A variety of items including school supplies will be exempt from state sales tax during the annual Sales Tax Holiday weekend from Friday, Aug. 3, through Sunday, Aug. 5.
Tax-free items exempt from the six percent sales tax range from clothing, accessories, and shoes to school supplies, book bags, and computers. Shoppers will also find tax free items for the home and dorm room.

Monday, professional artist and Cheraw native Sara Ingram taught the "Wading Through Summer" class as part of the Kids Summer Art Series at the Bennettsville Community Center. Using the South Carolina Lowcountry landscapes and shorebirds as inspiration, students created original works of art using a variety of mixed media techniques. Above, after painting their canvases and using chalk to draw their birds, David Bakogiannis, left, and his big brother, James, started painting.

Linda Cardenas retired from the Marlboro County School district after 28 years as a middle school teacher on June 20.
"I was retired for three weeks," she said.
She has become teacher for the preschool program at the First United Methodist Children's Center.
The First Steps 4K is offered to children who are age four before Sept. 1.
"This is a whole new ballgame," she said.

Storyteller and rapper Scooter Hayes brought his high energy and music to the Marian Wright Edelman Public Library Wednesday as the finale for the summer reading program.
Photo by Jacqueline Hough

BLENHEIM — More than 75 scholars at Blenheim Elementary Middle School site of the CDF Freedom Schools program Wednesday had a chance to learn about civic responsibility through voting.
It was part of the Children’s Defense Fund’s 2018 National Day of Social Action.
Scholars there and at other Freedom School sites at Wallace Elementary Middle School and Bennettsville Primary School participated in mock elections.