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Today's News

  • Rest of S.C. 160 work paving to begin soon

    Christopher Sardelli
    csardelli@thelancasternews.com
    INDIAN LAND – As motorists enjoy a newly paved stretch of S.C. 160 in Indian Land, crews are making plans to pave another portion of the highway.
    Kenneth Wilson, S.C. Department of Transportation construction engineer for Lancaster County, said a paving crew is hoping to soon begin work on a half-mile segment of the highway, from Barberville Road to Sugar Creek Bridge, which is the dividing line between Lancaster and York counties.

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  • Council to consider tax districts

    County Council will consider the creation of two special tax districts at its Tuesday meeting.
    As part of its agenda, council will look at resolutions for forming two separate special districts in the Indian Land area.
    One resolution calls for creating a tax district for Indian Land’s Brookchase neighborhood. Voters in the neighborhood recently approved a referendum in a special election to create the district. Now council has to approve it.

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  • Clemson Extension Service cuts hours at Lancaster office

    The Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service in Lancaster has reduced the hours that someone will be at the French Street office due to budget cuts.
    The agency is moving to multi-county service centers after almost half of its state funding was cut in the last two years.
    Lancaster and Kershaw counties now share a service center in Camden after the administrative assistant’s position was eliminated here.
    Twenty-two of the state’s 46 county extension service offices no long have an administrative assistant.

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  • Final forum is Monday night

    The four candidates for mayor of Lancaster are scheduled to address questions Monday at the Before You Vote 2010 Candidate Forum at the University of South Carolina at Lancaster’s Bundy Auditorium.
    Doors will open at 5:30 p.m., and the forum begins at 6 p.m.
    Mayoral candidates are Joe Shaw (incumbent), Linda Blackmon-Brace, Donnie Birchfield and Mary Helen Yarborough.

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  • County’s jobless rate declines

    Lancaster County’s jobless rate dropped in September by 1.4 percent to 15.7 percent.
    The county’s jobless rate, however, remains above both the state and national rate.
    In September, the nation’s jobless rate stood at 9.6 percent, where it has been for much of 2010. The state’s jobless rate declined slightly in September to 11 percent.
    The state’s jobless rate in August was 11.1 percent. South Carolina had the sixth-highest jobless rate in the nation in September.

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  • Time for students to apply for Leroy Springs loans

    Applications for  Leroy Springs student loans will be available on Nov. 1 for students seeking assistance for college costs for the spring semester. The deadline for receipt of applications is Dec. 1.
    The Springs Close Foundation Inc. has made 133 interest-free loans so far this year to college students who live in Lancaster County and the Chester and Fort Mill areas.  

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  • New life for old church

    The Olde Presbyterian Church on West Gay Street had a few bats in its belfry before a renovation project began last year.
    Well, not exactly. The bats, more than a few – try 1,500 to 2,000 – found a home in the attic, not the belfry, of the roughly 140-year-old church.
    Two species of bats, the little brown bat and Mexican free-tailed bat, colonized in the attic, raising generations of bats for at least 20 years, said Jason Peeples of Forest and Wildlife Innovations, a company that specializes in removing nuisance animals from populated areas.

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  • Four vie for mayor’s seat

    Two familiar faces along with two political newcomers create the only four-person race for local voters this election season.
    Donnie Birchfield, City Councilwoman Linda Blackmon-Brace, incumbent Joe Shaw and Mary Helen Yarborough are vying for Lancaster’s mayor’s seat. Shaw has held the post for 28 years.
    Election Day is Nov. 2.
    Birchfield  

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  • Disclosure reports show money being spent on campaigns

    As Election Day nears, thousands of dollars in campaign contributions have poured in for candidates in local and state elections.
    Candidates in the races for the state House seats in districts 44 and 45, as well as those for the county school board seats for districts 1 and 7, have seen funds contributed from a number of sources. This includes private citizens, businesses, political parties and political action committees. Here are comparisons among candidates in each of these races:
    District 44 House

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  • Cole switches political parties

    Cotton Cole said he always felt out of place during Democratic events.
    The county councilman contemplated changing his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican for more than a year and said recent events encouraged him to make the change.
    Cole, who’s serving his first term on council, announced his party change Friday morning at the Lancaster County Republican Party’s headquarters on Main Street in Lancaster.

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