Jeffrey Collins/Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A judge in South Carolina has ruled a death row inmate who thinks most laws are unconstitutional is mentally competent and can be executed. Lawyers for Steven Bixby told the judge he couldn't adequately help them because of his beliefs including that citizens have an absolute right to defend their property to the death. The state Supreme Court had paused Bixby's execution to assess his mental competence. Bixby was convicted of killing two police officers in Abbeville in 2003. Judge R. Scott Sprouse noted Bixby cooperates with his lawyers and understands their role. Bixby’s lawyers can appeal the ruling.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A judge is considering whether delusional beliefs about the legal system are enough to prevent a South Carolina prisoner from being executed. Steven Bixby, who was convicted of killing two police officers in 2003, submitted his own handwritten legal papers after a two-day hearing last month.

A 30-year-old South Carolina trooper has died three days after being struck on the side of an interstate by a box truck. Trooper 1st Class Dennis Ricks was hit while walking back to his cruiser after a traffic stop.

South Carolina's roads agency is celebrating a major $825 million project to widen part of Interstate 95. The agency has transformed over the past decade, thanks to a 12-cent gas tax increase.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A Republican lawmaker in South Carolina has resigned from the House while awaiting trial on charges of distributing child sexual abuse material. RJ May's resignation letter, dated Thursday, reached House leadership on Monday. May was elected in 2020. His replacement could be chosen in a special election before the 2026 session.

Workers at a site in South Carolina that once made key parts for nuclear bombs in the U.S. have found a radioactive wasp nest but officials said there is no danger to anyone.

Two weeks after Jaysen Carr spent the Fourth of July swimming and riding on a boat on one of South Carolina's most popular lakes, he was dead from an amoeba that lives in the warm water and entered his brain through his nose.

A deputy in South Carolina has been killed in an ambush while attempting to arrest a suspect. Authorities say Darlington County deputy Devin Mason and another officer were attacked inside a home near Lamar around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Under the hot South Carolina summer sun, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster held a ceremonial bill signing for a law he and other supporters said will make sure the rapidly growing state has the energy to run air conditioners and anything else well into the future.

A South Carolina man sent to death row twice for separate murders has been put to death by lethal injection in the state’s sixth execution in nine months.