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SYLVANIA, Ga. (AP) — A textile manufacturer says it plans to close a plant in eastern Georgia that employs 260 workers.
Milliken & Company announced Wednesday that its operations in Screven County will be phased out and transferred to its plant in Cherokee County, South Carolina, news outlets reported.
“This consolidation benefits our customers with increased capacity and helps us realize key sustainability and operational metrics," said Kevin Brown, senior vice president of global operations for Milliken’s textile business. He said the company will “make every effort” to find new jobs for Screven County workers who wish to transfer to another Milliken location.
The Screven County plant manufactures finished goods textiles, including engineered flame-resistant textiles, for workwear use. The company operates more than 70 facilities worldwide and will still have 10 in Georgia after closing the Screven County plant.
The plant on the Ogeechee River had a different owner, King America Finishing, in 2011 when more than 30,000 fish died near the facility and further downstream. Regulators never directly tied the plant to the fish kill, but discovered King America had been illegally dumping treated wastewater into the river for years.
King America sold the plant to Milliken in 2014. The Ogeechee Riverkeeper conservation group said in a statement that Milliken made extensive upgrades and improvements to the plant, though it continued to discharge treated wastewater with a government permit.
“It is with mixed emotions that we receive this news, recognizing the long term benefits to the river while acknowledging the social and economic impacts to the community," Damon Mullis, the riverkeeper group's executive director said in a statement. "That said, this removes the primary source of industrial effluent into our river.”
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A 911 call from air traffic controllers suggests that a co-pilot may have jumped from a damaged plane before the other pilot made an emergency landing in North Carolina.
The superintendent of Hanover schools is apologizing about the district using a logo on T-shirts and other materials that resembles a swastika.
A federal lawsuit alleges that unsanitary conditions and staff negligence caused the death of a 27-year-old man detained in a South Carolina jail. Police arrested Lason Butler on Jan. 31 on charges of reckless driving, failure to stop for blue lights and driving with a suspended license. The lawsuit filed Wednesday says that he was found dead on Feb. 12 with fresh rat bites and no running water. An autopsy report found that Butler died of dehydration. The lawsuit alleges that jail staff failed to provide “sanitary conditions, appropriate health care, and relief from solitary confinement."
Police say an investigation into two brothers for a killing in South Carolina led to videos of them and others beating up at least five people at homeless camps in Greenville. Greenville County deputies released parts of the videos Thursday showing several men repeatedly punching and kicking at least three different people inside tents or outside. There was a stream of bleeps as curse words were removed, but one suspect can be heard shouting “where’s the bread” repeatedly. The victims, whose faces were blurred in the video by deputies, don’t fight back. Deputies say they are still investigating and there may be more victims.
A lawsuit alleges that police illegally detained a South Carolina couple when officers outside the jurisdiction raided their home in the middle of the night. According to complaints filed Tuesday, Shane Glover and Codie Fuller were held at gunpoint and handcuffed while unclothed by officers with the Holly Hill and Santee Police Departments on Aug. 2, 2020. The couple’s lawyer says the raid was made without any outstanding warrant and constitutes an “illegal kidnapping.” It’s unclear what prompted the raid. Neither department immediately responded to requests for comment. Prior to the raid, Glover says he called the Holly Hill police supervisor after learning about allegedly “inappropriate personal comments” made by an officer to Fuller.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the husband of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and brother of U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn were given shares of a company that leased slot machines to a North Carolina tribal casino. The casino run by the Catawba Indian Nation in South Carolina needed political help to open last year. The newspaper reported that John Clyburn introduced backers of the project to people he knew and never discussed it with his brother. The newspaper reported that Michael Haley's company did physical and cybersecurity consulting for the project in 2018. A spokesperson for Nikki Haley told the newspaper she did not advocate for casino.
A trial is starting in South Carolina where lawyers for several death row prisoners are arguing the electric chair - as well as the newly established, but so far unused, firing squad - are cruel and unusual punishments. South Carolina hasn't executed anyone since 2011 because the state's lethal injection drugs expired and pharmacies have refused to sell it more. The General Assembly passed a law in 2021 requiring condemned inmates to choose between electrocution or firing squad if the lethal injection drugs weren’t available. Four prisoners either out or nearly out of appeals to their death sentences sued and their execution dates were postponed.
The Anti-Defamation League reports that Virginia had the nation’s second-highest number of incidents involving white supremacist propaganda last year.
TAYLORS, S.C. (AP) — Sporadic peeps ring out from beyond the four walls of heated cages as chicks poke their heads out to feed from a tiny trough.
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