There was an unmistakable echo of the dot-com boom Thursday on Wall Street.LinkedIn, a trailblazer in the online networking craze, went public with a roaring stock offering. Within minutes, shares were trading at twice the value set by the company.Buyers crowded the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, and financial news networks flashed LinkedIn's stock price urgently all day. By the closing bel...

The International Monetary Fund says its embattled managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, intends to resign, effective immediately, as he faces sexual assault charges in New York.The IMF's executive board released a letter from the French executive late Wednesday in which he denied the allegations lodged against him but said that with "great sadness" he felt compelled to resign. He said he was...

Amazon could add three more facilities in South Carolina if lawmakers give the online retailer the sales-tax collection exemption it wants for a Lexington County distribution center, lawmakers and business leaders said Tuesday.Company allies said more jobs are at stake beyond the 1,249 promised in the Midlands, upping the ante as a legislative showdown approaches as soon as today on revival of the...

The U.S. Forest Service is releasing a multiyear study that forecasts changes in forest conditions in the South for the next 50 years.The Forest Service will release the report Tuesday morning at a news conference in Atlanta.The report looks at issues in 13 states that could affect the health and size of some 200 million acres of forestland.States in the study are Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisi...

The Greenwood Genetic Center's mobile laboratory is taking reservations for visits to South Carolina high schools for the 2011-12 school year.The center said in a news release it will begin taking reservations for the Gene Machine on Monday. The 41-foot bus travels around the state visiting students and teachers at no cost to schools.Students can participate in hands-on, simulated lab experiments ...

U.S. Justice Department officials are visiting the Berkeley County jail in the center of a federal lawsuit over a policy barring inmates from reading materials other than the Bible.Officials say DOJ attorneys plan to interview non-Christian inmates during their visit Monday.The American Civil Liberties Union wants a judge to order jail officials to give inmates mail that includes the Prison Legal ...

The government says that a bad economy has shortened the life of the trust funds that support the nation's two biggest benefit programs.The annual checkup said that the Medicare hospital insurance fund will now be exhausted in 2024, five years earlier than last year's estimate. The new report says that the Social Security trust fund will be exhausted in 2036, one year earlier than before.The trust...

State economists added $210 million to South Carolina’s ongoing budget debate Thursday, saying state revenues are stronger than expected as more people head back to work.It’s a surprising bit of good news after a long stretch of bad news.The Senate will enter its fourth week debating a $5.9 billion spending plan Tuesday, with Tea Party-minded senators slowing debate on Thursday as th...

A doctor explains to ABC News correspondent George Stephanopolous how a Nevada man survived impalement by a piece of pipe from a fence he drove into. If the pipe had entered his neck just a tiny distance in any direction than it actually did, the man would have been killed.

The Richland 1 school board agreed Tuesday night it would not require students to attend school on Saturday, May 28 to make up for a day missed because of a January snowstorm. That's big news for students eager to begin their summer vacation on May 27, the day originally marked as the final day of the 2010-2012 school calendar.

The Richland 1 school board agreed Tuesday night it would not require students to attend school on Saturday, May 28 to make up for a day missed because of a January snowstorm. That's big news for students eager to begin their summer vacation on May 27, the day originally marked as the final day of the 2010-2012 school calendar.

Newt Gingrich is running for president. The former House speaker disclosed his bid on Twitter and Facebook on Monday and urged followers to tune into Fox News on Wednesday."I will be on to talk about my run for president of the United States," Gingrich wrote after spending a year or more publicly laying the groundwork for a GOP presidential candidacy. "I have been humbled by all the encouragement ...

A distillery opening in Greenville this summer will take advantage of the mystery of the Dark Corner.The Greenville News reported Monday the Dark Corner Distillery will open on North Main Street in Greenville, making legal moonshine, or un-aged whiskey.The Dark Corner has been a community in mountains of northern Greenville County for more than two centuries that local historians say is famous for...

As the crest in the Mississippi River rolls toward the heart of the Delta, the great flood of 1927 is on a lot of minds.On April 21 of that year, an engorged Mississippi River broke through a levee a few miles north of Greenville, sending a wall of water down Main Street, forever changing this area's landscape. Homes were crushed, sharecroppers' farms were carried away, thousands were trapped on r...

Most of the expected field did not take part in the first debate of the 2012 Republican presidential race in Greenville Thursday, but S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley sure did.Just five candidates — in a GOP field expected to grow to twice that size — took part in the debate, the first official event of the 2012 campaign season. The debaters were former Godfather’s Pizza chief executive Herman...

Lexington County leaders questioned the timing of an announcement Wednesday by Wal-Mart and S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley which promised dozens of new stores and 4,000 jobs over the next five years, with one politician calling it a “shell game.”Several said the announcement was a political favor for Haley, who opposed giving a sales tax break to Amazon.com for a planned distribution center in Ca...

Wal-Mart said Wednesday it would bring dozens of new stores to South Carolina over the next five years, creating at least 4,000 jobs and investing $400 million in the state.The news comes a week after lawmakers shot down a tax break that would have brought an Amazon.com distribution center – and more than 1,200 jobs -- to the area. Wal-Mart was part of a group that vehemently opposed the tax ...

Three current and one former commissioner of a Spartanburg County fire district have been found not guilty of violating the state's open meeting law by barring a reporter from a meeting.Jurors rendered the verdict Tuesday in favor of the officials with the Holly Springs Fire and Rescue District.Hometown News reporter Jay King says the commissioners threw him out of a June meeting and ignored his e...

The American Civil Liberties Union wants a judge to block a South Carolina jail's rules over what items inmates may receive as the group challenges a policy barring inmates from any reading materials other than the Bible.The ACLU on Wednesday asked a judge to order Berkeley County jail officials to give inmates mail that includes the Prison Legal News.Inmates have been barred from reading the jour...

CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan reported on a U.S. Navy SEAL unit in southern Afghanistan for "60 Minutes" in 2004. She talks to Erica Hill about her unique experience inside a top secret world and shows an excerpt of her report.

A federal judge says the U.S. Justice Department can intervene in a lawsuit challenging a South Carolina jail's policy barring inmates from any reading material other than the Bible.Court documents filed Monday show U.S. District Judge Margaret Seymour agreed to allow the government to take part in the lawsuit against the Berkeley County jail.The American Civil Liberties Union in October sued the ...

The bin Laden rally lasted all of three hours. Stocks began climbing Monday morning after news of the death of the world’s most wanted terrorist. Strong earnings reports from Humana Inc. and other companies also pushed them higher. But by lunchtime, the gains were gone. The major indexes wavered throughout the remainder of the day and closed slightly lower. “As great as the news is,...

A Family Court judge in Greenville is setting aside an entire day to finalize adoptions.The Greenville News reports that Judge Robert N. Jenkins Sr. will hear 22 cases Thursday involving 37 children. It's about three times the number of cases Jenkins would handle in an average week. Some of the cases are from smaller counties that don't have as much court time.Department of Social Services Adoptio...

Tuscaloosa tornado caught on video - at bottom of story BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A wave of severe storms laced with tornadoes strafed the South on Wednesday, killing at least 16 people around the region and splintering buildings across swaths of an Alabama university town.The death toll appeared likely to rise, with Alabama's governor saying there could be a half-dozen more deaths. Tuscaloosa'...

The White House has released the long form of President Barack Obama's birth certificate in response to questions about whether he was really born in the U.S.The certificate, released Wednesday, says Obama was born in Hawaii, which makes him eligible to hold the office of president. Obama had earlier released a standard short form, but requested copies of his original birth certificate from Hawaii...

The door at the notoriously secretive Federal Reserve is opening wider.For the first time in the Fed's 98-year history, its chairman is to begin holding regular news conferences. For Ben Bernanke, Wednesday's meeting with the press gives him a chance to steer the debate about where hiring, economic growth and inflation are headed in the months ahead.It also helps the chairman cast himself as open ...

Some criminals call him "Grim Reaper." To others, he's simply "Warrant Man." But to one and all, deputy Reggie Sharpe is best known as the bearer of bad news.The Charleston County deputy spends his days serving arrest warrants to everyone from deadbeat dads to hardened thugs. He's been at it for 16 years and has served more than 15,000 warrants.That's right - 15,000.Sharpe hit that mark this month...

U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn said he hopes to find funding within a few weeks to finish a study of deepening Charleston's port, a move officials say is necessary so the harbor can handle the next generation of cargo ships.Clyburn's office said in a news release Saturday that the congressman has spoken with the Obama administration about getting federal matching funds to complete a technical step in the y...

South Carolina political leaders used words such as "frivolous," "shameful" and "ludicrous" Thursday to describe a National Labor Relations Board complaint against Boeing, which is building a $750 million aircraft assembly plant in the state."We absolutely will not allow them to bully our businesses or mess with our employees. As governor, I absolutely will not stand for it," vowed Republican Gov....

The WIS-10 evening anchor has been off the air for a few weeks and viewers have been inquiring about her absence. On Wednesday, Gatson and her husband Dwayne announced on WIS that they have adopted a baby boy. Aidan Kash Gatson is four months old. The Gatsons got the news about Aidan on March 21, which happened to also be Gatson’s birthday. That night, she danced on stage with Prince. Accordi...