Man is arrested in armed robbery case

A 20-year-old Augusta man was arrested Sunday afternoon in connection with a Christmas Eve armed robbery, according to a Richmond County sheriff's report.

Robert Gazell Keyes was in jail on charges of burglary, armed robbery, two counts of kidnapping and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

According to the report, a man entered a home on Colony Park Road about 9 p.m. Wednesday and pointed a gun at a woman. When he demanded money, the victim threw her purse at him. The intruder took $70 in cash from the woman's purse, her cordless phone, cell phone and the keys to her car and fled in her Ford Taurus.

Federal grant to boost transportation access

The Lower Savannah Council of Governments has received a $680,000 federal grant to provide a one-stop, customer-based travel-information and trip-planning service in its six-county region.

The grant was one of three awarded nationally. It will be used to enhance transportation access and find cost-effective transportation for older adults, people with disabilities and low-income populations, South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer in a statement.

Technology initiatives include geographic information systems, integrated vehicle dispatching and scheduling, automatic vehicle location and communications systems, the statement said.