AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The Augusta Historic Preservation Commission decided on the future of the Old First Baptist Church building on Thursday. 

The organization is giving the property owner 10 days to take action in repairing the building.  

We spoke with officials about the building’s structural issues. 

After testimonies from people with code enforcement, neighboring businesses and Historic Augusta, the Preservation Commission decided that the owner wasn’t making routine repairs and maintenance to keep the property safe and up to code.  

That means a potential legal battle if the ball doesn’t get rolling soon. 

One of the biggest pieces of downtown Augusta’s history is in danger of structurally failing.  

The Augusta Historic Preservation Commission says after hearing testimonies and gathering evidence of the state of the building, they’re concerned for the future. 

“It is on the endangered property list for historic Augusta but is on the state endangered property list. So, we’re not making up that it’s there’s a problem. There is a very serious problem with this building,” said Tara Conway, chair of the Augusta Preservation Commission. 

The city’s code enforcement says the building is breaking several code violations, including making Augusta’s blight list dating back to 2021.  

The property owner, Joe Edge, says he’s spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs to keep the structural integrity of the church stable, like installing a new roof on the back of the building to prevent it from collapsing. 

“We’ve secured the front keeping the homeless out. We’ve had to secure not just put salt on. We’ve had to install wrought iron fencing around the basement to keep vagrants out of there,” said Edge.  

However, code enforcement says there are no permits pulled for almost all of the projects Edge claimed there was work done.  

It’s an issue historical stakeholders say they’re glad action is being taken because you can’t just rebuild historical markers. 

George Bush with the Preservation Committee Historic Augusta said: “This is not just a local building. This is where the Southern Baptist Convention started. This is a national asset, and we are just trying to save it, and we’re doing everything we can.” 

The city will now issue a notice to Edge for him to file a Certificate of Appropriateness, or COA, which is a permit with the city to allow him to start making external repairs. 

Copyright 2025 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) – Municipal airports across South Georgia could see improvements paused or canceled because of a lack of funding from federal and state officials.

Regional Airports need $83.5 million per year for improvement projects, but Albany, Valdosta, Savannah, Augusta, Macon, Brunswick, and Columbus only receive $16 million from the FAA and $2.8 million from the state.

Airports outside of Atlanta are receiving the shorter end of the stick when it comes to federal and state funding. Airport officials say that they hope that with more grant funding and the expansion of a few projects, it will increase more revenue right here in the Good Life City.

“If we don’t improve our infrastructure and our facilities, we will continue to lose our business aviation to other states. Some of the other states are receiving anywhere from 30 to 80 million dollars worth of funds, where we’re getting around 19 to support 7 airports outside of Atlanta and that’s a challenge,” officials say.

In Albany, the airport has upcoming projects to bring bigger planes, more commercial flights, and Cargo airplanes to the city. But with the lack of funding, the completion of that project is at risk.

“We’re looking at a runway extension which will be a huge project over 100 million dollars and funding has not been identified for that project. So where would we get that money? Well, we need the Federal Administration and the State of Georgia to give us more support,” officials say.

While officials say the airport needs some improvements, passengers say they love the convenience of being able to travel right outside their backyard.

Copyright 2025 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – We’re just under two months away from baseball season and this year will be a bittersweet one for North Augusta’s baseball and softball teams.

While many players would much rather play at a brand-new facility, Riverview Park has been home to the Yellowjackets for a long time now.

After this season, however, North Augusta will finally have a new place to call home.

But, they will have one more chance to close out a phenomenal season before transitioning to the new stadium next year.

You’ve seen the construction and you can see the vision.

In just a few more months, across the street from North Augusta High School will be two brand-new facilities.

The newest home of the Yellowjackets baseball and softball teams.

“It’s a chance to have something that is ours,” said Lynn. “Our own atmosphere at school. It’s going to be exciting.”

The over $8 million project was slated to be completed ahead of this year’s season, but after multiple delays like the impact of Hurricane Helene and just how big of a project it truly is, the facilities are still several months from being ready for play.

In the event construction concludes as originally planned, Head Coach Kevin Lynn says the team has no plans to move fields in the middle of their 2025 season.

“I don’t want to have summer ball starting there, I want our kids to start a regular season there,” said Lynn. I want them to open the season up and have a true home opener.”

The good news is, nothing about this year will feel different for the team.

The Yellowjackets have called Riverview Park home for over 40 years and they’ll get one more chance to send it out with a grand slam.”I grew up watching my brother play here and many people before him, so being able to play here one last time feels really good.”

“I’d like to go out on a high note and finish up strong here. Our goal is to win all of our games at home since we play here all the time and know the layout more than anybody else. It’d be nice to accomplish those goals in our last season.”

Lynn’s team will open up on the road against Strom Thurmond on Feb. 11.

The Yellowjackets are 40 and 40 under Lynn as head coach.

It’s hard to believe we’re almost to baseball season, before we know it we’ll be talking about the Masters.

Copyright 2025 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.