WARE COUNTY

Citing the widespread damage from Hurricane Helene, the Georgia High School Association on Tuesday pushed back the start of the football playoffs by a week.

Ware County was among the worst hit in Southeast Georgia by Hurricane Helene. Residents were still digging out from the devastation on Monday as schools, libraries, government offices and more remained closed.

Thousands of people are still without power in Waycross as trees and power lines lie across roadways.

Officials announced that all Ware County Schools and the Central Office will remain closed at least through Tuesday, Oct. 1 due to Hurricane Helene.

Due to sustained winds reaching 45 mph and higher, first responders for Glynn County and the City of Brunswick – Police, Fire and Public Works – are unable to safely respond to emergency calls.

The Ware County Emergency Operations Center was officially activated Thursday as Hurricane Helene is forecast to start impacting the area in the evening, according to county officials.

Officials in Ware County are preparing for impacts from Helene.

The Ware County Sheriff’s Office said Ware County High School was put on lockdown on Monday after reports of a shot fired.

It was a wet and nasty Friday night for area high school football programs in Week 3.

The high school football regular season is off and rolling. News4JAX Varsity 4 Super 10 is here. It will be published on Tuesday through the end of the regular season. Think we’ve got a team ranked too high or a program not ranked at all? Send us a message on Instagram (@Sports4Jax) or sports@wjxt.com.

Through two weeks of the high school football season, the heavyweights are beginning to emerge.

The high school football regular season is off and running in Georgia. Here’s a look at the team-by-team and week-by-week schedules and results for our Georgia programs.

The Gulf Coast Sea Breeze is back, Bringing increasing rain chances this weekend

Hot, humid, muggy and buggy

More than 100 new laws went into effect in Georgia, a key battleground in the November election.

Slow-moving Storms will Lead to Flooded Roadways for NE FL and SE GA

Dozens of people attended a basketball tournament Saturday morning at Ware County High School to honor a fallen hero.

Voters in some southeast Georgia counties have about a week to cast an early, in-person ballot ahead of the June 18 primary runoff election.

The polls have closed in Georgia’s primary elections - find results in statewide races and races across southeast Georgia here, as the votes are tallied.

Voters in 18 south Georgia counties face a question this May about whether or not to extend a one-cent sales tax to pay for transportation projects across the region.

Georgia voters have nearly three weeks to cast an in-person ballot for the state’s primaries, ahead of the May 21 election.

While the race for president is getting much of the attention in the 2024 election cycle, Georgia voters will also be electing officials for local, state, and federal office this year. Some of those races will be on the ballot for the state’s primary on May 21.

While the race for president is getting much of the attention in the 2024 election cycle, Georgia voters will also be electing officials for local, state, and federal office this year. Some of those races will be on the ballot for the state’s primary on May 21.

Georgia voters now have nearly three weeks to cast an in-person ballot for the state’s presidential primaries, ahead of the March 12 election.

Due to the threat of severe weather, all Ware County Schools will be closed to staff and students on Tuesday, the school district announced on Monday.

The former couple is hoping for a lower bond, and a chance to get out of jail.

A committee created by WJXT/WCWJ is narrowing down each category to three finalists.

Camden County and Pierce County are moving on in the Georgia High School Association state playoffs.

Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Ware County Sheriff’s Office investigators never gave up hope that a “Baby Jane Doe” found in 1988 would one day have her name back.

Lewis Jenkins doesn’t remember exactly where they found the girl who came to be known as "Baby Jane Doe" for the next 35 years, but he does remember she was wearing white.

The second round of the Georgia High School Association state playoffs are this week. A look at the matchups for area teams. All games are Friday at 7:30 p.m.

It was the tip that made a difference, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigators.

Nearly 35 years after a 3-year-old’s remains were found dumped in a rural area of Ware County, the “Baby Jane Doe” has her name back. Authorities say Kenyatta Odom died sometime in 1988 at the hands of her mother and stepfather.

Four South Georgia programs moved on in their high school football openers, including defending Class 5A state champ Ware County.

Brunswick, Camden County, Charlton County, Glynn Academy, Pierce County and defending state champion Ware County open the state playoffs this week.

A Ware County firefighter was charged with DUI manslaughter for a crash in June that killed another firefighter, according to a booking report.

Elections were held for 11 local offices across northeast Florida and southeast Georgia.

While the first primaries and caucuses in the 2024 presidential nominating cycle are still several months away, some northeast Florida and southeast Georgia voters will be heading to the polls for Election Day on Nov. 7.

We’re nearly through three weeks of the high school football season and some big storylines have started to take shape.

Help recognize someone doing impactful work in our local African American communities by nominating them in one of eight categories.

How Hurricane Idalia will impact Camden, Charlton, Ware, Brantley, Glynn and Pierce counties

With the start of the school year, quite a few new policy changes are taking effect in Florida.

High school football weekly schedules for the 2023 season. A handful of area teams have yet to finalize their full schedules. Those will be updated as they become available.

A firefighter with Ware County Fire Rescue died Thursday when the fire truck he was riding in overturned in a crash.

The SnapJAX Community Challenge will allow all of Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia to show off all of the different ways their hometowns are unique.

The leader of a deadly fentanyl trafficking operation in Southeast Georgia will spend the next 22 years in federal prison.

A newly-unsealed indictment names 76 people as part of a plan to move large amounts of drugs into Southeast Georgia, and much of the conspiracy operated from inside Georgia state prisons, the U.S. Department of Justice for the Southern District of Georgia announced Wednesday.

For the last two years, GBI has been utilizing advanced DNA testing in hopes of finding the relatives of a 3-year-old girl whose body was dumped in Ware County in 1988.

Ware County polished off its perfect season with a historic win.

Ware County is ready for its shot at history against a team that has already made plenty of it.

The Christians faced off with Clearwater Central Catholic in the Class 1M state semifinals and treated fans to a classic in a 34-29 loss. Photographer Kevin Nguyen captured the game in photos. Click through the gallery above to check out those pictures.

Ware County was the lone area state semifinal survivor on a miserable night of football for local programs. All five Florida-area programs bowed out one win shy of championship game appearances, some in blowout fashion and others in agonizing misses that will be talked about for some time.

A Ware County mother on Monday spoke with News4JAX for the first time following the death of her 16-year-old daughter, who in August was found fatally shot in a crashed car.

Early voting is now underway statewide in Georgia ahead of next month’s Senate runoff election between Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker.

Ware County is among the more than 20 Georgia counties allowing residents to vote as early as Saturday. It is the only Southeast Georgia county that started early voting this weekend.

The night started with a dozen area teams in the state playoffs and only six of those remain.

Early voting will begin Saturday in several Georgia counties for the runoff between Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

A dozen teams are still standing in the high school football state playoffs with some major all-local showdowns heading our way.

The high school football regular season is in the books and the playoffs are on tap. Who’s in, who’s out and who’s going where? That will be finalized on Sunday morning when the FHSAA releases its first brackets for its new Suburban and Metro state playoffs.

You've likely heard of Brian Kemp, David Perdue, Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. But there are scores of other names on the ballot for dozens of state and local offices. A look at all the candidates who want your vote on Tuesday.

Seven weeks of the high school football season are nearly in the books — the Northwest Classic is up on Saturday — and things are coming more and more into focus.

Students in Camden and Ware counties headed back to class on Monday.

Two days after a man and woman were found dead in their home in the Waycross area, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Wednesday that the son of the woman and the son’s wife were arrested and each charged with two counts of felony murder.

A man and woman were found dead Monday in their home in the Waycross area, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday.

CSX and local first responders are working to clear the area.

You've likely heard of Brian Kemp, David Perdue, Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. But there are scores of other names on the ballot for dozens of state and local offices. A look at all the candidates who want your vote on Tuesday.

Severe winds, storms, even a few tornadoes continue to roll across the Deep South. The worst seems to have taken place late Wednesday in Mississippi, where numerous tornadoes were reported and wind damage from fallen power lines and trees were numerous.

A tornado watch was in effect until 4 p.m. Thursday for Baker and Columbia counties in Florida and Brantley, Charlton, Pierce and Ware counties in Georgia.

The impact of weather expected to hit Ware County on Wednesday afternoon has caused the school district to cancel all athletic and extracurricular practices and events, as well as Gator All-Star Academy.

A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Brantley, Pierce and Ware counties until 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Only six area teams survived the second round — Baker County, Bolles, Nease, Pierce County, Trinity Christian and Union County.

The Ware County School Board of Education voted Monday to return to all in-person instruction on Wednesday.

A single-engine Marquart 5 flew into power lines south of Waycross-Ware County Airport in Waycross, Ga., on Thursday.

Georgia’s top epidemiologist said Tuesday that 60% of COVID-19 outbreaks in the state over the last several weeks have occurred in K-12 schools.

The Ware County School System will adopt a hybrid instructional model from Sept. 7 through Oct. 7 due to the number of COVID-19 cases in the county and the surrounding area, the school system said.

After just over a week in session, Ware County Schools made the decision Friday to put the school year on hold following a “sharp increase” in the number of positive COVID-19 cases reported among students and staff.

All public schools in Ware County will follow their early release schedules on Friday so they can close for deep cleaning the district announced Wednesday.

A glance at team-by-team schedules for area teams in Florida and southeast Georgia.

Tropical Storm Elsa moved into southern Georgia early Wednesday evening after making landfall earlier in the day along Florida’s northern Gulf Coast.

All Ware County Schools offices and campuses will be closed Wednesday because of the threat of Tropical Storm Elsa, the district announced Tuesday.

A battle over whether to allow mining near the vast wildlife refuge in the Okefenokee Swamp rests with Georgia state regulators after federal agencies declared they no longer have oversight

A controlled burn in Ware County on Tuesday got out of control late in the day, consuming over 600 acres, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission.

The storm prediction center has elevated its forecast for severe weather over Georgia. This would take place Saturday afternoon and evening, where Georgia could see two bands of severe storms.

WAYCROSS, Ga. – In an effort to encourage Georgians outside the metro Atlanta area to get vaccines, Gov. Brian Kemp traveled to Waycross on Friday afternoon to tour the mass vaccination site at the Waycross Mall and then receive his COVID-19 vaccine. The largest vaccination site in Southeast Georgia opened just over a week ago. LINKS: myvaccinegeorgia.com | Georgia county vaccination appointments | vaccinefinder.orgGeorgia had previously limited eligibility to people 55 and older, people with serious health conditions and those who are overweight and obese. Kemp said earlier this week the state was ready to expand eligibility to the broadest possible population, saying supplies of the vaccine continued to rise and he was confident that enough older adults had been vaccinated.

All Ware County schools will follow their early release schedules Thursday because of the chance for severe storms moving through the area in the afternoon when students would normally be heading home, district officials announced Thursday morning. DAFFODIL and elementary schools will release at 10:30 a.m., middle schools will release at 11 a.m., and the high school will release at 11:30 a.m. All after-school events are canceled Thursday. Models continue to bring the squall line into inland Southeast Georgia and I-75 around noon and push it eastward to the Atlantic Coast early around sunset. News4Jax has declared a Weather Alert Day from Noon to 7 p.m. with a focus across Southeast Georgia. The storms are currently expected to track across the Waycross area from 1 to 2 p.m.

WARE COUNTY, Ga. – In a special election Tuesday for the county’s top law enforcement position, Ware County voters opted to retain interim Sheriff Carl James. James, who was deputy sheriff, became interim sheriff in mid-January when longtime Ware County Sheriff Randy Royal died after a short illness. James received 3,971 votes. His opponent, fellow Republican Chris Tatum, received 1,340 votes, according to Ware Elections. Tatum is a retired law enforcement officer.

At least 15,148 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported across the state, including 80 new deaths added Monday on the state’s status report. The state reported 50 additional hospitalizations Monday, bringing the total for the year to 56,089. Over the year since the pandemic reached Georgia, about one of every 13 residents have tested positive for coronavirus. His 20-year career was honored with a parade that passed right by the house of Linda Thompson, Gibb’s mother. On Monday, Georgia reported 2,060,352 vaccines have been given in the state, with nearly 1.3 people having received their first dose and almost 778,318 have both shots.

The Georgia Department of Public Health on Tuesday reported 1,872 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19. As of Tuesday, a total of 794,349 confirmed cases had been reported by the state Department of Public Health. The agency on Tuesday reported 180 additional confirmed deaths related to COVID-19 -- including one in Charlton County, one in Glynn County and two in Ware County -- bringing the state’s total to 14,176 confirmed deaths since the start of the pandemic. Ad(Note: There are variations in the day-to-day data reported by the Georgia Department of Public Health. At times, cases and deaths are removed from the overall running total reported by the Department of Public Health.)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Spring Break is less than a month away. Depending on your county, students will be out of school anywhere from three to six days for Spring Break in March or April. Alison Peters-Carlson with Jax4Kids.com said her team is noticing more camps offering single-day options. AdFor highlights of camps available this year, watch the interview at the top of this page. For a full breakdown of available camps, click here.

The Georgia Department of Public Health on Tuesday reported 4,943 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of those cases, 151 were reported in Glynn County and 59 were reported in the other five Southeast Georgia counties tracked by News4Jax. As of Tuesday, a total of 689,676 confirmed cases had been reported by the state Department of Public Health. Georgia was reporting a total of 138,768 antigen positive cases and 1,317 “probable” deaths on Tuesday. At times, cases and deaths are removed from the overall running total reported by the Department of Public Health.)

Ware County Sheriff Randy Royal died on Wednesday after a short illness, according to his obituary. According to a post by the Georgia Law Enforcement Organization, his death was not duty or COVID-related. “On behalf of the Mayor, County Commissioners, and the City of Waycross we mourn the loss of our dear brother in service, Sheriff Randy Royal. Our thoughts and prayers are with Sheriff Royal and his family and friends. “Having held every position, I am the most qualified to serve as your sheriff,” Royal wrote on his campaign website.

Ware County Schools said its return-to-school plans are designed to be flexible so it can quickly adjust as needed. WAYCROSS, Ga. – As Ware County students prepare to return to school on Monday, the school board held a short meeting Wednesday morning to discuss some of the challenges that could follow. Ware County closed its schools three days before winter break was scheduled to begin due to a rise in COVID-19 cases among staff members, bus drivers and students. “We are trying to do all we can to help employees with the leave,” Smith said. School officials said Waycross hospital Memorial Satilla Health was diverting possible ER and ICU patients due to capacity issues.

Olivia Sharpe is on the basketball and track and field teams at Ware County High School. Olivia is a member of the Waycross Bank and Trust Junior Board of Directors, the South Georgia State College Sport Club and the Ware County High School Beta Club. Olivia’s volunteer activities include working at the Ruskin Elementary field day, Wacona Fall Festival and the Satilla Nursing Home. Olivia currently has a 3.8 GPA.

Due to a rise in COVID-19 cases among staff members, bus drivers and students, Ware County schools announced Tuesday that elementary and middle school students would not return to school for the rest of the week, starting the holiday break three days early. High school students will attend a half-day on Wednesday to take finals, then be out for the rest of the year. All Ware County school employees will report to work on Wednesday to perform a deep cleaning before being dismissed at 1 pm. Both Ware County middle schools went virtual last month due to staff members’ exposure to COVID. All Ware County schools are scheduled to reopen on Jan. 4.

School will not be in session Friday, Nov. 20, for Ware County students, the school district announced Monday. That’s because the school district said it will be observing a Staff Work Day that day. And due to staffing shortages caused by COVID-19, Ware County’s middle schools -- Ware County Middle School and Waycross Middle School -- will be closed to in-person learning for the next two weeks but will continue digital instruction. All middle school athletic and extra-curricular activities will be canceled during the closure. Middle school students will return to classrooms on Nov. 30.

Due to staffing shortages caused by COVID-19 exposure, both Ware County Middle School and Waycross Middle School will be closed to in-person learning for the next two weeks but will continue digital instruction. All middle school athletic and extra-curricular activities will be canceled during the closure. Middle school students will return to classrooms on Nov. 30. “We have 11 staff members at one school and 20 staff members at another school,” confirmed Page Coker with Ware County Schools. The cooperation of staff members who are asked to quarantine will be helpful in avoiding any further closures.

The Georgia Department of Public Health on Saturday reported 51 additional deaths related to COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 8,462 since the pandemic began. Four of those deaths were reported in Southeast Georgia: three in Ware County and one in Brantley County. Brantley has reported 43 total deaths. Of those cases, 48 were reported in the Southeast Georgia counties tracked by News4Jax. At times, cases and deaths are removed from the overall running total reported by the Department of Public Health.)

The Georgia Department of Public Health on Saturday reported an additional 1,861 confirmed COVID-19 cases. As of Saturday, a total of 349,605 confirmed cases had been reported by the state Department of Public Health. The state Department of Public Health on Saturday reported 43 additional deaths related to COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 7,766. One of the deaths reported Saturday was in Ware County, which has now reported 63 deaths since the pandemic began. At times, cases and deaths are removed from the overall running total reported by the Department of Public Health.)