Local News

Gov. Haley doesn’t support shutdown to stop law

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) âone space€one space” While South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley says she wants Congress to “defund Obamacare,” she doesn’t support shutting down the federal government to do so. Haley emphasized her opposition to the federal health care law earlier this week in announcing her re-election bid. She told supporters she’s going to continue fighting the law until Congress…

NAACP leader: Police used force in July arrest

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) âone space€one space” Lonnie Randolph Jr. felt a little lightheaded and queasy as he walked into the dry cleaner to pick up clothes. The South Carolina civil rights leader told the woman behind the counter that he was a diabetic and needed help. Instead of phoning for an ambulance, the clerk called police, reporting that Randolph wouldn’t…

SC Mental Health to use land sale cash for repairs

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) âone space€one space” The South Carolina Department of Mental Health says it will spend $15 million for selling land in downtown Columbia on building and equipment maintenance instead of directly on patient care. The agency told The State newspaper of Columbia that (http://bit.ly/189z6Xe ) the money will indirectly help patients because the department has to do the…

4 die on Abbeville County roads in 2 days

ABBEVILLE, S.C. (AP) âone space€one space” Two deadly wrecks just over a day apart have more than doubled the 2013 traffic fatality count in Abbeville County. Authorities say 20-year-old driver Phillip Calhoun and his 17-year-old passenger, Brandon Causey, died around 1 a.m. Friday after their car ran off state Highway 184 in Donalds and into an abandoned building at the…

AG asks SC court to affirm authority

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s top prosecutor is asking the state’s highest court to affirm the authority of his office to prosecute criminal domestic violence cases in municipal and magistrate’s courts throughout the state. Attorney General Alan Wilson says in a brief filed Friday with the South Carolina Supreme Court that the state constitution empowers his office to do…