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Nov 20, 2024 | 
carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu | Cassie Cornwell
Heather Pagan knows the life of trafficking – she lived it for 18 years. From the age of 14 to 32, she was sold for sex and controlled by drugs. She escaped that life 16 years ago and now helps other victims move on with their lives. She also helped pushed for a new South Carolina law that provides victims with immunity from crimes committed while they were sexually exploited. Pagan met her first abuser at 14. He wasn’t hiding in bushes. And he didn’t threaten her life.
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Nov 15, 2024 | 
carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu | Cassie Cornwell
Want to throw a small holiday party for your friends and family at Riverbanks Zoo? Now you can. Private “igloos” this year are available for rent during the zoo’s 2nd annual Wild Lights. The tent-like igloos are available to zoo members for as many as six people for $200. For nonmembers, the cost is $250. The rentals include fun games, a small music speaker, hot chocolate, s’mores and a private fire pit outside.
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Nov 11, 2024 | 
carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu | Cassie Cornwell
Susan Smith killed her two sons in 1994, then lied on national TV about a Black man carjacking them. She was sentenced to life in prison when her lies unraveled nine days later in front of millions of viewers. Now, after 30 years, she is up for parole. Her hearing is scheduled for Nov. 20. Tommy Pope, South Carolina’s lead prosecutor on the case, told the Carolina News & Reporter recently that parole shouldn’t be an option because the jury didn’t know Smith would be eligible for parole.
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Nov 7, 2024 | 
carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu | Annie Poteat |Cassie Cornwell
REMBERT – Artie spent 16 years at another facility before being transferred to Wateree River Correctional Institution in 2022. He was used to a much more “aggressive” high-security environment, but Wateree is a medium-security South Carolina prison. That didn’t stop him from feeling on edge when he first arrived. Artie remembers a day when other inmates were being aggressive, making him uneasy. A Wateree staff member told him to go see the horses who live on the site and try to calm down.
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Oct 8, 2024 | 
carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu | Cassie Cornwell
After years of rising drug overdose deaths in South Carolina, newly released data shows a hopeful change. This comes as South Carolina has made more of an effort to increase availability and educate people about naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug. While an encouraging sign, local experts say a lot more work is needed. “Now, they’re still high,” Dr. Kevin Walker, with Prisma Health in Greenville, said of the deaths.
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Oct 2, 2024 | 
carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu | Cassie Cornwell
A Santee Cooper transmission tower fell into the Congaree River on Monday, as strong currents from upstream waters flowed into the Columbia area. Hurricane Helene hit Florida as a Category 4 storm Thursday and traveled into the Southeast overnight and into Friday. Swollen rivers have been dumping water into South Carolina since. The tower is a support structure for an electrical line, said Santee Cooper utility spokesperson Mollie Gore.
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Sep 26, 2024 | 
carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu | Cassie Cornwell
Many Columbia streets, intersections and one bridge were closed Thursday after 2 inches of rain had fallen by 2:30 p.m. from Hurricane Helene. The highly traveled Blossom Street bridge between Columbia and West Columbia was closed by the South Carolina Department of Transportation after heavy flooding closed the intersection of Blossom and Huger streets. That’s the site of the Park Place apartments and a construction site for a new student apartment complex. USC’s Founders Park is nearby.
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Sep 25, 2024 | 
carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu | Cassie Cornwell
Looking for boiled peanuts? A new dog? Animal Mission’s annual peanut boil and adoption fundraiser takes place this Saturday. The mission’s 17th Palmetto Peanut Boil will be on Devine Street on the blocks near the Columbia fire station from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.The city of Columbia’s Animal Services will have adoptable, spayed and neutered dogs out on leashes to help find them new homes. “They’ll have some of their adoptable dogs out to meet you,” Animal Mission’s Executive Director Jen Coody said.
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Aug 30, 2024 | 
carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu | Katie Rojas |Cait Dee |Cassie Cornwell
Some 27 years ago, 19-year-old Freddie Owens killed a woman in a gas station robbery. Next month, state officials decided recently, he’ll face the ultimate consequence for his actions: the death penalty. Owens’ execution, scheduled for Sept. 20, will be the first in South Carolina since 2011, ending a hold on executions because of a shortage of lethal injection drugs. High-profile former criminal justice officials weighed in on the issue recently with the Carolina News & Reporter.
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Aug 30, 2023 | 
dailygamecock.com | Cassie Cornwell
For third-year dance student Sophie Dragomire, the battle to find available parking near USC's band and dance building is an extra obstacle in a schedule that already asks her to spend about 25 hours each week in the facility. That challenge particularly affects students commuting from off campus, who said they have had issues with being ticketed frequently, being late for classes or being left without a parking space. "I have to go to the dance building a lot," Dragomire said.
