South Carolina Focus

Just as business is conducted with cell phones every day in the Palmetto State, illegal business is also conducted daily - by convicts with cell phones smuggled into South Carolina prisons. The technology exists to jam these phone signals to stop the crimes - such as murder, drug sales, etc. - being planned and ordered with the phones, but Bryan Stirling, director of the state Department of Corrections, says that federal law prohibits interference with any radio signal, which is what cell phone

The “Lincoln School” was the first public school for black students in Sumter. The school was built in the late 1800s and started as a frame cottage with four classrooms. By the 1950’s, the school acquired an additional twenty classrooms, a cafeteria, a gymnasium, a library, and a band room. The last graduating class under the name of Lincoln High School was the class of 1969. But nine years before the name change, in 1960, Lincoln would be one of 17 high schools in the state to participate in a

Everyone becomes a kid at heart when the circus comes to town. The Royal Hanneford Circus is making its annual tour through the Palmetto State, and ringmaster Tim Tegge firmly believes this traditional form of family entertainment is still relevant in the 21st century, despite the prevalence of many newer distractions. "Whether you make people laugh, whether you put people on the edge of their seats because you're dangling by your teeth from a trapeze bar, doesn't matter what you do or how you

For as long as he can remember, Michael Boulware Moore has known the story of Robert Smalls; a slave who not only gained his freedom by commandeering a Confederate ship and turning it over to Union forces, but later served in the South Carolina State Legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives. Moore didn’t read about Smalls in school. Such bravery by slaves during the Civil War wasn’t always taught. Instead, he grew up hearing personal stories from relatives like his grandmother. Robert

There are eight historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in South Carolina. These i nstitutions of higher education in the United States were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. In South Carolina, the oldest HBCU is Claflin University; it was established in 1869. Allen University and Benedict College in Columbia, were both founded in 1870. Clinton College in Rock Hill, was founded in 1894. South

Many people enjoy traveling by air. But after Oct. 1, 2020, they won't be able to board a commercial airplane in the United States, UNLESS they have the new "Real ID." The new ID will replace current drivers' licenses and ID cards, and will be needed for people to gain entry to certain secured federal buildings and all military posts, as well as to board planes. Lauren Phillips of the South Carolina Dept. of Motor Vehicles said the Real ID was recommended by the 9/11 Commission to standardize

As hackers become more sophisticated at burrowing into business computers to steal everything from money to social security numbers and medical records, the need for protection grows ever more dire. One way to help mitigate the damage, if not protect information from being stolen, was virtually unknown a decade ago. But in the past five years or so, cyber insurance has become a must-have bulwark against hackers. According to insurance executive Adam Phelps, one in three businesses will be hit by

Greenville artist Renato Moncini is a native of Italy, but between his journey from his homeland and his long residence in the South Carolina Upstate, he served more than a decade as what some call the "first artist of space." Soon after immigrating to America in 1960, Moncini, an aircraft mechanic with an aptitude for art, found himself doing technical drawings and space-related paintings at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. That was his day job, but on his own time,

Ann Marie Luc was just a year old when her mother gave her away in Vietnam. She was born to a Vietnamese woman and an American father serving in the Army during the Vietnam War. She had been passed between several families and had four different names by the time she was 17 years-old. That’s when she moved to the United States with a birth certificate she says was not her own. “A lot them buy and sell us,” she says of the adoptive families. “A lot them just use us to come here." It would be

Sunday, Jan. 20, South Carolinians will get a rare treat from the sky, as three events come together to form what some are calling a Super-Wolf-Blood moon. A wolf moon is simply a traditional name for the full moon in January, and happens, obviously, every year. However, this year it's occurring at the same time as a super moon, which S.C. State Museum Education Director Tom Falvey says occurs when the moon is at its closest point, or within 10 percent of that point, to Earth, thus appearing up