David Jones and his son Brantley are baseball fans. Brantley played as a youngster, and was so enthusiastic about batting practice that his older brother, who didn’t like the game, was forced by circumstance to invent a pitching machine so he wouldn’t have to pitch to his brother for hours every day. That machine, created as a school science project when he was only 11, and Brantley just 9, became the foundation for a business. David and Brantley Jones began manufacturing the machines after

It’s tax season, and many people are working with tax preparers. But some preparers are giving away their services for free to elderly or low income clients. They’re tax law students in the Pro Bono program at the University of South Carolina School of Law. The Pro Bono program provides volunteer services to many causes year round: clerks for pro bono lawyers, research, wills and other areas of the law. Student Robbin Wilder says the program teaches her valuable skills working side-by-side with

Hacking, whether it’s into a bank, insurance company or an individual’s records, is a serious, and growing crime in the 21 st century. The damages inflicted by hackers in the United States alone can reach into the billions of dollars annually. However, a new weapon against these online thieves has arisen in the past few years: the white-hat hacker, a hacker who fights the “black-hats,” or bad hackers. According to Ronni Wilkinson of the University of South Carolina College of Engineering and

Back in January, a diverse group of Midlands community members congregated at the United Way of the Midlands . Among the 20 or so assembled guests were lawyers, businesspeople, nonprofit staffers, and a vet. What they held in common was their shared action after a terrible natural disaster 12 years ago, when Hurricane Katrina battered the gulf coast. Hurricane Katrina wasn’t a specifically South Carolinian tragedy, but when the storm struck the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi as a

Where the old image of the chimney sweep is a skinny guy with a big brush covered with grime and soot, the modern chimney sweep is much cleaner and uses high tech equipment in the 21 st century, according to two Columbia sweeps. There are about 30 chimney sweeps in the state, and they keep busy. Sweep Drew Stein says dense plastic rods with brushes now are inserted into chimneys and spun with a drill to clean soot and creosote – a flammable byproduct of burning wood – from chimneys, which

For 90 years, the South Carolina Forestry Commission has fought fires and advised landowners on how they can best manage the woodlands on their property. According to Forest Management Chief Russell Hulbright and Forester Chase Folks, forests can be managed for timber production, wildlife protection, aesthetics, soil and water preservation, or a combination of these outcomes. Hulbright says the public benefits from trees just from the fact that they’re out there along the highways of South

There's no slowing down for Former Charleston City mayor Joe Riley. The 75 year-old is as ambitious as ever, finalizing plans for the city's new International African American Museum. He's even teaching a class about it this semester at his Alma Mater, The Citadel. "I work hard on it every day," said Riley from his office on Broad Street. He gazes out the window as he talks about a past he says is rarely acknowledged. "Across the street from me are historic buildings built during times of

The Blue Ridge Mountains of South Carolina are full of stories, both historic and legendary. The history of Clemson Blue Cheese began in Stumphouse Tunnel. The tunnel is near another popular tourist destination in Oconee County, Issaqueena Falls, named after a legendary Native American princess.

On Feb 8, 1968, three South Carolina State College students were killed and 27 others were wounded by State Highway Patrolmen. Civil rights activist Cleveland Sellers and Journalist Jack Bass reflect on the events which many consider a stain on South Carolina's reputation that remains, five decades later. Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. on the South Carolina Channel, examine the tragedy of the Orangeburg Massacre in depth in the special “Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968.” Through interviews and

In September 2015, many farmers in South Carolina were looking forward to a promising harvest. The drought that began in 2014 had subsided in time for at least one crop to flourish remarkably well: by the time October rolled in, full, glistening fields of white cotton spread through rural South Carolina, just shy of ready for harvest. It seemed that farmers would see a rich reward for the stress of the long, dry months that preceded. Then the rain came. From the Midlands to the Lowcountry,