Richland County News

Richland County Council decided against major changes to how the way the county would have spent around $5.4 million in hospitality taxes.

The home was completely destroyed, but no one was home at the time. That person will stay with relatives for the time being.

Commercial property taxes are increasing in Lexington-Richland 5 to pay for police in every elementary school and to improve kindergarten for 4-year-old students.

The Richland County Sheriff's Department arrested Javonta "Vonta" Wells for criminal sexual conduct with a minor and aggravated breach of peace, Pierre "Stacks" Wilson for aggravated breach of peace, and Marcus "Fella" Crump for aggravated breach of peace.

The Richland County Sheriff's Department arrested Javonta "Vonta" Wells for criminal sexual conduct with a minor and aggravated breach of peace, Pierre "Stacks" Wilson for aggravated breach of peace, and Marcus "Fella" Crump for aggravated breach of peace.

According to a Lexington County Sheriff's Department incident report, on Saturday a man wearing a cast boot on his right leg entered the Piggly Wiggly located on Augusta Road and got onto a motorized cart.

Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said John E. Sparrow,49 of Toms Creek Road in Hopkins died Saturday when he was hit while riding his motorcylcle at the corner of Hallbrook Road and Burdell Drive in Lower Richland County around 8:30 p.m Watts said Sparrow was taken to Palmetto Health Richland and pronounced dead in the ER AT 9:39.

W.A. Perry Middle School's performance rating used by the state to determine the quality of schools improved enough to be removed from the Palmetto Priority program.

County Council did not consider removing the road maintenance fee, which produces $5.7 million annually, as part of discussions of the coming year's budget.

The ethics law was exposed as a self-protection racket for the political class; computer hackers broke into the ill-secured data system of the state Revenue Department and lifted the unencrypted data of more than 6.4 million South Carolinians; 250 candidates were kicked off the ballot because no one noticed a new law that applied only to ... (more)

At its 6 p.m. meeting, council is to cast its final votes on next fiscal year's budget, fee increases for city parks and for instituting clean-up fees for hazardous waste spills.

Richland 1 plans to assign a resource officer to each of its elementary schools, a move endorsed by Sheriff Leon Lott as a strategy that "keeps crazies from coming in" to harm students.

State and federal inspectors say they have traced the source of a carbon monoxide leak at the Best Western Hotel in Boone where a preteen boy and elderly couple died in the same room two months apart.

On Friday, Mt. Nebo Baptist Church is offering seniors a chance to pick up coupons good for $25 worth of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The towns of Winnsboro and Ridgeway along with Fairfield County and Mid-County Water Company were recently given a presentation by the Pope Zeigler law firm on four models of how to form a water authority.

Richland County deputies arrested 25-year-old Reanado Cortez Rose on two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor second-degree.

The South Carolina Leath Chapter Association sponsored a Gang Workshop at Leath Correctional Institution.

A group of Lexington-Richland 5 residents lost its bid to prevent a one-time board member from initiating legal challenges to decisions she opposed.

During a spirited, four-hour meeting, members aired grievances over what some see as a decade of decisions to spend millions in restaurant-tax proceeds on Columbia-based agencies, with little to show in outlying areas.

Last month, six members of the council backed an 11-page proposal that would spend more of that money in rural parts of the county.