Augusta, GA
What’s the plan for Augusta’s opioid settlement money?
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Fentanyl is Augusta’s number one killer for 30- to 50-year-olds, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.
Richmond County Coroner Mark Bowen says last year, 100 people died from opioid overdoses, with another 85 deaths pending confirmation.
In Mayor Garnett Johnson’s State of the City address on Tuesday, he talked about how the city plans to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars that are already in the bank in opioid settlement money.
In two settlements over years, more than $7 million is going directly to the city.
The mayor says the problem is payments are spread across 18 years and the hundreds of thousands we do have have to be planned out carefully.
The city has almost $700,000 from the settlements, with hundreds of thousands coming in the next 18 years.
Dr. Bedder works at Augusta’s VA and as director at AU’s Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. He says some of the most vulnerable victims of this epidemic are those in recovery.
“If you don’t treat the withdrawal, they’re going to go right back out into the street to get more drugs to treat their withdrawal,” he said.
Bedder says a solution needs to come soon, which is what Mayor Johnson is pushing for in treatment vending machines.
“Not only hotel lobbies but bars, nightclubs, anywhere where someone is perhaps experiencing a need for treatment as a result of any of these opioids,” said Mayor Johnson.
Dr. Bedder says the real solution however is long-term care.
“I think the Mayor’s idea is a good idea, but it’s only a band-aid. It’ll prevent some deaths which is great, but the core is treatment and the detox facilities. We have seen nothing from the state, we have tried to tap into some of that settlement money that’s coming in,” he said.
But with the amount coming by the year, Mayor Johnson says these machines are the best way to create an immediate dent.
“I don’t know if the settlement dollars will flow that far, based on the settlement dollars we’re getting. But if we can, and we can make it work, I’m certain and open to having that conversation,” said Mayor Johnson.
Mayor Johnson says the soonest they can get something on the agenda to move forward is sometime after March.
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AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Democratic candidate for Georgia governor Olu Brown visited Augusta on Friday evening, stopping near the Sand Hills Community Center as early voting continues.
Brown is one of six candidates in the Democratic primary.
Campaign priorities
Brown said his vision as governor would focus on three main areas.
“One, it’s affordability around health care and making sure we expand Medicaid and expand Peach Care and make sure we continue to make our rural health care systems healthy and vital,” Brown said. “Number two, we’ve got to address education in all of Georgia, making sure every kid in Georgia gets an excellent education, and we’re paying our teachers more. And number 3, we’re protecting the rights of all women. Folks in the Gold Dome shouldn’t be making decisions about their bodies or the choices that they make.”
Brown is running against Amanda Duffy, Derrick Jackson, Geoff Duncan, Jason Esteves, Keisha Lance Bottoms and Mike Thurmond.
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – An Augusta Prep student was arrested on a charge of terroristic threats over a picture of a LEGO gun he posted on social media.
It happened Wednesday, according to an incident report from the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
Eric Hedinger, the principal of Augusta Preparatory Day School, told deputies a student had uploaded a picture to Snapchat of a “pistol” with the caption “shooting up the school so I don`t have to take the stats exam tomorrow. Don`t come yall!”
The principal said he spoke to the student and his father about the photo.
The principal also provided deputies with the student’s address in Grovetown.
A deputy went there and was told by the student that the “pistol” was a LEGO set that he had built.
He also said the comment he made was supposed to be a joke because he was not looking forward to taking his Advanced Placement statistics test this week.
The student showed the deputy the box that the LEGO set came in, and how the set was already disassembled.
The deputy also looked in the boy’s room to make sure he was not in possession of any weapons.
The mother advised that there was one firearm in the residence but it was locked up.
The deputy contacted Judge Leslie Morgan and she issued a warrant for terroristic threats.
The student, age 18, was taken into custody and transported to the Columbia County Detention Center.
News 12 is not reporting his name or publishing his photo since the LEGO gun could not have actually harmed anyone.
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
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