Police in Rock Hill have arrested a man they say used a fake bomb to rob a bank.Forty-nine-year-old John Edward Burchfield Jr. of Rock Hill is charged with possession of a fake bomb and entering a bank with intent to steal.Police say a man entered the bank late Tuesday morning and threatened to detonate a bomb with a remote device.Lt. Brad Redfearn says the man left with an unknown amount of money...

A Richland County Sheriff's deputy Tuesday afternoon fired his gun at a burglary suspect after the suspect tried to run over the officer with a Ford Explorer, said Deputy Curtis Wilson, a department spokesman.Deputies are still searching for the suspect after he ditched the Ford Explorer and ran away on foot, Wilson said. The search is ongoing in the Green Gate Drive area, which is near the inters...

Iowa Republicans will gather Tuesday night at fire stations, schools, libraries and community centers across the state to vote their choice for the GOP nomination to oppose President Obama this fall. Yet even at this last minute, the outcome remains highly unpredictable.In this first presidential voting of 2012, polls suggest that three candidates are likely to finish in the top tier: Former Mass...

One suspect is in jail, and Richland County sheriff's deputies are searching for two other men who fled from an SUV that had been stolen in a Richland County carjacking last week.Bernard Robinson was captured Sunday evening after a deputy spotted the stolen SUV on Ulmer Road, near Leesburg Road and I-77, and -- with other deputies -- gave chase, a spokesman for the Richland County sheriff's depa...

A barbershop owner in Richland Northeast shot a man who tried to rob the business, Richland County deputies say.The shooting occurred during an attempted robbery of All the Way Cuts and Styles about 7:30 p.m. Saturday, deputies said. The shop is in the 9300 block of Two Notch Road.The alleged robber who was shot is receiving medical care at Palmetto Health Richland. Neither his identity nor that o...

A 17-year-old Lexington boy riding in a pickup truck died in a wreck in which the driver faces a felony charge.David C. Onley, 45, of Gaston, is charged by the South Carolina Highway Patrol with felony driving under the influence involving a death, patrol Cpl. Bob Beres said.Onley and the victim were in a Ford Ranger on Founders Road near Longview Road when the truck wrecked around 3:22 p.m. Tuesd...

The head of South Carolina's insurance agency has resigned, 11 months after Gov. Nikki Haley picked him for the position.Haley spokesman Rob Godfrey confirmed Wednesday night that David Black is stepping down from his post as head of the Department of Insurance. A message left at a number believed to be his home residence in Greenville was not immediately returned.In an email sent to employees Wed...

Horry County police are investigating two deaths and an injury they believe are related to an earlier drive-by shooting.Lt. Myron Creel says the shooting happened Monday night in Little River. Shortly after, police found a Ford Bronco in flames on Highway 31.Police are still trying to piece together what happened, but at least one person found inside the burning vehicle had been shot. He was taken...

Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley came into office promising a commitment to transparency, but the deletion of emails by staffers has brought new criticism that the Republican governor has fallen short on that campaign issue.Haley announced last week her office is working to clarify when it's OK to hit the delete key. Her staff is coordinating with the state Department of Archives and History to craft a p...

A 6-inch water main has broken in the area of Satchel Ford Road from Oak Hill Road to Fernwood Road. Water customers in that area should boil their water for one full minute before cooking, making ice or drinking with the tap water, until further notice, the City of Columbia has advised.When lab testing has shown the water is not contaminated by dangerous bacteria, the advisory will be lifted.Mean...

Authorities say a Tampa Bay area man ordered a beer at a bar, left to rob a nearby bank then came back to finish his beer.The Pasco County Sheriff's Office says 52-year-old John Robin Whittle was arrested at the Hayloft Bar in Port Richey on Thursday afternoon. Deputies say he's the man who robbed a Wells-Fargo bank branch earlier, but not before stopping off at the Hayloft for a brew.A bartender ...

Richland County Sheriff’s deputies continue to look for the suspect they say shot at their deputies and killed one of their dogs in an early morning attempted robbery and police chase in North Columbia.Deputies responded to a robbery in progress at Johnson’s market, at 5200 Monticello Road, around 2:30 a.m. Friday, according to Richland County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Ch...

Authorities have arrested a 20-year-old woman in the death of a 51-year-old man found shot in a car in Beaufort.Police say Mark Jones was probably shot to death Sunday during a drug deal.Investigators say Roquel Connors was buying drugs from two men with Jones when they tried to rob her.Authorities say they started to fight, and Connors pulled a gun from her purse and fired one shot, hitting Jones...

A young Winnsboro woman was killed in a single-vehicle wreck Wednesday afternoon.The 24-year-old woman, identified by Fairfield County Coroner Barkley Ramsey as Monica Jackson of Winfield West Apartments, was driving a Ford Explorer north on S.C. 213/Monjicono Road near Jackson Creek Road in Fairfield County when the vehicle wrecked, said S.C. Highway Patrol trooper Billy Elder. Around 2:30 p.m., ...

A self-styled chaplain suspected in a deadly scheme to rob people who replied to a Craigslist job ad will be charged with murder and attempted murder in attacks on four victims and could face the death penalty, a prosecutor said Monday.The chief prosecutor in northeast Ohio's Summit County, Sherri Bevan Walsh, said local officials in southeast Ohio and state and federal officials signed off on an ...

Four of Gov. Nikki Haley’s staff members will testify about a state agency’s controversial decision to allow a Georgia port to expand after a state Senate panel took the unprecedented step Friday of subpoenaing them.“Yes, we will testify,” Rob Godfrey, Haley’s spokesman, said Friday. “And these senators will confirm, again, what they already know to be tru...

A Eutawville man is in jail, accused of crashing a stolen pickup truck into a Bowman gas station to steal merchandise.Coty Dalton Ott, 19, Tucker Road, is charged with burglary and petit larceny in the Wednesay incident.According to the sheriff’s office, a burglar backed a Ford F-150 truck into the Exxon Quick Trip on Vance Road in Bowman around 3:30 a.m., took merchandise, then drove away....

A strong start to the U.S. shopping season and fresh proposals for a far-reaching solution to Europe’s debt crisis sent stocks sharply higher today. The Dow Jones industrial average soared 300 points in afternoon trading, making up more than half of the ground it lost last week.Initial reports show a record number of shoppers hit the mall or bought gifts online during the holiday weekend. ...

Authorities say a Clarendon County woman has been stabbed to death after she came home and surprised a burglar.Sheriff Randy Garrett says 28-year-old Christopher Heck of Huntington, W. Va., has been charged with first-degree murder and burglary.Garrett says Florence County sheriff's deputies pulled Heck over for driving under the influence Wednesday. They say they found stolen items and 47-year-ol...

A 40-year-old Lexington County man was arrested today on a charge of trafficking in the narcotic prescription drug Oxycodone, Sheriff Jimmy Metts said.Donnie Troy Buff, of Venice Road, Gaston, was being held at the Lexington County Detention Center on a $10,000 bond.Deputies are seeking another man in the case — Kenneth Kirkland Ford, 54, of English Avenue, Columbia. He has been charged wit...

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's chef has been barred from catering private events at the Governor's Mansion complex and told to reimburse the state after an Associated Press investigation questioned whether he was using his high-profile position for financial gain.Rob Godfrey, a spokesman for the governor, said Wednesday that Geoff Sandifer used state-owned kitchen appliances, linens, serving ut...

SCHOOLS SEVEN HEATHWOOD HALL SENIORS have been recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program. Jannie Adams, Connor Hoffman, Rob Smith and Sarah Jackson Smith were named National Merit Semifinalists. Commended Students at Heathwood included Daniel Barbeau, Lauren Pansegrau and Andrew Wood. JACKLYNN COLSTON, an eighth-grader at White Knoll Middle School, won first place among eighth-graders i...

A man broke into a Monticello Road business last month and stole a trailer, but his activities were caputured on video cameras.Now Richland County Sheriff’s investigators are hoping someone will help them identify the suspect.Employees at Hobgood Electric, 10330 Monticello Road, called the department Oct. 30 after discovering someone had stolen a 20-foot four-wheel flatbed trailer.The suspe...

Four Midlands area young adults are charged in the Oct. 21 shooting death of a 50-year-old man they knew at his home in Little Mountain.Jasmine Janell Bowers, 20, of Meadowlark Road, Little Mountain; Tyrome Howard Brennan, 19, of Boulters Lock Road, Irmo; Jermaine Caughman, 19, of Chapin Road, Chapin; and Breon Jacoby Mayers, 20, of Skylark Lane, Chapin, were arrested Friday, the Lexington County ...

The Richland County Sheriff's Department is investigating a non-fatal shooting on Garners Ferry Road this morning.A man walking home from a nearby store around 2 a.m. was nearly to his apartment at the Lake Shore Village complex at 7645 Garners Ferry Road when he said a car drove by and someone inside fired shots at him.The man was shot in the lower body and suffered what sheriff's deputies said ...

At the bottom: See documents relating to the supercommittee, including a look at the members, their deadlines and fundraising activities.WASHINGTON – The "supercommittee" of Congress charged with finding at least $1.2 trillion in federal deficit savings over the next decade will give the public a rare peek into its thinking Wednesday. Then the 12-member bipartisan panel probably will go ...

An 18-year-old West Columbia man was arrested Tuesday and charged with three counts of breaking into a motor vehicle, petit larceny and unlawfully carrying a firearm.Marcus Damato McCoy, of Pine Street, is the suspect in three car break-ins on Castle Drive near West Columbia on Tuesday.A .22-caliber revolver and $5 in cash were taken from two of the three cars a suspect entered, the Lexington Coun...

Authorities have charged a Florence couple with homicide by child abuse after their 9-month-old child tested positive for cocaine and died.Florence County sheriff's deputies say 36-year-old Shaunte Shedice Washington and 25-year-old Jennifer Monique Ford were arrested Monday.Investigators say the couple's toddler was taken to a hospital Sept. 28 with seizure-like symptoms and later tested positive...

Columbia authorities are looking for a man who tried to rob a family at gunpoint Friday afternoon. Shortly before 5 p.m., the unnamed victim, his wife and their 10-year-old daughter stopped at the gas station on the corner of Harden and Calhoun Streets, the victim told police. The suspect, with a gun drawn, approached their car. The victim struggled with the suspect and the gun went off, hitting...

The tiny Bamberg County town of Olar will hold its ninth annual Model T's to Olar Festival that celebrates its early connection to the Ford Motor Co.The Times and Democrat of Orangeburg reports ( http://bit.ly/prGCMo) that Olar car dealer C.F. Rizer lent Henry Ford $25,000 in 1914 to expand.Ford awarded Rizer the exclusive franchise to sell Fords in Bamberg, Barnwell, Colleton, Hampton and Allenda...