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News
Breaking News
Cromartie network remains a force
12 Mar 2010 at 9:51am
How do you replace a 27-year Columbia city councilman in 27 days?That's the question facing the candidates vying to replace veteran Councilman E.W. Cromartie, whose resignation Tuesday prompted City Council to schedule an impromptu election for April 6.The answer could be to piggyback on Cromartie's legendary political network - an informal citizens advisory committee that has swelled from 20 people in 1983 to more than 200 today."If I was running in that district, and the infrastructure is already in place, you'd be crazy not to go after that committee," said Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine, who as an at-large councilwoman has reached out to the committee herself.But reaching the committee isn't easy. Even calling it a "committee" would be generous, said Elizabeth Marks, who has been a member for 22 years but can't tell you how she joined it.
Death, injury in Mt. Pleasant condo shooting
12 Mar 2010 at 9:19am
Police are looking for three men in a shooting at a South Carolina condominium complex that killed one man and injured a woman.Multiple media outlets reported another man was beaten at the Mount Pleasant complex Thursday.Charleston County Deputy Coroner Dottie Lindsay says 33-year-old Oscar Manuel Giron-Hernandez of North Charleston died at the scene. An autopsy was planned Friday.Capt. Stan Gragg says officers found a woman in the street with a gunshot wound. She was taken to the Medical University of South Carolina Hospital in Charleston. Gragg says she was in stable condition.The injured man was treated and released from a hospital.
Auditors seek missing money in Beaufort County
12 Mar 2010 at 9:18am
It's more than pocket change missing in one South Carolina county - it could be as much as $300,000 - and authorities are trying to find out where the money went.The Beaufort Gazette reported accountants hired by the county administrator and the county's top prosecutor began working this week on an audit.The money is missing from the county treasurer's office from a delinquent tax sale last year. Sheriff P.J. Tanner says estimates of the missing money range from $4,000 to $300,000.A former treasurer's office employee has been charged with breach of trust with fraudulent intent in the theft of $600 from the office several years ago. Authorities say that worker is a person of interest in the latest investigation.
Woodruff woman accused of taking $500,000 from bank
12 Mar 2010 at 9:18am
A woman has been indicted on a charge that she embezzled more than $500,000 from a South Carolina bank.The Herald-Journal of Spartanburg reported that 44-year-old Kimberly McAbee of Woodruff was indicted by a federal grand jury on a single count of embezzlement.Investigators say she took about $520,000 from Arthur State Bank in Union between 2005 and 2009.Acting U.S. Attorney Kevin McDonald said he could not discuss details of the case. But McDonald said McAbee was a loan administrator and used the position to access bank funds.She faces a fine of up to $1 million and up to 30 years in prison if she is convicted.
Fed. appeals court upholds 'under God' in pledge
12 Mar 2010 at 9:15am
An appellate court has upheld references to God on U.S. currency and in the Pledge of Allegiance, rejecting arguments they violate the constitutional separation of church and state."The Pledge of Allegiance serves to unite our vast nation through the proud recitation of some of the ideals upon which our Republic was founded," Judge Carlos Bea wrote for the majority in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 2-1 ruling Thursday.Bea noted that schools do not require students to recite the pledge, which was amended to include the words "under God" by a 1954 federal law. Members of Congress at the time said they wanted to set the United States apart from "godless communists."In a separate 3-0 ruling, the appeals court upheld the inscription of the national motto "In God We Trust" on U.S. coins and currency, citing an earlier 9th Circuit panel that ruled the phrase is ceremonial and patriotic and "has nothing whatsover to do with the establishment of religion."The same appeals court caused a national uproar and prompted accusations of judicial activism when it decided in Sacramento athiest Michael Newdow's favor in 2002, ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance violated the First Amendment prohibition against government endorsement of religion.
Harlem reformer sells out Charlotte audience
12 Mar 2010 at 9:10am
Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children's Zone, Thursday told hundreds of Charlotte leaders that children are experiencing the educational equivalent of Hurricane Katrina, standing on rooftops desperate for help."Nobody's coming," he said. "Nobody's going to save our children. You have to save your own children."Canada spoke at the annual meeting of the Foundation for the Carolinas, which drew a sellout crowd of 1,500. His quest to break the cycle of poverty and academic failure in one of New York City's poorest neighborhoods has sparked national and local attention.Canada had the crowd laughing at tales of his appearances on "60 Minutes" and "The Oprah Winfrey Show." But he said he goes on such shows to sound a dire warning: "I've become convinced that if our country continues down this path, there's no way we are going to remain a leading power."While China is working to "bury us" by producing highly educated workers, the United States is building jails to accommodate huge numbers of low-income African-American children who are in the "cradle-to-prison pipeline," he said. He contrasted the $39,000 a year it costs to incarcerate adults, with no benefit to society, with the $5,000 a year he spends on each child hoping to break the cycle.
Couple dies in SC wreck
12 Mar 2010 at 9:08am
A husband and wife have died in a wreck near Interstate 95 in South Carolina.The Times and Democrat of Orangeburg reported the wreck happened shortly after 10 a.m. Thursday on U.S. Highway 15 south of Santee.Sixty-one-year-old Leroy Shingler Jr. and his wife, 57-year-old Martha "Ruby" Shingler, of Santee, were killed in the wreck.Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Judd Jones said the couple's car ran off the right side of the road on a curve, crossed over to the left and hit a tree. Jones says both the victims were wearing seat belts.The road was wet and visibility was poor.
Historic theater in SC reopening
12 Mar 2010 at 4:08am
An $18 million renovation of a South Carolina theater on the site of America's first theater is being finished.Reporters will see on Friday renovations to the Dock Street Theatre in Charleston used. The theater, used for Spoleto Festival and other events, reopens next week.The original Dock Street was built in 1736 and is thought to have been destroyed in a fire. A second theater on the site dated to the 1760s, but it fell into disuse and was torn down.In 1809, what became the Planters Hotel was built on the site. It closed in the 1870s and the building saw other uses.The city acquired the property in the 1930s and it was renovated for use again as a theater by the Works Progress Administration.
The show goes on with Aaron Tippin concert in SC
12 Mar 2010 at 4:08am
Military veterans will finally get to hear singer Aaron Tippin perform at a free concert which honors them.The concert was originally scheduled for last month at The Citadel in Charleston but was postponed because of a snowstorm that blanketed part of the South. The concert is now set for Friday evening in the field house at the military college.The concert is a way for the Veterans Administration to thank veterans and their families and let the community know about volunteer opportunities at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston.Tippin, who has written and recorded country music songs with patriotic and military themes, was raised in Traveler's Rest.
Top execs helping SC wind turbine project
12 Mar 2010 at 4:08am
Top executives of wind turbine companies are coming to South Carolina to lend a hand with a wind turbine research project.The Post and Courier of Charleston reports that executives from around the world gather on Friday in Charleston and will serve on two advisory committees to the project.Clemson University scientists are creating a $98 million wind turbine research facility at the old Charleston Naval Base.When the project was announced last year, officials said the research center could lead to thousands of jobs for the state.
State awaits $200 million shot in arm
12 Mar 2010 at 12:21am
The S.C. House will not have to tighten the belt on state spending quite so much when legislators begin debating the budget next week.Congress is poised to approve $200 million more in state aid, which would reverse some proposed cuts in the $5.1 billion budget plan. And state revenues - which have been in free fall for two years - are stabilizing.Wednesday, the U.S. Senate approved a six-month extension for stimulus-related state health care money. House lawmakers said Thursday they plan to use the roughly $200 million to restore cuts that could have eliminated services for 26,000 of the state's disabled, cut access to state-funded health care for children in low-income families and restricted the number of prescription drugs for Medicaid patients."I think we've got everything fixed for this budget," said Rep. Tracy Edge, R-Horry, chairman of the House health care budget subcommittee.The health care cuts have motivated advocates, since the Ways and Means Committee approved the budget two weeks ago, to fill the State House lobby, push lawmakers to restore funding for the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs and call and e-mailing lawmakers.
Sheheen team misstates endorsements
11 Mar 2010 at 10:31pm
The season of political endorsements is here with South Carolina candidates announcing lists of backers daily.But be wary of those endorsements.Six of 40 state lawmakers Sen. Vincent Sheheen listed as endorsers of his gubernatorial campaign last week say they are not endorsing him.At issue is a press conference Sheheen's campaign held March 4 at the State House. Flanked by several Democratic lawmakers, Sheheen spoke of the growing momentum of his candidacy as campaign workers handed out to the media a list of 30 House representatives and 10 senators who were supposedly endorsing the candidate.But six of the listed Democrats, including a couple who were standing with Sheheen during the press conference, have since said they aren't in Sheheen's corner.
Graham takes on thorny immigration issue again
11 Mar 2010 at 10:10pm
WASHINGTON | U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Chuck Schumer discussed major immigration reforms Thursday with President Barack Obama at a White House meeting.Graham, a Seneca Republican, waded back into a political minefield that has prompted conservative activists across the nation to vilify him since he helped lead a failed Senate bid to overhaul the immigration system in 2007.Obama has faced more recent criticism from Hispanic lawmakers and advocacy groups accusing him of failing to deliver on a 2008 campaign promise to help the 12 million undocumented workers in the United States.Graham said after the White House session that he had warned Obama against bending Senate rules in order to pass health-care legislation, saying that move would imperil the president's other legislative initiatives."I expressed in no uncertain terms my belief that immigration reform could come to a halt for the year if health care reconciliation goes forward," Graham said.
SC weighs legal protection for planned fires
11 Mar 2010 at 6:04pm
Nearly a year after the state's worst wildfire, forest managers and landowners have asked legislators to give them more protection from lawsuits when they intentionally set fires to reduce debris that could fuel wildfires and inadvertently damage property.Forestry experts told a House Judiciary subcommittee meeting Thursday that as long as they followed state guidelines and other practices, they didn't want to be subject to lawsuits unless they were grossly negligent.But the measure the panel approved and sent to the full Judiciary Committee, they'll be presumed not to have acted negligently, but someone bringing a lawsuit can challenge that."I think its better than what you've got now," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Harrison, R-Columbia. People who have property damage need to be protected, too, he said.Even that change should help, said Joel Felder, South Carolina's deputy state forester. There are 13 million acres of timberland in the state and about 1 million acres a year should have prescribed burns to cut down on the chances of wildfires or their intensity when they occur. For now, only about 440,000 acres yearly are burned, partly because of lawsuit fears.
Volunteers vital to SC prison faith-based program
11 Mar 2010 at 6:04pm
Without volunteers to help turn violent inmates to God, South Carolina's cash-strapped prisons agency couldn't offer any faith-based programs.On Thursday, hundreds of men and women volunteers gathered with officials to celebrate a milestone 15 years in the making, breaking ground on a new inmate chapel organizers hope will offer a spiritual home to the men at McCormick maximum-security prison.The chapel, built with $300,000 in state matching funds and donations - some of which came from the inmates themselves - will be available to any of McCormick's 1,200 inmates who want a quiet place to pray. But it will likely be more than that for the 100 men who are currently participating in the prison's first faith-based program.In the program, the men eat, sleep, exercise, work and pray together. For 12 weeks at a time, they attend classes on self-improvement, including personal responsibility, anger resolution, addiction treatment and parenting.There are several smaller faith-based programs already in place in South Carolina's prisons. But the McCormick project, which started in January, is the agency's most significant effort to improve inmate behavior and, hopefully, cut down on inmates committing crimes when they're released.
Cromartie network remains a force
12 Mar 2010 at 9:51am
How do you replace a 27-year Columbia city councilman in 27 days?That's the question facing the candidates vying to replace veteran Councilman E.W. Cromartie, whose resignation Tuesday prompted City Council to schedule an impromptu election for April 6.The answer could be to piggyback on Cromartie's legendary political network - an informal citizens advisory committee that has swelled from 20 people in 1983 to more than 200 today."If I was running in that district, and the infrastructure is already in place, you'd be crazy not to go after that committee," said Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine, who as an at-large councilwoman has reached out to the committee herself.But reaching the committee isn't easy. Even calling it a "committee" would be generous, said Elizabeth Marks, who has been a member for 22 years but can't tell you how she joined it.
Death, injury in Mt. Pleasant condo shooting
12 Mar 2010 at 9:19am
Police are looking for three men in a shooting at a South Carolina condominium complex that killed one man and injured a woman.Multiple media outlets reported another man was beaten at the Mount Pleasant complex Thursday.Charleston County Deputy Coroner Dottie Lindsay says 33-year-old Oscar Manuel Giron-Hernandez of North Charleston died at the scene. An autopsy was planned Friday.Capt. Stan Gragg says officers found a woman in the street with a gunshot wound. She was taken to the Medical University of South Carolina Hospital in Charleston. Gragg says she was in stable condition.The injured man was treated and released from a hospital.
Auditors seek missing money in Beaufort County
12 Mar 2010 at 9:18am
It's more than pocket change missing in one South Carolina county - it could be as much as $300,000 - and authorities are trying to find out where the money went.The Beaufort Gazette reported accountants hired by the county administrator and the county's top prosecutor began working this week on an audit.The money is missing from the county treasurer's office from a delinquent tax sale last year. Sheriff P.J. Tanner says estimates of the missing money range from $4,000 to $300,000.A former treasurer's office employee has been charged with breach of trust with fraudulent intent in the theft of $600 from the office several years ago. Authorities say that worker is a person of interest in the latest investigation.
Woodruff woman accused of taking $500,000 from bank
12 Mar 2010 at 9:18am
A woman has been indicted on a charge that she embezzled more than $500,000 from a South Carolina bank.The Herald-Journal of Spartanburg reported that 44-year-old Kimberly McAbee of Woodruff was indicted by a federal grand jury on a single count of embezzlement.Investigators say she took about $520,000 from Arthur State Bank in Union between 2005 and 2009.Acting U.S. Attorney Kevin McDonald said he could not discuss details of the case. But McDonald said McAbee was a loan administrator and used the position to access bank funds.She faces a fine of up to $1 million and up to 30 years in prison if she is convicted.
Fed. appeals court upholds 'under God' in pledge
12 Mar 2010 at 9:15am
An appellate court has upheld references to God on U.S. currency and in the Pledge of Allegiance, rejecting arguments they violate the constitutional separation of church and state."The Pledge of Allegiance serves to unite our vast nation through the proud recitation of some of the ideals upon which our Republic was founded," Judge Carlos Bea wrote for the majority in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 2-1 ruling Thursday.Bea noted that schools do not require students to recite the pledge, which was amended to include the words "under God" by a 1954 federal law. Members of Congress at the time said they wanted to set the United States apart from "godless communists."In a separate 3-0 ruling, the appeals court upheld the inscription of the national motto "In God We Trust" on U.S. coins and currency, citing an earlier 9th Circuit panel that ruled the phrase is ceremonial and patriotic and "has nothing whatsover to do with the establishment of religion."The same appeals court caused a national uproar and prompted accusations of judicial activism when it decided in Sacramento athiest Michael Newdow's favor in 2002, ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance violated the First Amendment prohibition against government endorsement of religion.
Harlem reformer sells out Charlotte audience
12 Mar 2010 at 9:10am
Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children's Zone, Thursday told hundreds of Charlotte leaders that children are experiencing the educational equivalent of Hurricane Katrina, standing on rooftops desperate for help."Nobody's coming," he said. "Nobody's going to save our children. You have to save your own children."Canada spoke at the annual meeting of the Foundation for the Carolinas, which drew a sellout crowd of 1,500. His quest to break the cycle of poverty and academic failure in one of New York City's poorest neighborhoods has sparked national and local attention.Canada had the crowd laughing at tales of his appearances on "60 Minutes" and "The Oprah Winfrey Show." But he said he goes on such shows to sound a dire warning: "I've become convinced that if our country continues down this path, there's no way we are going to remain a leading power."While China is working to "bury us" by producing highly educated workers, the United States is building jails to accommodate huge numbers of low-income African-American children who are in the "cradle-to-prison pipeline," he said. He contrasted the $39,000 a year it costs to incarcerate adults, with no benefit to society, with the $5,000 a year he spends on each child hoping to break the cycle.
Couple dies in SC wreck
12 Mar 2010 at 9:08am
A husband and wife have died in a wreck near Interstate 95 in South Carolina.The Times and Democrat of Orangeburg reported the wreck happened shortly after 10 a.m. Thursday on U.S. Highway 15 south of Santee.Sixty-one-year-old Leroy Shingler Jr. and his wife, 57-year-old Martha "Ruby" Shingler, of Santee, were killed in the wreck.Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Judd Jones said the couple's car ran off the right side of the road on a curve, crossed over to the left and hit a tree. Jones says both the victims were wearing seat belts.The road was wet and visibility was poor.
Historic theater in SC reopening
12 Mar 2010 at 4:08am
An $18 million renovation of a South Carolina theater on the site of America's first theater is being finished.Reporters will see on Friday renovations to the Dock Street Theatre in Charleston used. The theater, used for Spoleto Festival and other events, reopens next week.The original Dock Street was built in 1736 and is thought to have been destroyed in a fire. A second theater on the site dated to the 1760s, but it fell into disuse and was torn down.In 1809, what became the Planters Hotel was built on the site. It closed in the 1870s and the building saw other uses.The city acquired the property in the 1930s and it was renovated for use again as a theater by the Works Progress Administration.
The show goes on with Aaron Tippin concert in SC
12 Mar 2010 at 4:08am
Military veterans will finally get to hear singer Aaron Tippin perform at a free concert which honors them.The concert was originally scheduled for last month at The Citadel in Charleston but was postponed because of a snowstorm that blanketed part of the South. The concert is now set for Friday evening in the field house at the military college.The concert is a way for the Veterans Administration to thank veterans and their families and let the community know about volunteer opportunities at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston.Tippin, who has written and recorded country music songs with patriotic and military themes, was raised in Traveler's Rest.
Top execs helping SC wind turbine project
12 Mar 2010 at 4:08am
Top executives of wind turbine companies are coming to South Carolina to lend a hand with a wind turbine research project.The Post and Courier of Charleston reports that executives from around the world gather on Friday in Charleston and will serve on two advisory committees to the project.Clemson University scientists are creating a $98 million wind turbine research facility at the old Charleston Naval Base.When the project was announced last year, officials said the research center could lead to thousands of jobs for the state.
State awaits $200 million shot in arm
12 Mar 2010 at 12:21am
The S.C. House will not have to tighten the belt on state spending quite so much when legislators begin debating the budget next week.Congress is poised to approve $200 million more in state aid, which would reverse some proposed cuts in the $5.1 billion budget plan. And state revenues - which have been in free fall for two years - are stabilizing.Wednesday, the U.S. Senate approved a six-month extension for stimulus-related state health care money. House lawmakers said Thursday they plan to use the roughly $200 million to restore cuts that could have eliminated services for 26,000 of the state's disabled, cut access to state-funded health care for children in low-income families and restricted the number of prescription drugs for Medicaid patients."I think we've got everything fixed for this budget," said Rep. Tracy Edge, R-Horry, chairman of the House health care budget subcommittee.The health care cuts have motivated advocates, since the Ways and Means Committee approved the budget two weeks ago, to fill the State House lobby, push lawmakers to restore funding for the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs and call and e-mailing lawmakers.
Sheheen team misstates endorsements
11 Mar 2010 at 10:31pm
The season of political endorsements is here with South Carolina candidates announcing lists of backers daily.But be wary of those endorsements.Six of 40 state lawmakers Sen. Vincent Sheheen listed as endorsers of his gubernatorial campaign last week say they are not endorsing him.At issue is a press conference Sheheen's campaign held March 4 at the State House. Flanked by several Democratic lawmakers, Sheheen spoke of the growing momentum of his candidacy as campaign workers handed out to the media a list of 30 House representatives and 10 senators who were supposedly endorsing the candidate.But six of the listed Democrats, including a couple who were standing with Sheheen during the press conference, have since said they aren't in Sheheen's corner.
Graham takes on thorny immigration issue again
11 Mar 2010 at 10:10pm
WASHINGTON | U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Chuck Schumer discussed major immigration reforms Thursday with President Barack Obama at a White House meeting.Graham, a Seneca Republican, waded back into a political minefield that has prompted conservative activists across the nation to vilify him since he helped lead a failed Senate bid to overhaul the immigration system in 2007.Obama has faced more recent criticism from Hispanic lawmakers and advocacy groups accusing him of failing to deliver on a 2008 campaign promise to help the 12 million undocumented workers in the United States.Graham said after the White House session that he had warned Obama against bending Senate rules in order to pass health-care legislation, saying that move would imperil the president's other legislative initiatives."I expressed in no uncertain terms my belief that immigration reform could come to a halt for the year if health care reconciliation goes forward," Graham said.
SC weighs legal protection for planned fires
11 Mar 2010 at 6:04pm
Nearly a year after the state's worst wildfire, forest managers and landowners have asked legislators to give them more protection from lawsuits when they intentionally set fires to reduce debris that could fuel wildfires and inadvertently damage property.Forestry experts told a House Judiciary subcommittee meeting Thursday that as long as they followed state guidelines and other practices, they didn't want to be subject to lawsuits unless they were grossly negligent.But the measure the panel approved and sent to the full Judiciary Committee, they'll be presumed not to have acted negligently, but someone bringing a lawsuit can challenge that."I think its better than what you've got now," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Harrison, R-Columbia. People who have property damage need to be protected, too, he said.Even that change should help, said Joel Felder, South Carolina's deputy state forester. There are 13 million acres of timberland in the state and about 1 million acres a year should have prescribed burns to cut down on the chances of wildfires or their intensity when they occur. For now, only about 440,000 acres yearly are burned, partly because of lawsuit fears.
Volunteers vital to SC prison faith-based program
11 Mar 2010 at 6:04pm
Without volunteers to help turn violent inmates to God, South Carolina's cash-strapped prisons agency couldn't offer any faith-based programs.On Thursday, hundreds of men and women volunteers gathered with officials to celebrate a milestone 15 years in the making, breaking ground on a new inmate chapel organizers hope will offer a spiritual home to the men at McCormick maximum-security prison.The chapel, built with $300,000 in state matching funds and donations - some of which came from the inmates themselves - will be available to any of McCormick's 1,200 inmates who want a quiet place to pray. But it will likely be more than that for the 100 men who are currently participating in the prison's first faith-based program.In the program, the men eat, sleep, exercise, work and pray together. For 12 weeks at a time, they attend classes on self-improvement, including personal responsibility, anger resolution, addiction treatment and parenting.There are several smaller faith-based programs already in place in South Carolina's prisons. But the McCormick project, which started in January, is the agency's most significant effort to improve inmate behavior and, hopefully, cut down on inmates committing crimes when they're released.