Category: News

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is today.  And tomorrow participating South Carolina DHEC health departments will offer free tests.  African Americans are disproportionately affected, and DHEC is hopeful tests and awareness will increase in Black communities.

Here’s a COVID-19-related statement from Oconee public schools:  “As of now, the district is going to stay the course with our current guidelines and procedures.  We are seeing a significant decline in the number of cases among students and staff across all schools.”  That statement from Jennifer Dodd, spokeswoman for the Oconee School District, is the response to a 101.7/WGOG […]

A longtime Duke Energy worker, Don Mize, says he’s giving serious thought to running for Oconee County Council District 3—the seat that Paul Cain is giving up when his term expires at the end of the year.  Mize, a resident of the Perkins Creek Road, is a conservative Republican annoyed by what’s happening nationally.  He is one of the longest […]

A Duke Energy spokeswoman says there was no fire at the Oconee Nuclear Station early today in what was declared as an “unusual event” in which personnel took Unit 2 offline.  Duke’s Mikayla Kreuzberrger said the plant’s on-site fire brigade responded to an alert just before 4 am and received assistance by off-site Oconee County fire departments. Scott Krein, director […]

A 27-year old Oconee County man was jailed today in Walhalla on charges of criminal solicitation of a minor and disseminating obscene material to a person he thought was a teenage girl, according to an announcement this afternoon by the sheriff’s office. The charges were placed against Aliester Shawn Ford of W. Halfway Branch.  “In the course of the exchange,” […]

The country’s employers in January added about 150,000 more jobs than experts had projected.  December is the last month for which South Carolina has published its jobless figures.  The statewide average unemployment was 3.5%; Oconee County’s was 2.7%.

Walhalla was approximating a 4″ rainfall this morning, as the storm makes its way northward.  One measurement taken at Salem was 4.3″ of inches of rain.  Overnight, Oconee County Dispatch, reported no major problems with the rain which, during the night, fell hard at a number of locations.

Officers of the court are telling 101.7/WGOG NEWS that a pair of juvenile referrals remains pending in the Oconee County Family Court.  Those referrals were made last year after a bush hogger was found dead on a tractor that ran off a pasture into the woods near Westminster.  According to an announcement by the Oconee Sheriff’s Office on July 2, […]

Local and area jurists are getting new terms on the bench.  The South Carolina Court Administration is extending congratulations to Karen Ballenger of Seneca for her re-election as the Seat 2 judge in the Family Court and to Perry Gravely of Pickens for his re-election to Seat 1 in the 13th Judicial Circuit.  Judges were elected Wednesday by the state […]

Senator Tim Scott, South Carolina Republican, questioned Federal Reserve nominee Sarah Bloom Raskin about what he says is her history of advocating for policies that make it harder for low-income Americans to get small dollar loans.  Scott’s office this week released a video of the senator’s remarks to Raskin, and her response to what he had to say.  Excerpts of […]