State-Park News

Community events this weekend include: Lake Murray: "Rockin' in the USA" boat parade, noon Saturday.

The 50th Gilbert Peach Festival is this year. There are a few folks who have helped out in each one.

“We didn't have what the other schools had, but we had respect for our school.”

Five dollars and a dream started the Anna Boyd School. Opened in 1917 as a one-room, wooden-frame building off Farrow Road in the State Park neighborhood, the school was one of the community's first primary ... via The State

“I got there between 0530 and 0545”

In a bid to improve air quality, officials in Richland and Lexington counties allowed the first 125 residents to trade in their gas-powered mowers and buy a new electric mower for $199. Michael Graves had an ... via The State

“In the long run, this legislation encourages wasteful Washington spending through the broken process of earmarking.”

Here's how area members of Congress voted on major roll calls in the week ending April 18. via Spartanburg Herald-Journal

“As we grow more, we could rely more on a service economy”

Greenville County's unemployment rate in March dropped to 4.5 percent while the state's jobless rate increased to 5.7 percent, according to the South Carolina Employment Security Commission. via GreenvilleOnline.com

A couple whose son was killed in a shooting want to raise money to print playing cards featuring unsolved homicides and missing persons cases from South Carolina. via WIS-TV Columbia

“All music, dance and spoken words are created to express the students' knowledge and opinions about climate change”

A world-premier stage production, inspired by a message relevant to our times, graced the stage at Satchel Ford Elementary School this week. via The State

A spokesman for the South Carolina Army National Guard says about 200 soldiers expected to return this week are still in Kuwait because their flight was canceled. via Myrtle Beach Online

“It's just the reality that the baby boomers are at that point”

Lessie Polk hardly considered doing anything else with her life, but she still can't believe it's been nearly 29 years since she started teaching. via The State

Two more charter schools planned Two groups hoping to bring charter schools to the area are among 14 organizations from across South Carolina that were recently awarded $5,000 grants to help them develop ... via OnlineChester

“Everybody here now is working really closely to get the renourishment going”

Property owners along the severely eroding Wild Dunes beachfront will pay a total of $18,000 for littering the coast and marshes with tens of thousands of small sandbags that washed away in storms last spring. via The Post and Courier

The guidance department and PTSA are sponsoring a Lunch and Learn session entitled 'Middle School is NOT Mission: Impossible' with students and faculty members from Hughes Academy speaking about making the ... via GreenvilleOnline.com

“I can't imagine losing a year and a half of hard work. I don't even care about the money anymore.”

By Robert Morris - rmorris@thesunnews.com For participants in the state's immigration reform effort, the upcoming ban on illegal immigrants in public colleges is a logical step. via Myrtle Beach Online

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

Inequality in education a focus at NAACP banquet Black children still struggle for equal educational opportunity in South Carolina, said Dr. via Lancaster News

“When more than one million students a year drop out of high school, it's more than a problem, it's a catastrophe.”

South Carolina, like many other states, suffers from high dropout and low graduation rates. via Post and Courier

“The difference between this time and last is that I've got a record to run on, and I'm very proud to run on”

Florence resident Barry Wingard has filed to run as a Democrat for the S.C. House of Representatives District 63 seat, held by Republican Kris Crawford of Florence, who is seeking re-election. Wingard, 60, is a ... via WBTW

“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