Dr. Brannon Traxler, a familiar face to many South Carolinians following the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic, will become the state's next public health director.Traxler, who took on the role on an interim basis last year, will start as permanent director next week, the Department of Health and Environmental Control said in a statement Thursday.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A bill in South Carolina that would greatly expand voting through no-excuse absentee ballots and eliminating witnesses for votes cast by mail got a hearing in the Republican dominated Legislature. But the subcommittee hearing was less than an hour long, forced to end without a vote because the House was going into session. Not all the supporters of the proposal got a chance to speak. The 10 people who did speak supported the bill. It allows people to register to vote and cast an in-person absentee ballot the same day and would allow college IDs with photos to be used as identification at the polls.

The South Carolina House approved a bill Thursday that would revise a required college course on America's founding that hasn't been changed since 1924.The bill passed 91-12 on Thursday after Republicans agreed to a Democratic amendment that the class include “one or more documents that are foundational to the African American Freedom struggle.”

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A group of private schools is suing South Carolina, saying the racist past of a state constitutional amendment prohibiting spending public money on religious or private schools means it should be overturned. The Liberty Justice Center filed its lawsuit Wednesday in federal court on behalf of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston and a group of mostly religious or historically Black colleges and universities.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced new sanctions Friday. The U.S. imposed new U.S. sanctions on Russia Thursday in response to the SolarWinds cyberattack and interference in elections.

A generation of Cuban revolutionaries who seized power six decades ago is set to exit the stage, with Raul Castro expected to step down as head of the Cuban Communist Party.

Kate Winslet plays a small-town lead detective who's haunted by an unsolved case — and by her own past — in this excellent series. Mare of Easttown is both a mystery story and a character study.

Erdrich's novel, The Night Watchman, is based on her grandfather's role in resisting a Congressional effort to withdraw federal recognition from her family's tribe. Originally broadcast March 4, 2020.

Two dozen U.S. senators sent a letter to the White House outlining steps to shutter the crumbling military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where many men have been held uncharged for nearly 20 years.

Jon Schaffer pleaded guilty to two charges — obstructing an official proceeding and entering restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon. He has agreed to cooperate fully with investigators.

The Biden administration says it will keep the number of refugee admissions for fiscal year 2021 capped at 15,000. As a candidate, President Biden pledged to raise the number to 125,000.

Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly is writing a book about the botched raid, during which he shot into Taylor's apartment after being wounded. Post Hill Press says it will move forward with its plans to publish.

With a more contagious variant now dominant in the U.S., the country's genomic surveillance capacity is getting a major boost.

Russian hackers exploited gaps in U.S. defenses and spent months in government and corporate networks in one of the most effective cyber-espionage campaigns of all time. This is how they did it.