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A Supreme Court order legalizing same-sex marriage in five states reverberated further on Thursday, with the attorney general of West Virginia conceding that its ban on same-sex marriage was no longer defensible but South Carolina officials vowing to keep fighting to restrict marriage to a man and a woman. Since the Supreme Court decision on Monday and a ruling from a federal circuit court on Tuesday, new developments have appeared almost hourly as gay-rights advocates press for action in nine other states: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming.

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - At first glance, past ads connected to slavery may have you doing a double take. They come from one of the South's oldest newspapers still serving communities in the Carolinas. The Augusta Chronicle's reach extends into towns like North Augusta, South Carolina. That's why state NAACP President Lonnie Randolph wants the paper to issue an apology for content it ran in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Solar company formed weeks before Chip Hagan's business received grant. RALEIGH — Sen. Kay Hagan’s husband and son created a solar energy contracting company in August 2010, and then, using $250,644 in federal stimulus grant funds, her husband hired that same company to install solar panels at a building he owns. Public records show that Green State Power was formed seven weeks before JDC Manufacturing — a company owned in part by Greensboro attorney Charles “Chip” Hagan III, Sen. Hagan’s husband — received the stimulus grant for the solar project at a 300,000-square-foot facility in Reidsville, N.C. ... Hagan, a...

<p>COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied appeals from five states seeking to preserve gay-marriage bans. The move doesn’t mean same-sex marriages will begin immediately in South Carolina, but experts say such unions probably aren’t too far off.</p> <p>WHAT WILL THE ATTORNEY GENERAL DO?</p>

COLUMBIA, SC — The U.S. Army may close Moncrief Army Community Hospital at Fort Jackson, according to Maj. Gen. Bradley Becker, the fort’s commander. Becker said that the Army medical command contacted him this week and told him that it is considering closing the hospital or drastically cutting back service at the facility, which is the main health care provider for the 72,000 soldiers who are trained there each year and the fort’s 7,000 military and civilian employees. The State reported a year ago that Moncrief had roughly 700 employees. Medical care for the recruits would be transferred to local...

ORANGEBURG COUNTY, SC (WIS TV) - Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell says three men are behind bars after a weekend crime spree. Kendalon Zarkee Curry, 21, Christian Dion Asher, 22, and Ja'Vall Radrickus Curry, 22, were taken into custody on September 29. Ravenell said the trio "set out to terrorize residents and create havoc Saturday." At approximately 5 a.m., the men were in a Chrysler New Yorker that slammed into a metal fence and brick post outside of a home on Bryan Drive, the sheriff said. Before they made their getaway, they smashed up items inside the residence, beat on...

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) says he could be a presidential candidate in 2016. The outspoken two-term Senator, known as a foreign policy hawk, told the Weekly Standard that if the hawks aren't well-represented when the 2016 fields begin to solidify, he might throw his hat into the ring. ... When the Weekly Standard's Stephen F. Hayes asked Graham if he'd back a run by Sen. Marco Rubio, he took a shot at the Florida Republican whom he worked with on the Senate immigration bill. "He's a good guy, but after doing immigration with him - we don't need...

VIDEO of a recent Upstate SC townhall, moderated by Josh Kimbrell, at Dickey's Barbecue Pit at the Village Greens Golf Course in Inman, South Carolina. The video was produced by the Mulch Tank Business and Leadership Center (www.MulchTank.com) located in Spartanburg, South Carolina

This is the shocking moment when a policeman shot an unarmed man during a traffic stop for not wearing a seatbelt. Sean Groubert, 31, who as a South Carolina State Trooper at the time of the incident shot Levar Jones on September 4 on Broad River Road, in Richmond County, Columbia. Groubert ordered Mr Jones to show his driving licence. When he reached into his car to retrieve the document, Groubert started shouting and opened fire with his semi-automatic handgun. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2769379/Shocking-moment-police-officer-shoots-unarmed-driver-pulling-not-wearing-seatbelt.html#ixzz3EP6lurmv Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — An unarmed man shot by a South Carolina trooper during a traffic stop repeated one question through his anguished cries as he lay wounded, waiting for an ambulance: "Why did you shoot me?" Levar Jones' painful groans and then-Trooper Sean Groubert's reply — "Well you dove head first back into your car" — were captured by a dashboard camera in the trooper's car. Groubert had stopped Jones on a seatbelt violation at a Columbia gas station and fired the shots moments after asking Jones for his license

COLUMBIA, SC — Drummers from the Columbia Drum Circle began beating rhythms that reverberated Sunday over the bustling of Gervais and Main streets, while nearby children made instruments out of recycled materials and got their faces painted. A crowd from the community and local civic groups gathered Sunday afternoon on the State House steps for the inaugural “Peace Day at the State House” rally sponsored by the Carolina Peace Resource Center. Lizzie Utset, an intern with the peace center who organized the event, said it was hard work bringing all of the groups and people together from Columbia to Charleston...

(CNSNews.com) - House Speaker John Boehner (R.-Ohio) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) joined forces early Wednesday evening as the House passed a continuing resolution that will fund the government after the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, and that will permit funding for Planned Parenthood (the nation's largest abortion provider), the entirety of Obamacare, and an amendment requested by President Barack Obama "to train and equip appropriately vetted elements of the Syrian opposition." The bill passed 319 to 108 with four members not voting. But there were not enough Republican members to pass the bill without...

- Clemson is requiring students and faculty to complete an online course through a third party website that asks invasive questions about sexual history. - In an email Clemson says that failure to complete the course will be a violation of the “Student Code of Conduct, General Student Regulation 8: Failure to Comply with Official Request.” ... “How many times have you had sex (including oral) in the last 3 months?” asks one question. “With how many different people have you had sex (including oral) in the last 3 months?” asks another. ... Jerry Knighton, Director of the Office of...

Woodruff, S.C. - 7 On Your Side was contacted by several upset parents who say Woodruff High School students were made to take down American flags from their vehicles on September 11. Spartanburg District 4 Superintendent Rallie Liston said four students arrived at the school Thursday morning with U.S. flags propped up on poles in their pickup truck beds. The school's principal, Aaron Fulmer, confiscated the flags because he said it is against district policy to “draw attention” to one's vehicle. The flags were returned to the students at the end of the day. The students were not punished. Fulmer...

Sen. Lindsey Graham said President Obama’s plan in Syria “won’t even come close to defeating" the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. "It’s delusional," the South Carolina Republican said. Appearing on "Fox News Sunday" just after Obama’s chief of staff Denis McDonough, Graham said that “when the president and the president’s chief of staff says ‘we mean what we do and we do what we say,' no one believes that anymore. “There is no way in hell you can form an army on the ground in Syria to kill [the Islamic State] without a substantial American component ... “They’re pushing...

In a very personal post on his Facebook detailing his latest spat with his former spouse, South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford announced that he and his mistress turned fiancee, Maria Belen Chapur, a woman he once called his 'soul mate,' have called off their wedding plans. ''No relationship can stand forever this tension of being forced to pick between the one you love and your own son or daughter, and for this reason Belen and I have decided to call off the engagement,' Sanford wrote. 'Maybe there will be another chapter when waters calm with Jenny, but at this point...

7 On Your Side was contacted by several upset parents who say Woodruff High School students were made to take down American flags from their vehicles on 9/11. Spartanburg District 4 Superintendent Rallie Liston said four students arrived at the school Thursday morning with U.S. flags propped up on poles in their pickup truck beds. The school's principal, Aaron Fulmer, confiscated the flags because he said it is against district policy to “draw attention,” to one's vehicle. The flags were returned to the students at the end of the day.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A 16-year-old from Anderson is suing the South Carolina DMV because DMV employees made him remove his makeup when he went to get his driver's license in March. "I identify as gender non-conforming, which basically just means that I don't fit the traditional gender role of male," Chase Culpepper says. His mother Teresa filed the lawsuit on his behalf in federal court in Columbia Tuesday, with the help of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund. She says she couldn't believe it when she took him to get his license and DMV employees told him he had...

Jenny Sanford is asking that U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford undergo a psychiatric evaluation and take anger management and parenting courses in the latest filing in the couple's contentious divorce. She also wants the court to appoint an impartial guardian to look after the interests of the youngest of their four sons. SNIP She says the change of circumstances that led her to request the psychiatric exam will be in a complaint filed once the record is sealed.

A 16-year-old in South Carolina is suing the state's Department of Motor Vehicles because the agency won't allow the teen to take a driver's license photo wearing makeup. Chase Culpepper, who was born male, regularly wears makeup and either androgynous or women's clothing. The teen does not identify with gender-specific pronouns. Culpepper told reporters Tuesday that being ordered by officials to remove what they called a disguise was humiliating. The lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday says the DMV violated the teen's rights.