MLILY Mattresses in Augusta, GA

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - HEAT ADVISORY will stay in effect this evening until 8 PM and then stay in effect again Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Heat indices across the CSRA will peak between 105°-110° in the afternoon both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday will be the worst of the heat and humidity with actual highs near 100° and heat index values topping out near 110°. Expect plenty of sunshine most of the day, but as the high pressure responsible for the hot temperatures retreats to the west and a cool front approaches from the north, a few scattered thunderstorms will be possible after 3 p.m. lasting through Saturday evening. Winds will be light and variable. The chance of storms is only 30 percent today, but an isolated severe storms are possible, so be sure to stay weather aware in the afternoon and evening.

The HEAT ADVISORY continues Sunday for the western CSRA, although it will not be quite as hot with highs in the middle 90s and heat index values near 105°. Like Saturday, we can expect enough sunshine to get highs into the middle 90s, but with the front on top of the area, there will be a 60 percent chance of storms by in the afternoon and evening. Rain will be locally heavy and isolated severe storms with damaging winds are possible. Winds will be from the southeast at 2 to 6 mph.

The front that moves in Sunday will stall over the region Monday through Wednesday keeping rain chances high and temperatures cooler. Flood alerts will be possible for flood prone areas early next week as multiple rounds of showers and storms is expected. Highs will stay warm in the lower 90s Monday, but then highs will likely stay in the upper 80s to near 90 Tuesday through Friday as clouds and higher rain chances keep the heat away.

We are also keeping a close eye on Invest 93L in the western Caribbean Sea which will likely become a tropical depression this weekend as it heads toward the southern Gulf of Mexico. Further development of this storm is likely early next week as it moves north. The path of the storm will play a big role in potential impacts for the CSRA, but early indications are that it will pass closely enough to our area to elevate rain chance for the middle of the week.

You can also stay up to date with the WRDW Weather App, available on Google Play or the Apple app store.

First Alert Meteorologist Chris Still has your weekend forecast and an update on a new system forming in the tropics.

Copyright 2023 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

Ron Sanders Jr. believes exposure in any field is important, which is one reason he cherishes any opportunity to come back to Augusta University and share encouraging words with future physician assistant students in the College of Allied Health Sciences.

Sanders graduated from Augusta State University and received a Master of Science of Physician Assistant from the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. He is passionate about medical education, process improvement and mentorship, which was one of the reasons he visited Aug. 17 to talk to the PA class of 2025.

He shared his story of becoming a PA, thanks to the help of mentors and family encouraging him to find experiences that allowed him to have hands-on training.

“Growing up, all I heard was you’re either a doctor or a lawyer, and that was it. My aunt and those who eventually became my mentors exposed me to this field called physician assistant that nobody had really heard of or confused it for a medical assistant,” said Sanders, who is a certified emergency medicine physician assistant. He now lives in Atlanta and is the co-founder of Viral Solutions, which was created to help find a way to resolve the COVID-19 testing crisis in Georgia.

“So that exposure and then them taking me under their wing and allowing me to train with them and just absorb all that knowledge was vital for me.”

After Sanders graduated, he went to work in the emergency department at DeKalb Medical (now Emory Decatur) in Atlanta. He worked there for 12 years before co-founding Viral Solutions with Ben Lefkove, MD, who also graduated from MCG with his Doctor of Medicine. Viral Solutions is now the parent company for First Class Healthcare and the newly opened DriveThru Urgent Care, both of which are designed and dedicated to providing faster health care to patients with time-sensitive medical needs.

Sanders also noted that the company is working in correctional spaces at the Gwinnett and Cherokee county jails.

One aspect he misses from his previous job is the recruiting, hiring and training of PA students. He said he loved precepting and would take two students a month for a year. He estimates he has worked with more than 250 students during his tenure.

During his talk, Sanders mentioned the BeST Scholarship, which he created in 2022 to support underrepresented students in the didactic phase of their PA education. The scholarship is named in honor of his three mentors: Eugene Beverly, PA, who was his preceptor for his family medicine rotation; Judith Stallings, EDD, MHE, PA-C, who was his professor and adviser when he entered the program; and Ben Taylor, PA, who allowed Sanders to shadow him and gave him the opportunity to amass more than 300 hours.

Last year, Sanders awarded $10,000 to one student, and this year he was able to increase it to $20,000, with the hope of being able to increase it in the years to come.

“When I left the ER to start my company —I don’t necessarily miss the ER but I miss having students. That is the biggest void for me, even with the successes I’ve had in my business,” he said. “It’s always been a passion of mine, and it always will be a passion. I expect to add more money onto this scholarship year by year, hopefully, as my business expands.”

College of Allied Health Sciences Dean Lester Pretlow, PhD, is proud to have a prominent alum return to talk with and encourage the PA students and believes Sanders has a bright future ahead of him.

“Ron Sanders is a star; he spent his youth learning the game of chess. With chess, Ron became a strategist extraordinaire and now uses his skills to deliver streamlined health care to the residents of Atlanta,” Pretlow said. “The PA department and I could not be prouder of his accomplishments. Ron is going places, and it is going to be fun to see where he ends up.”

Professor and chair for the Physician Assistant Department Lisa Daitch, MPAS, PA-C, said many of their alumni go on to have amazing careers in health care. She is excited Sanders has achieved such a level of success and grateful he’s taking it upon himself to give back to an upcoming generation of PAs from his alma mater.

“I have been involved with this program since 2006 and can count on one hand how many of our alumni have made financial awards for the next generation or set up an endowed fund,” she said. “I am extremely proud of all that Ron has accomplished since graduation and his desire to reach forward toward our future graduates with financial help and mentorship on their journey.”

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Tagged asAlumniBen LefkoveCollege of Allied Health Scienceshomepagejag homepageJudith StallingsLester PretlowLisa DaitchMedical College of Georgiaphysician assistantPhysician Assistant ProgramRon Sanders Jr.Viral Solutions

North Augusta, SC - Gary Gill Hill, Trevor Martin and Gerlin Rosario combined for 17 strikeouts as the Charleston RiverDogs evened their series with Augusta GreenJackets on Friday night at SRP Park. The offense used a big fourth inning to emerge with 6-4 victory.

The teams have each won 11 games in the season series with two contests remaining.

The GreenJackets (23-29, 54-63) jumped on Gill Hill in his Charleston debut. Jace Grady worked a one-out walk and Drew Compton followed with a base hit to put two on. After a lineout by E.J. Exposito notched the second out, Will Verdung III and Kade Kern collected back-to-back RBI singles to give Augusta a 2-0 lead.

After being set down in order in the first frame, the RiverDogs (33-19, 60-58) capitalized on the wildness of Adam Shoemaker. The left-hander walked two of the first three batters in the inning to set the table. Raudelis Martinez poked a slow roller toward third that was overrun by Exposito for an infield hit that allowed Ryan Cermak to score from second. Another walk loaded the bases, before Shoemaker hit Cristopher Barete with a pitch to force in the tying run.

In the fourth, Barete dropped a single into shallow center field to begin a rally. A bunt single from Carlos Colmenarez and free pass to Brayden Taylor loaded the bases with one out. A wild pitch from reliever Estarlin Rodriguez handed the RiverDogs their first lead at 3-2. Cooper Kinney followed with an RBI single to center field that allowed the visitors to extend the margin to 5-2 when catcher Nick Clarno committed a throwing error later in the play.

Following three dominant innings on the mound from Martin, Augusta found a bit of footing in the sixth. With two outs, Exposition pulled a double to the left field corner and was joined on base by Verdung after he worked a walk. Kern came through again with his second RBI single of the night, allowing the GreenJackets to close within two.

The RiverDogs added one final insurance run in the top of the ninth. Colmenarez lined a leadoff single into center field and advanced to third on a ground-rule double off the bat of Kinney. Cermak's chopper toward short was bobbled by Ambioris Tavarez, allowing Colmenarez to score without a throw.

Augusta used a pair of doubles in the bottom of the ninth to score one run and move the tying run to second base with two outs against Rosario. The right-hander struck out Tavarez to end the game. Rosario earned the save by allowing one run over 3.0 innings with seven strikeouts. Martin also whiffed seven while allowing a lone run in 4.0 innings to collect his ninth win. Gill Hill rebounded from the tough first inning to strike out the side in the second.

Colmenarez and Kinney paced the RiverDogs eight-hit effort with two hits each. Augusta finished with nine hits, three of them from Kern.

The series will continue Saturday night at 6:05 p.m. RHP Marcus Johnson (4-6, 3.78) is set to work for the RiverDogs with RHP Seth Keller (2-3, 5.91) lined up for the GreenJackets.

2023 playoff tickets are on sale now, along with season tickets, Dog-E Coin plans, and group tickets, including options to the Segra Club at Riley Park via riverdogs.com/tickets. The Segra Club is also open for events year-round. Visit segraclub.com for more information. The brand new RiverDogs Food Truck is available for your next event! Contact the RiverDogs front office at 843-577-3647 (DOGS) for more information.

Check out the Charleston RiverDogs Statistics

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Phil Mickelson was pretty much everyone’s favorite golfer up until he lost some fans when he “defected” from the PGA Tour to be one of the trendsetters of the LIV Tour.

Even then, it’s hard not to like “Lefty,” who is as charismatic as they come, and can pull off some unbelievable golf shots from time to time. He’s also not bad at telling a story, which he showcased in his most recent social media clip where he decided to let fans in on a little secret:

“Hey everyone, welcome to story time with Phil, I’m going to tell you a little story. I’m going to take you back 20 years to the Masters in 2004, my first major win.”

Mickelson explains that he had just started working with a new instructor who taught him a towel drill, where he would set up targets at specific yardages all the way up to 175 yards. He had just won a tournament before the Masters doing the drill, so he had momentum going into Augusta and wanted to continue it:

“The week of the Masters, I wanted to continue doing this, so there was an East range and a West Range. Totally different range than what we have now, and so as you’re looking out at the club, down Magnolia Lane, the left side (West side) was for the driving range and the right side was just this big open field with a chipping green.”

Phil ended up doing the drill over on the “open field” range, hitting really long shots that he probably should have been hitting over on the driving range meant for shots like that. However, he goes on to win the 2004 Masters after doing the drill in the East range, so this becomes a routine for him.

He shows up the following year and goes out to do the same towel drill in the same area, but now there is a sign that says “East Practice Range is for Short Game Only,” which he says was going to keep him from doing his regular towel drill. That’s when he hatched a plan:

“After the Champions Dinner, I let all the champions leave first, and I go down Magnolia Lane and I park the car. And I kind of crawl under the magnolia trees and I take that sign and I wiggle and I wiggle and I lift and I yank it out and I throw it into the back of my SUV, and off I go.

So I show up the next morning, there’s no sign there, I start hitting my shots, I do my towel drill and I do it all week long.”

The idea worked for the time being, but when Phil went back the following year in 2006 and went to his regular spot, the sign had been replaced. So he does the same thing at the Champions dinner that he did the previous year, army crawling underneath the trees, wiggling the sign out, and chucking it into the back of his vehicle. When he went back the next day, the sign had already been replaced, and he figured out that someone must have been watching him:

“It never dawned on me that there are cameras everywhere and there’s some video of me crawling under these magnolias with the guy saying ‘look at this idiot, what’s he doing?’

A lot of you might bet that that’s not a true story. Now, I’m not a betting man so I’m not going to take it, but I wouldn’t do that because it’s a true story.”

Phil then reveals to the camera that he had the sign next to him the entire time just out of frame, which reads “East Practice Tee for Short Game Practice Only.” Oh, and that part where he said he isn’t a betting man isn’t true, since it’s reported that he’s bet over $1 billion in the past 30 years.

You can take a look at the full “story time” that Phil shared on his social media accounts below:

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - HEAT ADVISORY will stay in effect this evening until 8 PM and then stay in effect again Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Heat indices across the CSRA will peak between 103-109° in the afternoon through Sunday. Staying mostly dry for high school football games - but dangerous heat is possible around kick-off. Feel like temperatures will be in the 90s during the first half of games. Mostly clear skies overnight with lows staying muggy in the low to mid-70s.

HEAT ADVISORY again Saturday for heat indices between 103-110°. Actual highs will get close to 100°. Winds will be light and variable during the day. A few isolated storms are possible in the afternoon - some could turn severe. Stay weather aware in the afternoon for any storms popping up during outdoor plans.

HEAT ADVISORY in effect again Sunday for the western CSRA for heat indices between 100-110°. Another front will show up Sunday and bring the chance for scattered to numerous storms - mainly in the afternoon through Sunday night. Isolated severe storms will be possible again Sunday - mainly for damaging winds and heavy rain leading to flooding. Highs will stay hot in the mid-90s.

The front that moves in Sunday will stall over the region Monday through Wednesday keeping rain chances high and temperatures cooler. Flood alerts will be possible for flood prone areas early next week as multiple rounds of showers and storms is expected. Highs will stay warm Monday near 90 - but then highs will likely stay in the mid to upper 80s Tuesday through Friday as clouds and higher rain chances keep the heat away.

We are also keeping a close eye on Invest 93L - which will likely become a tropical depression this weekend in the southern Gulf of Mexico. Further development of this storm is possible early next week as it moves north. The path of the storm will play a big role in potential impacts for the CSRA. Keep it here for updates through the weekend - things can change quickly!

Active weather expected over the next week: Heat alerts - severe storms - tropical storm?

You can also stay up to date with the WRDW Weather App, available on Google Play or the Apple app store.

Copyright 2023 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.