Coverage of timely local, regional, and breaking news in Beaufort County and the South Carolina Lowcountry. Includes community updates, government decisions, public safety alerts, traffic and weather impacts, and key issues shaping life in Beaufort, Port Royal, Lady’s Island, St. Helena Island, and surrounding Sea Islands. Designed for residents and visitors seeking authoritative, hyperlocal journalism from Beaufort’s newspaper of record.
Staff reports ICE conducted operations in Beaufort County on Friday, May 29, according to a release from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. According to the release, the BCSO, “assisted ICE […]
BCSO assists ICE in Friday immigration operations Read More »
Thomas Grygowski, a Republican candidate for the Beaufort County Council’s 5th District seat, held a meet and greet at Fuel and Fire in Port Royal on Friday, May 29, 2026.
Thomas Grygowski at Fuel and Fire Read More »
Eight county administrators, six chief financial officers, five deputy administrators and four county attorneys in nine years. Those figures formed the foundation of Beaufort County Treasurer Maria Walls’ criticism of county leadership during the May 26 Beaufort County Council meeting, where she argued that administrative instability is creating operational challenges for county government and affecting decisions being made about her office’s budget.
Walls cites years of turnover, questions county leadership Read More »
Ahead of the June 9 primary election, The Island News sent detailed candidate questionnaires to those running in several contested local and state races impacting Beaufort County voters. Doug Seifert and Joey “JoJo” Woodward Jr. offered sharply different views on the current direction of the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, with both Republican candidates emphasizing public safety, transparency and support for deputies while differing on priorities, leadership style and the agency’s current performance.
Ahead of the June 9 primary election, The Island News sent detailed candidate questionnaires to those running in several contested local and state races impacting Beaufort County voters. Republican candidates for Beaufort County Council District 5 — Joshua Hower, Mary Jeans Otto and Joe Maiorano — all centered their campaigns on concerns about rapid growth and preserving the Lowcountry’s character, though each candidate offered different ideas for managing development, infrastructure and government oversight.
Ahead of the June 9 primary election, The Island News sent detailed candidate questionnaires to those running in several contested local and state races impacting Beaufort County voters. Democratic candidates for S.C. House District 121, Michael Rivers Sr. and Shannon Nehemiah DeLoach, both emphasized affordability, infrastructure and protecting historic Gullah-Geechee communities in their responses, while offering different perspectives shaped by their professional and political backgrounds.
Ahead of the June 9 primary election, The Island News sent detailed candidate questionnaires to those running in several contested local and state races impacting Beaufort County voters. Republican candidates for Beaufort County Council District 4, Michael Andersen and Thomas Grygowski, both centered their County Council District 4 campaigns on growth, infrastructure and protecting Beaufort County’s character, though the two candidates often approached those issues from different perspectives.
A GOP push to overhaul South Carolina’s congressional map ended Tuesday, May 26, as a record-setting start to early voting prompted Republican senators to abandon their support.
Late SC GOP redistricting push fails amid record start to early voting Read More »
With the June 9 primaries rapidly approaching, the focus on political candidates builds just like the summer heat.
