Augusta, GA

AU police speak on campus safety after slaying of nursing student

Published

2 years ago

February 27, 2024

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AU police speak on campus safety after slaying of nursing student

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Laken Riley’s death has renewed the conversation about campus safety.

At the University of Georgia, there is an online petition for blue call boxes.

Augusta University campus police say those call boxes were removed from UGA’s campus back in 2004.

We talked with Augusta University Police to learn more about how they are improving safety.

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Captain Harry Smith says AU has no intentions of moving those call boxes anytime soon.

Smith said: “Our college students are mostly young people. I have a kid in college myself right now, I worry about his safety,” said Smith.

AU’s police department sits at the entrance to the medical district in downtown Augusta.

“Even if you don’t see an AU police officer, right there, there’s one not too far away,” said Smith. “Throughout our campus, we have the blue light emergency phones. That blue light is a sign of our presence there.”

For the blue light system, you press a button and it automatically takes your call to the campus police department.

Smith says the majority of their calls come through the RAVE Guardian app. The app is designed for students and staff to provide more safety resources.

“The conversations moving forward are about how to best effectively use those programs, those outreach measures, the tools that we as a university community provide,” said Smith.

Smith says AU’s police department recently received a grant from the Department of Justice to bring technology upgrades for safety and security. He says a large piece of that grant is to increase camera coverage on campus.

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Augusta, GA

One dead following a shooting in Richmond County

Published

4 hours ago

March 28, 2026

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One dead following a shooting in Richmond County

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The Richmond County Coroner’s Office said a person has died after a shooting on Division Street Saturday afternoon.

Officials say the shooting happened at the 2100 block around 4 p.m.

The victim was shot at least one time and taken to Wellstar MCG, where he later died, the coroner’s office says.

The sheriff’s office also went to Division Street at approximately 4 p.m. in reference to the incident, deputies say.

An autopsy has been scheduled.

No further information is available at this time.

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Augusta, GA

Sandusky Ohio News | Sandusky Register

Published

16 hours ago

March 28, 2026

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<br /> Sandusky Ohio News | Sandusky Register <br />

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Augusta, GA

Augusta’s Turpin neighborhood to get affordable homes with $1.85M federal grant

Published

1 day ago

March 27, 2026

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Augusta’s Turpin neighborhood to get affordable homes with .85M federal grant

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The historic Turpin neighborhood will soon welcome more affordable homes after Augusta Habitat for Humanity was awarded $1.85 million in federal funding this week.

The grant will fund the construction of at least 12 homes in the area.

“Habitat for Humanity applied for federal funding, and they were awarded the funding,” said District 2 Commissioner Stacy Pulliam.

Reviving a historic community

The Turpin neighborhood was once home to professionals, including educators, doctors, and lawyers.

“These big professionals that lived mostly over this way,” one resident said of the neighborhood’s history.

Pulliam described the area’s former prominence as “its grand days of glory, when it was the place.”

The project brings together city organizers and community partners through the Georgia Initiative for Community Housing, or GICH.

“We have so many partners. We have the Housing Authority on board. We have a representative from the Hub on board,” Pulliam said. “There’s so many great partners at the table that’s helping pull all of this together.”

Federal support and future plans

The project received backing from Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

Habitat for Humanity, with support from GICH, focused its application on Turpin Hill intentionally, as officials say the community had been needing to be addressed for years.

With Habitat for Humanity continuing to advocate for more funds, Pulliam said their motivation could lead to additional housing development in the future.

“We keep going and going and going,” she said. “Now we can do 20. Now we can do multifamily. So it’s fueling our fire to get more housing, but not just housing, to clean up the area.”

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