Features

The members of Ambrosia have been together for 39 years now.

The pop music act that climbed to the top of the charts in the 1970s and 1980s with Top-10 hits like “Biggest Part” and “How Much I Feel,” along with John Ford Coley, will close out the 2008-09 Performing Arts Series at the University of South Carolina at Lancaster on Saturday night.

Show time is 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $50.

Editor’s note: Each Sunday this month, in celebration of March as American Red Cross Month, The Lancaster News has honored local volunteers who are the cornerstone of what the agency does. From donating blood and helping military families to disaster relief and teaching CPR and first aid, 96 percent of the Red Cross work force is volunteers. Many of those who make a difference every day are your neighbors. 

Like many, Laura Hinson was incensed to learn that someone had the gall to steal a mobile trailer from the Red Cross.

The lights of Lancaster Speedway were burning brightly on Saturday as local racers and racing fans alike welcomed the 2009 season at the half-mile dirt track. Here’s a look at some of the infield and pits road action.

Lucy Morris will celebrate her 75th birthday Saturday. You’d think that after 57 years of marriage to her husband, Ben, 45 years with Springs Industries, two sons and eight grandchildren, she’d be ready to slow down.

But not Morris; she’s just getting started.

“There’s still a lot of life in us old folks,” she said laughing. “Volunteering is a good way to stay busy."

Morris has been a critical cog of the local Red Cross volunteer network since 2004.

Diabetes has become the greatest American public health crisis of the next 25 years.

To address the burden of this disease, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) is issuing an urgent call-to-action for Americans to find out their risk for type 2 diabetes during the 21st annual American Diabetes Alert Day.

Nearly 6 million Americans have diabetes, but don’t know it.

Another 57 million Americans have pre-diabetes, placing them at increased risk.

There are two types of diabetes – type 1 and type 2.

This year in the classroom, the county’s 900-plus fourth-graders become acquainted with astronomers such as Galileo Galilei and Edmund Halley for the first time.

Outside the classroom – at the pool inside the Gregory Health and Wellness Center at the University of South Carolina at Lancaster, they become  acquainted with “Miss Anne.”

Miss Anne is Anne Small, a certified Red Cross swim instructor and aquatics director at USCL.

Years from now, these students might not recall

I was greeted with much enthusiasm by Kristin Scott Benson when we talked by phone Wednesday. We hadn’t talked in 15 years.

Her name may not ring a bell for most of you, but for those of you headed to The Grascals concert at the University of South Carolina at Lancaster at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, you’ll soon be acquainted with the bluegrass band’s talented banjo player. The concert is part of USCL Educational Foundation’s 2009 Performing Arts Series.

Great musicians always find a way to make good music, but for great musicians to make great music, they must find a bond that goes beyond the purely musical to the personal.

For The Grascals, that bond has been forged by friendships, shared resumes and a keen mingling of bluegrass and country music that has been a Nashville hallmark for more than 40 years.

Now they are coming here. The Grascals will perform 7:30 p.m. Saturday on the Bundy Auditorium stage in the Bradley Arts and Sciences Building at the University of South Carolina at Lancaster.

Editor’s note: Each Sunday this month, in celebration of March as American Red Cross Month, The Lancaster News is honoring local volunteers who are the cornerstone of what the agency does. From donating blood and helping military families to disaster relief and teaching CPR and first aid, 96 percent of the Red Cross work force is volunteers. Many of those who make a difference everyday are your neighbors. 

In 1989, Lancaster High School senior Pam Neely Giardiello started donating blood to the Red Cross at the urging of her mother, Kathy Sistare.