State cracking down on litterbugs. Dixie Chick perform Thursday....More.

Sanford, Bauer have different views on tax increases. PSC waiting for court ruling...More.

Guardsman returns in time for baby..... More.

Another lawsuit filed against Carolina Investors officials. BMW supplier opens plant...More.

Greenville Teacher dreams of going to space. Grant enables Furman professors....More.

Upstate shakes with Alabama earthquake. Tax credit to help with preservation of S.C. nature.... More.

$750,000 awarded in malpractice suit....More.

Greenville to replace RiverPlace Arts Festival. Celebrities to make a cameo in Greenville...More.

Addition to Palmetto Trail poses no problems. 10-year license bad policy.....More

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Greenville to replace RiverPlace Arts Festival
Many Upstate artisans are curious to see what will replace the festival now that it's been canceled. Greenville News

Celebrities to make a cameo in Greenville
Locals can see Kevin Costner, Cheech Marin and other celebrities, who are in town for the BMW Pro-Am tournament, as they mingle on Main Street in Greenville Thursday. Greenville News

Corley takes father's seat
Republican Doris Meetze Corley won her late father's seat on Richland County Council Tuesday, which would have been his 63rd birthday. The State

Beaufort to support air base in lawsuit
Beaufort County will help fight a federal lawsuit alleging Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort is negatively affecting nearby property values. Hilton Head Island Packet

Addition to Palmetto Trail poses no problems
"A 12-mile hiking trail through the Greenville watershed should pose no problems for the reservoirs that serve as the major sources of drinking water for Greenville residents. The Greenville Commission of Public Works last November approved the trail, recognizing that it will be a safe and appealing addition to the larger 425-mile Palmetto Trail, which will stretch across the state." Greenville News

10-year license bad policy
"Senators have wisely slowed down a well-intended but in many ways misguided bill to overhaul the beleaguered Division of Motor Vehicles. Despite their hesitation to pass the measure, though, the budget they begin debating today makes one of its most troubling aspects a fait accompli." The State

S.C. roads need to be safer
"Pending in the state Senate is a bill that would reduce the legal limit for a driver's blood-alcohol content to .08, a move that could reduce the number of deaths on our highways. And the state House of Representatives has approved a bill allowing primary enforcement of the seat belt law, and that measure also is pending in the Senate. State lawmakers should recognize that these bills represent commonsense approaches to improving our state's highway safety record." Spartanburg Herald-Journal

Port still important
"As the May 13 hearing nears before the S.C. Supreme Court on Jasper County's taking Georgia-owned land near Hardeeville, several elements favorable to building a port in Jasper County are falling into place." Beaufort Gazette

Legislators should act honestly
"Trying to balance the state budget by pilfering money from trust funds set up for environmental protection should be banned in the General Assembly, regardless of what the state attorney general says about its legality." Hilton Head Island Packet

Smoke-free prisons a good idea
"South Carolina Department of Corrections Director Jon Ozmint's plan to phase out smoking at the state's 29 prisons makes good sense." Hilton Head Island Packet

* Gonzales deserved citizenship
"The United States government did the right thing in granting posthumous citizenship to Cpl. Armando Ariel Gonzalez, a Beaufort Marine who died serving America in Iraq." Carolina Morning News

* 701 battle unnecessary
"Conservationists say this 701 connector would destroy critical wetlands while opening the stretch between Bucksport and Bucksville to uncontrolled development. Proponents, including members of the Greater Georgetown Transportation Task Force, depict the connector as a vital link to drain traffic pressure from U.S. 17 through the Waccamaw Neck. Both sides have valid points - but they wrongly assume there can be no middle ground." Myrtle Beach Sun News

* Conservation a success
"The state's Conservation Initiative Act proved its value in its first year of existence, helping to save tens of thousands of acres from development in perpetuity, with the assistance of state income tax credits. Its record should serve as an incentive to fund the state Conservation Bank this fiscal year." Post and Courier

* Turbeville: Bike noise annoying
"The question really is whether there is any noise abatement law/regulation covering motorcycles. If current laws are being obeyed, which the writer is not inclined to believe, we obviously need some new ones and request your support in both finding out what the existing laws are and pursuing new ones if necessary." Myrtle Beach Sun News

* Teachers need protection
"We agree with state senators that teachers deserve to be protected from violent students. But the so-called teacher protection bill approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee last week deals only with the aftermath of school violence, not with protecting teachers from it in the first place." Rock Hill Herald

* Shaw's impact about more than money
"I was visiting Shaw Air Force Base Monday and, as we drove, I watched as a couple of F-16s flew overhead. I thought how we take for granted that on most days we can see the $34 million jets fly by at Mach 1. Prior to 9/11, motorists riding along U.S. 76-378 would often stop to simply watch the fighters as they took off, completed their maneuvers and landed. But what would become of Sumter and the surrounding area if the military installation that opened in 1941 were to close?" The Item

* Small schools are nice
"The size of public schools is often discussed simultaneously with quality education or education reform. It appears that there is much support for a return to the small neighborhood schools of years past, a notion that has a good ring to it among politicians and parents alike. After all, small neighborhood schools mean fewer students in each classroom, giving teachers more time to “teach” the children." Chester News and Reporter

* Kids Count findings scary
"In 1980, Georgetown County recorded 60 infant mortalities, the fourth-highest rate per 1,000 among South Carolina’s 46 counties. That number fell to 27 in the most recent data available, improving our ranking to No. 16 . But the shame — our shame — is that, to a large extent, infant mortality is preventable. We know that low-birth weight babies is the single greatest cause of infant mortality and, according to Kids Count, the number of low-weight birth babies in this county increased from 68 in 1980 to 100 in 2001. One would have thought that in 20 years we would have learned something." Georgetown Times

* Politics an ongoing battle
"Politics is the only battle in life that is never won nor lost, nor is it ever ending.
While a political fight is needed in certain areas, there are some where politics should have never been involved from the start. Presidents must be political due to the size of the population for which one’s term in office will cover. The only way to have the “best-suited” president is to have a political debate that ends with an election." Georgetown Times

Kiriakides: House protects Medicaid and
"The State has repeatedly made the point that our Legislature must either cut programs or raise taxes. What the House did was to provide a plan to ensure health care for our neediest citizens without asking just the smoking population, who are usually lower-income than the rest of us, to pick up the tab." The State

Scoppe: S.C. Has room to raise taxes
"But there are three major problems with raising the sales tax: It is the most regressive tax we have, which means poor people spend a larger portion of their income on it than do richer people, because they spend a larger portion of their income on purchases. It is a volatile source of income; while sales tax income does go up every year, it goes up very slowly some years, at less than the rate of inflation. Finally, it is becoming less stable, as more of our spending shifts to services, most of which are not taxed, and to untaxed goods sold over the Internet." The State

Warner: University Center's resources to pay off
"Can you name a public university campus in Greenville with 5,000 annualized enrollments, half of whom are pursuing graduate degrees? If not, you are not alone. The University Center of Greenville is one of our most critical, yet least appreciated, institutions." Greenville News