Prepare to pay more when you fill up for your summer road trips.

South Carolina’s Motor Fuel User Fee will increase from $0.22 to $0.24 per gallon beginning July 1.

The gas tax is meant to support road, bridge, and in frastructure construction in the state.

The increase is part of the South Carolina Infrastructure and Economic Development Reform Act passed by the General Assembly in 2017, which raises the fee by $0.02 each July until 2022.

Lighthouse for Life turns 6

Midlands-based Lighthouse for Life celebrated 6 years of saving lives.

Lighthouse for Light serves victims of human trafficking and provides awareness and education of human trafficking to communities throughout the state.

Andrea Wind founded the nonprofit in 2014 after learning about a case of human trafficking in her community.

Lighthouse celebrated with a virtual concert free to the public.

Are you being counted?

The citizens of Lexington County know how important it is for their voices to be counted.

Over 62% of residents here have responded to the 2020 Census. That’s above the state average of 55.2%, and the national response of 60.4%.

Only York, Lancaster and Dorchester counties have been more responsive.

Least responsive are Dillon, Allendale and Hampton counties.

To respond to the Census, visit www.my-2020census.gov or call 1-844-330-2020.

Superintendent candidates selected

Lexington School District 2 has chosen 3 candidates for district superintendent.

Dr. Brenda Hafner is the chief of schools/assistant superintendent for leadership and school excellence for Sumter School District.

Dr. Todd Terill is superintendent of schools for Richmond Community Schools in Indiana.

Dr. Nicolas Wade is superintendent of schools for Elmwood Park Community Unity School District #401 in Illinois.

Finalists will interview with the board June 22-24.

District 1 new appointments

Cindy C. Funderburk is the new coordinator of preschool special education for Lexington School District 1.

Funderburk is a dedicated special educator with 9 years of experience.

She is a member of the Council of Exceptional Children’s Division for Early Childhood and the Council of Administrators of Special Education.

The board also promoted Aaron W. Dellorco to assistant principal of White Knoll High School, effective July 1.

An educator with 16 years of experience, Dellorco currently teaches history at Pelion High School and serves as co-chair of the history department.

MTC to split online and on-campus classes

Midlands Technical College will be taking extra safety precautions when students return to campus in the fall.

MTC President Dr. Ronald Rhames said the return-to-campus plan includes installing plexiglass in teaching stations, rearranging classrooms to adhere to physical distancing, and requiring everyone on campus wear a mask.

Students will be given to option of faceto-face classes on-campus or continuing courses online. Around half of the courses will be taught on-campus and the other half online, MTC Provost Dr. Barrie Kirk said.

Do you have the yard of the month?

The West Columbia Beautification Foundation is looking for its Yard of the Month.

To be considered, you must:

Post a picture of the yard by June 20 to the West Columbia Beautification Facebook Page www.facebook.com/beautifywcolasc using the hashtag #beautifywecosc

Include the address of the picture and your contact information (either on the post, in a private message to the page, or to cotte@westcolumbiasc.gov)

The winner will be presented with a yard sign placed in the yard, a picture taken with a Foundation member, and a bag of goodies filled with local business donations.

Bye-bye BI-LO

Four Bi-Lo locations, including the store known locally as the Gamecock Bi-Lo, are being sold to Food Lion.

The 4 stores, which until recently featured official University of South Carolina decor and products, will convert to the Food Lion brand in 2021, leaving Bi-Lo with 5 Columbia-area stores, The Free Times newspaper reported.

In addition to the Devine Street store, Food Lion will be acquiring store locations at 6021 St. Andrews Road in Columbia, 300 Knox Abbott Drive and 2453 Charleston Highway in Cayce. Employees will transition to working for Food Lion as part of the deal, the grocer said.

The deal is projected to be complete next April.

LRADAC to restart some services

The drug and alcohol abuse treatment center for Lexington and Richland counties will begin offering more services next week.

LRADAC’s 2nd phase of reentry will restart on-site women’s, young adults, men’s and co-occurring Intensive Outpatient (IOP) groups. Withdrawal management operations will continue with a reduced census.

The Recovering Professionals Program (RPP) will continue utilizing telehealth meetings to provide services. Soon, LRADAC will resume on-site scheduled assessments for outpatient services.

LRADAC plans to restart on-site adolescent IOP services in July. Social distancing will be observed for all services.