News update:

"Oxy," the mini megabot built by Waccamaw Intermediate students, rolls into the First Lego League competition this week. Hannan Mackey is one of the 10 fifth-graders who designed it. Charles Swenson/Coastal Observer

THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES

Pawleys Plaza: Small crowd cheers small-box vote

Pawleys Plaza developers will get a building only half as big as they initially wanted under a plan approved by Georgetown County Council this week. The plaza will have an anchor store of 60,000 square feet that must be separated from other buildings of 33,000 and 16,000 square feet, according to the compromise plan that received the second of three required readings. Read more...

Big-box stores: County urged to reduce commercial building size limit

Opponents of big-box retailers on the Waccamaw Neck began sowing the seeds of reform while they were agreeing to accept a compromise that will allow the redevelopment of Pawleys Island Plaza. Read more...

Education: Students’ robot rolls into first competition

A robotics program that began this year at Waccamaw Intermediate School was expected to give math and science skills a boost. But the robot that 10 students will take to a competition this week also demonstrates a flair for English. Read more...

Schools: District adds deputies to security plan

“There’s a deputy. I feel safe.” That was what a 7-year-old told her father this week when expanded security arrived at Georgetown County schools in the wake of last month’s murder of 20 students at an elementary school in Connecticut. Read more...

Environment: Either form or wetlands filled incorrectly

Fill placed in wetlands along Highway 17 in Litchfield violates federal regulations, even though the work was done with state and federal approval, attorneys claim. The federal agency that approved the work said the claim is based on faulty paperwork. Read more...

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