Latest South Carolina news, sports, business and entertainment

COLBERT-BUSCH-CONGRESS

Comedian Stephen Colbert is scheduled to visit his hometown to raise money for his sister’s congressional campaign.

Elizabeth Colbert Busch is one of two Democrats seeking South Carolina’s vacant 1st District congressional seat. There are 16 Republicans running.

Stephen Colbert, the host of the Comedy Channel’s “Colbert Report,” appears at a private reception at a downtown Charleston bowling alley on Saturday. He is also slated to attend a private reception followed by a private dinner at a home on Sullivans Island.

Admission to the reception at the bowling alley is a $250 contribution. For $5,200, people can attend the private reception and dinner, get your photo taken with Colbert and his sister and have Stephen Colbert sign his new book.

The Colberts grew up in Charleston.

SC STATE-PRESIDENT

SC State to continue its search for new president

ORANGEBURG, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina State University trustees have voted to continue looking for a new president.

The Times and Democrat of Orangeburg reports that trustees voted 6-5 on Thursday against a motion to stop the search and give interim President Cynthia Warrick the job full-time.

Outside the meeting, students staged a protest in support of Warrick. Student Government President Nathaniel Shazier III says Warrick has reached out to students by coming to classes and hanging out with them at football games. He says she also is mending relationships with a community hurt by a succession of short-term, ineffective university presidents.

Trustee Maurice Washington says the vote wasn’t for or against Warrick, but instead was to follow the process trustees agreed on to find a new leader for the university.

PROGRESSIVE MEETING

Discussions about Medicaid expansion are the focus of an annual meeting of progressive groups from across South Carolina.

Organizers say the SC Progressive Network’s 17th annual spring conference is scheduled for Saturday in West Columbia.

Network co-chair Hoyt Wheeler says there will also be sessions about ethics reform and ways to make voting easier.

The sessions are free. Former Columbia Mayor Bob Coble, SC AIDS Task Force Director Bambi Gaddist and health care economist Lynn Bailey are leading the discussion on health care.

NIGHTCLUB SHOOTING

Man wanted in shooting death at Walterboro club

WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP) — Colleton County deputies say they have a suspect in the second fatal shooting in five months at a Walterboro nightclub.

Authorities said Friday that 48-year-old Larry Henderson Jr. is wanted for murder.

Investigators say Henderson got into an argument Thursday night with 52-year-old Leon Cockrum Jr. at the Chase Lounge. The two men knew each other, and authorities say Cockrum was shot several times and died a short time later at the hospital.

Deputies say Henderson told officers he would surrender, but failed to turn himself in.

This was the second fatal shooting at the club since September and the fourth shooting at the lounge in the past five months.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

SC’s emergency director McKinney departing

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The director of South Carolina’s Emergency Management Division is stepping down from his post and the group’s chief of staff is serving as interim director.

George McKinney says he is leaving in mid-March and chief of staff Kim Stenson is stepping in as interim director.

The division comes under South Carolina’s military department, headed by Adjutant Gen. Robert Livingston, Jr.

Livingston said in a statement released Friday that he and Gov. Nikki Haley accepted McKinney’s decision to leave in order to commit more time to his family.

McKinney has served in the post for almost two years. He led operations through Hurricane Irene in September of 2011 and the response to the tornado in York county in November 2012.