The U.S. Department of Justice has sent a confidential draft agreement to more than a dozen states that would require election officials to remove any alleged ineligible voters identified during a federal review of their voter rolls. The agreement — called a memorandum of understanding, or MOU — would hand the federal government a major […]
State Sen. Josh Kimbrell says voters should not to count him out, even as a lawsuit from a former business partner has overshadowed his run for the South Carolina Governor’s Mansion. Kimbrell, in a 21-minute Facebook video, called the months of legal drama that have dogged him since the start of his campaign “the roughest […]
COLUMBIA — South Carolina agreed to bolster programs that help people with severe mental illness live on their own as part of a settlement agreement with the federal Department of Justice. The federal agency sued the state last December, claiming South Carolina’s agencies kept people in restrictive residential housing longer than necessary. People in the […]
Twenty South Carolina sheriff’s departments have standing agreements to aid federal immigration officials. A House GOP proposal could take that to all but one of the state’s 46 counties. A bill filed ahead of the legislative session that begins in January would require all law enforcement agencies that operate a jail to sign agreements with […]
COLUMBIA — One thing the Gamecocks women’s basketball coach and a former prosecutor have in common is a deep knowledge of true crime. Dawn Staley professed her love of the genre to former Sen. Dick Harpootlian in Columbia on Tuesday, as the two discussed Harpootlian’s newly released book, “Dig Me A Grave.” The 225-page book […]
COLUMBIA — The popular gaming platform Roblox already faces lawsuits from at least five states alleging it doesn’t protect children from sexual predators — and now South Carolina’s chief prosecutor is pursuing his own investigation. Attorney General Alan Wilson announced Tuesday he’s seeking answers from California-based Roblox Corp. ahead of potentially adding South Carolina to […]
COLUMBIA — The head of South Carolina’s affordable housing agency is retiring after more than 30 years on the job. Richard Hutto’s last day in office will be Jan. 2, 2026, the agency announced. Hutto has led SC Housing as executive director since 2023, taking over after the previous director, Bonita Shopshire, resigned, according to […]
WEST PELZER — The U.S. secretary of education pointed to South Carolina education programs as a reason to give control of public schools to states while vowing not to cut certain federal funds during a visit Tuesday celebrating the state’s outsized role in the Revolutionary War. Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s afternoon stop at West Pelzer […]
A data center supplier has begun operations in rural Orangeburg County with a new, $7.4 million factory. Dallas-headquartered Mission Critical Interior Solutions Inc. makes raised flooring used to help keep computer equipment cool, security cages and cabinets needed to hold the vast number of servers housed in the high-tech centers that are popping up across […]
President Donald Trump recently issued an executive order to preempt states from passing new legislation or having laws on the books that regulate artificial intelligence, with some exceptions. The president believes that the United States should dominate AI for the purposes of “national and economic security.” He calls for Congress to pass federal law to […]
COLUMBIA — At the annual Statehouse menorah lighting, members of South Carolina’s Jewish community paid tribute to the victims of an antisemitic mass shooting on a popular Australian beach, saying hate cannot extinguish the light of unity. About 200 people gathered in freezing temperatures Monday evening to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Lights, a day […]
As notices go to consumers informing them of what the price will be without the effect of the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced tax credits, Americans are experiencing sticker shock. For those with disabilities, it is a sticker shock that ripples through every other aspect of their life. Will they be able to work, afford the […]
COLUMBIA — A nature preserve near Columbia could more than triple in size under a proposal that received initial approval from the state’s financial oversight committee. An expansion of 480 acres at the Congaree Bluffs Heritage Preserve was one of several conservation projects the State Fiscal Accountability Authority signed off on pursuing last week. The […]
COLUMBIA — Authorities seized more than 30,000 pounds of marijuana joints, edibles and various other THC products sold illegally in South Carolina stores as part of a drug trafficking investigation resulting in 12 arrests, law enforcement officials announced Friday. The 15 tons of products seized in the investigation, nicknamed “Ganjapreneur,” involved the search of six […]
A Democrat running for governor slammed his fellow Democrats as corrupt this week as he asked a court to dismiss the misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge that resulted in calls for him to withdraw four months ago. Mullins McLeod, a prominent Charleston attorney, has been at odds with his party leaders since days after he launched […]
FORT MILL — The York County Library will move books about gender identity out of the children’s section, making it the latest library system to limit young readers’ access to certain books. The library’s seven-person board agreed in a vote of six to one to put all books “addressing topics on gender identity or other […]
A Greenville factory received a shoutout recently in the White House as the Trump administration touted a trillion-dollar investment from Saudi Arabia. But the impressive numbers did not signify new promises for the Palmetto State. GE Vernova, a General Electric spinoff, has assembled massive, gas-fired turbines in South Carolina’s Upstate for nearly 60 years. The […]
In the nearly 40 years since Diane Sumpter founded her business consulting firm DESA Inc., she’s held millions of dollars’ worth of federal government contracts all over the country. But it’s been years since she’s done any business with her home state of South Carolina. “South Carolina state government has not been one that’s been […]
COLUMBIA — Grocery assistance in South Carolina will no longer cover candy, sodas and other sugary drinks under a state plan that received federal approval Wednesday. Gov. Henry McMaster directed the state Department of Social Services in September to come up with a proposal removing items considered unhealthy from the list of food and drinks […]
Anglers this year had two days to fish for red snapper. Next year, they want more than 60. The Department of Natural Resources, with support from anglers, boaters and conservationists, is asking the federal government to extend the recreational fishing season for the recovering species in 2026 as part of a pilot program that could […]