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.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The Augusta Juvenile Court received a grant of more than $1 million to prevent youth from joining gangs by addressing underlying factors that lead to criminal behavior.
The grant from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council will allow the court to expand services beyond its current programs and serve a broader population of at-risk youth.
“This allows us to build on the work we are currently doing. It also allows us to serve a different population of youth that we have not been able to serve on such an extended level, so we have additional funds that will serve even more kids and to hopefully assist the sheriff and district attorney in not having youthful offenders become adult offenders that they have to obtain and prosecute,” said Chief Judge Tianna Bias.
Addressing root causes
The funding will target factors that make youth vulnerable to gang recruitment, including poor school attendance and reading difficulties.
“Whether it’s that they have poor school attendance, not reading on grade level. One thing we’ve seen is that when you are not reading on grade level that has an impact on many other areas of your life. It’s really just an opportunity to offer wrap-around support for these kids so we can prevent them from getting into unfortunate situations that they may not end up in front of a juvenile court judge later,” Bias said.
Dr. Audrey Armistad, chief intake officer for the juvenile court, said the court’s goal is rehabilitation rather than detention.
“We put them in programs and services that help them to be able to develop mentally, socially and physically when it comes to kids involved with the juvenile court,” Armistad said.
Expanding services
The juvenile court currently serves at-risk youth through the THRIVE program. The court is also expanding services with a new computer lab set to open next month.
“It helps us to be able to provide instruction to kids getting GEDs, parents wanting GEDs, as well as we provide learning loss instruction to kids enrolled in Richmond County who may need remediation in math and reading,” Armistad said.
A gang prevention expert will meet with the juvenile court team to provide recommendations on how the grant money should be spent.
Bias said success will be measured by fewer teens in courtrooms and more in classrooms.
“We are meant to rehabilitate not to punish and we want to help these parents get kids on track so we can see a better Augusta for everyone,” Bias said.
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Augusta University is set to cut the ribbon on a new Student Health Services building on Friday.
The ribbon cutting will be held at 2:30 p.m. at 1465 Laney Walker Boulevard in Augusta.
The event will showcase the field of college health and the role the services have on students’ personal development and academic success.
The clinic relocated to the new space last month to make way for AU’s advanced research and clinical innovation, according to officials.
At the event, there will also be snacks, interactive games and clinic tours.
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – There was a large law enforcement presence Thursday morning at a home in west Augusta near Fort Gordon.
The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office and Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force were in the area attempting to find a suspect, according to deputies.
Witnesses said around 11:25 a.m. that officers had been surrounding a home at Harper-Franklin Avenue and Covington Court.
That’s in a neighborhood of mostly two-story brick-fronted homes built in the past three or four years just east of Jimmie Dyess Parkway and a couple of blocks north of Gordon Highway.
As noon approached, law enforcement had left.
But a Facebook post from earlier did show a large presence,including marked and unmarked cars, and officers all around the house. A witness said police dogs were on the scene, as well.
News 12 has reached out to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office for information.
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
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