South Carolina transportation officials are asking lawmakers to raise the state's gasoline tax for the first time in more than 20 years.The Post and Courier of Charleston reported Tuesday that Transportation Secretary Buck Limehouse has written lawmakers asking them to raise the tax from the current nearly 17 cents per gallon to just over 22 cents per gallon.South Carolina hasn't raised the tax si...

It will cost almost $1.5 billion more than expected to empty and seal 22 underground liquid radioactive waste tanks at South Carolina's Savannah River Site, according to a federal audit released Tuesday.A December 2008 contract between the site and the U.S. Energy Department estimated costs at $3.2 billion. But in its report, the Government Accountability Office said those initial estimates were "...

Federal regulators have given the green light for licensing to proceed for a plant to make nuclear reactor fuel from plutonium waste at the old nuclear bomb plant in South Carolina.The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report released Wednesday that plans for the mixed oxide fuel facility

One person died and two Chester County women were treated at a Rock Hill hospital after a fiery crash on Interstate 77 that backed up traffic for miles Monday afternoon and evening.Damage to the interstate caused officials to keep the two lanes affected by the fire closed overnight. Repairs will begin on the left lane Tuesday morning.Around 2:40 p.m. Monday, a tractor-trailer carrying gasoline ove...

For Clemson University students Jeff Plumblee and Jackie Blizzard, civil engineering is about more than building better cars or stronger bridges. They are among an increasing number of students seeking a greener curriculum to prepare them for jobs of the future - "green jobs" that aren't growing as fast as the nation's crop of college graduates.Part of Clemson's Engineering Sustainable Solutions t...

President Barack Obama is poised to ask Congress to agree to $9 billion more in loan guarantees for the nuclear energy industry, a Democratic aide said Thursday, in a renewed push for nuclear power as the growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico highlights the risks of fossil fuel production.Also

Officials say the pilot of a single-engine plane was uninjured after he missed a grassy rural runway and landed on U.S. Highway 76 in South Carolina.Florence County sheriff's Capt. Mike Nunn told the Morning News of Florence that pilot Phillip Brown of Sanford, N.C., attempted to land Sunday at Huggins Memorial Airport.No traffic on the road was involved in the crash but the highway was closed Sun...

The car bomb was a crude concoction of ordinary items - fireworks, fuel and fertilizer - that authorities suspect was meant to cause maximum mayhem in the heart of Times Square.In the end, the device fizzled and the city and its residents counted themselves lucky once again: lucky that a vendor

Even as the economic recovery plods ahead, many American consumers are refusing to come along.They're not spending freely - and they have no plans to.Many of them have steady income. They aren't saddled by high debts. They don't fear losing their jobs. Yet despite recent gains, they've lost so much household wealth that they're far more cautious about spending than before the recession.Their behav...

Research programs in South Carolina will receive a $6.4 million boost from federal grants, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham announced Monday.The University of South Carolina Research Foundation, the Medical University of South Carolina, the College of Charleston, Coastal Carolina University and Clemson University will receive a combined $6.4 million from the National Science Foundation, the Department of ...

About 3,500 tons of waste from a former nuclear weapons complex in South Carolina awaiting disposal near Salt Lake City meets Utah's health and safety standards, state regulators said Monday.Utah's Department of Environmental Quality said test results from a Tennessee lab confirmed that the Savannah River Site's depleted uranium radiation levels don't exceed state standards, so the waste won't hav...

How much storm surge will a hurricane drive ashore? How much rain will a hurricane that lands on the Gulf Coast bring to places as far inland as Kentucky or the Northeast? When will a monster hurricane suddenly dissipate from a record-maker to a dud?The answers to many of these questions often are tied to knowing how much moisture swirls in the atmosphere around a hurricane churning across the oce...

A US Airways plane that left 15 people ill in January has again sickened passengers and crew, this time on a flight scheduled to leave Charlotte this morning.Nine people were taken to the hospital this morning from Charlotte/Douglas International Airport after complaining of symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic fumes. Two pilots, five flight attendants and two passengers were taken to Caroli...

Nearly a year after the state's worst wildfire, forest managers and landowners have asked legislators to give them more protection from lawsuits when they intentionally set fires to reduce debris that could fuel wildfires and inadvertently damage property.Forestry experts told a House Judiciary