Wedding & Event Venue Near Columbia, SC.

Final scores from high school football action around Columbia and South Carolina. It’s the last week of the regular season for public schools, and the first week of the playoffs for private schools.

Thursday

South Aiken 40, Airport 27

Gilbert 52, Aiken 7

Friday

Regular Season

Batesburg-Leesville 8, Strom Thurmond 7

Chapin 35, White Knoll 34

Dutch Fork 24, Irmo 14

Fairfield Central 45, Mid-Carolina 13

Newberry 33, Silver Bluff 21

North Augusta 20, Gray Collegiate 17

River Bluff 24, Lexington 10

Saluda 57, American Leadership 0

Sumter 49, Ridge View 6

West Florence 53, Spring Valley 12

SCISA Playoffs

Augusta Christian 17, Ben Lippen 7

Hammond 35, Cardinal Newman 6

Porter-Gaud 44, Heathwood Hall 13

Northside Christian 53, First Baptist 28

Richard Winn 51, Newberry Academy 16

Jefferson Davis 46, W.W. King 22

Regular Season

Abbeville 48, McCormick 6

Blackville-Hilda 35, Ridge Spring-Monetta 12

Boiling Springs 41, Eastside 0

Cane Bay 28, Berkeley 23

Carolina Forest 49, North Myrtle Beach 24

Chesnee 47, Blacksburg 13

Christ Church 34, St. Joseph’s 14

Clinton 42, Liberty 22

Conway 49, St James 35

Daniel 42, Seneca 21

Fountain Inn 35, Laurens 14

Gaffney 27, Spartanburg 24

Greenville 49, Easley 21

Greenwood 35, Mauldin 13

Greer 51, Travelers Rest 0

Hilton Head Island 42, Bluffton 7

JL Mann 35, Woodmont 6

Mountain View Prep 48, Union County 7

Myrtle Beach 35, Socastee 23

Palmetto 57, Carolina High and Academy 6

Pendleton 26, Blue Ridge 0

Pickens 52, Berea 0

Powdersville 44, Southside Christian 0

Riverside 44, Wade Hampton 20

Stratford 21, Goose Creek 14

TL Hanna 43, Hillcrest 21

Ware Shoals 36, Whitmire 34

West Florence 53, Spring Valley 12

Westside 61, Southside 0

Woodruff 35, Broome 14

Wren 42, Emerald 25

Class 4A

Hammond 35, Cardinal Newman 6

Augusta Christian 17, Ben Lippen 7

Porter-Gaud 44, Heathwood Hall 13

Northwood 49, Laurence Manning 20

Class 3A

Wilson Hall 25, John Paul II 14

Hilton Head Christian 42, Florence Christian 7

Pinewood Prep 49, Trinity Collegiate 13

Northside Christian 53, First Baptist 28

Class 2A

Pee Dee Academy 56, Spartanburg Christian 19

Greenwood Christian 28, St. John’s Christian 14

Hilton Head Prep at Calhoun Academy

Bethesda 36, Orangeburg Prep 0

Class A

Thomas Heyward 55, Lee Academy 12

Dorchester 45, Colleton Prep 7

Williamsburg Academy 55, Patrick Henry 6

Beaufort Academy 23, Carolina Academy 21

8-Man

Richard Winn 51, Newberry Academy 16

Wardlaw 46, Holly Hill 44

Jefferson Davis 46, WW King 22

Laurens Academy 56, Cross Schools 22

This story was originally published November 8, 2024, 7:00 PM.

ORANGEBURG – Heavy rains caused record flooding in the Orangeburg area Nov. 6 and 7, with local emergency responders performing water rescues from cars and buildings and travel in the area crippled by washed-out roads.

Between seven and 10 inches of rain fell in the Orangeburg area, with some localized areas receiving 15 inches, according to the National Weather Service in Columbia.

The Edisto River in downtown Orangeburg — near its historic Edisto Memorial Gardens — crested at 15.34 feet. The water levels broke all time records from 1928 and 2015 by almost a foot, flooding nearby roads, buildings and vehicles.

The river had begun to recede the morning of Nov. 8, the NWS said.

Local law enforcement in boats rescued several people from buildings in downtown Orangeburg, and at least one person was pulled from a nearly submerged vehicle in the town of Norway in western Orangeburg County, according to social media posts from law enforcement and residents.

It was unclear on Nov. 8 if any injuries were reported.

Gov. Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency on Nov. 7 as the flooding continued overnight.

"Team South Carolina has been responding to the impacts of flooding and subsequent road closures in portions of the state throughout the day," McMaster said in a statement. "The State of Emergency will ensure that our response teams have every tool at their disposal to continue their efforts."

Local law enforcement and government agencies urged residents to use caution while driving through the area. Around 35 roads were reportedly closed due to flooding Nov. 7, the state Department of Transportation said in a social media post.

Orangeburg County Schools were closed on Nov. 7 and 8 due to road closures. Orangeburg’s public utilities department reported flooding-related power and water outages. The city's public gym had opened as an emergency shelter, the city said.

Social media users reported difficulty traveling through the area with the number of closed roads, with some unable to find a way to leave their homes.

“Please keep our County in your thoughts and prayers as we face unexpected flooding. Emergency personnel are working tirelessly to restore safety and order,” Orangeburg County officials said in a Nov. 7 social media post. “Everyone, please stay safe, avoid any flooded areas, and be patient as we work through this together.”

Officials in nearby Bamberg and Calhoun counties also reported significant flooding and urged caution.

“River flooding will continue along portions of the Edisto River into next week,” the governor’s office said in the Nov. 7 statement. “However, South Carolina is not expected to see significant rainfall totals over the next few days.”

Local law enforcement said the state Department of Transportation was keeping track of the closed roads.

“As the waters recede, SCDOT crews will assess the damaged areas and prepare to make repairs as quickly as possible,” the DOT said in a social media post.

A South Carolina woman woke up Tuesday morning and went to her apartment’s bathroom where she was met by a large snake that was behind the toilet, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said.

It wasn’t a plumbing tool, and the reptile was not the woman’s pet.

An incident report said the woman screamed and called for help, an understandable reaction to unexpectedly finding a ball python at about 5 a.m. inside of an apartment in Columbia. Information on the length and estimated age of the brown and black snake wasn’t available.

Neither the woman nor the snake was hurt, as deputies who responded to Rice Terrace Apartments and Townhomes were able to extract the exotic animal, initially placing it in a pillowcase, according to the incident report.

“We were able to provide a solution to the resident quickly and save the snake’s life!” Master Deputy Alexandra Salrin told The State.

Other than possibly frayed nerves, the only damage reported was a bathroom that was flooded because of the snake, the incident report said. Information about how the snake caused the bathroom to flood was not available.

The apartment complex is at 107 Rice Terrace Drive, in a section of Columbia between Hardscrabble Road and Longtown Road, near Ridge View High School.

The woman who found the snake first called a friend, then they both reached out to law enforcement for help, according to the incident report. Master Deputy Shannon Huffman, a member of the Community Action Team, responded to the apartment, “and knew exactly what to do!” the sheriff’s department said.

Huffman has been with the sheriff’s department for almost 4 years, according to Salrin.

Huffman’s efforts were shared on social media, While it’s common for the sheriff’s department to be called to an animal-related issue, it’s unusual to have to assist in incidents involving exotic animals such as snakes, according to Salrin.

“This was definitely a unique call for service for us,” Salrin said.

Despite the unusual nature of the call, deputies are trained to deal with a variety of situations, according to Salrin.

“We prepare our deputies to expect to be called to incidents that they never expected to be dealing with and our deputies are trained to assess the situation and determine if there is another agency or specialized unit that needs to assist,” Salrin said. “Thankfully, in this situation, (Master Deputy) Huffman has experience with a variety of animals and was comfortable dealing with the snake.”

The sheriff’s department doesn’t know how the snake ended up in the apartment. Because of the size of the snake, Salrin said there is speculation that the snake is someone’s pet and may have escaped from another apartment in the complex.

“However, that cannot be confirmed because no one has come forward” to claim the snake, Salrin said.

The snake won’t be left to fend for itself, as it was taken home by one of the sheriff’s department’s Operations deputies, according to Salrin.

In a breaking news situation, facts can be unclear and the situation may still be developing. The State is trying to get important information to the public as quickly and accurately as possible. This story will be updated as more information becomes available, and some information in this story may change as the facts become clearer. Refresh this page later for more updated information.

This story was originally published November 6, 2024, 8:06 AM.

When Marshall Brown wrote the songs that would eventually make up his September EP “Nesting,” he was "a (expletive) mess." A long-term relationship had crumbled during the pandemic. His heart was broken. Mended. Shattered again.

The first draft of “Nesting” reflected that tumultuous phase in Brown's creative and personal life. The songs came easily, but they came bitter.

“It was just coming out of me like sweat," he said.

He put the songs aside and focused on himself. He learned about his anxious attachment style in relationships and realized his party-lover reputation was just a way to numb the pain and feelings he’d long ignored. His inner-healing led him to a new relationship.

Then, Brown came back to “Nesting.” More than a year had passed since he wrote those first drafts.

And though his healing wasn't complete, enough time had passed that he approached "Nesting" completely differently.

“When I started working on these songs again, (I) really started building the recordings and completely recontextualized those songs,” Brown said.

It led him to a place, musically and personally, he’d never been before. And it shows on “Nesting,” which is streaming on all major music platforms and follows his lauded album, "Ay Es Em Ar."

And from his newfound higher ground, Brown's music broke open.

On the record’s opening track, “Peace of Mine,” Brown leans into this evolution. What begins as a song about distress for a family member becomes a lover’s lament on the second verse. But even through the raw pain of the track’s lyrics, Brown allows himself a moment of clarity: “Wanna let the sun have a break and let my spirit shine.”

The tune features Brown's signature layered harmonies, and his production turns what could be a melodramatic lamentation into an ambient tune that's just as serious as it is fun. That's a theme Brown continues throughout the EP.

Another song, “This Second Bird,” is a parody he wrote of one of his earliest tracks, “First Bird.” He added a riff emulating the white-throated sparrow’s call to the track. It’s his girlfriend’s favorite bird.

“It just personalized it so much more,” he said. “And it was a very healthy process for me to go through, finishing up this EP.”

Brown works through some of that on “Sad Pianos: Spirits in the Soundboard.” He found the piano melody at his girlfriend’s house during some “touch and go times,” lending a haunting, hesitant melody that creeps into techno-gothic territory by the end of the instrumental track. The tune was the last song put on the EP, and one Brown wrote during his “Nesting” revisit. It was written for the woman he’s with now, as opposed to the other tracks, which were written about an ex.

“And so it was really meaningful for me to throw (‘Sad Pianos’) on there with these other songs with these lyrics I’d written before,” Brown said. “But now, when I heard the lyrics, they felt like they were about her.”

While Brown largely wrote, produced and recorded the EP on his own, he did work closely with Dylan Dickerson, the frontman of Dear Blanca and MIDS, and the owner of Comfort Monk, under which "Nesting" was released. The two also collaborate on a project called Shows, along with Brett Nash from Charleston.

"There's tons and tons of great music in South Carolina, but the specific kind of style that he's sort of developed over the years feels pretty uniquely Marshall," Dickerson told Free Times.

The ghostly chorus on "Nesting" is a collection of Brown's past selves, his current self and maybe his future self, too.

For Dickerson, it's evident of Brown's diverse production styles and his desire to keep pushing himself artistically.

"It's very immersive," Dickerson said of the EP. "There's these moments throughout the record that are almost ambient, synth-ey, sort of ethereal things. And I feel like they're timed perfectly throughout the record."

And just because he's reached a new level of maturity — in both his music and personal life — Brown isn't resting on any laurels. He's already writing his next record.

Stream "Nesting" on Spotify, Bandcamp and Apple Music. For more information, visit marshallbrownmusic.com

Zoe is the Senior Features Editor of The Post and Courier and Free Times. Reach her at znicholson@free-times.com or on X @zoenicholson_

OPINION AND COMMENTARY

Editorials and other Opinion content offer perspectives on issues important to our community and are independent from the work of our newsroom reporters.

A few months after a vague new rule allowed the state to remove books with descriptions of sexual conduct from its public schools regardless of grade level, the South Carolina Board of Education has banned its first seven.

The board decided unanimously Tuesday — without being required to read them — that the books Elana K. Arnold’s “Damsel,” Colleen Hoover’s “Ugly Love,” Sally Rooney’s “Normal People” and four popular fantasy novels by Sarah J. Maas are too dangerous for teenagers that the state licenses to drive.

No one had lodged a new complaint about any of these books. Rather, the chair of the Board of Education’s Instructional Materials Review Committee had asked state officials for a list of books that could be challenged or considered controversial.

Three of 11 works the committee reviewed won’t be banned. They are classics: George Orwell’s “1984,” Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” and William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”

Among the books the committee considered, only one’s fate was postponed to a later date: “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins is a 2004 YA novel based on her daughter about a teenager addicted to crystal meth. It is required reading in some high schools and the 38th most banned book of the 2010s.

The staff of the Department of Education had recommended the board ban “Crank” from K-12 school libraries and classrooms, but the board’s panel chose to delay a final recommendation on it, after the committee chair, family doctor Christian Hanley, said he had received an email before the meeting from someone saying that the book had helped their family deal with drug use.

Turns out that “Crank” is actually something parents should encourage their children to read.

Foes may say the book glorifies and glamorizes drug use and sex. In fact, it does the opposite.

One oft-cited passage of the narrator’s stream of consciousness reads, “Off came my shorts. Down went his zipper. I realized I was in serious trouble. ‘I’ll scream.’ Go ahead. No one can hear but skunks and coyotes. Still, as I opened my mouth, his hand slapped down on it. Those sublime muscles hardened. Just relax. You’ll love it. My brand-new Victoria’s Secrets shredded, and I felt the worst of Brendan pause, savoring my terror. They all love it.”

Hopkins responded to those banning her book in 2022, writing, “There’s nothing pornographic about it. Pornography is meant to titillate, and if that scene turns you on, you’ve got a problem. It’s painful. You want the character to be okay, to make it through, to please stop using. The vast majority of readers never want to find themselves there.”

In her own essay last year, Washington, D.C., children’s librarian Aryssa Damron called “Crank” “a lesson in why you should never do drugs” that young people need to read. She wrote that Hopkins identified the book’s message as “choices you make as young adults will affect you for the rest of your life.” She also noted poignantly that many of the first teenagers who took that message from “Crank” have kids of their own now.

The book is barely more suggestive than this:

How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!

This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.

I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples;

And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.

I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.

That’s Song of Solomon 7:6-10 from the King James Version of the Bible, and it’s about as sexually depictive as “Crank.”

The bottom line is books like “Crank” are neither pornography nor material that should be kept from high schoolers who could benefit from it. The state puts teens at risk by taking away a space where they could safely learn about the perils of drugs and priorities like consent.

High schoolers need help and often don’t know how to ask for it. Books, then, can be boons. Also, every parent knows it’s hard to get teens to read anything other than TikTok, and everyone should realize that a book rightly kept from elementary schoolers may be OK for teenagers who can drive or even vote. We should be encouraging older teens to read the books so many of their peers have read. And we should be leery of K-12 book bans and arbitrarily deciding classics are OK on one side but new YA books are not on the other.

I’d like my high schooler to have the choice to read a book or not, and talk to me about it. If parents disagree or don’t think their kids are ready for a particular book, they could ask a school librarian to keep it from them. They could also talk to their kids about it, too.

Send me 250-word letters to the editor here, 650-word guest essays here and email here. Say hi on X anytime.

This story was originally published November 6, 2024, 5:00 AM.