Tony Bartelme

Feb 23, 2025 | aikenstandard.com | Tony Bartelme |Glenn Smith

UNCOVEREDAn SC town has an unusual history as a magnet for rich horse lovers. What secrets does it hold? The Post and Courier's partners in this project include John Dell’Osso from the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa, The Aiken Standard, Houston Chronicle and Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. 1. Whispers and horsesTwenty-three years ago, a middle-aged man from Nigeria traveled to Aiken to buy a horse farm. He’d arrived unannounced to close the deal.

Feb 7, 2025 | postandcourier.com | Tony Bartelme

Military investigators said the F-35B stealth fighter that flew uncrewed for 11 minutes before crashing in Williamsburg County in 2023 cost the military $135.6 million, according to heavily redacted records The Post and Courier obtained. The more than 500 pages supplied in response to an open records request also include photographs of a battered ejection seat, a vivid example of powerful forces pilots face when they bail out of a fighter jet.

Nov 26, 2024 | postandcourier.com | Tony Bartelme

South of Seabrook Island, Deveaux Bank is one of the most important rest stops on the East Coast for migrating shorebirds, including the mysterious whimbrels. But risings seas and pounding storms split it in two and swallowed its sand and scrubby trees. An island that once was more than 200 acres is now barely six or seven at high tide. Even so, thousands of brown pelicans nested there earlier this year, cramming every open space like people in a lifeboat.

Nov 5, 2024 | postandcourier.com | Tony Bartelme

A South Carolina exploration company's stunning revelation this year that it possibly found the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's long-lost plane turned out to be an aircraft-shaped rock formation. Tony Romeo, founder of Deep Sea Vision, said in a statement to The Post and Courier that his team recently was in the area of his once- promising target. But new sonar images from the company's underwater drone revealed a bunch of rocks, not Earhart's Lockheed 10-E Electra.

Oct 31, 2024 | postandcourier.com | Tony Bartelme

Marine investigators say an F-35B stealth fighter pilot grew disoriented amid multiple system failures while flying in stormy weather over North Charleston in 2023, prompting the pilot to eject even though the jet was capable of flying. Investigators identified an "electrical event" during the flight that triggered multiple failures, including the aircraft's radios, transponder and air navigation system.