Archive for month: May, 2023

The Florence One School District has been incorporating farm-to-school programs into its education for years, but on Thursday, the district began a new chapter in agriculture education.

The agricultural and culinary education center known as The Farm at Florence One officially opened with a ribbon cutting before the district’s Board of Trustees meeting.

The center has been a dream for farm-to-school coordinator Jeff Murrie, who spoke at the ribbon cutting and the board meeting about the farm.

“This site will be the catalyst to bring about many new opportunities to the students of Florence One Schools,” he said. “This truly has been a passion project and will be a legacy for all involved.”

Unity with the Community is an initiative designed to engage the community and strengthen the relationship between the community and law enforcement.  Join them on Saturday, June 3rd at Northwest Park from 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM. There will be one-on-one chats, crime prevention tips and the ability to ask questions and share your concerns.

For more information, click here.

Last week, the South Carolina Board of Economic Advisors (BEA) met to provide an update on the state’s revenue collections and revise their existing economic forecasts. Notably, the BEA raised their FY2023 and FY2024 General Fund Revenue estimates by $564 million and $240 million respectively. The BEA cited continued wage growth and consumer spending as reasons for the increase in collections. They noted that although recent tax reform lowered income tax collections, sales and corporate income tax collections continue to exceed expectations. As pointed out in The State, this additional revenue will give lawmakers some unpredicted wiggle room to negotiate differences between the House and Senate’s FY2023-24 budget proposals. Lawmakers must allocate the revenue and finish the budget plan before the end of the state’s fiscal year (June 30, 2023).

Although the FY2024 estimate was increased by $240 million, the BEA expects an economic slowdown with slower income growth and less consumer spending in the next fiscal year. In the BEA’s May 9 press release, they said, “The BEA remains concerned about persistent inflation, the effects of Federal Reserve interest rate increases, issues within the banking industry, and international conflicts, all leading to deeper concerns about the potential for a recession within the next year.”

The Florence After 5 season kicks off in the 100 block of S. Dargan Street with Too Much Sylvia. On Friday, May 26th, the After 5 event starts at 5:30 p.m. and will run until 8:30 p.m. They will be handing out Florence After 5 magnets at the beer and ticket booths, so be sure to stop by and grab one so you know our band lineup for the season.

The Buc-ee’s in Florence is planning to expand its parking lot so customers can have an easier time finding parking spots.

The super-sized travel stop off of I-95 will celebrate its one-year anniversary Tuesday and needs more parking for its employees, according to Stan Beard. He is the Director of Real Estate for Buc-ee’s and led the Texas-based company’s expansion into South Carolina.

“Because we’re so busy, we have a greater number of employees in the store at any given time, therefore they’re taking up spaces that we historically have not thought we needed,” he said.

Buc-ee’s currently has 536 parking spots, and the expansion will bring 200 more, according to Beard.

To read the full story, click here.