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Ex-governor wins S. Carolina runoff
Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, whose career was sidetracked by an extramarital affair with a woman in Argentina, has won a Republican runoff for his old congressional seat.
Former Charleston City Councilman Curtis Bostic conceded Tuesday evening in the South Carolina 1st Congressional District GOP runoff.
The victory sets up a May 7 showdown between Sanford and Democratic candidate Elizabeth Colbert Busch, a Charleston businesswoman who is the sister of TV comic Stephen Colbert.
FULL STORYSanford in runoff; Colbert's sister wins
[Update 11:46 a.m. Wednesdsay] Former Gov. Mark Sanford will compete against Curtis Bostic, a former Charleston councilman, in a runoff election in two weeks. The third place finisher, state Sen. Larry Grooms, conceded the race Wednesday.
[Update 9:30 p.m.] CNN projects former Gov. Mark Sanford will finish first in the Republican congressional primary, but short of the 50% needed to avoid a runoff. The second-place finisher, whom Sanford will face in the runoff, has not yet been determined.
[Update 9:02 p.m.] CNN projects that no candidate will reach 50% in the South Carolina 1st Congressional District Republican special primary, forcing a runoff April 2. One of the candidates is likely to be former Gov. Mark Sanford; the other has not yet been determined.
[Original post 8:45 p.m.] CNN projects Elizabeth Colbert Busch, a political neophyte and the sister of TV comedian Stephen Colbert, as the winner of the Democratic primary for a seat in the U.S. House representing South Carolina.
The First Congressional District seat opened up in December when Republican Rep. Tim Scott was appointed to replace outgoing U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint.
Sixteen candidates were seeking the Republican nomination for the House seat. Among them were former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, trying to restart a political career that was derailed by an extramarital affair; Teddy Turner, the son of CNN founder Ted Turner; and state Sen. Larry Grooms, who has amassed some important conservative endorsements.
Police seek Coaster Carolina killer
Coastal Carolina University students returned to class Wednesday, a day after someone killed a student at a campus dormitory.
Police still do not have a suspect or even a description of one, said Thom Berry, a spokesman for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
FULL STORYShooting on campus of Coastal Carolina University
Police were searching for whoever shot an individual Tuesday night on the campus of Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina.
The incident took place at 7:22 p.m. at University Place Apartments, which is one of the school's residence halls, Doug Bell, a school spokesman, told CNN.
The suspected shooter left in a vehicle, said Bell, who added that the school was asking students and university personnel to stay inside.
The victim was taken to Grand Strand Regional Medical Center in Myrtle Beach, he said.
"The shooting is not ongoing," the dean of students' Twitter page said. "Police continue to search for one suspect. Stay indoors."
More than 9,000 students attend the school, which is located on 630 acres about 15 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach.
Coastal Carolina University was founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College. It became an independent university in 1993.
FULL STORY
South Carolina taxpayer server hacked, 3.6 million Social Security numbers compromised
The Social Security numbers of millions of South Carolinians, as well as credit and debit card information for hundreds of thousands, have been hacked in what the state's governor described Friday as an international cyberattack.
"This is not a good day for South Carolina," Gov. Nikki Haley told reporters.
Water trapped between levees
- New Orleans mayor imposes dusk-to-dawn curfew
- More than 817,000 without power across 5 states
- Isaac's maximum sustained winds slip to 60 mph
- Emergency crews rescue people stranded by floods
Refresh this page for the latest updates or read the full CNN story here.
[Updated 10:28 p.m. ET]
[Updated 10:20 p.m. ET] Water that overtopped levees was trapped in Plaquemines Parish with nowhere to drain. Officials were considering intentionally breaching a levee downstream to allow some of the floodwater to flow back out of the inundated area, Gov. Bobby Jindal said.
Parish President Billy Nungesser said parish officials will go out at low tide to check the back levee - a second line of defense - at the town of Braithwaite and determine where to punch holes in it. It will be Saturday, at the earliest, before crews can cut the levee open, letting water flow out into the marsh.
[Updated 10 p.m. ET]
[Updated 9:52 a.m. ET] New Orleans officials said there had been 12 incidents of looting. Police said arrests were made in each case, but didn't specify how many people were involved.
[Updated 9:48 p.m. ET] Lake Pontchartrain's water levels are "beginning to stabilize," St. Tammany Parish officials said, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Water had spilled out from the lake and flooded low-lying areas of the parish.
Rescues continue in areas around the vast Louisiana lake, including Lewisburg, Guste Island, Lacombe and Slidell, the newspaper's website reported.
[Updated 9:29 p.m. ET] Joey Amann gathered family and friends into his home in Hancock County, Mississippi, to ride out the storm, he told CNN affiliate WALA.
"You know, we just figured we'd be safer in numbers. Since our house is eight feet off the ground, we figured we'd be safer there but the water just kept coming," Amann said.
"It was scary. I mean, I've never seen the water raise this fast on this road and I've been here all my life. It just came out of nowhere."
The group ended up being rescued by emergency personnel in boats.
Amann told the station he lost his home to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
"Thirty-six years I've lived here, and it's just devastating," he said. "Seven years ago, we were going through the same thing. No one thought it would be this bad, but it's worse than we anticipated."
Victim of flesh-eating bacteria goes home
Lana Kuykendall, the South Carolina woman infected with flesh-eating bacteria shortly after giving birth to twins more than two months ago, was released from the hospital Tuesday.
Kuykendall was released from Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation Hospital in Greenville, South Carolina, 68 days after being diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, according to the website faithhopelana.com.
The day after she got her healthy twin babies home from the hospital, she noticed what looked like a bruise on her leg. Kuykendall, a nurse and paramedic, inspected it closely and thought it might be a blood clot. She had her husband, a firefighter and EMT, take her to the hospital, where doctors recognized what was happening and rushed her into surgery.
She has undergone more than 20 surgical procedures, including skin grafts and reconstructive surgery. But she did not require any amputations, as recently occurred in the case of 24-year-old Aimee Copeland of Georgia, who lost her hands, a leg and a foot as a result of the infection.
The CNN Wire Staff contributed to this report.
Beryl strengthens slightly along coastal Carolina
Two days after slamming into northeast Florida, Beryl - slightly strengthened but still a tropical depression - prepared to re-enter the Atlantic on Wednesday, spreading heavy rain and blustery winds along the coast of the Carolinas.
The storm, which came ashore early Monday with 70 mph winds near Jacksonville Beach, Florida, increased its maximum sustained winds from 30 to 35 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
"On the forecast track, the center of Beryl is expected to move off the coast of southern South Carolina later today and move along or just off the coast of South and North Carolina through this evening," forecasters said.
FULL STORY
Boxing champ Paul Williams paralyzed in motorcycle accident, manager says
Boxer Paul Williams, known as "The Punisher," has been left paralyzed from the waist down after a traffic accident Sunday in suburban Atlanta, according to news reports.
Williams' manager, George Peterson, told CNN affiliate WRDW in Augusta, Georgia, that the boxer is facing surgery Wednesday to stabilize his spinal column. That surgery will entail putting a wall around his upper spine, according to the report.
Williams is from Aiken, South Carolina, east of Augusta.
He was in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta to attend his brother's wedding on Monday, according to a report in the New York Daily News.
As he rode his motorcycle home from a bachelor party early Sunday, he swerved to a avoid a car and was thrown from the bike more than 60 feet in the air, Peterson told the Daily News.
“He was doing about 75 mph on the motorcycle. When he came down, he came down on his back and when he came down on his back, of course he severed his spinal cord. He’s paralyzed from the waist down. In terms of him walking again... that will never happen,” the Daily News quoted Peterson as saying.
Williams has a career record of 41-2-0, with 27 knockouts, according to the WRDW report. He has held three title belts, twice being the WBO welterweight champ and once as the WBO light middleweight champ.
Tropical Storm Alberto forms in the Atlantic
Tropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, formed Saturday off the coast of South Carolina.
As of 5 p.m., the storm was located about 140 miles east-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, with maximum sustained winds of 45 miles per hour, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.
It was churning southwest at 3 mph.
No coastal watches or warning were in effect, though a tropical storm watch could be issued for parts of the coast later Saturday, the Hurricane Center said.
FULL STORY
Gotta Watch: So you think you can sing?
Aerosmith's Steven Tyler is a singer, although some might dispute that label, given his performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Sunday's Patriots-Ravens game. In the last few days, we've heard from a few famous folks who do not have "singer" on their resume, yet they thought enough of themselves to give it a go. Today's Gotta Watch: So you think you can sing?
Amateur night at the Apollo - The White House liked President Obama's recent musical homage to the Rev. Al Green so much, they've made it into a ringtone. [cnn-video url="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2012/01/20/tsr-bts-obama-sings-at-apollo.cnn"%5D
Truth Squad: 4 checks on Thursday's GOP debate
CNN examines statements by Republican presidential candidates during Monday night's CNN Southern Republican Debate in Charleston, South Carolina.
Rick Santorum on President Obama's budget cuts
The statement: "We have the president of the United States who said he is going to cut veterans benefits, cut our military, at a time when these folks are four, five, six, seven tours, coming back, in and out of jobs, sacrificing everything for this country. And the president of the United States can't cut one penny out of the social welfare system and he wants to cut a trillion dollars out of our military and hit our veterans, and that's disgusting."
A look at South Carolina’s tough presidential campaign ads
A biting 60-second cartoon and a controversial 28-minute movie are just two reasons South Carolina is no place for thin-skinned presidential candidates this week.
Ahead of Saturday’s primary, the state’s airwaves are packed with attack ads not only from the official campaigns, but also - and especially - from super PACs that have spent millions of dollars for South Carolina alone.
Attack ads aren’t novel, but South Carolina combines a narrowed GOP field - front-runner Mitt Romney is now battling just four major rivals, all furiously trying to keep him from winning his third straight primary or caucus - with the relatively new super PACs.
The super PACs, created after federal court decisions in 2010, are allowed to receive unlimited campaign contributions from corporations, labor unions and individual donors. Traditional political action committees and candidates’ campaigns may receive only limited contributions.
Super PACs, which according to federal records have spent at least $6 million on South Carolina’s primary so far and $26 million on the 2012 presidential race overall, aren’t allowed to coordinate with candidates’ campaigns. This has sometimes led candidates to shrug their shoulders at rivals’ complaints about the ads’ accuracy, asserting that they have no control over the super PACs that support them and can’t legally tell them directly to make any changes.
Here is just a sampling of the attack ads that South Carolinians are seeing this week:
Truth Squad: 3 checks on Monday's GOP debate
CNN examines three statements by Republican presidential candidates during Monday night's Fox News-Wall Street Journal debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Romney on releasing his tax returns
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said he probably would release a tax return in April - though he declined to commit - asserting that recent GOP nominees waited until tax season in election years.
Romney's statement about his tax return came after Texas Gov. Rick Perry pushed him to release his tax information, saying his was already out.
"Mitt, we need for you to release your income tax so the people of this country can see how you made your money, and I think that's a fair thing," Perry said.
Gotta Watch: Huntsman's presidential campaign
On June 21, 2011, former Utah Governor and U.S.ambassador to China Jon Hunstman announced his candidacy for president. He began his campaign in Liberty State Park, the same place where Ronald Reagan announced his bid for president in 1980. Over the past several months, the moderate conservative traveled across the country to tout his tax plan and foreign policy views. However, his campaign never really got the momentum he needed. Huntsman finished last in the Iowa caucus and third in the New Hampshire primary. Despite the endorsement by South Carolina's largest newspaper, Huntsman decided it was time to end his campaign and back one of his rivals. Today's Gotta Watch features a look back at Huntsman's campaign, his feisty exchanges with Mitt Romney and the end of his bid for the White House.
Bad-mouthing Mitt - During his campaign, Huntsman attacked Romney on everything from tax policy to health care to his views on China.
A message for Mitt - During his campaign, Huntsman sent a message to Romney, the winner of the Iowa caucuses. "Welcome to New Hampshire. Nobody cares." That, and a nod to the Grateful Dead, were some of the more memorable highlights from his run for the GOP nomination.
To quit and endorse Mitt - In the end, Huntsman decided he shouldn't continue on, and suspended his campaign. And, despite their "differences," Huntsman gave Romney his endorsement.
Ahead of the curve: The next 7 days
Here is a look at some of the stories that CNN plans on covering this week:
Martin Luther King Jr. documents go online
Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, one of 10 national holidays in the United States.
Besides marking the day as a federal holiday for the 26th time, January 16, 2012, begins a new age of online accessibility for those wanting to know more about King and his work.
The King Center Imaging Project, which makes 200,000 of the civil rights leader's documents quickly accessible online, goes live Monday. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech and his letter from a Birmingham, Alabama, jail are among the documents available.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-violent Social Change in Atlanta and JPMorgan Chase & Co., working in partnership with AT&T Business Solutions and EMC, are responsible for the project.
Read a TIME.com history of MLK day
Taking King at his words
The memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. has sparked controversy, and perhaps this is fitting. He was a controversial man whose humanity - and words - still speak volumes today.
Milwaukee hopes images of dead can heat up cold cases
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office is taking a drastic and admittedly desperate step in its effort to clear cold cases, some stretching back to 1970.
Law enforcement officials have long posted sketches or clay models - and more recently, digital reconstructions - of unidentified persons in hopes that a friend or loved one might recognize the deceased and help police identify them. Taking its lead from Las Vegas, Milwaukee County is taking it a step further and releasing actual photos of the deceased.
It sounds gruesome - and it is, if you peruse the Milwaukee medical examiner's unidentified persons site - but forensic investigator Michael Simley says that in the 17 cases featured, authorities have run out of options.
"They were born with a name, and they deserve to have that name in death," Simley said. "This is the best way to get that information out there to the public."
Just because bodies are found in Milwaukee County doesn't mean the deceased lived there. They may have been a homeless transient or perhaps a visitor, so Simley wanted to create a database anyone could search.
It's a twist on the U.S. Justice Department's NamUs system, which is a database of unidentified human remains. The database, which contains more than 8,000 cases, is searchable by sex, race, body features, dental information or other characteristics.
There are many systems like NamUs. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, South Carolina Coroner's Association, New York State Police, Texas Department of Public Safety and even the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are among the law enforcement entities that post their John and Jane Does online, but they rely on reproductions of the deceased.
Roundup of sex-abuse allegations at Penn State, The Citadel, Syracuse
As Syracuse University became the third U.S. college whose workers have faced high-profile allegations of child sex abuse this month, child welfare advocates say the accounts may be triggering a surge in reports of juvenile sex abuse.
The “Stop it Now!” group, which guides people who are concerned that a child may have been sexually abused, says its contacts have risen 130% since a former Penn State assistant football coach was charged on allegations that he sexually abused eight boys. Anne Bale, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that after the charges, its child abuse reporting hot line received twice the number of calls it normally does for five days.
That’s not to say child sex abuse has been on an upward trend. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last year reported that incidences of child sex abuse declined by 38% from 1993 to 2006. But Stop it Now! executive director Deborah Donovan Rice said the college stories may be helping victims come forward.
“One of the things that having this story be so public and high-profile is doing, it’s making it more acceptable to talk about this very difficult issue,” Rice said Friday.
The Syracuse allegations are the latest of three child sex abuse cases at U.S. colleges that have gained national attention this month. Syracuse put longtime associate men’s basketball coach Bernie Fine on leave Thursday after two former ball boys, now in their 30s and 40s, told ESPN that Fine molested them years ago. Fine, who has not been charged, denies the allegations.
In the Penn State case, former football defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky is accused of 40 counts of sexually abusing boys over a period of more than 10 years, according to a grand jury's summary of testimony. Two Penn State officials stepped down after being charged with lying to the grand jury and failing to report the allegations of abuse to police. Longtime football coach Joe Paterno, who is not charged, was fired after reports that although he advised supervisors of allegations, he didn’t inform police.
In a third case a former cadet-turned-camp counselor at The Citadel military college in South Carolina was arrested last month on charges of molesting at least five children in alleged incidents in the Charleston area. Those cases weren’t linked to the Citadel, but the college this month revealed that in 2007, a former Citadel Summer Camp participant alleged that the man, his camp counselor, engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct.
The following is a roundup of some of the latest developments in these cases:
NCAA to examine Penn State’s handling of scandal
The NCAA says it will examine how Penn State University has handled its child sex abuse scandal.
"This unprecedented situation demands the NCAA evaluate the university's accountability" and the application of NCAA bylaws, said the group's president, Mark Emmert, in a letter to the university.
Police: Fraternity pledge severely injured in paddling; 9 arrested
Nine South Carolina college fraternity members were arrested this week on hazing charges, accused of beating and severely injuring a pledge with a paddle, authorities said.
The victim, a Francis Marion University student who was pledging Phi Beta Sigma, was paddled at an off-campus residence on October 23 “to such an extent as to have resulted in serious bodily injury” requiring hospitalization, the Florence County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
CNN affiliate WBTW, citing investigators, reported that the victim suffered temporary injuries to his kidneys.
Florence County Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Nunn told CNN that his office wasn’t releasing details of the student’s injuries, but he said the student had “an extended hospital stay.”
Irene death toll in U.S. hits 27
Flooding emerged as a major concern Monday for states hit by Irene, which hit the East Coast as a hurricane and then a tropical storm over three days.
Even as Irene weakened to a tropical storm, authorities warned that its impact was not waning, especially in Vermont.
"Many Americans are still at serious risk of power outages and flooding, which could get worse in coming days as rivers swell past their banks," President Barack Obama said Sunday, adding: "The recovery effort will last for weeks or longer."
Officials said the storm had knocked out power to more than 4 million people and was responsible for at least 27 deaths.
Check out our Open Story, read the full CNN Wire story and follow the latest developments here:
[Updated at 10:20 p.m.] Personnel in a state police helicopter on Monday rescued 21 people who had been stranded by post-Irene floodwaters in a Prattsville, New York, house, a local official said.
The group was stranded at a house that was cut off when all the bridges near it were washed out after torrential rains flooded homes and businesses and left the Catskill Mountains town of Prattsville largely cut off from the outside world.
Emergency workers rescued 87 people from the Prattsville area a day earlier, including 25 people who were stranded at a motel for hours after 70 mph wind gusts grounded aircraft.
[Updated at 7:32 p.m.] Vermont's governor warns that further flooding and loss of life related to Irene are likely for his state. Although small brooks have crested, large rivers have not, he said.
"It's just devastating," Gov. Peter Shumlin said. "Whole communities under water, businesses, homes, obviously roads and bridges, rail transportation infrastructure. We've lost farmers' crops," he said. "We're tough folks up here but Irene ... really hit us hard."
Three people are reported to have died in Vermont as a result of the storm. The nation's death toll from Irene is at 27.
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