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Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright said Tuesday no charges will be filed in connection with a fatal double shooting at a west-side apartment complex on Saturday. The fatal shooting occurred at 12:10 a.m. Saturday at Lee’s Crossing Apartments, off Powell Mill Road. Douglas Williams, 29, later told deputies that he shot the two men after catching them trying to break into his apartment. Michael Deangelo Gentry-Hill Jr., 22, of 102 Richborough Drive, died at the scene of the incident. Darren Tyree “Ty” Hill, 18, of 112 Shelby St., died at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center later Saturday morning, according to the...

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A Republican senator wants residents to be able to carry a gun openly. Sen. Kevin Bryant of Anderson introduced legislation Tuesday revising the state's concealed carry law, saying the Second Amendment doesn't use the words concealed permit.

SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. -- Spartanburg County deputies are investigating a burglary, where two people were shot and killed. The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office says it happened shortly after midnight Saturday at the 300 Building of Lee’s Crossing Apartments on Powell Mill Road. When deputies arrived they found two people lying on the ground outside the apartment window behind several air conditioning units. Deputies say the resident of the apartment building shot the two suspects. One suspect died on the scene, the other was taken to the hospital where he died. Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger says Michael Deangelo Gentry-Hill Jr....

Democratic officials Wednesday launched a two-pronged attack on states with new laws requiring identification before voting, the highlight being a call to boycott Coke, Walmart and others that back a leading organization pushing for voter ID laws. “We are organizing. We are not agonizing,” said Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., who is leading a parallel Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s effort to get government identification into the hands of the estimated 2-3 million Democrats who don’t have one. “We have staffed up,” he said.

A woman who had just finished doing overnight work in a Landrum business on Saturday was assaulted by two men, but ended up turning the tables on them when she pulled out a gun and shot at them. On Tuesday she talked first to News 4, and she said that it was the first and only time she had ever put the gun in her back pocket -- and at first, she didn't even remember she had it with her. For her protection, the woman's name is not being revealed. The 41-year-old woman had left through the back door of...

In this recent incident, an aberration of society walked into a church in Spartanburg, raising a shotgun. Fortunately, before mayhem could ensue, an armed parishioner took him at gunpoint. This was not what the violent intruder had come for; he surrendered, and a mass murder was averted. These things don’t always have such happy endings. For a number of reasons, houses of worship are disproportionately likely to be the targets of mass murderers. Across the spectrum of the faiths, clergy and church management have taken to heart the words attributed to Jesus Christ: “If thou hast not a sword, sell...

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security released their statistics on the illegal immigration for 2010. According to DHS, the total illegal population went down less than 1%, from 11.6 million at the beginning of the year to 11.5 million by the end. However, in the state of Arizona, the illegal population declined from 470,000 to 360,000; a decline of 23%. In April of 2010 the Arizona legislature passed SB 1070 to crack down on illegal immigration in the state. While parts of the law were blocked by a federal judge, illegal aliens in Arizona are getting the message that...

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - The North Charleston Police Department says they've collected 135 weapons off the streets Saturday during their annual buyback program in North Charleston. The program is an opportunity for people to turn in weapons to police with no questions asked. Authorities say 60 handguns and 32 long guns were collected at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church and 32 handguns and 11 longs guns at St. Matthews Baptist Church. Those who participated in the event were given gift cards in exchange for their weapons.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was never the subject of an Internal Revenue Service investigation into a worship center her family helps run, according to a letter released by the agency Friday. Haley’s office says the letter is proof that the “totally contrived” rumors that spread across the Internet this week that Haley could be indicted in federal court over the issue are “totally false.” “As we said from the very beginning, there was not an ounce of truth to any of these accusations — they were totally contrived, totally false, and and unaccountable bloggers,” said Rob Godfrey, a spokesman...

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley says she’s being smeared once again by another blogger posting “lies” and spreading “trash” about her online. “Sorry fellas,” Haley wrote on her Facebook page Thursday. “I’m not going anywhere no matter how many lies you put on a blog.” Haley’s comments are in response to a report by The Palmetto Public Record, a South Carolina political blog, that she could be indicted in a federal investigation soon. She has denounced the post as totally false. The blog said she could be indicted in federal court over the finances of the Sikh Religious Society of...

Afghanistan War Veteran Takes Fight to 7th Congressional District Race South Carolina, Thursday, March 29, 2012 - On Thursday, Katherine Jenerette, a US Army Paratrooper and a former US Congressional Field Representative, who just returnedhome eleven weeks ago from a combat tour of duty in Afghanistan, announced her bid for the newly formed 7th District Congressional Seat.  “I’m not the kind of person who sit’s on the sidelines when there’s a fight going on and work to be done for the people of our state, district and our country,� Jenerette said. “I’ve been places where you have to do...

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley may be in trouble with the IRS. Specifically, the investigation that is currently underway centers on a Sikh temple built by her father, that she managed the finances for as late as 2003. Fraud is alleged in the handling of the contracts. Palmetto Public Record: ___________________________ Two well-placed legal experts have independently told Palmetto Public Record they expect the U.S. Department of Justice to issue an indictment against South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on charges of tax fraud as early as this week. A highly ranked federal official has also privately confirmed rumblings of an...

A teenager soccer player unleashed a furious attack on a rival player after she was tripped up while running with the ball. Annette McCullough, 18, dragged the victim to the ground by her hair before punching her 11 times in the head and upper body as the girl curls up to protect herself. The attack happened during a soccer match between Chester High School and Lewisville High School on Monday at 5.30pm in South Carolina. Chester County Sheriff Richard Smith told WBTV that McCullough has been

Two well-placed legal experts have independently told Palmetto Public Record they expect the U.S. Department of Justice to issue an indictment against South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on charges of tax fraud as early as this week. A highly ranked federal official has also privately confirmed rumblings of an investigation and possible indictment of the governor, though the official was not aware of the specific timeframe. Yesterday, Palmetto Public Record exclusively reported that the Internal Revenue Service has been investigating since March of 2011 the Sikh worship center run by Gov. Haley’s father. At least five lawsuits have been filed...

The Department of Justice may indict South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley on charges of tax fraud, according to the Palmetto Public Record, a South Carolina political blog. PPR reported that a “highly ranked” federal government official “privately confirmed rumblings of an investigation” and the “possible indictment of the governor.” The report said the official, however, could not provide a specific time frame. However, two “well-placed legal experts” said the DOJ indictment could come as early as next week, according to the report. The alleged tax fraud reportedly occurred during Haley’s time managing finances for the Sikh worship center in...

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) -- Officials say it's an armed robbery that began near one apartment complex and ended at another. Officers with the North Charleston Police Department, Charleston County Sheriff's Office and South Carolina Highway Patrol were on the scene at Otranto Road Tuesday afternoon. "From what we can gather a male victim arrived at that location, and I believe it was his daughter in the car. He was exiting out of the car to get his daughter when he was approached by a black male who came up to him and demanded his money, his jewelry and basically...

A concealed carry permit holder in Boiling Springs, SC was able to detain a shooter at his local church this Sunday until Sheriff's deputies arrived on the scene. Jesse Gates, an attendee at Boiling Springs' South Side Freewill Baptist Church was acting like he was having a heart attack on Sunday morning, according to Rev. Henry Guyton. Gates was cleared by EMS and left the premises, only to return later that morning and pull at shotgun out of the trunk of his car. Rev. Guyton's grandson, Aaron Guyton, saw Gates pull the shotgun out and immediately went into the main...

A South Carolina man was gunned down by federal agents Saturday in Laredo after a sting targeting U.S. soldiers who wanted to work for the Zetas drug cartel went wrong, federal prosecutors said. Former Army 1st Lt. Kevin Corley, 29; Army Sgt. Samuel Walker, 28, both of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Shavar Davis, 29, of Denver; and Jerome Corley, of South Carolina, drove into Laredo Saturday armed with two semiautomatic rifles, a knife and a .300-caliber bolt-action rifle equipped with a scope and a bipod, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court. They were in Laredo, prosecutors allege, to...

"Excited" after a meeting Thursday with Mitt Romney, tea party favorite Sen. Jim DeMint urged fellow Republicans to be realistic and rally around the party's eventual nominee, making his plea the same day the ex-governor's chief rival suggested voters would be as well off with President Barack Obama as they would Romney. In addition to fundraising events, Romney was in Washington to hold talks with DeMint as well as legislators from Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which hold primaries next month. The legislators included House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, according to GOP aides. "I'm not only comfortable with Romney, I'm excited...

A Democratic state representative introduced a proposal Thursday to eliminate parts of South Carolina’s “stand your ground law” self-defense law, citing the slaying of a black Florida teenager. The proposal is not expected to go far. Self-defense is an accepted right in South Carolina, and Republicans control both the state House and Senate. But state Rep. Bakari Sellers, D-Bamberg, said parts of the self-defense law need to be scrapped before it results in a killing similar to that of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. Last month, Martin was shot and killed while walking home from the store. The man who says...

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has launched a propaganda campaign attacking a state legislative initiative that is designed to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans, including Muslims. That initiative is known as American Laws for American Courts (ALAC).

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A newly proposed bill in South Carolina would remove a legal protection giving people the right to use deadly force. Denmark Rep. Bakari Sellers said today he wants to remove the "stand your ground" provision from the state law that deals with personal property protections. Sellers' bill would strike language saying someone who isn't breaking the law and is somewhere he has the right to be, like where he works, has the right to use deadly force to protect himself or someone else. The provision became law in 2006. Sellers says he was inspired to introduce the...

LADSON, SC -- The Charleston County Coroner's office said 31-year-old Artremain Grant died of a single gunshot wound on Ladson Road at Hwy 78 Wednesday morning. Officials said, the shooter fired through the glass of his car, striking Grant, who died in the road. The man then drove a short distance and called 911 around 4 a.m. to report the shooting. According to Major Jim Brady, with the Charleston County Sheriff's Office, the man who opened fire claimed he felt threatened when the man pulled up behind him in another car at the intersection, got out, and tried opening his...

A clearly miffed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called on Newt Gingrich and other Republican presidential candidates Tuesday to temper their remarks on U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, warning they run the risk of dividing the GOP and emboldening the Taliban. Graham, a vocal defender of military action in Afghanistan and previous operations in Iraq, said he was “very disappointed” with the former House speaker’s recent comments that the United States no longer has “the willpower or the capacity to do the things you have to do to fundamentally change” Afghanistan.

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat who’s become a leading advocate for undocumented immigrants, will be in Charlotte today to shine a spotlight on the case of a S.C. father of two – both of them U.S. citizens – who faces deportation. The reason Gabino Sanchez could be kicked out the country: Nine misdemeanor convictions, in South Carolina and Georgia, for driving without a license or driving an unregistered vehicle. Illegal immigrants sometime don’t try to get a license for fear of exposing their status. Gutierrez plans to appear at the first deportation hearing for Sanchez, 27, of rural...

DORCHESTER COUNTY, SC (WCSC) - A domestic dispute ended Monday evening with a man being sent to the hospital with a gunshot wound and deputies charging him with a crime. Dorchester County sheriff's deputies were called out to Wise Road in the Twin Lakes subdivision near Summerville Monday night, to break up the fight between Christopher Brown and his wife. Deputies say Brown will be charged with criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature. They say the fight started when Brown threatened to push his wife off a riding lawnmower. They say it escalated and he pushed his...

CONWAY - Lee Bellamy now stands shoulder-to-shoulder with police officers in the fight to get guns off the streets of Horry County, a long, long way from where he was just a few short years ago. "They are good and upright citizens, who live a good life" Bellamy said of the officers. "Basically, that's what I'm doing also." Bellamy served more than 20 years in prison--including several years on death row--after a murder conviction. Four years ago, he got out on parole after a supreme court decision overturned his conviction and death sentence. Now, he works with young people in...

The ruling against the new Texas voting requirements law by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder comes as no surprise to any who have been following the behavior of the Department of Justice's top official. A Monday (3/12/2012) report from The Washington Post, "DoJ Bars Texas Voter ID Law," is thoroughly consistent with a similar decree issued by the Department of Justice against a state law in South Carolina. In both states, their respective legislatures and governors had passed laws which required voters to present a state-recognized picture voter identification card in advance of voting. The card could be in the...

North Charleston police announced they will hold another gun buyback program on March 24. It's the fourth consecutive year for a program that already has taken almost 500 guns off the streets. The North Charleston Community and Police Panel will collect guns from 10 a.m. to noon at Mount Moriah Baptist Church, 7396 Rivers Ave., and at St. Matthew Baptist Church, 2005 Reynolds Ave. Those turning in handguns will receive a $100 gift card, while those turning in a long gun or shotgun will receive a $50 gift card. All guns are received on a no-questions-asked basis.

No charges will be filed against the man who fatally stabbed Donnie Scott Cohen last month. The 72-year-old man who stabbed Cohen told officers he acted in self-defense. The 7th Circuit Solicitor’s office reviewed the case and no evidence points to anything but the man’s claim of self-defense, Capt. Regina Nowak with Spartanburg Public Safety Department wrote in an email to the Herald-Journal. Police say the two men had fought prior to the stabbing. Cohen, 56, of 612-B W. St. John St., was stabbed once in the chest Feb. 27 at the home where he and the former suspect lived....

Share5 Print Forward Brian H. Darling Conservatives stalk Congress by Brian H. Darling 03/12/2012 12 Comments In 1983, Ed Feulner, president of The Heritage Foundation, published Conservatives Stalk the House, detailing the history of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) from its founding in the early ’70s. It’s a story of a small band of conservative House members who believed they could better advance conservatism by establishing a new committee composed of conservative members. Today, the RSC is lead by Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). The Senate also has a similar group of conservatives who fight the big-government ideas of both parties:...

Three Horry County law enforcement agencies are partnering to hold a gun buyback program later this month in an effort to get the weapons off the streets and away from children and potential criminals. “It’s a community problem and all our aims are to address these are similar in fashion, we just each serve a different population,” Conway police Chief Reggie Gosnell said. “It’s hard to measure success because we don’t know where that gun would have ended up, but if we keep one off the street and away from children, and raise awareness of gun violence in the community,...

LANCASTER -- A Lancaster homeowner who shot and killed a relative attempting to forcibly enter his home on Thursday will not be charged, authorities say. Investigators have determined that the man who fatally shot Curt Alan Reed, 46, was justified in his actions after Reed tried to break into his home just before 6 p.m. Thursday, according to a Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office news release. Reed, who police say was armed with a gun, broke the glass toward the back of his relative’s home while trying to break in, the release says. Before deputies could arrive, the homeowner shot his...

The state’s biggest ethics offender – racking up 106 violations in one political campaign – will not serve time behind bars. Lt. Gov Ken Ard will remain free under a sentence of five years probation, a $5,000 fine and 300 hours of community service. Circuit Judge G. Thomas Cooper Jr. decided Ard’s punishment Friday after listening for 50 minutes to character witnesses and pleas for mercy, including from Ard himself. “I stand here humble, apologetic,” Ard said after pleading guilty to seven charges just a few hours after he resigned the job that had him first in the line of...

A Conway convenience store owner will not face charges after a deadly shooting that occurred Monday night. Horry County police say a man approached the owner of The Food Shoppe on Highway 501 business around 10 p.m. as the owner was walking to his car after closing. Police say the man showed a gun and demanded money from the owner. The owner then drew a gun and they started shooting. The suspect, Coaty Deas of Conway, 29, was killed. Police say Tamela Riggins, 29, would have been Deas' get-away driver. She has been charged with attempted murder and attempted armed...

CONWAY, SC -- CONWAY, SC - A would-be armed robber was shot and killed by a shopkeeper in the parking lot of a Conway convenience store at 10 p.m. Monday night. According to a news release, Horry County police officers responded to the Food Shop at 1300 US 501 Business around 10 p.m. and found one adult male, face down with a gun beside him, dead from apparent gunshot wounds in the parking lot of the business. The victim had on latex gloves and a cloth mask over his face, according to an incident report released by the Horry County...

WASHINGTON — Gov. Nikki Haley implored President Barack Obama on Monday to find more money to deepen the Charleston port and other Atlantic harbors so they can accommodate giant cargo ships after the widening of the Panama Canal is completed in 2014. Haley, at a White House meeting with Obama and other governors, said she also urged the president to kick the Army Corps of Engineers into higher gear on deepening the Atlantic ports. “I personally talked to him about the ports that we’re all facing – and the fact that why does it take the Corps of Engineers 10...

Sen. Joe Lieberman is leading a congressional move to push U.S. policy toward a more belligerent stance against Iran by urging President Obama to take action to "prevent the Iranian government from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability." The key policy change would shift the U.S. objective from preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons to that of preventing Iran from having the "capability" to make the weapons. The resolution is sponsored by Lieberman, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bob Casey, D-Pa., and signed onto by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and 28 other senators.

Rick Perry spent his first day on the campaign trail as a Newt Gingrich surrogate, sticking closely to his talking points that Gingrich is the only true conservative left in the race. The Texas governor spoke on several national radio shows and on CNN’s John King USA before visiting the post-debate spin in Mesa, Ariz. Perry had a busy afternoon in the Valley of the Sun with live interviews with King, Michael Medved, Rusty Humpheries and Hugh Hewitt. Similar themes came through in all of his interviews, as he promoted Gingrich as the true conservative and took time to promote...

Rick Perry will campaign with Newt Gingrich and attend the GOP debate in Arizona on Wednesday, according to reports. It will be the Texas governor’s first public appearance with Gingrich since he dropped out of the GOP race and endorsed him last month. Perry dropped his presidential bid in mid-January, endorsing Gingrich just days before the South Carolina primary. Gingrich won the vote in the state, but has since fallen behind the other GOP candidates in the polls and has failed to win any other nominating contests. Perry’s appearance with Gingrich in Arizona is his first major campaign event for...

Washington, D.C. — Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank on Thursday refused to comment on the rumor that South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is gay. During an appearance on C-SPAN's American Journal, a caller named Frank from Largo, Florida told Frank that he was concerned that closeted lawmakers could be blackmailed during critical budget talks.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – A top hotel and restaurant industry lobbyist from South Carolina vanished over the weekend, and local authorities can't rule out foul play. Tom Sponseller, president and CEO of the South Carolina Hospitality Association, was reported missing on Saturday night by a relative after friends and family tried repeatedly to contact him by phone. Those close to Sponseller said it is highly unusual for him not to answer their calls or contact them. Foul play is not being ruled out of the investigation, according to a spokeswoman for the Columbia Police Department where the lobbyist’s office is located....

May I share two short stories about a Black South Carolina Confederate soldier honored recently and a Black Confederate Veteran-Legislator from Mississippi from over a century past?

PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE T&D Animal rights group SHARK said a remote-controlled aircraft like this one was shot down near Ehrhardt. It planned to use the drone to video live pigeon shoots at the privately owned Broxton Bridge Plantation. A remote-controlled aircraft owned by an animal rights group was reportedly shot down near Broxton Bridge Plantation Sunday. Steve Hindi, president of SHARK (SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness), said his group was preparing to launch its Mikrokopter drone to video what he called a live pigeon shoot on Sunday when law enforcement officers and an attorney claiming to represent the privately-owned...

President Obama rallied with union workers at a Boeing plant in Washington, but he praised the manufacturing conducted by Boeing in South Carolina, even though his National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) tried to close the South Carolina plant at the behest of the Washington union workers. "So this company is a great example of what American manufacturing can do in a way that nobody else in the world can do it," Obama told the assembled workers this afternoon at the Everett, Wash., Boeing plant. "And the impact of your success, as I said, goes beyond the walls of this plant....

Seeking to overturn a DOJ judgment that its voter photo identification law, passed in May 2011, violates the National Voting Rights Act (NVRA), the state of South Carolina recently announced that it is suing the Justice Department and Attorney General Eric Holder in federal court. The decision by South Carolina comes as the DOJ is vigorously working to stop the spread of states enacting or implementing voter photo ID laws, prompting fears that the Obama administration is undermining the integrity of the upcoming 2012 elections. In December 2011, the DOJ blocked South Carolina’s new voter ID law from taking effect...

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 13, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Within weeks, the top lawyers in a dozen states may file a federal lawsuit against the Obama administration’s controversial requirement that all insurance plans include access to abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization, the attorney general of Nebraska told LifeSiteNews. Jon Bruning told LifeSiteNews.com that 12 states had signed onto a scathing critique of the mandate and were preparing to take more serious action. Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning On Friday, ten state attorneys general addressed a scathing letter to President Obama, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis....

SPARTANBURG, SC (FOX Carolina) - Deputies said they were called to an Inman residence Tuesday night after a domestic dispute led to the wife shooting her husband in self-defense. Spartanburg County deputies said they were called to the County Estates Road residence about 8:24 p.m. where they found Robert Fowler, 43, lying and screaming on the ground with a gunshot wound to the buttocks and his wife holding the gun. Deputies said they determined that Fowler got into a fight with his son, pushing him and beating him in the face, and his wife tried to separate them before shooting...

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina's top prosecutor says the U.S. Justice Department was wrong to block South Carolina from requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote. Attorney General Alan Wilson asks a judge to overturn the decision by the federal government in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The Justice Department in December rejected South Carolina's law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls.

The 2nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States: "A well-regulated militia, being necessary for the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." That sentence above all else seems to cause more debate than any other in the Constitution. In 2008 The Supreme Court found, and I think correctly so, that the founding fathers meant this to mean that individuals had the right to possess firearms to protect themselves from an overzealous and dictatorial government. Gun control advocates seem to think it means only the Army or...