South Carolina Focus

South Carolina lost one of its heroes Jan. 4 when World War II veteran Moffatt Burris died at age 99. He was one of many heroes who helped save the world from tyranny in the 1940s. He fought to liberate Sicily and at Anzio to free Italy. But perhaps his most memorable exploits, described in his memoir "Strike and Hold," came as paratrooper who participated in Operation Market Garden, a failed attempt to hasten the end of the war with a massive troop jump into Holland. This battle was later

It’s a campaign promise made during an ad last fall as he treaded water in the Atlantic Ocean. Now Congressman Joe Cunningham is swimming hard against the powerful currents of Washington, as he tries to make good and protect the South Carolina coast from offshore drilling. The first time politician announced Tuesday he will introduce the, "Coastal Economies Protection Act", as soon as he gets back to Washington, to prevent opening the Atlantic and Gulf Coast to drilling and seismic air gun

West Columbia teenager Ella Thomas is somewhat of a whiz with a violin in her hand. Whether she's playing classical with the South Carolina Youth Philharmonic, bluegrass with the band Palmetto Blue or gospel with her family band, her skill with a fiddle and bow last year earned her the title South Carolina Junior Old-Time Fiddle Champion. Ella began playing when she was four, and prefers Old Time and bluegrass music if she had to choose. She enjoys meeting people from different parts of the

From her Camden home, Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker can monitor the goings-on around the world by flipping through the TV news channels and keeping an eye glued to her Post, which she reads daily along with the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Parker is one of the most widely-syndicated columnists in America, read in more than 400 media outlets twice a week. Like her colleagues, she started as a newspaper reporter – in her case, in Charleston – and moved through the ranks of

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

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

Candystore.com keeps an eye on the candy tastes of America, producing an interactive map of each state's favorite candies at various seasons of the year. At Christmas, many states' favorite is candy canes, others prefer reindeer corn or Hershey Kisses. According to the website, South Carolina's favorite Christmas candy is a classic: M & Ms. We talked with two candy store managers, and they said that makes sense, even though M & Ms are not their own top sellers. Chris Hinely of The Peanut

When Charleston journalist Brian Hicks first heard the story of U.S. District Judge Julius Waties Waring, he knew what he must do; write a book about it. He says the son of a Confederate soldier became an unlikely civil rights "hero," and that's a word Hicks doesn't often use. Yet, Waring's name is still fairly unfamiliar, and he was an eighth generation Charlestonian. "I could not believe this guy whose family had been here since the beginning, belonged to all the right clubs and was you know

Trivia games have been popular at South Carolina bars and restaurants for years, and the taste for trivia shows no sign of slowing down. Nearly every night, teams of friends can be found competing for prizes by conjuring often-useless bits of little-known information from their memories. According to trivia host Sean Amormino, the game allows people to engage and communicate with others rather than doing something more solitary such as watching TV or staring at their cell phones. A good host

Data from a new report indicates the number of uninsured children in the United States has increased for the first time in nearly a decade. According to the Georgetown University Center for Children and Family, between 2016 and 2017, the number of uninsured children increased by about 276,000. In South Carolina, that number is 10,000. Joan Alker is Executive Director of the Georgetown center, she spoke with South Carolina Public Radio about why these numbers are important. The Georgetown