SC News

The interuptions that some radio listeners have experienced to broadcasts in the past couple of months are actually the sound of progress, according to ETV Vice President of Technology and Facilities Mark Jahnke.

Manning Reentry/Work Release Center used to have another name. Until 2016, this nearly 60-year-old prison on the outskirts of Columbia was called Manning Correctional.

That might seem like a minor change. It’s not. It was the South Carolina Department of Corrections’ (SCDC) way of saying to the public and to Manning’s inmates that the perception, treatment, and, ultimately, rehabilitation of the men who do time there was going to change.

Leading up to the 2020 election, the South Carolina Lede is keeping you up to speed on what the candidates are saying on the campaign trail in the Palmetto State with these "Trail Bites" mini-episodes.

On this edition for the week of January 22, 2020, host Gavin Jackson takes us to the recent King Day at the Dome event in Columbia, SC, to hear from Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), businessman Tom Steyer, former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg also made an appearance at the event but did not give an address.

In 2019, Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers shared statistics to “point out the seriousness” of the need for the next generation of farmers.

“If you’re talking fruits; there’s about a fifty, fifty chance that fruit was grown somewhere else in the world,” Weathers said. “Thirty percent of our vegetables are being imported into this country,” he added.

Felicia Sanders held her granddaughter so tight, she feared she might suffocate the child on the church floor, as a racist gunman they had welcomed to bible study executed nine fellow parishioners one by one.

Bullet casings scorched her legs.  She watched helplessly as her son Tywanza, just feet away in a pool of blood, took his final breath. 

Sanders and her granddaughter survived the massacred that claimed nine lives that night by playing dead.

On this edition of the South Carolina Lede, as we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. this week, we look at the importance of the King Day at the Dome event in Columbia, SC. Host Gavin Jackson is joined by the Free Times' Chris Trainor, whose recent cover story on the event at the statehouse, now it is 20th year, traces history of the event from the protests around the Confederate battle flag to becoming a must-stop for Democratic presidential hopefuls.

Thomas Woods doesn’t remember exactly what happened during Labor Day football practice, but he’ll try to piece it together.

“I remember being on the ground,” Woods says, “and my coach asking me what was wrong and trying to explain that my head was hurting.”

Woods is a starting linebacker for The King’s Academy, a private school in Florence. After the big hit, coach Keith Rogers had teammates drive Thomas home and drop off his truck at his house.

Time is crucial for a traumatic brain injury especially for Annie Nichols who was four at the time of her accident. When she slipped and hit her head in the garage, her parents, Kelsey and Billy, didn’t think much of it. “It was a bad fall,” Billy said. “She cried, but it wasn’t the worst thing you’ve ever heard.” But later that day when Annie starting screaming in pain, they immediately rushed her to Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital in Murrells Inlet, where she had to be placed on a breathing machine to hold her airway open.

Patrons of the Richland Library have a reason to smile these days.  A few months ago, the library stopped charging late fees for overdue books.  The move is one more way the library tries to be accessible to people and remove barriers to using the facility, said Director Melanie Huggins, who cited a recent study that found more than 24,000 people could no longer check materials out of the library because they owed more than $10 in fines.  

This year’s session of the South Carolina General Assembly got underway this week with the Senate beginning debate on the Public School Improvement Bill. Despite some twenty sub-committee meetings where Senators heard from numerous educators and citizens, the massive bill is still drawing the ire of many teachers.

The Feb. 29 Democratic presidential primary will be South Carolina's first major test for its new voting machines. Last year, the state invested $51 million on new machines that election officials say are easier to use and more secure than what South Carolinians had been using for years.

On this edition of the South Carolina Lede, recorded live at Craft and Draft in Irmo, SC, host Gavin Jackson is joined by The Associated Press' Jeffrey Collins and The State's Avery Wilks to preview this year's state legislative session.

Plus, South Carolina trivia, campaign trail updates, and more!