The objections of community and political leaders led state officials to withhold a liquor permit for a new nightclub along Richland County’s redeveloping Decker Boulevard.Samantha Cheek, spokeswoman for the S.C. Department of Revenue, said Wednesday a letter denying the license will go out next week to Ruben Guardiola of the Blue Willow Group Corp. of Myrtle Beach. She said the company ope...

The young father stood in line at the Kmart layaway counter, wearing dirty clothes and worn-out boots. With him were three small children.He asked to pay something on his bill because he knew he wouldn't be able to afford it all before Christmas. Then a mysterious woman stepped up to the counter."She told him, 'No, I'm paying for it,'" recalled Edna Deppe, assistant manager at the store in Indiana...

Horry County police say they have made two arrests in the shooting death of a man more than six years ago.Authorities said Thursday that an anonymous tip a few months ago led them to reopen the investigation into the killing of 66-year-old Sheldon Watts, who was found shot to death in his backyard in May 2005.Investigators did not detail the new evidence, but say the two suspects charged with murd...

The South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division is looking into questions about the handling of evidence at the Horry County Police Department.The Sun News of Myrtle Beach reports ( http://bit.ly/vMmYfj) that the agency began its inquiry after the county council asked for an audit of the police department's evidence room.Investigators have met with county officials and employees since October, w...

Riverbanks Zoo and Garden has received $863,000 from a private donor, the single largest bequest in its 37-year-history, the zoo reported today.Melinda Poole Grizzell supported the zoo through 20 years of membership and visits. She died in January.Grizzell’s son, Andrew Grizzell, said his mother developed a love for the mission of zoos through her father’s membership on the board of ...

A woman says Republican presidential contender Herman Cain reached under her skirt for her genitals and pushed her head toward his crotch in July 1997.Sharon Bialek told reporters Monday in New York that she met with Cain to ask about getting her old job back at the National Restaurant Association when the incident happened in Washington. At the time, Cain was chief of a restaurant trade group.Bia...

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's campaign denied allegations Sunday that he was twice accused of sexual harassment while he was the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.In a statement to The Associated Press, his campaign disputed a Politico report that said Cain had been accused of sexually suggestive behavior toward at least two female employees.The report said...

Horry County's administrator says there is no basis for eight of nine allegations against the county police department.John Weaver reviewed allegations in an anonymous letter.Weaver says he could not investigate the allegation that items have been stolen from the evidence room. He says he couldn't see the records and any tampering with the material in the room could affect future prosecutions.Coun...

The Horry County administrator has been instructed to investigate allegations against the county police department.County Council Chairman Tom Rice says the investigation started before Horry County lawmakers asked the State Law Enforcement Division to look into allegations of misconduct by county police officers.Rice says he expects a report Oct. 4.Rep. Nelson Hardwick asked SLED Director Mark Ke...

WASHINGTON — Their return home was as elite and secretive as their mission, which ended Saturday in a devastating helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan. In a war defined by instant information, cutting-edge technology and a nuanced counterinsurgency, the 30 American service members and eight Afghans killed when an insurgent shot down their Chinook helicopter west of Kabul remained anonymo...

Just three months after the nation lauded the anonymous Navy SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden, it is getting to know in poignant detail about their colleagues who died aboard a downed helicopter in Afghanistan. They came to the special forces from far-flung corners of the country — some of them motivated by the 9/11 attacks that bin Laden masterminded. They were intensely patriotic and talent...

Rock Hill police investigating the possible theft of electricity say they found five children living in a filthy home.Officers say they had gotten an anonymous tip that residents in the home may have been stealing electricity from a neighbor's house.The Herald of Rock Hill reported Monday that police and the Department of Social Services returned to the home to check on the welfare of the children...

The state’s Spanish speakers now have a toll-free number they can call to report crimes and give tips to police.S.C. Crime Stoppers announced its new Spanish line Friday during a press conference where the program also celebrated it’s 29th year. Crime Stoppers allows the public to phone, text or email anonymous tips that help police catch suspects. Callers also can be eligible for re...

Within the next six months, Richland Councilman Norman Jackson should know whether he has to quit his day job.Jackson is at the center of an unusual case: He is a state employee who federal officials say was barred by the Hatch Act from running for re-election to public office in 2010.A Democrat, Jackson works for the S.C. Department of Transportation. He is being prosecuted by the U.S. Office of ...

VIDEO at end of storyTwo suspects caught on video vandalizing a laundry room at 1101 Hallbrook Drive are being sought by the Richland County Sheriff's Department.On Wednesday, April 20, between 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m., the pair stole money from the laundry room and damaged washers and dryers, according to the sheriff's department. The video shows the suspects removing a light bulb and trying to cove...

Two cousins took a moment before a recent Sunday dinner to scratch off a couple of lottery tickets. The cousin who handed out the tickets lost, but the one on the receiving end won $100,000 in the S.C. Education Lottery's "Black Pearls" game.According to lottery officials, there were no hard feelings in the family, but the ticket got more attention by the Camden family than dinner that night.“...

Columbia police are looking for a gunman they say shot and killed a man this morning at Broad River Apartments in St. Andrews. Chief Randy Scott said a man was shot multiple times outside of his apartment, in building 2100, at about 7 a.m. The complex is located at 1000 Bentley Court. The man was pronounced dead at the scene by Richland County EMS. Scott said the suspect(s) is unknown and enco...

Richland County authorities are seeking a suspect in a home burglary in Northeast Richland.A surveillance camera captured a blue or black Toyota pickup truck in the victim's driveway on Sherill Lever Road in Blythewood on Feb. 16.The driver is suspected by Richland County Sheriff's investigators of breaking into the rear of the home and stealing electronics in mid-afternoon.Use the Crime Stoppers ...

An anonymous tip led to the arrest of a man accused of stabbing a man during a fight at a Feb. 7 Super Bowl party.James Carl Goodwin was arrested around 9:45 a.m. today without incident at the Coronet Motel, 6320 N. Main St., Columbia, the Richland County Sheriff's Department said.Goodwin, nicknamed "48", is accused of stabbing a man in the back around 2 a.m. during the party on South Goodwin Circ...

Kershaw County sheriff’s deputies raided a methamphetamine lab at a lake house on Lake Wateree early Sunday, arresting two men and two women.The lab, which was contaminated by the toxic chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine, was the first uncovered in years in Kershaw County, the Sheriff’s Department said. Sheriff Jim Matthews called in a SLED unit, whose members wear protective ...

When voters went to the polls two years ago, Nikki Haley was a South Carolina state representative mostly known for backing Gov. Mark Sanford's vetoes and stepping on toes in a push to force lawmakers to record every one of their votes.Alvin Greene was toiling away in the Army, an anonymous grunt with a string of bad performance reviews from an earlier stint in the Air Force. Tim Scott was a Charl...

A panel of 340 tourism authorities has ranked the Grand Strand among the worst coastal destinations in the world, according to a report by National Geographic Traveler magazine. The Grand Strand was rated the eighth worst out of the 99 destinations rated. The area tied with three other destinations in Vietnam, Lebanon and Spain. The index rates stewardship and integrity of a destination and the su...

A 40-year-old man has been charged in connection with the robbery of a Palmetto Citizen's Federal Credit Union, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department announced Tuesday.Curtis Ray Schoclet was charged with armed robbery and kidnapping in the incident Monday at Palmetto Citizen's branch on Atrium Way, according to the department, adding the kidnapping charge stems from the suspect holding a telle...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Vanderbilt University has scheduled a news conference Wednesday to address "a football matter."The news conference was scheduled within an hour after WGFX-FM 104.5 The Zone cited three anonymous sources that coach Bobby Johnson had apparently resigned. The Tennessean also cited sources that Johnson has quit.Vanderbilt spokesman Larry Leathers says he could not confirm or de...

A day before Tuesday’s primary runoff, a surprise issue in the Republican state attorney general’s race is now suddenly headed to the S.C. Supreme Court — whether a negative television and Internet ad attacking Alan Wilson can continue to be aired.The hearing is at 4:30 p.m. today in the S.C. Supreme Court courtroom in downtown Columbia. A lawyer for attorney general candidate Alan Wilson will ask...

A collector is defending his recent purchase of a century-old photo believed to depict children born as slaves after similar images found online called its rarity into question.The photo found in a North Carolina attic in April was part of a trove of pictures and documents bought by collector Keya Morgan for $50,000. Morgan and an art historian say they believe the photo depicted two children who ...

A death row inmate who had used a gun to fatally shoot two men suffered the same fate Friday morning as he was executed by a team of marksmen - the first time Utah used the firing squad to carry out a death sentence in 14 years.A barrage of bullets tore into Ronnie Lee Gardner's chest where a target was pinned over his heart. Two minutes later an ashen Gardner, blood pooling in his dark blue jumps...

Authorities have identified a 21-year-old man whose body was found Wednesday morning on the side of a road in Horry County.Edwin Donnell Salters, of Myrtle Beach, died of a gunshot wound, said Lt. Jami DeBari of Horry County police.Salters' body was found at 4:30 a.m. in the 200 block of Ridgefield Circle, located off S.C. 90 and near U.S. 501.Horry County Deputy Coroner Tony Hendrick said he was ...

A Winthrop University graduate has given the school a $2 million estate gift -- that will be used to help pay for scholarships.The gift -- one of the largest ever received by Winthrop -- would give the school 75 percent of the donor's estate, estimated at $2 million, at the time of her death.The donor, who asked to remain anonymous, describes her own Winthrop experience as life-changing and one th...

Two men are wanted by the Richland County Sheriff's Department after witnesses said they not only crashed a party, but robbed the guests at gunpoint.Michael Wayne Trapp, 17, and Miquane Dionte Archie, 19, are accused of walking uninvited into a party Saturday on Windsor Shore Road. Guests told deputies they presented a handgun and ordered several people to hand over personal belongings, including ...