expertsouthcarolina.com

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 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

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

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

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 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 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

Attorney General Alan Wilson and several top law enforcement chiefs Wednesday unveiled a list of 10 legislative priorities they said they will work to pass by the session’s end in June.

The priorities – mostly nuts-and-bolts criminal matters – address issues that have been percolating in the General Assembly for years but have so far failed to pass.

One, for example, would give prosecution and defense lawyers an equal number of strikes against potential jurors. Currently, defense lawyers have twice as many jury strikes as prosecutors for serious crimes such as murder and armed robbery.

The joint law enforcement lobbying effort was said by Wilson to be the first ever in the state. Different agencies have tended to go their own way and lobby lawmakers for narrow interests, Wilson said.

“There are so many things we agree on – it’s so important that we speak with one voice,” Wilson said.

http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2154804/law-enforcement-chiefs-reveal.html#RSS=local