Big names coming to Columbia this year
Darius Rucker will come home to Columbia on Feb. 21 to play a show, and he won’t be the only star in town this year, The State reported.
Bruno Mars will headline a show at the Colonial Life Arena in June, a few months after he takes the halftime stage at this year’s Super Bowl. Tickets go on sale Feb. 3.
Queens of the Stone Age, who played during the Grammy Awards, will play the Township Auditorium on Friday at 7 p.m.
John Legend will also play the Township Auditorium, on April 16, and tickets are now available.
Grammy Award-winner Lahal Hathaway will perform at the Koger Center for the Arts as one of the headliners for the Auntie Karen Foundation Legends of Concert on Feb. 21.
Two students arrested after setting off stink bombs in school
Two female students at Battery Creek High School in Beaufort were arrested last week after allegedly setting off stink bombs at school, The Beaufort Gazette reported.
Both students were charged with disturbing a school, which carries a fine of up to $1,000, 90 days in jail or both, said Daniel Brownstein, spokesman for the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
The stink bombs were set off in two separate classrooms and the cafeteria, but it has not been determined who set off which stink bomb.
“Both incidents caused a major disruption in the classroom and in the school,” Superintendent Jeffrey Moss told the newspaper.
Tire plant opens, credits success to state support
Continental Tire officially began production at its new plant in Sumter on Wednesday, producing its first batch of tires three months ahead of schedule, The State reported.
The 500-acre facility cost $500 million to build and is projected to open up 1,600 jobs. At full capacity, it will produce 8 million tires each year.
More than 200 people, including Gov. Nikki Haley, attended the plant’s opening, despite the snow and sleet.
Jochen Etzel, Continental Tire’s chief executive, credited the support of Haley, the state Ports Authority, the state Commerce Department and county leaders with bringing the plant to Sumter.