Latest news with #NorthAugusta
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Woman Went Missing 2 Months Ago After Crashing Her Car. She Was Just Found Alive with Little Memory of What Happened
66-year-old Susan Rhodes of South Carolina was last seen wandering into the woods on Wednesday, June 11NEED TO KNOW A 66-year-old South Carolina woman has been found alive after walking away from a car crash and disappearing earlier this summer Susan Rhodes was last seen on Wednesday, June 11, according to the North Augusta Department of Public Safety Authorities located her on Tuesday, August 5, and an investigation is ongoingA 66-year-old South Carolina woman who disappeared after walking away from a car crash earlier this summer has been found safe at home, authorities said. Susan Rhodes was last seen around 1:48 p.m. local time wandering toward the woods after she was involved in a collision on Wednesday, June 11, the North Augusta Department of Public Safety said in a series of statements as the investigation began. "She appeared to be disoriented and possibly suffering from some type of medical issue," authorities said, adding that she was last seen with her right arm in a sling. Multiple agencies collaborated on the initial response. An incident report shared with PEOPLE says Rhodes' roommate told authorities she'd been complaining of stroke-like symptoms earlier that day. The roommate briefly made contact with Rhodes over the phone while sheriffs were at her residence. During the call, she sounded "confused and disoriented." Authorities tried to get Rhodes to call 911 so they could ping her phone and obtain her location, but she hung up. The next day, officials continued to seek information from locals about Rhodes' whereabouts as they returned to the scene of her disappearance to search on foot. The North Augusta Department of Public Safety said in an additional statement that authorities used drones, a helicopter and tracking dogs to search the woods where she was last spotted."We have found no evidence leading to her location in that area. This investigation is still ongoing," the department said on Thursday, June 12, circulating a missing person flyer. Without providing specifics, the department said on Friday, June 27, that Rhodes' case was still under active investigation and again pleaded for tips from the public. On Tuesday, August 5, officials announced Rhodes had been located alive, adding the investigation is still ongoing. "Thank you to everyone who shared the information and assisted in the search," the department said in a statement. "Your support and vigilance played a vital role in helping bring this situation to a safe conclusion." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. After receiving a report from Rhodes' roommate, authorities found the missing woman inside her home, hiding from them in a bathroom, according to the incident report. 'While speaking with her, I observed her voice to be very low and not able to talk in a normal voice,' a first responder said in the report. 'I asked Susan what happened and she stated she does remember being in a wreck and then she left and walked into the woods. She said she was in a creek and it turned into a river.' She also told authorities that strangers had helped her return home, although she appeared to have difficulty remembering details. After she was located, Rhodes was transported to a hospital for an evaluation due to her memory loss. It is not yet clear whether Rhodes has been released from the hospital. Read the original article on People Solve the daily Crossword
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Daily Mail
Frail elderly woman vanishes after horror crash, sparking huge search...then shows up at her home TWO MONTHS later
An elderly South Carolina woman vanished after a horrifying crash, sparking a huge search - only for her to turn up again two months later with a harrowing story. Susan Rhodes, 65 of North Augusta, vanished after a car crash on June 11, but she turned up nearly eight weeks later with a mysterious story to explain her disappearance. On the day of the crash, Joshua Lawson told police that he saw an erratic driver in a Chevrolet Malibu. The car veered into a ditch before doubling back and sideswiping a Toyota SUV and then went off the road again, Lawson said according to The Augusta Press. Witnesses of the crash saw her car end up in a ditch before Lawson and Carl Walther both helped the driver out of the Malibu. They described her as an elderly white female with an arm in a sling who appeared dazed and disoriented before she walked away from the crash and disappeared. Officers who responded to the scene of the crash also found an open Bud Light can on the floor of the vehicle. A mass search for Rhodes ensued involving helicopters, K-9's and 'multiple teams of officers,' The North Augusta Department of Public Safety said, as fears for her well-being grew. Rhodes' roommate told authorities that she had complained of stroke-like symptoms on the day of the crash. The roommate managed to get in touch with Rhodes over the phone, where she sounded confused before hanging up, the outlet reported. Then on Tuesday, Rhodes was found sitting on the couch at a home in Edgefield County by the homeowner who called the police. Responding officers later found Rhodes hiding in the bathroom where she told them that she had left the crash and was swept away by a creek. 'While speaking with her I observed her voice to be very low and not able to talk in a normal voice,' the officer said in a report, Fox 8 reported. 'I asked Susan what happened and she stated she does remember being in a wreck and then she left and walked into the woods. She said she was in a creek and it turned into a river.' 'She said the river was going so fast she lost her pants and shoes,' the officer continued. Rhodes furthered that she had been picked up by an elderly couple after making her way back to a roadway. Rhodes' story, officers said, 'made very little sense' and there was no evidence to corroborate the account as The North Augusta Department of Public Safety has obtained an arrest warrant The couple, Rhodes told officers, took her to their home and fed her bread and water before she got into the black truck of a man who drove her home. She claimed she had no idea who anyone that had helped her was and believed herself to have suffered from a stroke with little memory of what happened. But her mysterious story only furthered suspicion as authorities believe Rhodes fabricated the story to evade prosecution for the hit-and-run accident. Her story, officers said, 'made very little sense' and there was no evidence to corroborate the account, The Augusta Press reported. Rhodes was taken to hospital shortly after she reappeared, where she remains pending a medical evaluation. The North Augusta Department of Public Safety obtained an arrest warrant for her on charges of reckless driving, open container of beer, and hit-and-run attended vehicle with property damage.
New York Times
24-07-2025
- Business
- New York Times
What we're hearing about college basketball budgets in revenue-sharing era: ‘Money-dump year'
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. — Have we maybe, finally, reached the peak of college basketball spending? It depends who you ask … but it's certainly possible. Why? Because this offseason, college sports' old and new funding models — established name, image, and likeness (NIL) norms, plus the introduction of revenue-sharing — overlapped, giving programs a one-year window to blow the bank. Advertisement 'This year is the money-dump year because of everything that's happening,' said one assistant coach at a mid-major-plus school. 'We will never see these numbers again. Now, what does that mean moving forward? We don't know.' That uncertainty was a near-consensus sentiment among the 35 coaches The Athletic polled at Peach Jam last weekend. Much of that stems from the unknown ramifications of the long-anticipated House vs. NCAA settlement, which took effect July 1 and allows schools — for the first time — to pay athletes directly through revenue sharing, with a $20.5 million cap per school for all sports combined. Athletes are still allowed to reach third-party NIL deals that don't count against the cap, but those agreements could come under more scrutiny in a post-House world, with a new clearinghouse — NIL Go — set to review them. Will NIL Go approve the sorts of million-dollar deals that have become the industry standard over the last four seasons? This early into the revenue-sharing era, coaches don't know. But if one thing is clear, it's that budgets for this season are eye-popping. To understand just how swollen budgets have become this offseason, we asked all 35 coaches: On average, what would you estimate teams in your conference spent on their rosters for the upcoming 2025-26 season? Coaches were granted anonymity in exchange for their candor. The answers are telling — even considering the wide range of budgets within each league. (In the 18-team ACC, for example, the difference between the highest- and lowest-spending schools is eight figures.) But for as sexy as those numbers are, it's crucial to remember why basketball budgets have grown, especially for next season. Prior to the House settlement, most college players were paid by school collectives, who funneled money directly from donors to athletes under the guise of NIL. Now, in a revenue-sharing world, schools can distribute up to $20.5 million annually to players. Men's basketball isn't getting that entire pie — Opendorse, an NIL marketplace company, estimates most high-major programs will receive 20.3 percent of that on average — but still: that's a few extra million teams can dole out. Advertisement So, when you combine old collective money — most of which schools intentionally spent before July 1 — with new revenue-sharing funds? Voila: You get a basketball bubble, and budgets reaching never-before-seen heights. 'There is a realization for most,' said one Big Ten assistant, 'that the money will not be the same.' In many ways, one byproduct of the House settlement led to this offseason's spending boon. That would be the College Sports Commission (CSC), the new enforcement agency responsible for regulating revenue-sharing and cutting down on the pay-for-play deals that have become the industry standard. To regulate 'fair' market deals, the CSC created a clearinghouse, NIL Go, which is run by Deloitte and which vets any third-party NIL deals worth over $600. Considering schools have regularly been paying top talents hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of dollars annually, coaches were understandably apprehensive about the clearinghouse review process. Most who The Athletic spoke to admitted that they 'front-loaded' contracts this offseason, spending as much collective money as possible in case NIL Go made it effectively unusable. 'With the collectives being in question, and all the details that are coming out about the settlement,' said one SEC head coach, 'I don't know what it's gonna look like.' And that uncertainty is still palpable. The CSC announced earlier this month that it wouldn't clear any collective deals, seemingly validating coaches' front-loading … only to reverse course on Tuesday after substantial backlash; the enforcement body now says it will consider collectives 'valid businesses,' but will still hold them to the fair 'range of compensation' rules that traditional third parties are subject to. What does that mean for future spending? Advertisement Simply, if high-major programs are to sustain their current roster budgets, then supplemental collective money is a necessity. Consider: The average expected revenue sharing allotment for high-major teams — about 20.3 percent of $20.5 million — comes out to about $4.2 million … or half of what programs are estimated to be spending this upcoming year. Is the college basketball economy really going to nosedive to that extent? 'You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube,' an ACC head coach said. 'The free market has (borne) what these numbers are, so now you can't come back and correct the free market, and say, 'Well, actually, this isn't the free market. What we determine is the free market is the free market.' If you were able to do that, we wouldn't be running to Congress asking for help, because that would be legal. What we're doing now isn't legal.' It's easy to talk about college basketball spending in a macro sense. But what does that look like at the one-on-one level with players? 'You're going to have a kid making 400 (thousand), and you're gonna go, 'Well, next year I only have 200 for you,'' an ACC assistant said. 'That doesn't usually sit real well.' As a Big 12 assistant put it: 'That's going to be a hard conversation to kids you're already loyal to.' The ramifications could be landscape-shifting. With players having more freedom of movement than ever, coaches worry that a stark drop in spending — especially in the span of one offseason — will lead to the most frantic offseason of the NIL era yet. Another roster construction concern: How much should coaches allocate for freshmen, especially those who rarely impact winning their first college season? 'A lot of these '26 kids have friends who were in the '25 class and got a lot of money — and now you're offering them a quarter of that?' said an SEC assistant. 'We're gonna struggle initially, trying to explain the difference.' Advertisement Which is why only three top-25 recruits in the 2026 class have committed so far. Other uncertainties abound, too. For all the talk about 'average' allotments to high-major programs, for instance, what about the blue bloods set to receive an outsized percentage of their school's revenue-sharing funds? What Duke and Kentucky receive, for instance, will be drastically different from what teams residing alongside powerhouse football programs — like Alabama, Ohio State, and Clemson — will ultimately get. 'If you're talking true rev share,' one blue blood assistant admitted, 'then we've been given an opportunity to be competitive.' There's also the looming threat of non-football leagues, namely the Big East and Atlantic 10. On one hand, not having football means most Big East schools won't come close to paying out the overall $20.5 million cap permitted by the House settlement. But on the other hand? Those same schools can give their men's basketball programs the largest cut of the revenue sharing pie, rather than the 20 percent that most of their high-major colleagues should receive. 'The Big East would be able to likely — with the commitment and the resources — double and triple some of these SEC and Big Ten schools,' said one Atlantic 10 head coach. 'I don't know what the next set of rules are going to be, but I guarantee you it's not going to be that.' Added the SEC head coach: 'We talk as a staff that we might be competing against Atlantic 10 schools for kids, if it's based on just money.' We won't know for a while whether or not the CSC truly has the teeth to stem the flood of collective money into college sports. But if it does, and revenue-sharing funds are something of a legitimate cap? Expect teams to get, uh, creative when it comes to navigating the clearinghouse's restrictions. Advertisement 'There's probably some guys out there,' one Big 12 head coach said, 'that are going to figure out a way to do some things that are within the letter of the law — (but) maybe not the spirit of the law.' Or, more succinctly, in the words of one WCC head coach: 'It's just going to bring back cheating. I don't want to be naive about that.' After surveying coaches at just under 10 percent of Division I schools, the only thing that's become clear is how divided the college basketball universe is on what to make of revenue sharing. Will it curtail massive donor influence in college basketball? Will it curb overall spending and level the financial playing field? Or is it just a slight impediment to the free market and the hefty prices that have emerged in the NIL era? Is it enforceable? Destined to get sued into oblivion? A precursor to collective bargaining? There's no clear answer to any of it. 'We continually ask for help and guardrails — and then when we get them, we complain about them, find ways around them, and then we sue the NCAA,' another ACC head coach said. 'Sooner or later, coaches are going to have to decide what they want this ultimately to look like. And if we're going to continue to find ways around stuff, or sue, then it's just going to be chaos.'
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Kentucky basketball's Mark Pope has landed homegrown stars. Tyran Stokes would be big win
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. — Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope will never be John Calipari on the recruiting trail. Nor is he trying to be, based on how he's approached his first class having a full year to recruit. While he's proven in one year to have the coaching acumen that will keep UK a top program, now he has to show he's got the recruiting chops to match. Pope's best talent so far has come from the transfer portal, and his highest-ranked recruits, Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno, are both homegrown. In going outside of the bubble, Pope's first big swing nationally in the Class of 2026 was with a pair of teammates from California. They may just be a barometer on how good Pope can be at luring the elite, top-10 recruits in a given class. Jason Crowe Jr., the No. 5 prospect in the class according to 247 Sports, is a 6-foot-4 southpaw shooting guard. His Nike Elite Youth Basketball League teammate just happens to be the top-ranked player in the class, Tyran Stokes. Pope missed on one part of the equation as Crowe announced his commitment Friday and chose Missouri over the Cats. He still has a chance with Stokes, a Louisville native. Stokes is taking the opposite approach from Crowe. The 6-8 small forward isn't saying anything. To anybody. Right now, he's keeping his thoughts on his recruiting process to himself. During Nike's Peach Jam EYBL tournament last week in North Augusta, Stokes only stopped for media inquiries to say he's not talking during Peach Jam. Stokes has only taken three official visits so far — to Kentucky, Louisville and Kansas. His mother, Keaira, moved him to California after living in Louisville until he was 9, but they still have family there and she said Stokes still considers himself a native despite spending the other half of his life on the West Coast. She joked that Stokes passed on media duties to her and added that he may make a decision before his high school season starts. 'Sometimes it's not too much, but he just wants to be Tyran not THE Tyran Stokes,' she said. 'He just wants to be that kid that he really is.' A kid in age but plays like a grown man on the court. That drew a standing-room-only crowd Thursday from crowding in Gym 3/4 on the big court in the North Augusta Parks and Recreation Center to see Crowe and Stokes play for the Oakland Soldiers. NBA star Ja Morant, flanked by security and what looked like a team of his own, sat on a corner baseline. Some YouTube influencer that all the kids seemed to know drew attention on the opposite corner from Morant. Every major program was represented on the opposite sideline including Louisville's Pat Kelsey, who is also recruiting Stokes, and Arkansas as Calipari was joined by assistant coach and former U of L head coach Kenny Payne by his side. For a time during Calipari's 15 years, if the Wildcats wanted a player, they were more than likely getting him. Pope has a chance to show he can recruit at that level, albeit not at the volume of the past conveyor belt of one-and-dones that seemed to annually replenish the roster. But in his pursuit of national championship banner No. 9, it's important that he be able to land the elite of elites. As much as it's been proven that teams don't win titles with a bevy of freshmen, what's also been true among title teams is that they all have at least one NBA first-round talent. If Pope can't close the deal on either, it's not the end of Kentucky basketball. It just might indicate he'll keep going through the transfer portal to find the best talent instead of building through high schools. Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@ follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at to make sure you never miss one of his columns. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky basketball: Mark Pope out to show 2026 recruiting chops
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Yahoo
Mom Was Taken Hostage and Got Spree Killer to Surrender. 20 Years Later, She Says It Changed Her Life for the Better (Exclusive)
Ashley Smith-Robinson was taken hostage for seven hours in March 2005 by Brian Nichols, who had just escaped from an Atlanta courthouse during his rape trial and killed four people Ashley credits her deep Christian faith with giving her the strength to talk Nichols into releasing her and turning himself in 'If this never happened,' says Ashley, who insists that the incident for transformed her life, 'I'd be dead from an overdose"Sitting in her car on a recent muggy morning outside a child care center in North Augusta, S.C., Ashley Smith-Robinson can't help but marvel at the 'pretty normal' path her life has taken over the past two decades. 'I'm grateful for where I am now,' the 49-year-old says while waiting to pick up her 11-month-old grandson, Cash. 'It's been better than I could have ever imagined or deserve.' It was March 2005 when the world was first introduced to Ashley after she was taken hostage in her apartment by an accused rapist who escaped from law enforcement and gunned down four people. Over the course of seven hours, Ashley — who'd lost custody of her daughter Paige while struggling to kick drugs and get her life back on track — used her deep Christian faith and the determination to see her little girl to pull off what was widely seen as a miracle: She talked 33-year-old Brian Nichols into releasing her and turning himself in, potentially saving countless other lives. The nightmare proved pivotal for Ashley. Not only did she author the 2005 memoir Unlikely Angel and became the focus of the 2015 film Captive — but, most importantly, she never again used drugs, got her daughter back and has built the kind of 'quiet life' that once seemed impossible. In a way, she's grateful for it all. 'If this had never happened,' confesses Ashley, a happily married mother of three and new grandma, 'there's no doubt in my mind I'd be dead from an overdose or from getting involved with the wrong people.'Ashley was still reeling from the 2001 murder of her husband Mack right in front of her, and had been using meth to numb the pain when Nichols showed up at her Atlanta-area apartment with a gun at 2 a.m. on March 12, 2005. 'I was in a bad place,' says Ashley, who had relapsed after 10 months of sobriety. For much of the previous day, the city had been on edge after Nichols overpowered a sheriff's deputy at the Fulton County courthouse and went on a rampage — killing judge Rowland Barnes, 64; court reporter Julie Brandau, 46; deputy Hoyt Teasley, 43; and 40-year-old off-duty ICE agent David Wilhelm. At her waitressing job earlier that afternoon, Ashley had watched the drama play out on TV. 'Don't worry about him,' she recalls a group of police officers at the restaurant tell her when she asked if Nichols had been apprehended yet. 'He's probably in Alabama by now.' Hours after getting off her shift, she was back at her new apartment unpacking boxes and had decided to drive to a nearby gas station for a pack of cigarettes. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Something about the truck parked in front of her complex with someone sitting inside of it felt 'weird,' she remembers thinking. Minutes later when she returned, it was still there. Ashley was walking to her front door when she heard footsteps behind her. By the time she turned around, she saw a man standing behind her, pointing a gun at her. 'I won't hurt you,' the man — who Ashley instantly recognized as Nichols when he removed his hat — told her, 'if you do everything I say.' Summoning every ounce of composure she could muster, she told Nichols, a former college football player, about her own life, including how she was scheduled for visitation with her then-5-year-old daughter the next morning. Out of instinct, she began asking him questions about himself, trying to get to know him. 'He sounded crazy and felt extremely judged — which was how I was feeling at that point in my life,' says Ashley. 'So I tried to talk to him about all the things I would want people to ask me to make him feel a little more human.' Before long, Nichols asked her if she had any marijuana. She told him no, but she had some meth and soon found herself laying out lines of the drug on a table and thinking about 'the mess I'd made of my life." Nichols asked her if she wanted any. 'I told him that I never want to use drugs ever again,' she recalls. After watching him snort the meth, which she noticed had a strangely calming effect on Nichols, she shifted the tone of their discussion. 'I just started praying and having a spiritual conversation with him,' says Ashley, who — after making Nichols pancakes — began reading to him from The Purpose Driven Life, which she had recently turned to for strength. As he listened to Ashley read from chapter 33 of the book, Nichols asked her, 'What do you think I should do?' Without skipping a beat, she replied: 'You have to turn yourself in. We all have to pay for the things we've done, and I'm paying for my mistakes right now because I don't have my daughter. It's one of the most painful things I've ever been through.' Hours later, as the sky brightened into morning, her words of tough love had clearly worked their magic. Nichols asked her what time she needed to leave in order to see her daughter. She glanced at her watch, then told him, 'Now would be the best time.' Nichols nodded, fished her cellphone out of his pocket and handed it back to her. Moments later, Ashley walked out her front door. 'My knees were shaking,' she recalls, 'and I immediately said, 'Thank you Lord.' ' She jumped in her car and sped off, immediately calling police. Nichols stayed behind in her apartment to calmly await the officers, even hanging a mirror before SWAT teams descended on the complex and took him away in handcuffs. The years that followed were a whirlwind for Ashley. She was hailed a hero for helping re-capture Nichols — now serving multiple life sentences at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison — and was soon sharing how her unwavering faith saved her life with Oprah Winfrey and before audiences that often numbered in the thousands. She got sober again, returned to school to become an X-ray and CT technician and, in 2007, and married former boyfriend Daniel Robinson. Since then, she's largely retreated from the spotlight but continues to appear as a local inspirational speaker. She's never had any contact with Nichols since that morning 20 years ago. But every few years, she says that 'God will press it on my heart to write him a letter and then I'll get four sentences into it and I'm like, 'Not now. It doesn't feel right.' ' Someone Ashley has maintained regular contact with from the 2005 tragedy is Candy Wilhelm, the widow of ICE agent David whom Nichols killed hours after fleeing from the Atlanta courthouse. 'She and I have a relationship because she knows that I know what it feels like to have your husband taken away from you,' she says. 'That's our bonding point.' Although Ashley admits her brush with terror 'seems like a lifetime ago,' she can't help but get uneasy when home alone. And the impact of her excruciating night of captivity remains profound — but also painfully bittersweet. 'Four people lost their lives. Families lost husbands, wives and fathers,' Ashley says. 'But it gave my children a mother, it gave my husband a wife, and it gave me an opportunity to share God's love with millions of people.' If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP. Read the original article on People
