By Representative Nathan Ballentine 2025 Week 8 – Delivering on My Promise to Promote Business-Friendly Policies This week, my colleagues and I took major steps to deliver on the promises we made to you—reducing burdensome regulations, providing relief to small businesses, cracking down on crime, and ensuring property owners haveContinue Reading
By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net Mom never darkened the door of a juke joint, but that didn’t stop her from rendering a harsh judgment. “The only people who go to juke joints are drunks and floozies.” I have a hunch where her belief came from. Early in her marriage,Continue Reading
By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net Roads tell stories. I’ve come across the “Mule Kick That Killed Eight People” in Edgefield County. I’ve seen stores fall to arsonists along Highway 378. I’ve seen homes go dark and swallowed by vines, and I’ve seen wheelchair ramps go up as the yearsContinue Reading
For a limited time and while supplies last, Richland County Stormwater and Columbia Water are making 50-gallon Ivy rain barrels and 65-gallon backyard compost bins available at a discount. Rain barrels are $76, and compost bins are $67. Order your containers by March 12; pick them up March 22 atContinue Reading
By Robin All Recently, before the rain storms, we had to play the pitch shots to fly high to stop the ball from running too far past the hole. This method is a little harder to pull off than the standard lower pitch and run. 1-we open the club faceContinue Reading
By Radley West Let’s face it: we’re all a little too attached to our screens. Phones, tablets, laptops, TVs—if it glows, we’re glued to it. And while these magical devices bring us cat videos, endless TikTok dances, and online shopping at 3 am, they’re also robbing us of something critical:Continue Reading
On Tuesday, March 4th Councilman Sickinger was arrested at his home by South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED). The charges, as they read, are very serious and disturbing to all of us. This is a very fluid situation which we are monitoring the best we can. I, as well asContinue Reading
Irmo Town Councilman Erik Sickinger, 42, has been arrested for sexual conduct with a minor. He has been charged with three different counts of Criminal Sexual Conduct with a minor younger than 16, second degree; and three counts of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor. He was arrested by the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department andContinue Reading
By Tom Poland: A Southern Writer TomPoland.net A reader and friend, Zilphy DuRant of Florence, mailed me a letter and clipping from The Post and Courier about an architectural feature I’d never heard of, rain porches. In the clipping Seth Taylor wrote about the Pee Dee being the “birthplace ofContinue Reading
Irmo, SC – The 8th annual Irmo Cherry Blossom Festival is set to take place on Saturday, March 22, 2025, at Irmo Town Park (7330 Carlisle Street). This beloved springtime event celebrates the fleeting beauty of the Japanese Yoshino cherry trees, reminding attendees of the preciousness of life through aContinue Reading
The fight to expand educational freedom, protect and empower our children, and promote fiscal responsibility continued in full force this week at the State House. My colleagues and I in the took bold steps to strengthen school choice, close dangerous loopholes in our child exploitation laws, and advance a conservative,Continue Reading