Local crime, high school sports, county politics, events tonight, and business closings — the daily Upstate report from HEREspartanburg.
Sports
The 2026 NFL Draft is done, and the analysis has only gotten louder. NFL analyst Bucky Brooks identified ten player-team pairings from the draft's 257 picks that he considers virtually perfect matches — combinations of player skill sets, team culture, and scheme needs that line up so cleanly they seem…
Sports
The Denver Nuggets entered the 2026 NBA playoffs as one of the Western Conference's most feared franchises — a team that claimed a championship just three seasons ago and had closed the regular season on a scorching 12-game winning streak. Thursday night at Target Center, that mystique evaporated completely. The Minnesota…
Sports
Lando Norris delivered the moment McLaren had been building toward all season, posting a lap of 1 minute 27.869 seconds on Friday afternoon at the Miami International Autodrome to claim sprint qualifying pole for the 2026 Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix. It was the first time any driver other than…
Education
Wofford College will hold its 172nd annual Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 17 at 9:30 a.m. on the front lawn of Main Building in Spartanburg, marking the close of a year that saw the college confer four honorary degrees on individuals with deep ties to the institution, while three graduating…
Education
The University of South Carolina Upstate is set to hold its Spring 2026 Undergraduate Commencement ceremony on Thursday, May 7, marking the completion of another graduating class at the Spartanburg campus — a class the university describes as resilient students who found personal and professional growth through mentorship, campus involvement,…
Education
Families in Spartanburg County School District 5 can now begin planning their 2026-27 year with the district's academic calendar officially set. District 5, which serves students across the Duncan and Lyman areas and surrounding communities, has published its calendar for the coming school year with key dates for holidays, breaks,…
Events
The annual Hub City Hog Fest returned to downtown Spartanburg this month, bringing barbecue teams, live music, and thousands of visitors to the heart of the city. The two-day festival, one of Spartanburg's signature spring events, showcases competitive barbecue alongside local vendors, craft beverages, and family-friendly entertainment. Organizers put out a…
Events
Published April 17, 2026 at 7:00 AM | By Paige H. Warren Sr., Events & Community Reporter Spartanburg is hosting the Expressions National Dance Competition this weekend, April 17-19, at the Spartanburg School District 3 Community Auditorium at 381 Cherry Hill Road. The multi-day competition brings dancers from across the region…
Events
Published April 17, 2026 at 7:00 AM | By S. Stephanie Rambo Jr., Health & Outdoors Writer Spartanburg holds its first-ever American Heart Association Heart Walk today at Fifth Third Park, with the event scheduled from 4:00 to 5:30 PM. The 2026 Upstate Heart Walk marks a milestone for the Spartanburg…
Business
An artificial intelligence reasoning model developed by OpenAI outperformed experienced emergency room physicians across a sweeping set of clinical tests — including real-world triage cases — according to a study published April 30 in the journal Science. The findings, led by researchers at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess…
Business
The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline climbed to $4.39 on May 1 — nearly 33 cents higher than the week before and more than $1.20 above this time last year. The jump marks the sharpest single-week increase since 2022 and reflects two overlapping shocks. The BP Whiting…
Business
Seven of the country's leading artificial intelligence companies have signed agreements with the Department of Defense to deploy their AI tools inside the military's classified computer networks, a move the Pentagon described as accelerating the transformation of the U.S. armed forces into an "AI-first fighting force." The companies — Google, Microsoft,…
Crime
A former public official in Mississippi has been indicted on child sex crime charges, with a grand jury returning a seven-count indictment against a deputy coroner whose position gave him access to vulnerable community members for years. Bobby Joe Evans, 49, who served as Lamar County's deputy coroner, was arrested Thursday…
Crime
A 54-year-old man is being held without bond at the Spartanburg County Detention Facility following an April 23 arrest in which deputies recovered a missing juvenile and determined the teen had been coerced, drugged, and sexually assaulted. According to the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office, deputies were contacted that evening after a…
Crime
Spartanburg County narcotics investigators seized approximately 2,958 grams — roughly six and a half pounds — of cocaine from a residence on Kendrick Street in Greer on April 29, 2026, arresting a 35-year-old man on trafficking and weapons charges in one of the largest single-site cocaine seizures the agency has…
Politics
The longest shutdown of any single federal agency in United States history ended April 30 when President Donald Trump signed a bill restoring funding to most of the Department of Homeland Security. The House passed the measure by voice vote on the 76th day of the partial shutdown. The bill…
Politics
President Trump announced Friday that tariffs on cars and trucks imported from the European Union will rise to 25 percent as early as next week, accusing the bloc of failing to honor a trade deal both sides finalized last summer. The move puts South Carolina's two Republican senators — Lindsey…
Politics
Congress approved a second short-term extension of the government's foreign surveillance program Thursday, granting a 45-day reprieve just hours before the program was set to expire — leaving unresolved a years-long dispute over whether federal law enforcement should need court approval before searching through Americans' data collected under the authority. The…
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