South Carolina Focus

"R" is for Richardson, Robert Clinton [b. 1935]. Baseball Player. Born in Sumter, Richardson played sandlot, high school, and American Legion baseball before signing a pro contract with the New York Yankees. He made his major league debut in 1955 and from 1957-1966 was the Yankees’ regular second baseman. He earned national attention when he hit a grand slam in Game Six of the 1960 World Series and was voted Series MVP. In his major league career, he was a seven-time All-Star and winner of five

South Carolina ranked first in the United States for child vehicular heatstrokes in 2018, and with Palmetto State temperatures reaching highs of 100 degrees during the summertime, heat exhaustion is a serious, life-threatening danger, and residents should know the signs of danger. Those who are especially vulnerable to the summer heat include young children, the elderly, and individuals who take anxiety and depression medication. Steve Shelton, the Medical Director for Emergency Management for

South Carolina's farming industry remains a stalwart economic engine. With approximately 25,000 farms over 4.9 million acres of land, the Palmetto State's agricultural community maintains its relevance in South Carolinians' day-to-day lives. In a changing world, though, South Carolina's farming industry still continues to face the same old problems that it has for years. A common denominator for a successful crop is the weather, and this equaled a negative for this year's summer produce crop in

South Carolina’s freshwater lakes and ponds are as vibrant as they come, full of pretty plants with pretty names like water primrose and water hyacinth. The only trouble is, these plants shouldn’t be here.

The Miss South Carolina Teen pageant was held June 28 th and the Miss South Carolina Pageant took place on June 29 th . However, the journeys of pagent contestants began long before and each one goes to great lengths to prepare for a statewide stage. Aside from the pageant night, contestants put in many hours behind the scenes in their communities. Most of the contestants’ work takes place off the stage as they give back to the communities that have helped them. And each contestant must develop

The film industry provides much needed economic impact for South Carolina, netting $61 million in revenue for the state in 2018. The revenue is generated through the South Carolina Film Commission, which provides a $15 million dollar annual subsidy to filmmakers. The subsidy is funneled to the state's film commission through the state's government. The goal of the subsidy, called film incentives, is to financially reward filmmakers for shooting in the Palmetto State, whether they are residents

A half-century ago, as the world watched in awe as Neil Armstrong took that "one small step" into history on the surface of the moon, a voice from Houston was his constant connection to humanity back on Earth. Earlier, however, as the landing craft neared its destination, that voice had called "60 seconds," to warn the Apollo 11 astronauts - Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins - that they had only one minute's worth of fuel to land, or they would have to abort the mission. That voice

The Palmetto State has produced numerous astronauts and scientists. A South Carolinian, Charles Townes of Greenville, invented the laser, and another native, Dr. Ron McNair, was the first person to operate a laser in space in his role as a NASA astronaut. A physicist, McNair was killed in the tragic explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in January 1986. It was his second excursion into space. McNair had a thirst for knowledge even as a child. His brother, Carl, was interviewed by NPR's

Many famous musical artists have been heavily influenced by their audio producers, but Joe Miller, a music producer who owns and operates the Sounds Like Joe recording studio in Rock Hill, South Carolina, describes his job in humble terms. “I like to consider my artistic domain, I move air and people hear it,” he said. Producing music is defined by taking music written by an artist or composer and transforming it into a high quality, professional studio sound. It involves several tough decisions

Bob Coggin was just back from serving in Vietnam as a diver in an underwater demolition team when he got his next assignment from the Navy: train to possibly recover Apollo 8. The first manned spacecraft to leave the earth's atmosphere and orbit the moon would soon splash down in the Pacific Ocean. Coggin understood the importance of the astronauts' mission. But he didn't think much of his own role. "It was a big deal back then, but we couldn't understand why it was such a big deal," he says.