resources that are available to you 365 days out of the year,” Mintz said. “We’re your neighbors, we’re your cousins, your family, coworkers, and, you know, we’re here, and we’re happy.”

A separate unidentified speaker described the event’s purpose.

“This is an opportunity and a safe space for people who are queer to come together and know that they’re supported, loved, and appreciated,” Pope Kollins said.

The celebration continues Saturday with the 16th Annual Augusta Pride Festival, a free event featuring live entertainment, speakers, vendors, community organizations and family-friendly activities.

This year’s celebration has moved to the Augusta Exchange Club Fairgrounds because of ongoing construction in downtown Augusta.

Organizers also canceled the traditional Pride parade for 2026 because of safety concerns related to the construction, but say attendees can still expect a full weekend of events.

According to Augusta Pride, its mission is to promote visibility, unity and diversity education for LGBTQ+ communities across the Central Savannah River Area while supporting HIV awareness and community outreach.

For a complete schedule, entertainment lineup and additional event information, visit the Augusta Pride website.

(NEWS FROM THE STATES) – Visitors from across the United States traveled to the National Mall Thursday for the opening day of the Great American State Fair, a days-long event that is part of President Donald Trump’s Freedom 250 celebration of the nation’s semiquincentennial.

States and territories showed off cultural and agricultural exports at exhibits stretching nearly a mile. Attendees snapped photos on the small Grand Ole Opry stage in the Tennessee booth, kids tried putt-putt at Indiana’s miniature golf course and cowboys rode horses at Montana’s rodeo.

A 110-foot Ferris wheel slowly turned at the center of the freshly manicured lawn, framing the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol in the distance on either side. Nearby stood a model of Trump’s controversial “triumphal arch.”

People collected swag from each state — drawstring bags from Ohio, stickers from South Dakota, snacks from Tennessee — and could receive a stamp on state fair passports.

The fair is part of the larger Freedom 250 programming and kicked off Wednesday night with a rally on the mall featuring a speech from the president that closely resembled his remarks along the 2024 presidential campaign trail. The festivities will continue over Independence Day, when Trump will deliver a second speech followed by what is promised to be an impressive fireworks display.

The president will visit North and South Dakota as part of his Freedom 250 tour for the opening of the Teddy Roosevelt presidential library and Independence Day eve fireworks above Mount Rushmore.

Freedom 250 then extends into August with a high school athletic competition in Washington, D.C., dubbed the “Patriot Games” and a Freedom 250 INDYCAR race around the National Mall.

The administration’s celebration is separate from the America250 commission, created by Congress a decade ago, and which has its own nationwide programming this year.

From Lake Erie to the Ohio River

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and first lady Fran DeWine greeted guests in Ohio’s pavilion. The couple posed for photos in front of a map of the Buckeye State.

“We wanted to see on the wall all the different things, from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, all the different fun things you can do in Ohio,” the Republican governor said, adding the state has local celebrations and initiatives planned for the 250th anniversary, including “Movies in Ohio” for community showings of films that feature the state.

Ohio’s first lady showcased a children’s literacy exhibit on the opposite wall and touted the roughly 427,000 participants in the state’s partnership with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, a program that mails free children’s books monthly to households with kids under age 5.

“We’ve mailed out 27 million books. We know that a child’s brain is 80% developed by age 3, so we want to get them those books early,” she said.

Reflecting on America’s milestone birthday, the governor said, “We’re always a work in progress, Ohio’s a work in progress, this country is a work in progress.”

“I think you know the thing we need to keep in mind, all of us, is there’s some essential core principles that we all believe in. … We may disagree about different policies, but the core principles are the same,” he said.

Cartwheels on the lawn

People from various states walked from exhibit to exhibit, while stopped in the nation’s capital during road trip vacations.

Tanya Geders, 43, of St. Louis, Missouri, did a cartwheel in the mall lawn, trying to persuade her son to join in. The family stopped at the state fair on their way to Virginia Beach.

“We’re like, well, if we go to the ocean, we can go to D.C. and what a better time to be here than the 250th anniversary,” Geders said.

Robyn Toman, 71, of Severn, Maryland, escorted her 12-year-old grandson Miles to meet DeWine and grab a photo with the governor.

Toman said she remembers the country’s bicentennial.

“I was a kid about his age, and I came in 1976. I said, ‘We’re gonna go, let’s go down to D.C. for a couple days and see this,’” she said.

“We’ve enjoyed it. We went over to the archives yesterday, and saw the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. And, oh, that was so nice, that was fantastic.”

Not all states are there. A spokesperson for Washington state’s lieutenant governor’s office told States Newsroom the administration declined to join because of “the costs to the state associated with participating.”According to news reports, Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont did not contribute exhibits, though many are still represented by flags outside the individual booths.The state officials did not immediately respond to States Newsroom for confirmation.

All states that reportedly did not participate, with the exception of Vermont, are Democratic-led.

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an opinion Friday saying part of an Austin Energy code that went into effect last year conflicts with Texas law and is unenforceable, opening a new legal challenge for Austin’s push to make new buildings easier to electrify.

In April 2025, the Austin City Council adopted the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code, which, among other things, created new “electric-ready” requirements for residential and commercial buildings that could make it easier for future owners to transition away from natural gas.

Weeks later, Texas Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, asked Paxton whether those provisions conflicted with a 2021 state law prohibiting local governments from discriminating against utility services based on the type of energy used. In his opinion, Paxton concluded that they do.

Paxton wrote that Austin’s new electric-ready requirements have the “purpose, intent or effect” of discriminating against gas utilities, which conflicts with state law, a finding that could intensify the broader political fight over local control, consumer choice and the role of natural gas in Texas.

“We therefore conclude that the Utility Code’s broad prohibition renders (the provision) of the City’s ordinance unenforceable,” Paxton wrote.

Austin Energy did not respond to a request for comment late Friday afternoon.

State opinion escalates fight over Austin’s push toward electrification

It is unclear whether the city will challenge the attorney general’s interpretation in court. An attorney general’s opinion is not the same as a court ruling and does not become law, though agencies often take such opinions into account when making policy decisions.

In his letter to Paxton, Birdwell said House Bill 17, which passed in 2021, was drafted in response to the growing number of Texas cities restricting gas hook-ups in new buildings and was intended to “preserve customer choice and allow Texans to decide how to meet their own energy needs.”

He said Austin’s “electric-ready” provision would “severely affect commercial customers” by requiring additional electrical infrastructure to be installed alongside certain natural gas appliances, raising costs for customers planning to use natural gas for those appliances.

Paul Robbins, vice chair of the Resource Management Commission, argued the city’s intent in adopting the code was not to prohibit building owners from using natural gas, but instead to give them the option to transition to electrification in the future by requiring electrical infrastructure during construction.

“The city tried to pursue this in a fuel-neutral way,” Robbins said. “They did not say you cannot build gas homes; they said you have to give customers a choice, so that if they choose to go all-electric, then it doesn’t cost them a lot of money to rewire their house.”

Robbins said Austin’s approach was meant to expand options, not restrict them.

“You can make a cogent argument that not doing electrification is actually discriminatory.”