Ballentine News

“The states have as much interest in promoting national security as the federal government does, and we do not need the federal government to tell us how to protect our own citizens”

"What the title of this bill should be is, 'It is OK to have two liquor drinks and still drive a car.'" - Rep. via The State

The first members of a South Carolina National Guard unit deployed in Afghanistan are beginning to return home. via Myrtle Beach Online

The Richland County Sheriff's Department has received several awards from the South Carolina Association of School Resource Officers and the South Carolina D.A.R.E. Association: * * * * * S.C. D.A.R.E. Program ... via The State

“This is the first time I've had to call my mortgage company to tell them I'm going to be late”

Six truckers inched along Interstate 77 on Friday and a handful of others parked their rigs in front of the Statehouse as part of a loosely organized protest of high fuel prices. via The State

“Is there a floor below which no American child should fall, regardless of the accident of geography that accounts for where they are born and raised?”

South Carolina is one of the worst states in the nation to be a kid, according to a new report. via The Post and Courier

“I want to see the cigarette tax go up so we can cut down on youth smoking”

A Senate committee has approved a 50-cent per-pack increase in South Carolina's cigarette tax, using the money to expand health insurance programs for low-income families and children.

While committee members generally agreed about raising the lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax, members were split about how to use the estimated $159 million raised.

A plan -- in the works for months -- to provide tax credits to purchase health insurance was scrapped. Lawmakers instead chose to expand Medicaid programs, which in many cases receive a 3-to-1 match of federal money. Read more

“It's important that each of the involved agencies carefully review their procedures for evaluating candidates for the governor's security detail”

A white trooper seen on a squad-car video repeatedly striking a black motorist in 2006 now is on the security detail of Gov. Mark Sanford -- who has said another trooper who used a racial slur against a black motorist should have been fired.

The trooper, Lance Cpl. E.J. Burton, was ordered to undergo counseling -- but received no other discipline following the incident, according to records obtained by The State newspaper under the S.C. Freedom of Information Act.

The Burton video was one of three the Department of Public Safety released Monday in response to The State's FOIA request. They show separate incidents in 2006 in which troopers were investigated to ascertain whether they used excessive force against motorists after vehicle pursuits. Read more

“International companies are hedging their future on the weak dollar, and we're benefiting”

On a production floor the size of three football fields, injection molding machines heat plastic pellets to more than 500 degrees. via Post and Courier

“There's no reason that someone who is 21 should be able defend themselves, and someone at 18 shouldn't”

Gov. Mark Sanford has not yet decided what he'll do with a bill awaiting his signature that lowers South Carolina's minimum age to buy and sell guns from 21 to 18, spokesman Joel Sawyer said today. via Tribune-Times

“I don't think that truthfully portrays a pattern of systemic misconduct”

The number of valid complaints lodged against the South Carolina Highway Patrol doubled from 2005 to 2006, even though the number of troopers on the state's roads grew by less than 100 during that span, records ... via Tribune-Times

“We don't use fryers and no freezers. All our chicken comes in on ice”

If you want to know how to get tickets to your favorite theater show or ballet -- quick and in a hurry -- ask Coleman.

Coleman is the downtown Columbia Marriott's new cultural concierge service -- personified.

Starting June 1, the Marriott and its new ticket desk will be a one-stop destination for its guests and Columbia residents to buy tickets for events at the Colonial Center, Workshop Theatre, Nickelodeon, S. C. Philharmonic, Columbia Classical Ballet, Trustus Theatre, the Columbia Museum of Art and other venues. Read more

“The overwhelming majority of complaints are not sustained.”

More than 500 complaints have been filed against S.C. state troopers since 2004 -- though two-thirds of the closed cases didn't result in any formal disciplinary action -- a review by The State newspaper found.

Over the past five years, 72 troopers -- most of them white -- were reprimanded, suspended, demoted or fired for various reasons, according to information provided to the newspaper by the S.C. Department of Public Safety under the state Freedom of Information Act.

The Highway Patrol has weathered a firestorm of criticism since dashboard-camera videos showing questionable trooper actions surfaced last month. Read more

A new report says about 94 percent of South Carolina households have access to high-speed Internet services. via WACH-TV Columbia

Phil Disher hit a grand slam in the third to lead South Carolina to a 10-3 win over Mississippi State in Southeastern Conference action. via WIS-TV Columbia

“The farmer needs a skilled labor force to do these types of things”

There's a lot riding on the temperature gauge for the next couple of weeks for South Carolina peach growers and those of us who love biting into a fresh, juicy peach. via Tribune-Times

“The traffic count there, past Olive Garden, is about 20,000. While by the mall, it's about 45,000”

Lands' End has opened a store in Columbia - its first in South Carolina. The Columbia Lands' End shop debuted this month at Sears in Columbiana Centre . via The State

“I wanted it so badly I didn't want to lose it”

The setting sun reflects on the porch of a garish pink farmhouse as Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys stand, in '60s dress, gazing toward the west. via The State

“I think this is one of several places”

Investigators with cadaver dogs searched a southeast Georgia landfill Monday for a missing couple last seen two weeks ago at the marina where they lived and worked on Hilton Head Island, S.C. John and Elizabeth ... via Myrtle Beach Online

Action on a proposed "home rule" constitutional amendment was delayed in a Senate subcommittee last week, and that's a good thing. via Post and Courier

“We are delighted to be opening the URS Nuclear Center at Fort Mill, which will be the new hub for our commercial nuclear business”

The company that ran the former nuclear weapons complex in South Carolina for nearly 20 years has opened a commercial nuclear headquarters and plans to bring 400 jobs to the area in the next few years, ... via The State