The S.C. Highway Patrol is looking for information on a motorist who hit a man riding to work on Bluff Road this morning, causing him serious injury, then leaving the scene.The man was a firefighter riding to work, WIS TV has reported.Around 5:45 a.m., the victim was riding on Bluff Road near Blair Street when he was struck and injured by the vehicle. The make and model is unknown, but it is likel...

South Carolina Electric & Gas is testing its emergency sirens at the Station in Fairfield County.The utility said the sirens will be sounded around 1 p.m. Tuesday for one minute.SCE&G says in a real emergency the sirens would sound for at least three minutes, then instruct residents to turn on their radios or televisions for more information.The utility says there are 106 sirens within a 10-mile r...

Mark Quinn, host of “The Big Picture,” ETV’s program that aired on TV and radio, has left the station to become the director of public and member relations at the Electric Co-Operatives of South Carolina.Taped episodes of the program will air through the summer, ETV’s Rob Schaller said. A replacement will be named. Staff reports

Authorities say a police officer was lured into a Greenville neighborhood and then intentionally shot with fireworks.WYFF-TV reports that the Greenville officer was OK after being hit in the chest with fireworks Monday night.Sgt. Jason Rampey said the officer was sent to an apartment complex after reports people were shooting each other with fireworks. Authorities say the officer was attacked with...

Gamecock fans will be gathering around their television sets tonight as the USC baseball team goes for a second straight national title. We’d love a report from your living rooms to find out how you’ll be cheering on the team and if you’ll be occupying the same seats as last year. Email Bertram Rantin at brantin@thestate.com or call him at (803) 771-8306 before or during the g...

Rod Blagojevich, who rode his talkative everyman image to two terms as Illinois governor before scandal made him a national punch line, was convicted Monday of a wide range of corruption charges, including the incendiary allegation that he tried to sell or trade President Barack Obama's Senate seat.The verdict was a bitter defeat for Blagojevich, who had spent 2 1/2 years professing his innocence ...

"Jackass" star Ryan Dunn, who along with his cast mates made Americans cringe and snicker through vulgar stunts in their multimillion-dollar TV and movie franchise, was killed early Monday in a fiery car crash. He was 34.Dunn, a daredevil who gained notoriety for diving into a sewage tank and performing other unsavory stunts, was driving his 2007 Porsche in suburban Philadelphia when it careered o...

A woman says she is trying to find out whose ashes are inside an urn she bought at a Salvation Army Thrift Store in Anderson.Faye Whitfield told WYFF-TV that at first she thought the urn was just a normal vase until another customer opened the lid and ashes came out.Whitfield says the urn has the word "mother" and the date "7/13/42" engraved on the side.Whitfield told store employees about the urn...

Republican White House hopefuls condemned President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy from the opening moments of their first major debate of the campaign season Monday night, and pledged emphatically to repeal his historic year-old health care overhaul. “When 14 million Americans are out of work, we need a new president to end the Obama Depression,” declared former House...

Appearing on a national TV panel this morning, Gov. Nikki Haley predicted it will take “deep spending cuts and spending caps going forward” for the GOP-controlled U.S. House of Representatives and the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate and President Barack Obama, a Democrat, to reach an agreement to raise the federal debt limit.Haley appeared on a town hall meeting as part of CBS News ...

Laurens County deputies have arrested a man in a home invasion that led to the stabbing death of an 80-year-old man in his Gray Court home.Investigators said 21-year-old Joshua Anthony Hall, of Woodruff, was charged Friday night with murder and armed robbery.Sheriff Ricky Chastain told WYFF-TV that Hall rented a home from Charles Riddle.Authorities say Riddle was found dead in a pool of blood by h...

It could take days for areas broiling under temperatures in the 90s to get relief, forecasters said, as a record-breaking heat wave canceled class and even buckled highway pavement in at least one area.Sweltering temperatures across half the country have people doing what they can to stay cool, and they'll need to keep doing it for the rest of the week in some places.The 6-to-10-day outlook from t...

Jon Austin's wife, Amy, had a blunt assessment for her husband as the Minneapolis couple watched Rep. Anthony Weiner's stunning confessions on television this week."You'd be dead," she told him.Regardless of his professional future, it's Weiner's predicament at home that seems to be launching countless discussions among couples like the Austins. And this time, it's not a question of actual physica...

A new high-tech business center is being dedicated in Charleston.The Flagship 2 Center has been built in a former television studio in the city and will be dedicated Wednesday by Mayor Joe Riley.The center is the second in the city and provides small, flexible and affordable office space for start-up companies working in creative and technology industries. The idea is that once the new companies g...

No injuries have been reported after a train car ran off the tracks in Clinton.WSPA-TV reported the derailment occurred around 9:30 p.m. Sunday.Police say traffic was not allowed through an intersection overnight.The car was lifted upright around 3 a.m. Monday.No word yet on what caused the derailment on the CSX Railroad tracks.

Doug Nye, a former writer and editor for The State and the Columbia Record, died Sunday morning after a year-long battle with lung cancer. Nye retired in 2004 after serving as a sports writer, editor and television editor at both the Columbia Record and The State.He was 69.Nye, who was born in Augusta, Ga. but moved to the Midlands at the age of 4, graduated from Furman University in 1964. Nye spe...

LOS ANGELES - James Arness, the towering actor best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon, the strong and commanding symbol of frontier justice on the landmark TV Western series "Gunsmoke," died Friday. He was 88. Arness died of natural causes at his home in Brentwood, said family spokesperson Ginny Fazer. "Gunsmoke" debuted on CBS on Sept. 10, 1955, and, with the start of "The Life and...

Power crews are working to restore service to more than 22,000 customers in South Carolina, mostly in the Columbia area.Thunderstorms continued to move across South Carolina on Friday morning.Storms that moved through the Columbia area Thursday night damaged the Governor's Mansion. A sport utility vehicle belonging to Gov. Nikki Haley's husband was crushed when a tree fell at the mansion. Haley to...

Kickoff times and TV details have been set for two of South Carolina's early-season games. The Gamecocks will play Georgia at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 10 on ESPN in the teams' conference opener.The Sept. 17 home game vs. Navy will be at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.The times were announced Thursday by the Southeastern Conference. Click here for all the early SEC game times and TV details.No other kickoff times have bee...

Fourteen people have been ticketed for public disorderly conduct during Byrnes High School graduation for cheering loudly when their graduates' names were called out.Duncan Police Chief Ryan Cothran told WYFF-TV each person must pay a $262 fine for their outbursts at the Tuesday night ceremony.Cothran says students are warned in advance to tell well-wishers outbursts won't be tolerated. Audience m...

An elementary school bus overturned Tuesday morning in Davidson County, sending 31 students to hospitals, according to police and Davidson County Schools officials.The wreck happened about 7:30 a.m. in the county's Midway community. School officials said Bus 340 was headed to Midway Elementary School, in the northern part of Davidson County, between Lexington and Winston-Salem. The bus was carryin...

As crestfallen followers of a California preacher who foresaw the world's end strained to find meaning in their lives, Harold Camping revised his apocalyptic prophecy Monday, saying he was off by five months and the Earth actually will be obliterated on Oct. 21.Camping, who predicted that 200 million Christians would be taken to heaven Saturday before global cataclysm struck the planet, said he fe...

"The Judge and the Sheriff."It sounds like it could be a TV show, but it's not. For now, anyway.Former Chief Magistrate Judge Kathy Ward and former Sumter County Sheriff Tommy Mims have settled into their new roles at the sheriff's office and are enjoying the change.Ward, 54, has been full-time general counsel for the sheriff's office since mid-March, following the retirement of Henry Richardson, ...

A Democratic group has launched the first ad of the 2012 campaign cycle, criticizing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on the issue of health care.Romney will be in South Carolina Saturday.The ad, which will run on television and the Internet, notes another Republican presidential candidate, Newt Gingrich, recently criticized a GOP plan to convert the federally funded Medicare and Medicaid pro...

Oprah Winfrey wiped away tears as celebrity after celebrity surprised her during a farewell double-episode taping of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" that will precede her finale."Thank you is not enough, but thank you," Winfrey told the crowd of 13,000 gathered at Chicago's United Center on Tuesday night for "Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular." "For your love and your support, thank you."The crowd g...

Hours after "America's Most Wanted" was canceled, a small, passionate campaign emerged online to save the Saturday night staple that allowed anyone with a television set to become part of a nationwide manhunt.The show has been rescued before. In 1996, an outpouring of support from fans, politicians and law enforcement compelled Fox executives to reconsider after they announced they were taking the...

For more than a decade, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger managed to keep secret the fact that he had fathered a child with a member of his household staff, misleading not only to his family, but also to millions of Californians who may not have elected him had they known. Battered by years of fiscal problems, Schwarzenegger's public approval rating had dipped to 23 percent when he left office in Jan...

When the issue of a sales-tax exemption for an online retailer’s distribution center was before the S.C. House six years ago, the tax break sailed through – passing 93-1.Among the tax break’s supporters then were now-Gov. Nikki Haley and 31 other current House members. All 32 voted in favor of a tax break for the as-seen-on-TV retailer QVC in 2005 but now oppose granting the s...

After months of flirting with politics, Donald Trump said Monday he won't run for president, choosing to stick with hosting "The Celebrity Apprentice" over entering the race for the Republican nomination.The reality TV star and real estate magnate made his announcement at a Manhattan hotel as NBC, which airs his show, rolled out its fall lineup.He's spent the past few months weighing whether to se...

Officials hope a new 100,000-square-foot studio will attract the filming of more movies, television shows and music videos in South Carolina.Legislators are set to join industry professionals Thursday to officially open Studio Charleston. The facility includes three sound stages and 40-foot ceilings.Founder Harald Galinski worked on the movie "Dear John," filmed in Charleston County in 2008.Spokes...