BEAUFORT COUNTY NEWS | HEADLINES | APRIL 3, 2024 | Watch LIVE @www.BeaufortCounty.tv

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The Beaufort County News Headlines presented by Matt Goldin
***STORY 1****

A hearing will be convened in Port Royal concerning a company’s appeal of the town’s suspension of its license to do business in the town.



Harbormasters International, which specializes in the design and construction of floating dock systems, has been manufacturing large docks at the Port of Port Royal for several months on a site owned by Safe Harbor Marinas, which is planning to construct a large marina on Battery Creek. Those docks have been controversial, with residents and the town complaining about what they contend is an unauthorized heavy industrial use of the property. The docks being built at this point, the town adds, are not intended for the Port Royal marina project but for use at other Safe Harbor facilities.

On March 20, the town sent Safe Harbor a “determination letter” that ordered it to stop building the docks. The letter said that dock manufacturing was not “light industrial” and potentially dangerous, and not allowed in the “planned unit development.”

***STORY 2*****

Former Beaufort County Parks and Recreation Director Shannon Loper will attend a hearing in October 2024 in Columbia to answer for five counts of Use of Official Position to Obtain Economic Interest, according to a letter sent by the S.C. State Ethics Commission.



The letter was sent to the complainant – known to The Island News but who wishes to remain anonymous – stating that the State Ethics Commission has determined that there is probable cause to convene a formal hearing into the matter.



The complainant filed several complaints with the State Ethics Commission about Loper in 2023 – this letter is in response to one of them.

**STORY 3***

Brigadier Gen. Will Wilburn made a trip on March 19 to visit the campus of John Paul II Catholic School in Ridgeland, helping students learn more about cybersecurity, a school news release said.

Wilburn, a deputy commander of Marine Cyber Forces, is currently stationed at Fort Meade in Maryland. He visited John Paul II students while in the Lowcountry in partnership with the third annual South Coast Cyber Summit, the release said. The summit is a two-day event for IT professionals who work with Microsoft technology.
Wilburn helped the students understand the importance of his profession.

***STORY 4**

The Palmetto State is running short staffed in one of its most vital professions: nursing. Can enough nurses be trained to fill the openings? And what can South Carolina do about it?
Nationwide, a nursing shortage has become apparent since COVID-19 hit, causing many to leave the field due to stress and burnout. Even before COVID-19, South Carolina was struggling with staffing, and the pandemic made it worse. South Carolina is one of the states with the most significant scarcities. It will need an estimated 10,400 nurses to meet the demand through the end of the decade.
Faculty shortages at nursing schools across the country has been raised as an issue. According to American Association College of Nursing report on 2021-2022 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing, U.S. nursing schools turned away 91,938 applications from nursing programs in 2021 due to a lack of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, and budget constraints.