Jeffrey Collins/Associated Press

A private company is offering South Carolina's state-owned utility $2.7 billion to complete two abandoned nuclear plants. The deal between utility Santee Cooper and Brookfield Asset Management is far from final, with negotiations expected to last up to two years.

Former South Carolina court clerk Becky Hill has pleaded guilty to showing sealed court exhibits to a photographer and lying about it in court. Hill was arrested in May on charges including obstruction of justice and perjury.

A bill being considered by a small group of senators in South Carolina could allow judges to sentence women who get abortions to decades in prison. The proposal before a state Senate subcommittee Tuesday also could restrict the use of intrauterine devices and in vitro fertilization and ban all abortions unless the woman's life is threatened.

A South Carolina firing squad has executed a man who is the third person to die by that method in the state this year. Stephen Bryant was put to death Friday for killing three people in 2004. Bryant is the third person executed by firing squad in the state, where lethal injection and the electric chair are still legal. He also is the 50th man executed by South Carolina since the state restarted the death penalty 40 years ago.

The shooting happened during a high school reunion party on Oct. 12 at Willie’s Bar and Grill on St. Helena Island.

Stephen Bryant will be the second person to die by that method in the state this year.

The South Carolina Supreme Court has ruled that state lawmakers improperly gave themselves a $1,500 monthly raise.

Stephen Bryant, 44, is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Friday by firing squad at a Columbia prison.

Bryant is set to be executed on Nov. 14 for killing a man in his Sumter County home.

Bryant is set to be executed on Nov. 14 for killing a man in his Sumter County home.