COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina House is not backing down from plans to punish two colleges in the budget for assigning freshmen to read books dealing with homosexuality.

NEWBERRY, S.C. (AP) — Authorities say a 46-year-old Greenwood man has died after getting trapped in a machine at the Louis Rich meat processing plant in Newberry.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Taxpayers would at least partly fund South Carolina's first-in-the-South presidential primaries under a bill backed by both major parties.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A Columbia city councilman is resurrecting a proposal that Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott run the city's police department.

WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina congressman is sponsoring an event to help military veterans find resources that can help them in their daily lives.

FLORENCE, S.C. (AP) — Relatives of four current and former residents of a home for seniors in Florence say the staff neglected and mistreated their family members.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina lawmakers are reviewing stronger protections for heirs' property — generally property handed down by blacks without a will, often since slavery.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The Center for Colon Cancer Research is holding a gala in Columbia to remind people the disease is one of the most preventable and curable forms of cancer when detected early.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Superintendent Mick Zais says South Carolina high school students who don't plan to go to college should be able to choose more practical courses than algebra II, English literature and other classes not perceived as relevant to their life beyond the classroom.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Gov. Nikki Haley will not support an earlier proposal to keep food stamp recipients from buying junk food, instead backing an idea requiring people in three counties to show they are working or looking for a job to get the benefits.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The campaign of South Carolina's top prosecutor is returning $200 a lobbyist donated to his 2010 campaign, as requested by the State Ethics Commission.