COLUMBIA — South Carolina boat owners can expect to see their property tax bills sink under legislation advancing in the Statehouse. Currently, boat owners must separately title and pay taxes annually on their boat and each outboard motor at a rate that is the highest in the country, according to advocates. The bill, approved Wednesday […]

The story of Richland One School District is not one of ease, but one of endurance. For generations, the district has weathered storms from financial crises to bond issues and expansions and consolidations, but the district has always shown resilience. During desegregation, when many districts in the South displaced Black school leaders, Richland One retained […]

COLUMBIA — As measles cases in South Carolina continue to rise, vaccine supporters and opponents clashed Wednesday over two dueling bills on children’s immunization requirements. A panel of senators voted 7-1 to advance a bill that would prohibit vaccine mandates for children under 2 years old, even though all vaccines are already optional. The senators […]

COLUMBIA — Sgt. Warren Cavanagh still remembers every smell, sound, and gun shot from Dec. 16, 2011. That’s the day his police dog Fargo was shot and killed by an armed robbery suspect, the Richland County Sheriff’s officer told a House panel Wednesday. Cavanagh said he sat with his beloved dog in the back of […]

COLUMBIA — Amid confusion from taxpayers and accountants, the House is quickly moving a bill that lets filers use the tax deductions in the massive federal spending package that Congress passed last summer — but effective for this tax season only. When President Donald Trump signed the bill, named the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, […]

COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s environmental agency halted incoming chemical shipments pending an investigation at a controversial solar panel manufacturing plant Tuesday following a spill at the recently opened site in York County. Silfab Solar spilled 300 gallons of potassium hydroxide solution at its location in the Charlotte suburb of Fort Mill, less than 2 miles […]

COLUMBIA — The South Carolina High School League could stay intact, though with more oversight, under a bill the House passed Tuesday. The unanimous vote came the day after the High School League’s executive board accepted the retirement of Jerome Singleton, director since 2005. He will remain in charge until the board finds a replacement […]

COLUMBIA — State senators are asking an oversight agency to investigate the education department’s use of K-12 school choice scholarships for homeschooling expenses. Senate Education Chairman Greg Hembree made the request Tuesday, two weeks after he and other senators grilled state Superintendent Ellen Weaver over her agency’s decision to give homeschooling students taxpayer money for […]

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace is accused of inflating numbers on her housing expenses in Washington. A congressional ethics investigation will determine whether she has to repay thousands in taxpayer dollars. The 1st District Republican, who’s running for governor, dismissed the accusations as retaliation from men with their own legal problems. A report released Monday alleges […]

COLUMBIA — Incumbent South Carolina Supreme Court Justice John Few announced on social media Tuesday that he’s dropping his bid for re-election, prompting the race’s cancelation and the application process starting over. Few, in August, became the first sitting justice in more than 20 years to face a challenge for keeping his seat on the […]

COLUMBIA — The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a two-time presidential candidate and civil rights icon who died Feb. 17, is being honored Monday in his home state. A tribute began with a mile-long procession of his casket on a horse-drawn wagon, or caisson, from Leevy’s Funeral Home to the Statehouse. His closed casket, draped with an […]

COLUMBIA — Tessa Spencer knew her son, Julian Fite, was struggling with his mental health. He’d attempted suicide in the past, and she could see signs that it might happen again. When she brought him to the hospital to get help, though, the 20-year-old did not consent to treatment, so doctors sent him home. The […]

At a fundraiser with South Carolina Democratic leaders to celebrate former President Joe Biden, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn didn’t say whether he’ll run for an 18th term in Congress — but told his party it should look to the past for insight into how to move forward. “What we need today is what we got back […]

COLUMBIA — The head of the state’s land conservation agency will leave his role this summer, he announced Friday. Raleigh West has led the Conservation Bank, an agency of four full-time employees that coordinates land protection projects across the state, since 2019. After the fiscal year ends June 30, West plans to establish his own […]

COLUMBIA — Julius Rosenwald Cobb fondly remembers his time at Chapman Grove School, one of nearly 500 Rosenwald schools in the state, which were once a beacon for Black students. Cobb, who was named after the schools’ founder, had to walk to school barefoot, sometimes in the rain without a raincoat, while fending off the […]

COLUMBIA — South Carolina senators are weighing solutions for hard-to-fill vacancies on the state’s myriad governing and advisory boards while also seeking to close loopholes and strengthen checks on agency heads appointed by the governor. A bill remains under consideration by a Senate panel to eliminate the need for the upper chamber to sign off […]

COLUMBIA — Mourners can pay their respects to the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader who died last week, at the Statehouse on Monday morning and at a nearby church that evening. Jackson, a native of Greenville, died Feb. 17 at the age of 84. He worked with Martin Luther King Jr. as a […]

I bet you’ve never heard of the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. If you have it’s probably because you or someone you know received a HOPE, LIFE or Palmetto Fellows state merit scholarship. Every year, our agency administers these and other scholarship programs that total about $370 million in financial aid that helps nearly […]

COLUMBIA — The House approved a bill Wednesday requiring all public school classrooms in South Carolina, including those at colleges, to display the Ten Commandments. Representatives made no major changes to the bill, which also allows schools to accept volunteer chaplains, before passing it in a vote of 84-31, mostly along party lines. One Democrat […]

COLUMBIA — The athletics directors for South Carolina’s major public universities pleaded their case Wednesday to keep direct payments to athletes a secret after senators put the matter in the penalty box. The fast-moving legislation, which would allow public colleges to conceal the so-called name, image and likeness payments they make directly to athletes, appeared […]