Those wishing to attend Cayce City Council meetings can now do so virtually.

The city recently completed a $38,000 upgrade to its council chambers in the Cayce Municipal Building. The new features include a pair of large, audience-facing flatscreen TVs (for attendees to see agendas, materials and presentations), another flatscreen mounted behind the audience, an upgraded sound system, an updated C-with-wave-pattern logo on the wall behind council, and the ability to live-stream council meetings online.

The city of nearly 14,000 that is mostly located across the Congaree River from Columbia broadcast its first council meeting Aug. 16, showcasing cameras facing council and facing the audience, both capable of zooming in on individual speakers.

The live-streams are available via the Cayce Youtube page and are linked to the city website at caycesc.gov.

“I do want to take a moment to welcome not only our folks who are in the audience here in person but to send a welcome to all of those who are joining online,” Mayor Elise Partin said to open the Aug. 16 meeting. “This is a big deal, and we’re so excited about this. As a reminder, we approved some funding in 2022 to upgrade this facility, we have one of the older city halls around, and provide effective live-streaming capabilities that would add to our already very transparent meeting processes.”

Downtown Lexington taco spot announces tentative opening date

The eatery that is set to fill in the second and final restaurant space contained within the Town of Lexington’s Icehouse Project expects to be open by mid-September.

Barrio Tacos + Tequila + Whiskey was announced in February as taking the ground-floor space in Icehouse on Main, the privately held building built at 105 W Main St. as part of the project that also installed the Icehouse Amphitheater that sits immediately behind the new building.

The restaurant chain, which is set to open its first S.C. location in Lexington, posted to its local Facebook page that it is hiring for all positions to get ready for a mid-September grand opening.

The chain currently has 17 locations in six states, according to its website.

If plans hold, it won’t be the only Southwest-leaning restaurant on that block of W Main Street, as a location of the locally based chain Takosushi is set to join a second location of Forest Acres wine bar Molto Vino across the street.

West Columbia spot’s wings named tops in the state

A wing joint that moved from Cayce to West Columbia two years ago has the best wings in the Palmetto State, according to a national food website.

In a recently posted story naming “The Best Wings in Every State,” Mashable picked the Citrus Kick Wings from D’s Wings, now located at 415 Meeting St. (attached to the West Columbia city lot behind the River District storefronts on state street and siting immediately in front of Savage Craft Ale Works), as tops in South Carolina.

“An excellent citrusy wing is difficult to find, but that's exactly what you'll discover at D's Wings,” Mashable’s Kori Ellis writes. “These wings are made with real citrus juice, and they provide a spicy kick to your lips to further your enjoyment. Happy customers will enthusiastically inform you that you won't be able to find superior wings anywhere else in the state of South Carolina.”

Snake bites inmate at Lexington County jail

An inmate at the Lexington County Detention Center was bitten by a snake, which was being kept as an unauthorized pet, WLTX initially reported and The State newspaper confirmed.

“The female inmate had been bitten by the common rat snake some time last week,” The State’s Ted Clifford writes. “Officials with the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, which oversees the jail, confirmed that the non-venomous rat snake was being kept as a ‘pet of sorts’ inside of the female pod.”

The inmate, who has not been identified, suffered a minor injury and was treated by medical staff on site.

“While rat snakes and other animals are not allowed to be kept as pets at the Lexington County Detention Center, no disciplinary action was taken against the inmate who was bitten,” Clifford writes, citing sheriff’s department Public Information Officer Capt. Adam Myrick.

TikTok post exposes Lexington 2 student records

An employee at the school district that serves West Columbia, Cayce and Springdale is out of work after employee records landed on TikTok, The Post and Courier Columbia reports.

“The first few seconds of the partially censored video show a hand flipping through a stack of Lexington Two IEP papers, which are individualized education plans designed for students with disabilities,” Ian Greiner writes. “The video also includes a backing sound of someone singing ‘into the thick of it’ and ‘I’m (expletive) sick of it.’

“Courtney Aseltine, an advocate at Special Education of the Carolinas, sought to bring attention to concerns about the clip by including it in a partial repost of the original video on Aug. 4. Both the original TikTok video and the account that posted it are now private.”

District administrators were made aware the day of Aseltine’s post of a TikTok video involving a Lexington 2 employee, Greiner reports.

That employee, who has not been identified, was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, with the school stating she is no longer employed with Lexington 2, Greiner writes.