Category: News

The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) released school, district, and state report cards reflective of the 2020-2021 school year. The 2021 report cards include results from state assessments administered in Spring 2021, the first administration of state assessments during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The state assessment results reflected on the 2021 report cards confirm the alarming trends we have observed […]

Leaders of the Oconee GOP are calling for their hometown U-S senator to be censured.  David McMahan, county chairman, has released a resolution from the party executive committee that seeks disapproval in a formal statement for what it says was Senator Lindsey Graham’s vote with Democrats on the bill known as Invest in America, in part, because it contains no […]

The choice of whether to mask up in Oconee public schools will remain with the children or their parents, at least for now, after last night’s highly-emotional meeting of the county trustees.  Thirty-minutes of public comment, much of it anti-facial coverings, was followed by the trustees’ decision to put off any vote, pending the outcome of a ruling by the […]

The man found dead lying on a Utica street is a case of homicide, according to the Oconee County coroner.  Karl Addis says the victim late last night was a Pendleton resident, Richard Dennis Keese.  After a 9-1-1 call reporting shots fired, 62- year old Keese was found in front of 14 Padgett Street.  He had been staying at the […]

101.7/WGOG NEWS learned that a circuit judge granted partial summary judgment today in a lawsuit that pitted the city of Seneca and a couple who’ve sought to be allowed to rent their lake development home on a short-term basis.  The lawsuit for Leonard and Julie Chace was filed in the common pleas court in 2017 and was temporarily withdrawn before […]

A city councilwoman in Seneca has an idea for adding some natural color to the concrete throughout the downtown.  Denise Rozman is introducing the idea of planters filled with flowers, 36 of them.  It’s a project involving city government, Redmond Boys, and the organization Modern Woodmen of America.  To match a grant obtained by Rozman, the city intends to sell […]

New cases:  3,631 (78 were in Oconee) Deaths:  29 (including one Pickens County resident) Of 30,203 test results received, the new state positivity:  15.8% (These numbers reported today reflect the count at the end of the day Sunday)

A 22-year old man has been arrested after two investigations conducted by county sheriff’s officers near Westminster.  Law enforcement authority reports spell out charges of stolen vehicle and methamphetamine against Jonathan Nolan Lee Ivester.  An arrest warrant accuses Ivester in an investigation of a Toyota automobile that, according to the sheriff’s office, was reported stolen in Georgia.  According to a […]

Duke Energy workers from across the utility’s service area have been leaving for Louisiana to help restore the electric grid in the state hard hit by Hurricane Ida.  A Duke spokesman, Ryan Mosier, says his company in the past has been the recipient of mutual assistance many times from hurricanes to ice storms, and Duke is happy to return the […]

A group called “Local Advocates in Support of Mask Mandate in Oconee County, South Carolina Schools” plans a one-half hour demonstration this afternoon to support a trustees’ vote to impose the mandate for the purpose of keeping students, teachers and the community safe.  The demonstration is planned at 4:30 today in front of the district offices.  At 5 the trustees […]