Author: Ethan Jordan

Stephens County Hospital has hired a new Chief Financial Officer. According to Stephens County Hospital Chief Executive Officer Van Loskoski, they’ve hired Ken Hendren for the CFO position. Loskoski says Hendren will be moving to Toccoa-Stephens County from Birmingham, Alabama. Loskoski said it’ll be between six and eight weeks before Hendren is physically at Stephens County Hospital. The CFO position […]

The Stephens County Board of Commissioners have set the date for Stephens County’s Amnesty Day Event as April 23, 2022. During Tuesday’s Stephens County Board of Commissioners meeting, the Commission voted and approved a motion to set April 23, 2022, as Amnesty Day and to pay hourly employees double time for working that day. The Amnesty Day event will run […]

It’s been over a week since WNEG’s last COVID report for Stephens County. According to the Georgia Department of Public Health the spread of COVID-19 continues to slow for Stephens and surrounding counties. The latest DPH report was released Tuesday afternoon. As of Tuesday, February 22, there have been 123 COVID-related deaths in Stephens County, an increase of four since […]

A Toccoa man is behind bars after allegedly fleeing from Georgia State Patrol troopers in Rabun County. According to a report by the Georgia State Patrol, around 3:00 p.m. Sunday, February 20, troopers attempted to stop a 2006 Suzuki motorcycle on US 76 in Rabun County. The driver of the motorcycle fled instead of stopping. The pursuit, according to the […]

Stephens County Hospital is looking to expand its services to meet the needs of the region. According to Stephens County Hospital Chief Executive Officer Van Loskoski, they recently hired a third trauma surgeon and are looking to grow its trauma services. He says they will start small but will eventually grow to handle a larger scope of trauma services for […]

The City of Toccoa celebrated Arbor Day last week at Emory Johnson Park. A small group gathered at the park, as city officials planted a tree in recognition of Arbor Day. Arbor Day began in 1872 at the suggestion of J. Sterling Morton as a day set aside for tree planting and conservation of the earth’s resources. Main Street Toccoa’s […]

A native of Toccoa is a driver of the “Wienermobile.”  Lauren Swenson, daughter of Chad and Minda Swenson, is a “Hotdogger” and travels the United States driving the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile to special events, including Mardi Gras in New Orleans in a few days. Lauren got the job after she graduated from the University of Georgia last May, and will […]

The 2022 Lavonia Boat Expo is shaping up to be better than ever. Sponsored by the Lavonia Downtown Development Authority, this is the third year for the Boat Expo and a lot of vendors will be on hand to tell you about boats, and all that goes with them. Susan Poole is coordinating this year’s event that is coming up […]

A Federal Vaccine Mandate requiring all Stephens County Hospital employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or to submit religious or medical exemption is in full effect. According to Stephens County Hospital Chief Executive Officer Van Loskoski if the hospital didn’t comply with the mandate, it could have impacted the hospital’s funding through Medicare and Medicaid. “We’re very fortunate that we […]

The Stephens County Board of Commissioners will meet on Tuesday for its regular scheduled meeting. Unlike the first meeting of February, this meeting will be held in-person at the Stephens County Historic Courthouse. The meeting will begin promptly at 5:30 p.m. Up for consideration include several land use public hearings for three rezoning requests and two conditional use requests. The […]