An appeals court has upheld a $372,000 verdict for a former South Carolina warden who claimed he was fired when he refused to go along with his bosses' criticism of security after a prison riot, court records show.The decision Wednesday by the South Carolina Court of Appeals is the second such award upheld for wardens involved in the Oct. 29, 2003, riot at Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopvil...

A former South Carolina Highway Patrol officer charged earlier this year with buying cocaine is facing new intimidation charges.WBTW-TV reports that 43-year-old Bobby Lee Spurgeon was arrested Wednesday and charged with intimidation of court officials, jurors, or witnesses.Spurgeon was arrested in July and charged with drug possession after police say he bought more than three grams of a white pow...

Update: CMPD has reported that they believe all employees have been safely evacuated. According to other media outlets, WSOC staffers are tweeting that they are all safely evacuated, and police are dealing with a distraught woman with a gun.According to police there is a person with a gun inside the WSOC-TV building.A woman with a gun is inside the lobby of the building, according to CMPD.The stat...

After a string of burglaries and increased patrols, Forest Acres police said it was a "good witness who saw something suspicious and called the police" that led to the arrest of two men on Friday. 19-year-old Rashu Ahemn and 18-year-old Donald Moore were arrested inside an apartment on Covenant Road at the Landings Apartment complex after a call around 10:45am tipped police to a possible burglary-...

It's the season for festive celebrations, and South Carolina's police force wants to be sure its highways stay safe.The Department of Public Safety is partnering with local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to kick off a "Sober or Slammer" Christmas and New Year's Eve enforcement effort.Organizers are also debuting a new TV commercial and giving an update on DUI arrests.Sober or Slammer kic...

A video segment about missing Columbia woman Dail Dinwiddie has been posted on a CNN blog.The family of Dail Dinwiddie traveled to New York earlier this month to tape an interview for the parker|spitzer television show. Their segment never aired on the national political talk show featuring former Columbia resident and Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper columnist Kathleen Parker. Dinwiddie sat for P...

Republican Phyllis Henderson has won a special election to fill a vacant seat in the South Carolina House from Greenville County.WYFF-TV reported that Henderson got nearly 73 percent of the vote Tuesday in the race against Democrat Susan Scarborough-Smith.Henderson fills the seat of the late Rep. Bill Wylie of Simpsonville. Officials say the 70-year-old Republican died of a heart attack while on v...

A possible television show boasting big-name talent is looking for extras as it shoots the pilot in the Charlotte area.20th Century Fox Television holds an open casting call for extras Friday evening at Plaza Fiesta Carolinas in Fort Mill, S.C., and Tuesday at Carolina Mall in Concord.Producers of the series "Homeland" say they're looking for all types and ages of people to fill in background scen...

The South Carolina Highway Patrol says a pedestrian was killed after being hit by a fire truck in Columbia.WIS-TV reports that a Columbia Fire Department truck hit two pedestrians at around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday near Providence Hospital.Authorities say one of the pedestrians was killed. The other was taken to a hospital, and the extent of that person's injuries was not immediately clear.Fire Chief ...

Here's a message TV viewers may not want to mute: The days of getting blasted out of one's easy chair by blaring TV commercials may soon be over. The House on Thursday passed a bill that would prevent advertisers from abruptly raising the volume to catch the attention of viewers wandering off when regular programming is interrupted.The bill's House sponsor, Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said it was h...

Leslie Nielsen, who went from drama to inspired bumbling as a hapless doctor in "Airplane!" and the accident-prone detective Frank Drebin in "The Naked Gun" comedies, has died. He was 84.His agent John S. Kelly says Nielsen died Sunday at a hospital near his home in Ft. Lauderdale where he was being treated for pneumonia.The Canadian-born Nielsen came to Hollywood in the mid-1950s after performing...

Jerry Peterson, who spent more than 30 years as a television and radio personality in North and South Carolina, has died. He was 76.According to Greene Funeral Home, Peterson died Friday at Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill. A cause of death was not given.A native of Ponca City, Okla., Peterson spent the last 21 years of his career at WRHI in Rock Hill and taped his last broadcast just an hour ...

A South Carolina man has been accused of threatening to kill President Obama.WYFF-TV reported a Secret Service affidavit states that 78-year-old Michael Stephen Bowden of Woodruff was arrested earlier this month after he told a nurse at a Veterans Affairs clinic in Spartanburg he was thinking of killing the president.Agents say they found three handguns and a rifle under Bowden's bed, and a dozen ...

Bargain shoppers, braving rain or frigid weather, crowded the nation's stores and malls in the wee hours of the night to get their hands on deals from TVs to toys on Black Friday.In a bid to grab shoppers earlier on the traditional start to the holiday shopping season, a number of stores including Old Navy, Toys R Us and Sears opened on Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday. Toys R Us was counting on ge...

A South Carolina girl abducted by her father faked illness to set up her rescue in Kentucky.Donnie Lee Shelton brought his daughter to the emergency room of Baptist Regional Medical Center in Corbin early Tuesday. Eight-year-old Elysha was complaining of abdominal pains.WYMT-TV in Hazard reports a nurse became suspicious when the girl wouldn't make eye contact with her. Staff checked the Amber Ale...

Pictures of animals holding knives and cigarettes have prompted an investigation of employees at Mecklenburg County Animal Care and Control.In an e-mail to city leaders, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Monroe said his department had been investigating the "inappropriate" pictures since August, according to The Herald's news partner, WSOC-TV.One picture showed a cat, apparently sedated, w...

A motel guest in Spartanburg has told sheriff's deputies that someone called his room and told him to smash the room to free a small person trapped next door.Spartanburg County sheriff's deputies say they responded to a motel Sunday night after a guest nearly punched through to the next room with a wrench.Multiple media outlets reported a motel worker called deputies after she discovered the man h...

A new president has been named for the ETV public broadcasting network.Linda O’Bryon was selected by the ETV Commission on Wednesday. O’Bryon is the former chief of content officer at KQED/Northern California Public Broadcasting in San Francisco, the South Carolina network announced in a press release Thursday.During her tenure, the public broadcasting network launched the radio series &...

A former South Carolina school superintendent is facing embezzlement charges after a grand jury indictment.Attorney General Henry McMaster said Wednesday the state grand jury indicted former Marion School District Two Superintendent Nathaniel Miller on dozens of counts that also include conspiracy and forgery.WPDE-TV reports Miller resigned as Marion superintendent after his January arrest.Miller ...

Horace Tidwell is so over Kmart. If walking around naked for an entire month will propel him to stardom, he’ll do it.“I lift boxes all day,” said Tidwell, 23, who works at the discount chain’s Ocala distribution center. “I can’t do this for the rest of my life.”The chance to avoid a blue-collar future prompted Tidwell to strip to boxers and sing Ame...

HICKORY - On the 35th day of the search for Zahra Baker, Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins stood before television cameras on Friday and made a tearful announcement.“I've been dreading this moment,” Adkins said. Authorities have found enough evidence, he said, to prove the child is dead.“Investigators, agents, and officers who worked on this case are devastated that they could not fin...

The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating an officer-involved shooting in Dillon.SLED spokeswoman Jennifer Timmons says agents are gathering information at the shooting which happened Thursday afternoon at a doctor's office.Dillon police say all information about the shooting will be released by SLED. Timmons wouldn't say if anyone was injured or killed, or release any other information ...

A dog is in a Greenville animal hospital after someone set him on fire in a doghouse and put a cinderblock on his head to keep him from moving.Multiple media outlets report Thursday that Greenville authorities are looking for the culprit. Police and firefighters found Pookie on fire in an overturned doghouse Tuesday afternoon. The dog was chained in a back yard of a home for sale.Veterinarian Ann ...

When Nikki Haley won election last week as governor of South Carolina, a small town halfway across the world in India's Punjab exploded in celebration.The Randhawa family in the town of Verka distributed sweets to neighbors, set off firecrackers and broke into traditional Punjabi dances to demonstrate its pride that a relative had been elected the first Indian-American female governor in U.S. hist...

HAVANA - A Cuban airliner flying from the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba to the capital crashed Thursday night with 68 people aboard, including 28 foreigners, state media reported. There was no immediate word on whether any survived.The AeroCaribbean plane went down near the village of Guasimal in Santi Spiritus province, carrying 61 passengers and a crew of seven, state television said. It said...

The son of the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor has been charged with driving under the influence.Twenty-year-old James Ard of Effingham was booked at the Florence County jail shortly before 6 a.m. Tuesday.Candidate Ken Ard confirmed his son was booked at the jail. He told WBTW-TV he would talk about his campaign but would handle family matters privately.Ken Ard is a Florence County co...

Harry Pavilack - the Myrtle Beach lawyer perhaps best-known for his television commercials and billboards urging potential clients to "Call Pavilack Today!" - is $72.5 million in debt and is facing allegations in bankruptcy court that he could be hoarding cash and hiding assets from creditors, court records show.The allegations were raised in a report last week by George DuRant, a court-appointed ...

The television ads feature newspaper headlines about Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley’s taxes, her jobs or her e-mails. Editorials have questioned whether she had the right leadership approach with fellow lawmakers.Fellow Republicans have run a Swift Boat-style campaign doubting her fitness for office. But according to polls, none of it matters much to voters because Haley, a ...

Iran began the process of loading 163 fuel rods into the reactor core of its first nuclear power plant on Tuesday, celebrating the achievement as proof that Tehran can outmaneuver international sanctions.The plant, built with Russian help in the southern port city of Bushehr, is not among the aspects of Iran's nuclear program that are of top concern to the international community and is not direct...

Sugary, high-alcohol energy drinks that are popular with college students who want to get drunk quickly and cheaply came under renewed scrutiny Monday as investigators announced that nine freshmen had been hospitalized after drinking them at an off-campus party.Several states are considering outlawing the drinks and at least two universities have banned them from campus while the Food and Drug Adm...