Florence News

“This is a perfect degree for us to offer”

Francis Marion University President Dr. Fred Carter announced that former state Rep. via Morning News

Florence police are searching for a suspect who they say walked into a beauty supply store Saturday and robbed it at gunpoint, Florence Police Maj. via Morning News

Two Marion County men were arrested Wednesday after deputies say they took more than $40,000 in car parts from Marlboro County car dealerships. via Morning News

A federal jury in Florence found Kenneth Glenn Hinson, 49, of Hartsville guilty Thursday after hearing from 14 witnesses. via Island Packet

“But the major concerns are usually dealing with the health plans for both active employees and retirees.”

The Florence Chapter of the S.C. State Employees Association hosted a luncheon Thursday at the Pee Dee Mental Health Center to discuss what the coming year holds for state employees. via Morning News

Three Pageland men have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, U.S. Attorney Reginald I. Lloyd said in a press release issued Tuesday afternoon. via Morning News

“Just the experience of being in another country, that would be the highlight of my life.”

Two tuberculosis patients from the Pee Dee left Florence on Monday for South Africa as part of a program to tell others about their struggle with the potentially fatal disease and help them overcome the ... via Morning News

Future contracts for nonresidential building in 2007 in the Florence Metropolitan Statistical Area are far behind the pace set in 2006, while residential building is up by a small portion, according to the ... via WBTW

“We just felt so sorry for the family and it's such a tragic thing for something like this to take a young person away from their family.”

The first of seven college students killed in Sunday's beach house fire in Ocean Isle, North Carolina was laid to rest Thursday. via WCSH-TV Portland

“We just felt so sorry for the family and it's such a tragic thing for something like this to take a young person away from their family”

Today we could learn the cause of the house fire on ocean isle beach that killed seven college students. via NBC 17

“The only ones that we have are the ones that are reported to us”

Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus is a type of staph infection resistant to common antibiotics. via The Beaufort Gazette

“It's the illusion of advancing the story, and nine times out of 10, they don't”

"CBS Sunday Morning" correspondent Martha Teichner visited Florence on Thursday and told stories about her initial struggles as a female broadcaster and frightening experiences covering war. via Morning News

FLORENCE, S.C. -- The family of an Army National Guard from Marion says he has died in action in Afghanistan. via WLTX-TV Columbia

“You couldn't help but love him”

The family of William Rhea asked for privacy Tuesday as they mourned the loss of their loved one, who died in a fire Sunday at a beach house in North Carolina. via The Greenville News

“It's just an incomprehensible thing for these parents.”

Fire tape surrounds a beach house that burned in Ocean Isle, N.C., Monday, Oct. 29, 2007. via KansasCity.com

“As manufacturing jobs have been lost, other jobs have been created”

More than 4,300 jobs have left the Pee Dee from 2005 until the first quarter of 2007, according to research published by the S.C. Employment Security Commission. via WBTW

A Timmonsville man was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, according to a press release ... via Morning News

“What they show is that in South Carolina, the stated need can be met through cleaner ways.”

Conservation groups are using two recent utility studies to argue against a nearly $1 billion coal-fired power plant in Florence County.

The studies, completed last month for the state's electric cooperatives, bolster arguments that South Carolina and its cooperatives could produce enough electricity -- through renewable energy sources and efficiency programs -- to offset the need for the plant, representatives of major environmental groups said Thursday.

One of the cooperatives' reports contain data showing that small rural utilities could collectively save 980 megawatts of electric capacity through efficiency programs in the next decade. The other study shows the state could generate up to 655 megawatts from renewable energy sources by 2017. Read more

Two men on bicycles robbed someone in the middle of Coit Street at gunpoint Tuesday, Florence Police Maj. via Morning News

A Latta soldier serving in Afghanistan has died in action, his family confirmed Wednesday. via Morning News