Did you Anderson County Museum is home to one of the most complete early 20th century harness shops in the Southeast?

Located on the upper parking lot at the museum is McGee Brothers harness shop and buildings, which operated in southern Anderson County in Starr for at least half a century. In 2005, the McGee family donated the structure and its contents to the museum, and a pair of master craftsmen from Arkansas spent months moving the shop and restoring it completely at the new location.

More than 25 volunteers, including many from Vets Helping Vets of Anderson and the Anderson Lights of Hope. joined the Home Depot Foundation on Tuesday to honor a local veteran who has spent his life volunteering to help others.

The group worked to take care of some much-needed repairs for the house of U.S. Coast Guard veteran Dennis Lavold, who is now 82. Lavold has been a driving force in volunteering to help others in the community, and as a co-founder of Anderson Lights of Hope (Lavold said he is a “Christmas guy”) has spent countless hours in service to the area.

The new Anderson facility offers comprehensive primary and preventive care and includes family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine, counseling, psychiatry, and pharmacy assistance. The location will also offer service to those with chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. ​

The state Department of Motor Vehicles has fixed a glitch in its system that automatically disqualified 17-year-olds from registering to vote, ending a legal fight with the state American Civil Liberties Union, the civil rights group announced Monday.

Under state law, teenagers who will turn 18 by Election Day can register to vote up to 13 months in advance. One way of doing so would be for teens to check a box while applying for a driver’s license saying they want to register.

The menus will not change, only the hours for serving breakfast, which are 7-11 a.m. Tuesday-Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. Lunch will be served 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and dinner 5-9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

With temperatures in the Summerlike 80s by afternoon, the 48th Annual Pendleton Spring Jubilee brought in major crowds on Saturday for the first day of the festival.

Artists from the region and up and down the East Coast offered their work for sale at the two-day festival, which runs Sunday from noon-5 p.m. and also features food, music and other activities, plus specials from local food establishments.

Senior citizens, working adults and teenagers lined the Main Street sidewalks in front of both courthouses carrying homemade posters and chanting "Hands Off" (our Social Security, Our Medicare, Our Education, Our Voting Rights, Our Jobs, Our Medicaid…).

The crowd was lively and joyful, prompting the blare of horns and some “thumbs up” salutes from drivers passing the crowd.

The Anderson County Probate Court, in partnership with the South Carolina Department of Mental Health (SCDMH), put in place the first Anderson-Oconee-Pickens (AOP) electronically-signed Detention Order.

The move will expedite the process of getting assistance to those who need it. 

“It is wonderful to see all of these agencies working together to improve services for Anderson County residents,” said Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns. “This streamlines the process to allow someone to get immediate help.”

The Anderson County Sports and Entertainment Center is gearing up for some busy months leading up to Labor Day.

The Great Anderson County Fair kicks things off in May, followed by a May 24 countywide yard sale. The summer brings the return of the mammoth Rock This Country and a month later Celebrate Anderson celebrates Labor Day with Kool & the Gang.

The legislation, approved 41-3, saw major changes to the sweeping energy bill halted last session over criticism that proponents had fast-tracked it through the General Assembly. Backers say it strikes a balance, empowering utilities charged with meeting the state’s energy needs but in a way that’s more palatable to consumer and environmental advocates.

On April 1, the Trump administration slashed the organization that supported that research — the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ — and fired roughly half of its remaining employees as part of a perplexing reorganization of the federal Health and Human Services Department.

Haskell, of Columbia, South Carolina, has done research and helped write AHRQ-published surveys and guidebooks on patient engagement for hospitals. The dissolution of AHRQ is dislodging scores of experienced patient-safety experts, a brain drain that will be impossible to rectify, she said.

Survey data gathered by AHRQ provides much of what is known about hospitalizations for motor accidents, measles, methamphetamine, and thousands of other medical issues.

“Nobody does these things except AHRQ,” she said. “They’re all we’ve got. And now the barn door’s closed.”

South Carolina’s Republican-controlled House passed a bill prohibiting state agencies, local governments and universities from violating federal discrimination laws with initiatives promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

The bill also requires private businesses with government contracts to certify they don’t violate federal discrimination laws.

Anderson County Council on Tuesday approved the hiring of a consultant to aid in the rewriting/recasting of the county’s zoning ordinances.

Code Wright Planners will be paid $380,000 for working with the county to revise development standards for new home construction and subdivisions and make the regulations easier to understand for citizens and potential developers. The contract runs through April 2027.

After years of country music offerings, Rock and Roll Hall of Famers “Kool & the Gang” will headline this year’s Celebrate Anderson on Aug. 31. Kool & the Gang has performed continuously longer than any R&B group in history, and their groove of funk and jazzy arrangements have made them the most sampled R&B band of all time.

But that’s done by broadening and shifting the tax burden: 19.4% of filers would owe less in spring 2027, while a whopping 59.4% of filers would owe more; 21.2% would experience no change, according to the fiscal impact report by the state Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office released ahead of Tuesday’s first hearing on the bill.

CodeWright has worked with multiple counties and towns in North and South Carolina - including Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, Mills River, Weldon in North Carolina - to overhaul and clarify development standards. Their customization of unified development ordinances and zoning codes includes simplifying the language, more graphically driven design, an intuitive document structure that is easy to understand and continuous improvement.

Equestrians from across the Upstate welcomed a new member to the Dressage Foundation’s Century Club as Linda Hostetler and her horse made an appearance at the Upstate Equine Council’s Spring Fling Horse Show at the T. Ed. Garrison Area.

The club recognizes when the combined ages of the rider and the horse are more than 100 years, and with Hostetler 74 at age 77, and her horse age 24. Her trainer is Rachel Owens of Liberty Acres Dressage in Pendleton.

South Carolina drivers who pay as little as possible for their auto insurance would need to double their coverage under legislation passed Thursday by the Senate.

State-required insurance minimums set 18 years ago simply aren’t enough to cover any serious accident — and often, not even a minor one — which shifts costs to the people who aren’t at fault, senators said.

More than 500 visitors and students were on hand Friday for the official dedication of the Chadwick Boseman Fine Arts Center at the Southwood Academy of the Arts.

School officials, the president of the James Brown Foundation, who had befriended Boseman when he played the role of the soul singer, friends and family were part of the event which also included performances from Southwood students.

One of the East Coast’s top festivals, the festival showcases a juried art, which is a major draw for experienced artists.

The Jubilee is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m April 5 and noon-5 p.m. April 6.