The Richland County Sheriff's Department has arrested Brett Parker in connection with the double shootings in Ascot Estates.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) _ South Carolina's jobless rate has gone up for the second month in a row. The state Department of Employment and Workforce said Friday that unemployment was 9.4 percent in June. That's 0.3 percentage points higher than in May but more than a full percentage point lower than the 10.5 percent recorded one year ago.

After a rare brain infection caused by a deadly amoeba kills a Sumter County boy, officials with the Department of Health and Environmental Control urge South Carolinians to use caution when enjoying fresh water lakes, ponds and rivers in the state.

Senate members Wednesday concurred with many veto overrides handed down by the House Tuesday. State senators' decisions to restore the state's arts commission, grant a pay raise to teachers and restore thousands of dollars for rape prevention education ends weeks of speculation about the future of those organizations. Governor Nikki Haley, however, stands by her vetoes.

AIKEN, S.C. (AP) _ Authorities say an off-duty South Carolina trooper was fired on after he followed a car he thought was being driven by an impaired driver.

GEORGETOWN, S.C. (AP) _ Investigators say a man who taped up the legs and muzzles of three dogs and threw them into a canal targeted animals owned by his daughter and mother-in-law. Georgetown County deputies said 47-year-old Bobby Joe McConnell was charged Wednesday with three counts of ill treatment of animals.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) _ A program started to help South Carolina residents make their homes more energy-efficient and lower their utility bills without putting any money down is going national.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) _ Three people have died after a car smashed into a telephone pole in Charleston. Police say it happened early Sunday in the West Ashley section of the city.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) _ South Carolina's dropout rate has declined for the third consecutive year, with 365 fewer high school students dropping out compared to the previous school year.

Word of the University of South Carolina's head baseball coach Ray Tanner's public announcement that he will soon lead the school's athletics department scores a home run with many fans.

Thanks to your donations, fewer families in the state will go without food, as the ABC's of Hunger Food Drive wraps up its five-week partnership with McDonald's and Harvest Hope Food Bank.