Author Archives: Adam Beam

What I’ve been up to

Sorry I haven’t been blogging lately. Lots of news to write for the paper this week, plus a two-day City Council retreat,  means I don’t have much time to blog. Here’s what’s appeared in the paper from me this week: Columbia to recycle cooking oil Criminal probe apparently over Residents split on Lott police takeover [...]
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Comparing the police and sheriff’s departments

Check out this comparison of the Columbia Police Department to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. It ran with Noelle Phillip’s Sunday story about the culture of the two departments: NOTE: The crime rate is per 10,000 residents.
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District 3 public meeting on sheriff/police contract

Wednesday night, District 3 Councilwoman Belinda Gergel held a public meeting about the proposed sheriff/police contract. A good crowd showed up at the Capital Senior Center, but I didn’t get a head count. Mayor Steve Benjamin and Richland 1 school board member Susie Dibble were there, along with Seth Rose, the Democratic nominee for the [...]
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Columbia’s ‘Southern Fried Fuel’ initiative

The city is holding a news conference Monday to announce its “Southern Fried Fuel” environmental initiative. City officials are asking folks to donate their cooking oil, which will be converted to biofuel and be used to power one of the city’s garbage trucks. I’ll be writing about it next week, but I wanted to let [...]
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What I’ve been working on

Sorry I’ve been quiet this week. I’ve been working on a story about the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I’ve been talking with lots of people, and I just started writing the story this afternoon. It’s scheduled to run Saturday. I know you will be saturated with anniversary stories this weekend. But it’s good to [...]
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