The Crayton Middle School greeting echoed through the school auditorium and across the galaxy as students and faculty welcomed some special guest speakers to their campus Wednesday.
“Houston Space Station, this is Crayton Middle School. Can you hear me?” seventh-grade teacher Ann Carbone called out to astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
“This is the space station. We can hear you loud and clear,” the reply came – from thousands of miles away.
The Richland 1 school is one of three nationwide selected to take part in a downlink video with the space station. During an often lively question-and-answer session, students inquired about a range of subjects related to space travel including the obstacles to becoming an astronaut, how crew members stay in contact with their families and the special exercise regiments astronauts have to undergo.
In recent months students in Crayton’s International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme have participated in a comprehensive study of space. Those lessons were conducted in various subject areas and included such things as the biographies of astronauts, the use of math in problem-solving in space and the science of space exercise.
http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2154802/lesson-is-out-of-this-world.html#RSS=local
A bill introduced in the S.C. House would give police, prosecutors and sheriffs broad freedom to keep secret any and all crimes and arrests from the public, critics say.
“This goes a long way in creating a secret police operation in South Carolina,” said Jay Bender, a Columbia lawyer and USC media law professor who has for decades argued open government cases in courts. He represents numerous media organizations, including The State Media Company.
Supporters of the bill, including sponsor Rep. Chris Murphy, R-Dorchester, say Bender exaggerates the impact of the measure, which if passed would amend the state’s existing Freedom of Information law.
“For him to say this will cause a police state, that is a stretch,” Murphy said. He described his bill as “narrowly tailored” to allow law enforcement to more easily deny an FOI request to make public sensitive pretrial information about crime victims, witnesses and ongoing investigations.
The specific language in Murphy’s bill says law officials would be able to withhold any “information to be used in a prospective law enforcement action or criminal prosecution.”
http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2154788/should-crime-details-be-kept-from.html#RSS=local
A second juvenile wanted in connection with the string of pit bull thefts from the Columbia Animal Shelter was taken into custody today.
The 13-year-old male turned himself in to investigators at police headquarters, according to the Columbia Police Department.
The teen and three others have been charged in connection with the investigation.
Two of the four charged are adults.
Acting on information provided by the suspects, police found 17 dogs at a rural residence in Bamberg County, about 50 miles south of Columbia. Not all of the dogs were those missing from the shelter. The dogs were tied to trees with heavy chains, but police reported only minor injuries to most.
http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2155967/4th-suspect-charged-in-thefts.html#RSS=local
A coalition of sports and environmental groups wants Batesburg-Leesville to stop looking at increased sewage disposal in the Edisto River.
Their demand comes as town leaders stick with the river as one option under consideration.
Leaders of the Sierra Club and Palmetto Paddlers say the idea jeopardizes recreation on a river that is one of the most pristine in South Carolina.
David Hutchens of Lexington, a leader of both groups, said their position is “nothing else dumped in the river,” no matter how well town leaders say anti-pollution efforts work.
The demand comes as town leaders search for ways to satisfy groups skeptical of its plan to expand wastewater disposal.
http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2154799/groups-oppose-batesburg-leesville.html#RSS=local
Some South Carolina magistrates are throwing out drunken-driving cases because the drivers were on mopeds, which are exempt from SC motor-vehicle laws.
But Wednesday, a state Senate committee approved a bill that would reclassify mopeds as a motor vehicle in terms of enforcing drinking-and-driving laws only.
You don’t need a driver’s license to drive a moped in South Carolina, making it a popular choice for drunken-driving offenders with suspended licenses. In the Senate version of the bill, DUI offenders with suspended licenses still could drive mopeds. But they would no longer be exempt from state drunken-driving laws.
The bill, originally sponsored by state Reps. Eddie Tallon and Derham Cole, both Spartanburg Republicans, passed the SC House last year. That version of the proposal would have considered a moped to be a motor vehicle in all aspects of the law.
State law defines a moped as having a motor of less than 50-cubic centimeters and not capable of going faster than 30 miles per hour.
http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2154803/bill-would-end-dui-exemption-for.html#RSS=local
A second juvenile wanted in connection with the string of pit bull thefts from the Columbia Animal Shelter was taken into custody today.
The 13-year-old male turned himself in to investigators at police headquarters, according to the Columbia Police Department.
The teen and three others have been charged in connection with the investigation.
Two of the four charged are adults.
Acting on information provided by the suspects, police found 17 dogs at a rural residence in Bamberg County, about 50 miles south of Columbia. Not all of the dogs were those missing from the shelter. The dogs were tied to trees with heavy chains, but police reported only minor injuries to most.
http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2155967/4th-suspect-charged-in-thefts.html#RSS=local
In 2003, Salvatore Giunta graduated from basic combat training at Fort Benning, Ga.
Thursday, Giunta addressed the graduating soldiers of the 193rd Infantry Brigade at Columbia’s Fort Jackson as the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War.
“Yesterday, you were the future of the United States Army. Today, you are the United States Army,” he said. “Today, you will pick up the torch.”
Graduations are held almost weekly at the Army’s largest training base. Thursday was special because five Medal of Honor recipients visited with the new soldiers, one for each company of the 193rd. There are only 83 living Medal of Honor recipients.
Two Medal of Honor recipients who lived in the Midlands recently passed away:
http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2156216/first-living-medal-of-honor-recipient.html#RSS=local
A second juvenile wanted in connection with the string of pit bull thefts from the Columbia Animal Shelter was taken into custody today.
The 13-year-old male turned himself in to investigators at police headquarters, according to the Columbia Police Department.
The teen and three others have been charged in connection with the investigation.
Two of the four charged are adults.
Acting on information provided by the suspects, police found 17 dogs at a rural residence in Bamberg County, about 50 miles south of Columbia. Not all of the dogs were those missing from the shelter. The dogs were tied to trees with heavy chains, but police reported only minor injuries to most.
http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2155967/4th-suspect-charged-in-thefts.html#RSS=local
The Crayton Middle School greeting echoed through the school auditorium and across the galaxy as students and faculty welcomed some special guest speakers to their campus Wednesday.
“Houston Space Station, this is Crayton Middle School. Can you hear me?” seventh-grade teacher Ann Carbone called out to astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
“This is the space station. We can hear you loud and clear,” the reply came – from thousands of miles away.
The Richland 1 school is one of three nationwide selected to take part in a downlink video with the space station. During an often lively question-and-answer session, students inquired about a range of subjects related to space travel including the obstacles to becoming an astronaut, how crew members stay in contact with their families and the special exercise regiments astronauts have to undergo.
In recent months students in Crayton’s International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme have participated in a comprehensive study of space. Those lessons were conducted in various subject areas and included such things as the biographies of astronauts, the use of math in problem-solving in space and the science of space exercise.
http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2154802/lesson-is-out-of-this-world.html#RSS=local
A tip from a Pelion police officer apparently gave the South Carolina Highway Patrol the lucky break they needed to make an arrest in a Lexington County hit-and-run case last week.
Romeo Romero Jr. surrendered to the SC Highway Patrol Sunday morning at the Lexington County Detention Center. He is charged with leaving the scene of a collision involving a death. More charges may be filed.
When Irma Hudson, 59, stepped out of her truck Wednesday night to pick up some trash that had flown out of the vehicle’s cargo area, she was struck and killed by a pickup truck on SC 302 a few miles west of Pelion. A child was in her truck at the time but not physically injured.
Within minutes, a Pelion police officer stopped Romero for an unrelated traffic violation, according to the Highway Patrol. The Pelion officer wrote a ticket, then, having no reason to detain him, let Romero go.
Within an hour, that officer heard over the radio about the hit-and-run and drove out to the death scene. He told troopers at the site that he may have just ticketed a person of interest.
http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/12/2151066/traffic-stop-helps-pelion-officer.html#RSS=local