Lancaster County, SC | featured news

Flu deaths and new cases finally are trending down across the state, raising hopes that flu season may have peaked,  state officials said Thursday.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control reported figures for the week ending Feb. 2 that broke a three-week trend of doubling the number of S.C. deaths from the illness each week.
Sixteen flu victims died last week statewide, down from 30 the week before, bringing the state total for the season to 106.

Chris Smith went to prison twice and was evicted from two homes.

R&B music lovers who wanted to hear award-winning vocalist Regina Belle at USC Lancaster this weekend will have to wait a little longer.

See Lancaster SC announced Thursday that Belle has been diagnosed with the flu. Saturday’s scheduled concert at Bundy Auditorium has been postponed, with the new date undetermined.

“We hate it,” said April Joplin, performing arts manager. “We just found out this (Thursday) morning and are trying to get out the word to everyone.”

An Indian Land woman will represent the Carolinas in the upcoming Ms. America Pageant.

Seven couples hit the stage at the sold-out Dancing With the Stars competition Saturday night, raising $14,500 for Andrew Jackson Middle School’s Art Focus program.
The event was a big financial success, topping the fundraising total at last year’s inaugural Dancing With the Stars by more than 60 percent.

Hugh Mobley, owner of Mobley Drugs, has been working a lot of long days this flu season.
“In my 40 years of doing this, it ranks up there as one of the worst that I’ve seen,” Mobley said.
 “Being able to obtain medication for the demand has been an issue,” Mobley said. “We’ve overcome by seeking distributors that aren’t inundated from this area to supply us. For the most part, we’ve been able to keep up.”
Mobley said elderly customers, especially, have needed his attention.

A Buford cattle rancher said he believes a heifer found shot to death in his pasture last week was killed “just for meanness.”
Jessie Knight Jr., owner of Knight Farms on Rowell Road, told a Lancaster County sheriff’s deputy Jan. 29 that he and his helper found the 10-year-old pregnant heifer while feeding his cattle.
The cow, one of about 75 on the ranch, but alone in its field, had been killed by a single gunshot to the head as it fed from the hay ring.

KERSHAW – The Kershaw Community Park Council is aiming for a March 17-30 construction schedule to rebuild the playground equipment at Stevens Park.

Lancaster Mayor John Howard’s condition has worsened after three weeks in intensive care at Carolinas Medical Center in Pineville, where he is being treated for lung cancer.
Howard has had two successful rounds of chemotherapy and has tolerated the treatments well, but he has suffered a rare, unforeseen complication, according to City Administrator Flip Hutfles.