The former newspaper reporter and editor, and author of a number of books, including “The Gatekeeper,” the first biography of FDR’s private secretary Marguerite A. LeHand (who is widely believed to have served as the de facto White House Chief of Staff), and “Baptists and Bootleggers and Methodists and Moonshiners,” is now publishing a daily column online following the day-by-day diary entries of vintage journals kept by ordinary people.

The Caroline Community Center in Williamston celebrated the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., on Saturday with a breakfast event where they were encouraged to remember the legacy of family and others who had been important to their development.

Keynote Speaker Dr. William McCoy, who is director of the Rutland Institute for Ethics at Clemson University, called on the crowd to remember “Mama ‘n’ ‘em,” recalling the role his mother, teachers and others in the community had on his life.

Anderson County Council this week approved the five projects for funding using funds from the South Carolina Opioid Recovery Fund.

Anderson County Council approved a $779,000 bid for the Piedmont Riverfront Park Project on Tuesday night. The picturesque Piedmont Riverfront Park will be the fifth access facility developed by the county to support the Upper Saluda River Blue Trail.

Finding funding for roads, upgrading the county’s parks and recreation facilities, continuing the Hurricane Helene cleanup, and working to provide affordable housing are among the challenges Anderson County faces moving into 2025.

Gov. Henry McMaster asked federal officials Tuesday to quickly approve his request that would expand Medicaid eligibility for poor parents who are working or going to school.

If the Trump administration agrees, more South Carolina adults would qualify for the government-paid health insurance if they can prove they’re either working, training for a job, going to school or volunteering for at least 80 hours each month.

The state’s Medicaid agency does not yet know how many people could be newly covered.

Few of us locally knew Dr. King, but we saw other great men and women in our area answer his call.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Hillcrest Baptist Church in Williamston will also open as a warming center tonight through Friday, 6 p.m-8 a.m.

Hope Missions of the Upstate continues to offer a warm place for those who need a place to go during the current cold wave.

The center at 213 South Towers Street remains open as long as temperatures are 38 degrees or colder. They close between noon and 6 p.m. when other spaces are available. Due to the forecast, they are expected to be open through Friday of this week.

Volunteers are needed to help with this effort. Contact Dave Phillips at dave@hopeupstate.org if you can help.

Anderson County has been asked to chart the course for the future the property along the Saluda River that was home to the historic Pelzer Mills.

Administrator Rusty Burns said Pelzer Heritage Commission requested the county take responsibility for the property. The PHC will still be involved in the planning as an advisory body.

More than 400 were on hand Friday at the Anderson Civic Center for the 18th Annual Anderson Mayor Terence Roberts Martin Luther King, Jr., breakfast.

Former AnMed CEO was honored with the Community Trailblazer Award for his “extraordinary commitment to justice and civility in the community.”

The Second Annual “A Night at the Opera” will feature professional opera performers and other local artists. Singers include Soprano Indra Thomas, Mezzo Soprano Wendy Fowler, Tenor Logan Webber, and Bass-Baritone Timothy Kelley. The Master of Ceremonies is Paul Hyde. Singers will be accompanied by the CAA String Ensemble, led by Conductor Dr. Howard Kim and Jane Dill, pianist. Tickets available at Cancer Association of Anderson.

A public meeting about Anderson County Council’s proposal to lease a portion of the county’s property on Towers Street to Love Well, a residential treatment center for women seeking recovery from drug and/or alcohol addiction, drifted into an airing of grievances about the issue of homeless people in the city.

The four-month Love Well program will offer residential treatment for woman admitted with referral from Anderson County Drug Court, Public Defender’s Office, Detention Center, and/or the Solicitor’s Office.

“The first thing a potential company used to inquire about was sewer capacity,” said Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns. “We have the sewer capacity. Now it’s electrical capacity. This is true across the United States.”

Most of the mysterious $1.8 billion discovered on South Carolina’s books last year was never real. The seeming windfall was just more bad accounting, according to a report by outside auditors released Wednesday.

But the state has spent actual taxpayer dollars — at least $7 million so far — on investigative and legal fees in the wake of a series of major accounting blunders that have cast a shadow over the state’s financial agencies for the past two years.

Burkey said the bakery makes everything fresh every day from organic ingredients and that not only is nothing ever frozen, they don’t even have a freezer on site. The bakery also grinds its own flours.

Anderson County Council received information on a potential effort for a sales tax for capital projects, aimed almost exclusively at roads, as part of a five-hour meeting at the Anderson Civic Center Tuesday.

A state road, Bellview was on the South Carolina Department of Transportation list for repaving and their engineers recommended the changes in the road to the City of Anderson. Ultimately, the state has the authority to move ahead with the plan with or without the support of city council.

The goal of repositioning the road is “traffic calming,” which aims for greater safety and the slowing down traffic with the redesign.

Traffic calming is a set of physical changes made to roads to encourage drivers to slow down. These changes are intended to make roads safer for all road users, especially pedestrians and cyclists.

It is a dream which has brewed in the minds of sisters Calle and Kaitlyn Walters for some time. In a few weeks, that dream will be realized with the opening of Cryptid Coffee in Pelzer in a historic structure downtown.

The sisters have spent more than three years restoring the brick three-and-half story, century old building, primarily remembered as Frierson's Drug Store and Soda Shop on Lebby Street, and plan to open the doors for business soon.