After weeks of bickering and doubt, Congress delivered a last-minute holiday tax cut extension to 160 million American workers Friday along with further unemployment benefits for millions laid off in the nation's fierce recession and weak economic recovery. It was a convincing victory for President Barack Obama, a humbling retreat for House Republicans.Obama quickly signed the legislation, declari...

Gov. Nikki Haley has endorsed Mitt Romney for president, according to a news release from Romney’s campaign. “He is a conservative businessman who has spent his life working in the economy, and he understands exactly how jobs are created,” Haley said in a news release. “He is not a creature of Washington, and he knows what it means to make decisions – real decisions –...

Gov. Nikki Haley is planning to discuss a state agency's handling of an environmental permit for a Georgia port expansion.The Republican is scheduled to hold a news conference Monday at the Statehouse in Columbia.Haley's office says the governor is discussing the Department of Health and Environmental Control board's decision to approve a water quality permit required to expand Savannah's port ope...

Likely GOP S.C. primary voters give the edge to Georgia businessman Herman Cain, who narrowly leads former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the Palmetto State, according to a new GOP presidential poll.Meanwhile Texas Gov. Rick Perry continues to fade into the background.Thirty percent of likely S.C. GOP primary voters would pick Cain compared to 26 percent who say they favor Romney, according to ...

Providence Hospital Northeast announced Tuesday it plans to stop delivering babies and devote more resources to orthopaedics, a change that will increase bed capacity and staffing at the hospital.The Providence Hospitals Board of Trustees voted to approve a staff recommendation to close Providence Northeast’s eight-bed labor and delivery department by Dec. 31, 2011. The department has a staff...

Gov. Nikki Haley’s approval rating has fallen slightly since June –enough that more South Carolinians disapprove of her performance as governor than approve.Still, if they had to vote again, South Carolinians would still elect Haley over her 2010 Democratic challenger, Vincent Sheheen, according to a new poll from the Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling.“Unlike some of her...

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint and Columbia will take center stage Labor Day as hosts to a presidential forum of the top Republican candidates. Called The Palmetto Freedom Forum, the event takes place on Sept. 5 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, and will be aired by S.C. ETV with former Midlands news anchor, David Stanton, serving as moderator.DeMint, a Greenville Republican and Tea Party favo...

State economists added $210 million to South Carolina’s ongoing budget debate Thursday, saying state revenues are stronger than expected as more people head back to work.It’s a surprising bit of good news after a long stretch of bad news.The Senate will enter its fourth week debating a $5.9 billion spending plan Tuesday, with Tea Party-minded senators slowing debate on Thursday as th...

U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn said he hopes to find funding within a few weeks to finish a study of deepening Charleston's port, a move officials say is necessary so the harbor can handle the next generation of cargo ships.Clyburn's office said in a news release Saturday that the congressman has spoken with the Obama administration about getting federal matching funds to complete a technical step in the y...

When Nikki Haley takes the oath of office next week as the first Indian-American governor of South Carolina, the ceremony at the State House will resonate not only across South Carolina but in her parents’ native India.Haley, a child of Sikh parents who emigrated from India and built a successful clothing company, earns a place in state history as the first minority governor and its first fem...

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...

S.C. Electric & Gas asked state regulators Monday to reinstate about 40 percent of contingency construction funds for an expansion of its Fairfield County nuclear plant. The funds had been removed under an order from the S.C. Supreme Court. The court ruled in August that the S.C. Public Service Commission erred by including $438 million in contingency construction costs in a rate hike requested by...

State economic development officials say a health care software company has already started hiring for a new facility in South Carolina that ultimately will employ about 70 people.The state Commerce Department said in a news release Tuesday that Quality Software Services Inc. will invest about $480,000 in opening a Richland County office.The Columbia, Md.-based company is a software engineering fi...