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To Indian Land voters in Lancaster County, a hot-button issue is whether to widen a highway littered with new retailers and restaurants. Some residents of the unincorporated area that seemingly dissolves into Charlotte say it’s time.

They went to the polls on Tuesday and some shared their thoughts with The Herald.

One resident, Gwendolyn Moore, moved to Indian Land in 2019. Since then, she said the town has “exploded” with growth and needs to widen U.S. 521. Voters were deciding on a 1% sales tax to widen the road and make other transportation improvements.

“We do need to have the road widened so that it can be safe and can cut down on a lot of the congestion,” Moore said. “A lot of towns did not have the foresight to see what the future was bringing, and this is where we are.”

Moore also said the political climate brought her to the polls.

“I’m a nurse by profession so it strikes me differently because I deal with clients that don’t have food, that don’t have insurance, that can’t get medication, and I just believe that it’s our duty that if we’re okay today, we may not be okay tomorrow,” Moore said. “We do have to provide for one another politely, respectfully and humbly, because, like I said, tomorrow could be our turn.”

In Rock Hill, Lawrence Sanders spent his time feeding a passerby as he waited for a poll worker to bring a curbside voting machine to his car.

He honked his horn to get the man’s attention. When he approached Sanders’ car, Sanders reached into a bag and pulled out all of the cash he had — two dollars — and handed it to the man.

Then he reached over to the passenger’s seat and handed him a small loaf of bread. The man thanked him and Sanders turned back to his window and voted.

This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 6:05 PM.

Northwestern football ended its regular season with a statement.

The Trojans ran up the score in their 51-13 victory against Indian Land, which had entered Friday night’s finale unbeaten through the first nine games.

Northwestern (9-1, 6-0) wins the Region 3-5A championship and earns a bye in the South Carolina High School League playoffs.

Trojans quarterback Xavier Means threw for six touchdown passes and rushed for one.

“It’s always good to win a game,” Means said. “The most important game is the next game, whoever we've got next, whoever we play in the playoffs, that's what we're focused on right now.”

How Northwestern defeated Indian Land

Both sides found the end zone on their first possessions.

Indian Land senior Jayden Clyburn returned the opening kickoff for a 92-yard touchdown.

The home team answered with a quick scoring drive of its own. Means found senior wide receiver Jonathan Spurgeon for a 6-yard touchdown pass, and kicker Alex Bendt made the extra point to give Northwestern a 7-6 lead.

More chances were found early, and the Trojans capitalized. Means connected with Spurgeon once again for an 8-yard touchdown late in the first quarter.

The Warriors fumbled the ensuing kick return and were pushed back near their own goal line, and Northwestern’s defense came up big.

Junior defensive back Jaylon Richardson brought down Indian Land quarterback Matt Kucia in the end zone, posting a two-point safety for the Trojans.

Northwestern stayed in control.

Senior wide receiver Kameron Vance hauled in a grab on third down from the opponent’s 36-yard line. It was initially ruled a touchdown as he appeared to reach across the plane, but was then deemed to be short. Means hit Vance for a 3-yard score on the next play, and Bendt hit the extra point, making it 23-6.

“We do what we do,” Means said. “We only focus on ourselves, we don’t focus on nothing else. If we do our job, we know we're going to win the game.”

Means led the offense on another drive downfield before punching it in himself for a 1-yard score. The Trojans drove downfield once again before halftime, and Means connected with junior Payton Vining for the score, making it 37-6 at the break.

Vining snagged a 49-yard touchdown catch less than 90 seconds after the second half began.

Northwestern forced the running clock as it took a 51-6 lead, according to SCHSL rules, after Means had dropped a fine 39-yard strike into Vining’s hands for the receiver’s third touchdown of the night and fourth this season.

Notable

They said it

“We’ve expected that all year from (Vining),” Northwestern head coach Page Wofford said. “Just what defenses have been doing to us the last couple games, or for the beginning of the season, it just wasn’t gonna open up for him. But (Friday), they gave us some things that we like to take advantage of, and we saw it and at halftime said, ‘If we get a chance in the second half, we’re gonna try to hit him with one or two deep balls.’ And thankfully, you know, Xavier threw a very nice ball, and Peyton doesn’t know any better but to run under and catch it. Great game for him, and we’re happy for him.”

Up next

The first round of the South Carolina High School League playoffs begins Friday.

Scoring summary

FIRST QUARTER

IL: Clyburn returns opening kick for TD (6-0, Indian Land)

NHS: Spurgeon 6-yard TD (7-6, Northwestern)

NHS: Spurgeon 8-yard TD (14-6, Northwestern)

NHS: Richardson safety (16-6, Northwestern)

SECOND QUARTER

NHS: Vance 3-yard TD (23-6, Northwestern)

NHS: Means 1-yard TD (30-6, Northwestern)

NHS: Vining 3-yard TD (37-6, Northwestern)

THIRD QUARTER

NHS: Vining 49-yard TD (43-6, Northwestern)

NHS: Vining 39-yard TD (51-6, Northwestern)

FOURTH QUARTER

IL: Hayden Morris touchdown (51-13, Northwestern)

Spicy Jane is a real nut.

The baby squirrel races around her enclosure, jumping on her adoptive squirrel brother Cyrus, who is a wee bit older. If you open her enclosure, she will jump on you.

The young squirrels are among 45 at the Nutty By Nature Squirrel Rescue based in Rock Hill, S.C. Three women and a host of volunteers rehabilitate squirrels that have fallen from trees, become orphans or have been injured. Once they are old enough, the co-founders release them into the wild when they are roughly five months old. The rescue takes in squirrels mainly in York, Chester and Lancaster counties.

The rescue started after Rhiannon Story, Katherine Rigby and Juli Emmons each raised the squirrels that were either injured or newly born and without their mothers. They started the rescue in May even though they did not yet have any squirrels.

By fall, they almost had more than they could handle.

“It’s exploded,” Story said. “It’s raining squirrels.”

All of the women have worked with other animal rescue groups and wanted to volunteer but realized there weren’t enough squirrel rescues.

“We were getting babies left and right and there was only so much we could do,” Story said. “So we thought if we started a rescue and maybe we’d be able to get community support and we would be able to get volunteers to help.”

The women know the stories of how some of the squirrels made it to their doorsteps.

Titus, a baby squirrel, showed up at the hospital in Lancaster, and peered through the window as though he was looking for help, Rigby said.

The baby squirrel had possibly fallen out of its nest from one of the trees beside the Medical University of South Carolina. A Good Samaritan tried to find the mother squirrel in the wooded area beside the hospital, but could not find her.

Tree trimmers found a couple of baby squirrels after they chopped down a branch with the nest in it. A hawk or owl possibly took a baby squirrel’s mother after she went missing.

The co-founders know everything squirrel-related.

They know squirrels need calcium in their diets and that they can be trained to use a litter box. They also know nuts are only to be used as treats, instead of staples in their diets.

“The first thing everybody always wants to do is feed them nuts,” Rigby said. “And nuts to squirrels is like a Snickers to a human, so nuts are like candy bars to them.”

Their diet consists of rodent food high in calcium and a host of fresh vegetables like zucchini, kale, romaine lettuce and others. They also like to nibble on deer antlers that contain calcium and because it helps keep their teeth filed.

Rigby said she follows people on TikTok who raise squirrels and talk about their care. She also follows reputable squirrel websites to learn how to care for them.

Rigby has even started a “squirrel school” where she helps them practice jumping.

“You need them to be really strong jumpers, so that they can jump tree to tree,” she said.

When the squirrels reach about four months old, they will go outside to the pre-release enclosure where they become acclimated to the smells and sounds of the outdoors.

Part of squirrel school is to observe wild squirrels in their habitats.

“They are very smart,” Rigby said. “I know it sounds crazy, but they do watch other squirrels and they learn.”

Once they have been in the pre-release cage for a few weeks, they are released into the wild at 16-20 weeks old. The co-founders and volunteers will release them into their backyards and other properties.

“We are the only ones that truly interact with them once they get bigger,” Story said. “Because you want them to go outside and actually wild-up and not come to people.”

That doesn’t stop them from visiting their former caregivers, who give them nutty treats.

Not all of the squirrels can be rehabilitated.

One such squirrel has Type 2 diabetes. The co-founders realized something was wrong when the squirrel allowed people to pet him and was rapidly gaining weight.

“His name is Chubs for a reason,” Story said. “He’s a thick, healthy boy.”

The women try to find the squirrels’ mothers before taking them in, Story said.

They will put the babies in a box and attach it to a tree and play squirrel sounds on their phones. Many times, the mother will come get them.

The co-founders said they feel like they are doing something important.

“The first time they climb those trees, it’s an indescribable feeling,” said Story, who has been called The Crazy Squirrel Lady. “You can see the job on their faces and that right there lets me know that I did something that was great, even if you know it matters only to one squirrel, it still matters.”

To donate or volunteer, visit nuttybynaturerescue.com.

Rock Hill schools are losing hundreds of students each year, and there isn’t a clear answer as to why.

“We don’t collect data on why parents are leaving the school district,” Assistant Superintendent Marty Conner told the Rock Hill school board Tuesday night. “The data that we’re required to collect is, where did they actually go?”

School district enrollment is down 2.7% in a year and 13% in a decade, new numbers show. Many of those students are heading to other public school districts, while an increase in area charter school options in the past decade also plays a role.

The steady enrollment loss for a decade now has Rock Hill on the verge of dropping to the third-largest school district in the region, behind Fort Mill and Lancaster County schools. It also has fewer students in all but five of 24 Rock Hill schools in a year, with the highest enrollment rate decreases at the elementary school level.

“Why do we have a problem at some schools but not others?” asked board member Pete Nosal.

District staff have been in conversation this week with a group that does family engagement to research the trend, Conner said. Results could be available by the end of the year.

Some answers like school culture differences are probably already available to the district by comparing schools, Nosal said. He points to schools like Ebinport Elementary that are growing.

“What can we take from the schools that are keeping and retaining their kids, and how can we take that and put that into other schools so that we try to stop this?” Nosal said. “Because this is not sustainable to lose 300, 400 kids a year.”

Enrollment number drop in Rock Hill

South Carolina schools submit enrollment counts three times each year. The earliest one comes on the 45th day of the school year. Data is being collected on this year’s 45-day count and a report is typically filed in December, according to the South Carolina Department of Education.

Rock Hill will submit a count of 15,621 students. That figure is down 432 students from the count last school year, and nearly 700 students in the past two years.

This year’s count puts Rock Hill at 204 more students than Lancaster County had last year. Lancaster County has grown by an average of 295 students per year since 2020.

The numbers are a stark contrast to what they were a decade ago.

In 2015, Rock Hill schools peaked with a 45-day enrollment of 17,946. Rock Hill had a more than 4,800-student gap between the second-largest district, Fort Mill. Rock Hill had more students than Clover, York and Chester County schools combined.

Since then, the only year Rock Hill saw an annual increase in students came in 2021.

That’s when students returned in full after many of them attended virtual school in 2020. Fort Mill, Lancaster County and Clover have steadily increased. York held mostly steady, while Chester County dipped.

Fort Mill passed Rock Hill as the largest area school district in 2020, based on the 45-day counts. Last year, Fort Mill had 2,411 more students than Rock Hill.

That’s roughly the same number of students who attend Rock Hill High and Old Point Elementary schools, combined.

Where do Rock Hill students go?

Of the enrollment reduction from last school year to this one, 54.1% of students went to another public school district. That number, according to the Rock Hill district, includes inside and outside of South Carolina.

Another 15.1% of students are listed with an unknown status. Those students simply stopped showing up, and can impact school graduation rates if the district can’t determine where they went. “Those are categorized usually as students who are dropouts,” Conner said.

Next are students who left for charter schools at 11%, no shows who registered but didn’t attend at 6.5%, homeschool students at 6%, private school at 4.5% and student who withdrew but provided no further details at 2.8%.

Charter school impact on enrollment

While it isn’t the largest driver of enrollment loss, charter schools are a factor that could disproportionately impact Rock Hill.

South Carolina has more than 100 charter schools, a public education option that’s grown in popularity the past decade. The Rock Hill, Lancaster County and Chester County districts all have a charter school listed among the traditional schools they offer.

Other charter schools operate outside of typical public school districts. The Charter Institute at Erskine, Limestone Charter Association and South Carolina Public Charter School District combine to run 90 charters schools spread across the state.

A student who attends one of their schools in Rock Hill wouldn’t count in Rock Hill School District enrollment.

York Preparatory Academy opened in 2010. Riverwalk Academy followed in 2014. Both Rock Hill schools offer grades kindergarten through 12. Ascent Classical Academy of Fort Mill opened last year at a temporary Rock Hill site, teaching those same grades. Legion Collegiate Academy opened in Rock Hill in 2019 as a high school.

Combined, those charter schools in Rock Hill had 3,299 students at the 45-day count last year. Those schools draw students from across the region, but their locations in Rock Hill make them most convenient for families that otherwise would attend Rock Hill schools.

There is only one charter school listed by the South Carolina Department of Education as operating in the three-county Rock Hill region, but outside of Rock Hill. Cogito Academy in Lancaster offers pre-kingergaren through fifth grade.

Uncertainty why students are leaving Rock Hill

Some figures, like a higher enrollment drop at the elementary levels than middle or high school, seem to make sense to the Rock Hill district.

“That aligns to national trends,” Conner said.

But questions on why parents make decisions to change schools, or why so many of them have, aren’t as easily answered.

Some could be parents leaving for jobs elsewhere, Conner said. Some may have to do with the schools students attend in Rock Hill. There’s also the lingering impacts from sudden enrollment drops across the region and state due to the COVID pandemic.

“As parents left during the COVID era, they looked at maybe more options for them,” Conner said.

The site is now being "rebranded" as the Palmetto Research Park.

ROCK HILL, S.C. — After years of stalled plans and uncertainty, the former site of what would have been the Carolina Panthers’ practice facility is getting a new identity and a new purpose.

What was once intended to become the NFL team's sprawling headquarters is now being rebranded as the Palmetto Research Park, a move Rock Hill city leaders are calling a “generational” opportunity.

The more than 200-acre property, located just off of I-77 in York County, has been at a standstill since the Panthers pulled out of the project in 2022. What remains is a wide, open stretch of land with “roads that lead nowhere,” according to nearby business owners.

“It’s a great way to get to the interstate now,” said Jeremy Ray, who owns Rock Hill Screen Printing. “But that’s all I see over there. It’s a road going to nowhere right now.”

City officials say that’s changing. At a public meeting this week, leaders revealed the property is now considered “shovel-ready”, with infrastructure for power, water, wastewater, fiber, and natural gas already in place. The site also offers rail access and visibility from the highway, which officials say makes it attractive to a variety of industries.

Planned target sectors include life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and even aerospace -- all industries expected to bring high-wage jobs to the area. While the economic development potential is promising, not everyone is sold on the direction.

“I would love to see them put a music pavilion or something to bring that tourist side to Rock Hill, which is what I think a lot of businesses were hoping for,” Ray shared.

Still, others remain optimistic about the land’s future, even if it takes time.

“Rock Hill is a big area,” said Latoya Robinson with Starlight Healthcare Services. “We have a lot of stuff going on here, so we’re still full of enthusiasm and looking for them to do something there,” she continued.

For now, the site remains empty. But with infrastructure in place and a clearer vision on the table, officials say the groundwork is finally set for a new chapter in Rock Hill’s growth.