South Carolina aims to reduce S.C. traffic fatalities to zero
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina is setting a goal of reducing the number of traffic fatalities to zero.
And on Wednesday, the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Transportation are holding events in four cities to announce a team of 24 Highway Patrol troopers who will work toward that goal.
The team, called the Target Zero Team, will focus on the three main violations that lead to highway fatalities - not using seat belts, drunken driving and speeding.
The Target Zero team is being introduced at events in Columbia, Charleston, Greenville and Myrtle Beach.
After parent outcry, school pulls novel from reading list
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A Charleston high school has pulled a novel from a summer reading list after a parent complained about the novel's dark and explicit content.
The Post and Courier of Charleston (http://bit.ly/1VMECuW) reports that "Some Girls Are," a popular young-adult novel by Courtney Summers, was one of two books that students entering the freshman Honors English I class at West Ashley High School could read to complete the summer assignment.
The novel centers on a teenage girl who goes from being popular to scorned after being sexually assaulted at a party.
Melanie MacDonald, whose daughter is an incoming ninth-grader at West Ashley, complained about the book's graphic content.
Schools officials said the book has been removed from the list and parents would be alerted to the change through an automated phone message Wednesday.
More than 1M tons of ash removed from S.C. generating sites
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — More than 1 million tons of coal ash has been removed from riverfront sites of coal-fired generating plants in South Carolina.
The Southern Environmental Law Center said in a statement Tuesday that the ash has been removed from plants near Columbia and Myrtle Beach under settlement agreements that utilities reached with conservation groups.
The ash is being moved either to lined storage facilities or being recycled into concrete to prevent the danger of river pollution
The environmental group says South Carolina Electric & Gas has removed about 725,000 tons of coal ash from riverside lagoons at its Wateree Plant on the Catawba-Wateree River near Columbia.
Santee Cooper has also removed nearly 300,000 tons from riverfront lagoons at its Grainger Plant on the Waccamaw River in Conway.