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A financing deal with Comerica Bank and the film's financier, Capitol Films, has gotten cameras rolling again after the third union stoppage over pay, The Hollywood Reporter reported Tuesday.

The movie halted filming on May 22. Forty-six checks for the “Nailed” production bounced due to insufficient funds, according to the film’s bankers quoted by Variety in a story last week.

While the Comerica financing will help meet the film's $25 million budget and costs from a week of missed shooting days and union penalties, sources quoted by The Hollywood Reporter said they don't know if there's enough financing to last through post-production.

The shoot must end June 22 to keep its cast members. "One more shutdown will kill the movie," according to a film executive quoted by The Hollywood Reporter.

The new zoning requirements allow for more residential use in the traditionally business oriented district, cuts back on parking requirements and requires all development to go before a design review committee.

The Design Development and Review Commission requirement has upset some property owners who don’t want to be told what their buildings should look like.

Councilman Kirkman Finlay voted against the zoning changes. Council members will have a final vote at their next meeting, June 18, but will discuss it again at a special called meeting on June 11.

— Adam Beam

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Wednesday that Force Protection of Ladson, S.C., intends to move the work from Roxboro from a plant in Summerville, S.C. as part of an overhaul of its operations.

Force Protection said last year it would spend $31 million to convert the empty Roxboro plant and create 270 jobs over three years. The company said accounting problems, shareholder lawsuits and a loss of market share contributed to the delay of plans to move the work to Roxboro.

The company said Monday the Nasdaq Stock Market delayed its threatened delisting and allowed Force Protection until Sept. 15 to file its annual report for 2007 and restate its results for the first quarter of 2007.

In May, the company was awarded a $91.5 million Navy contract increase the military's supply of 151 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, for the British government.

Further investigation Tuesday determined the woman had been struck twice with the first vehicle leaving the scene of the accident. Highway Patrol officers initially believed only one vehicle was involved but evidence found at the scene indicates a second vehicle was involved.

Ciji Abbott-Williams, 25, died at the scene of severe head and body trauma, a coroner's office press release said.

She was walking when she was struck by a vehicle traveling east about 10 p.m. Monday the release said.

-- From staff reports

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will endorse Sen. Barack Obama Friday, bringing to a close her 17-month campaign for the White House, aides said Wednesday night.

As Obama turned in earnest to the general election and the hunt for a running mate, Clinton made her decision after Democrats urged her to leave the race and allow the party to coalesce around the senator from Illinois.

Clinton’s aides said she would “express her support for Sen. Obama and party unity” at an event in Washington, D.C. One adviser said Clinton would concede defeat, congratulate Obama and proclaim him the party’s nominee, while pledging to do what was needed to assure his victory.

Her decision came after a day of conversations with supporters on Capitol Hill about her future now that Obama had clinched the nomination.

David Hodges has gone there.

He’s gone looking and listening, hoping he might understand why he lost his 13-year-old son, David Alexander “Alex” Hodges Jr., there in March.

“It happens that quick,” he said, the night before attending Wednesday’s dedication of a garden in Alex’s memory at Batesburg-Leesville Middle School.

Alex was killed in an accident during spring break, when a rotted tree fell on him while he was playing with his cousin in woods across the lake from Dreher Island State Recreational Area.

“We’ve got a lot to accomplish,” Keel said, “and it won’t be done overnight.”

The Senate gave Keel, 50, a vote of confidence Wednesday, confirming the veteran law officer as new chief of the agency that oversees the state’s troubled Highway Patrol.

He replaces James Schweitzer, who resigned in February after a videotape surfaced showing a patrolman using a racial slur and threatening to kill a suspect during a traffic stop. More videos surfaced showing several troopers striking suspects with patrol cars and fists.

Additional revelations of misconduct by patrolmen also became public over succeeding months, which, combined with long-standing complaints lodged by the Legislative Black Caucus, hurt public confidence in the agency.

He was 76.

Bruccoli, the Emily Brown Jefferies distinguished professor emeritus at USC, worked until about a month ago, when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

He was “larger than life,” driving his signature red Mercedes convertible, sporting a crew cut since his 1953 graduation from Yale University, and usually wearing a Brooks Brothers suit and white shirt, his daughter Mary said.

“He loved his family,” she said. “He worked every day of his life. He used to complain if we wouldn’t let him work on Thanksgiving or Christmas.”

The zoning would encourage mixed use — businesses, retail and apartments built together —in a city that traditionally has separated commercial and residential projects.

The plan also would slash parking requirements for new buildings to satisfy some council members who wish to preserve the urban village’s walking-friendly setting.

“This proposal gives us the urban feel,” said Councilwoman Anne Sinclair, whose district includes part of Five Points.

Council must take a second and final vote on the zoning requirements. That could be as early as June 18.

“When we got to the point that they said that Senator Obama will be making that speech in a few minutes, I went home and sat alone to watch it,” Clyburn said in an interview that will air at 9 a.m. today. “Because what I was feeling was indescribable and I was afraid that I would not be able to control my emotions.”

To hear the Clyburn interview, go to thestate.com and click on this story.

PRESIDENTIAL PROFANITY?

Clyburn made news because of a different kind of emotion Wednesday. Clyburn, according to the Wall Street Journal, was called an expletive by former President Bill Clinton on the night Obama won the state’s January presidential primary.

The World War II fliers — who bombed Tokyo and other Japanese cities in retaliation for the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor — celebrated their 50th and 60th reunions in Columbia as well.

The 60th, in 2002, drew tens of thousands of people and attracted national and world media. They also drew more people than any of the Raiders’ other reunions, which have been held since 1945 and been have been public events since the 1950s.

Columbia is important to the men. It was here they met Jimmy Doolittle and began training for their mission.

Eleven of the Raiders, all in their late 80s or 90s, survive. As many as seven hope to attend April’s reunion.

Wednesday’s votes put the final touches on a $7 billion state budget, for the fiscal year beginning July 1, slimmed-down this year by a poor national economy and flat state revenues. Lawmakers focused what little money was available on education and health care, forcing budget cuts at nearly every state agency.

The budget also includes a 1 percent raise for state employees, and they will not have to pay the rising cost of health insurance.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Hugh Leatherman said the budget made shrewd use of what was available and that he did not understand some of Sanford’s vetoes, such as those killing funding for public defenders.

“It makes no sense to toughen the DUI law and arrest people if you can’t get them through the courts,” Leatherman said.

South Carolina’s first alligator hunting permits also represent the S.C. Department of Natural Resources’ first fully online application process for a public hunt.

“We hope to conduct a lot of our business this way in the future,” said Derrell Shipes, chief of statewide projects for the agency.

Natural Resources has sold hunting and fishing licenses online for a couple of years. But applications for public hunts have been filled out on paper and entered into computers by agency employees.

The new alligator hunt, approved by the Legislature this session, offered an ideal opportunity to see how online applications will work. With little publicity, the agency received 128 applications in the first week after the process opened May 29.

“Dr. Andersen has not resigned and is hard at work as superintendent of schools,” the statement says. “He has no plans for that status to change.”

Andersen took the unusual step because “there were so many rumors circulating in the community. This statement is to put it to rest,” spokesman Buddy Price said.

Efforts to reach Andersen Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Price was baffled by the intensity of chatter in the community. He said that it began Monday and that he could not pinpoint its origin.

Pastides is USC’s vice president for research and health sciences and has been a major player in reshaping the university’s research capacity and building Innovista, the downtown research campus.

In a news release posted on Georgia State’s Web site, the university identified the other finalists as:

• Guy Bailey, chancellor of the University of Missouri at Kansas City since 2006

• Deborah Anne Freund, distinguished professor of public administration from 2004 to present and former vice chancellor for academic affairs at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York

“My daddy was an immigrant, and I just wish he had lived to see me here. Boy, did he love this country.”

— Rep. Skipper Perry, R-Aiken, choking back tears, as he wished his fellow lawmakers adieu. Wednesday, several retiring House lawmakers took to the floor to say goodbye. Most shed a tear, and one, Rep. Floyd Breeland, D-Charleston, serenaded lawmakers with a hymn.

S.C. PRIMARY

Days left until the June 10 primary: 5

Wednesday, the House agreed with the Senate to allow the state’s oil distributors to continue to splash-blend, a technique in which distributors buy unleaded gas and ethanol separately and then blend the two together.

Otherwise, distributors must pay more to buy unleaded gas/ethanol fuel from the major oil companies. The higher price is passed on to motorists.

Splash-blending in South Carolina saves motorists as much as 8 cents a gallon for regular gas, said Michael Fields, director of the S.C. Petroleum Marketers Association.

“It’s a good day for South Carolina,” Fields said. “We ought to have the right to blend oils to the benefit of our consumers and South Carolina small businesses.”

Public Safety spokesman Sid Gaulden says law enforcement personnel and traffic control devices will be deployed on I-26, U.S. 501 and U.S. 278 Wednesday as if the roads were reversed for a hurricane evacuation.

No lanes will be blocked during the simulation, which runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Gaulden said.

The Atlantic hurricane season started Sunday and runs through November 30.

According to “Diplomas Count,” 56 percent of seniors graduated from high school on time with a regular diploma in 2005, compared with a national average of 71 percent. That’s up from 51 percent in 2001.

The report released Wednesday puts South Carolina’s on-time graduation rate as fourth-worst in the nation, with Louisiana, New Mexico and Nevada faring worse. Previous reports have ranked South Carolina as last.

Force Protection, which makes mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles known as MRAPs, and the Medical University of South Carolina announced Wednesday the opening of a center that will study the injuries and help the company design safer vehicles.

The company based near Charleston is providing $5 million to the center, university president Raymond Greenberg said. The school is providing the space and an MRI scanner with cutting-edge resolution, Greenberg said.

As part of the research, scientists plan to fill clear plastic models of the head with fluids and other materials to represent the brain. These models, called phantoms, will be scanned before and after field tests on the company’s blast range to better understand what happens when the brain is injured.

The models are more sophisticated than crash test dummies, which generally are solid models of the human body.

Old Bush River Road, 5100 block: A man was arrested at 1:30 a.m. Saturday after police found him in a bar parking lot reeking of alcohol and carrying an illegal knife. The man told deputies he didn’t have a weapon on him, but they saw the knife in his waistband. Another man came out of the bar with the manager and accused the drunken man of attacking him. Police watched a videotape of the assault, and it showed the man attacking the victim and hitting him. The victim pressed charges, so the accused man was arrested. He began to fight the deputies and tried to get away. They had to use pepper spray to calm him down, but he managed to kick out a $250 window in the patrol car.

RICHLAND COUNTY SHERIFF

Metz Road, 1200 block: Police were called to a home at 11 p.m. Tuesday after a woman said another woman was harassing her. The resident said the other woman had once lived at the home, but had recently moved. The former roommate said she was at the house to retrieve some belongings, but she and the resident got into an argument, so she left and called police to escort her into the home. While the deputy was escorting the woman, he discovered that she was breaking a court-issued “no contact” order, a report said.

WEST COLUMBIA POLICE

The trooper tried to pull over the stolen van early Wednesday morning because it was damaged and had a headlight out when it sped off on a four-minute chase through downtown and down U.S. 29, authorities said.

The van ran a red light and hit a tractor-trailer at U.S. 29 and S.C. 291, deputies said.

Authorities say the driver, 22-year-old David Powell Jr., and 49-year-old Donnie Browning died, while the truck driver was not hurt.

Trooper David Robertson will remain on duty while the incident is investigated, officials said.

Mulkey was a coach at Summerville High and inspired the team that won the South Carolina Class four-A basketball championship in March.

After the victory, the players visited his grave, and some left their gold medals there.

Mulkey’s best friend, Summerville coach Tee Newman, said he has been contacted by Walt Disney Pictures about the idea.

Contributing: The Associated Press

"America, this is our moment," the 46-year-old senator and one-time community organizer said in his first appearance as the Democratic nominee-in-waiting. "This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past."

Clinton praised Obama warmly in an appearance before supporters in New York, although she neither acknowledged his victory in their grueling marathon nor offered a concession of any sort.

Instead, she said she was committed to a unified party, and said she would spend the next few days determining "how to move forward with the best interests of our country and our party guiding my way."

Obama's victory set up a five-month campaign with Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a race between a first-term Senate opponent of the Iraq War and a 71-year-old Vietnam prisoner of war and staunch supporter of the current U.S. military mission.

Or so they thought.

While it’s understandable students may need a break after 180 days of school, it’s also important that parents keep young minds sharp and engaged during the summer — ready, once again, when the 2008-09 year rolls around in mid-August.

The good news for parents: learning resources are all around, and most are free.

We gathered ideas from area educators and other education resources. Here are some of our favorites — by academic subject.

County Council could give final approval at the end of the month to the new measure that includes, among other things, a leash law and specifics on pens for dangerous animals. The proposal received initial approval in late May.

With five dog bite complaints in the past two months — the first complaints since July 2007 — county officials began looking at other ordinances to get ideas for strengthening Kershaw County’s.

The new ordinance is patterned after Richland County, said Merri Seigler, animal control director. Among proposed changes:

• An animal that is a nuisance to a neighbor but is not dangerous can be removed. Currently, only dangerous or vicious animals — ones that have posed threats or tried to intimidate or attack — are allowed to be removed.

Incumbent Lexington County auditor Chris Harmon said his office, which calculates and prepares tax bills, is in better shape than when his predecessor, Art Guerry, left four years ago.

“He’s manipulating the facts,” Harmon said of allegations from Guerry that the incumbent has cost the county $28 million by not pursuing tax evaders.

“I hate to say it, but he’s just not telling the truth,” said Harmon, who defeated Guerry in 2004.

“I’m not twisting anything,” Guerry shot back. “His collection rate is going to drop below 96 percent (this year).”

Picking a site is taking longer than expected, with selection by fall the new goal.

“It’s simmering,” Mayor Randy Halfacre said of a choice he hoped would happen last year.

Town officials are talking with developers about donating a site and chipping in to build the facility.

The wait on a site is delaying a study that would forecast how much help Town Hall can expect from private sources to build a 1,200-seat center.

LAMBERT GUINN has been named 2008 Pro Bono Volunteer of the Year by the Richland County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). Guinn is a rising third-year student at USC’s School of Law.

YOUTH

NICK METRAKOS was presented a Spirit of Service award from the Corporation for National and Community Service at the National Youth Leadership Council’s April National Service Learning Conference in Minneapolis, Minn. A 2008 graduate of Blythewood High School, Metrakos was recognized for his work with the Richland 2 Youth Action Council, a student-run council which is assisting seven rural S.C. school districts in the development of service-learning projects.

ANTIONA WALKER of Columbia has been chosen as a state finalist in the National American Miss South Carolina pageant scheduled for Aug. 1-2 in Greenville. She is the daughter of Connie Taylor.

LEXINGTON COUNTY GUARDIAN AD LITEM program will hold training sessions beginning Monday, June 16. Volunteers serve as advocates for abused and neglected children in family court proceedings. Call (803) 957-6484 or go to www.lexington.scgal.org to sign up.

SEXUAL TRAUMA SERVICES OF THE MIDLANDS will hold volunteer advocate training June 17-23, sessions will meet 6-9 p.m. June 17-19, 23; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. June 21 and 1:30-6 p.m. June 22 (attendance at all sessions is required) at 3700 Forest Drive, Suite 300. Volunteers must be 18 or older; complete the training program, available during required times (on-call at least two shifts per month); and have reliable transportation. (803) 790-8208; www.stsm.org

ROAD TO RECOVERY is a program that provides cancer patients with transportation to and from treatments. Training is scheduled weekly at the American Cancer Society office, 128 Stonemark Lane. Volunteers must have a valid driver’s license, good driving record and a reliable vehicle. Lang Hunt, (803) 759-1693.

DONATIONS

LEXINGTON SHERIFF

Willis Street, 300 block, between midnight May 17 and midnight May 20. Someone stole a 1997 Chevrolet Corsica worth $1,000.

ZIP CODE 29016

PROPERTY TRANSFERS

TRENHOLM ARTISTS GUILD: 7 p.m. Monday at Forest Lake Recreation Center, 6820 Wedgefield Road (near Decker Boulevard and Two Notch Road). The group meets the second Monday monthly; visitors welcome. (803) 865-1431

NATIONAL ACTIVE AND RETIRED FEDERAL EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION COLUMBIA CHAPTER 87: 11:30 a.m. Friday, June 13, at Seawell’s on Rosewood Drive. Guest speaker will be Ann Bellamy of Dunbar Funeral Home. Open to all active and retired federal employees and spouses.

CONNECTIONS AND COFFEE: 8-9 a.m. Tuesday at Starbucks, 831 Gervais St. Information, resources and networking opportunities for professionals and college students, sponsored by Columbia Opportunity Resource. Free. (803) 446-7906

DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS: Clayton Durham Chapter 28 of the DAV/DAVA, 6 p.m. Tuesday at 511 Violet St., West Columbia. Visitors welcome.(803) 796-7122

Ward 1: Capitol Senior Center, 1650 Park Circle

Ward 2: Marion Street Apartments, 1930 Marion St.

Ward 3: Reformation Lutheran Church, 1118 Union St. at River Drive

Ward 4: Park Street Baptist Church, 2204 Park St.

“It’s a large venture,” he said. “I was concerned if we would be able to make it happen. After the rally of the community and the city of Orangeburg and the state, it has become possible. The dream became real.”

This weekend, the Claflin and USC groups, as well as the Georgetown High School choir and a choir from Charlotte, depart for a 10-day journey throughout China as a prelude to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

One of the largest hurdles the Claflin group faced was raising $200,000 for the trip. The singers held bake sales, hot dog sales and car washes and gave plenty of performances where they collected donations and sold their CD. They also received sponsorships from the community.

The next step was teaching the Claflin students how to sing in Chinese. In addition to traditional selections such as Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” they will perform several Chinese folk songs.

According to "Diplomas Count," 56 percent of seniors graduated from high school on time with a regular diploma in 2005, compared to a national average of 71 percent. That's up from 51 percent in 2001.

The report released Wednesday puts South Carolina's on-time graduation rate as fourth-worst in the nation, with Louisiana, New Mexico and Nevada faring worse. Previous reports have ranked South Carolina as last.

The report estimates that South Carolina has lost 158 students each school day.

"Diplomas Count" is a project of the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

But the Lexington-Richland 5 student had an extra incentive this past school year to get up, make his way to school and faithfully tackle his ABCs.

Hebrew was among 236 youngsters from the district who collected new bicycles and helmets this week after maintaining a year of perfect attendance. The recognition was sponsored by Jim Hudson Toyota, along with Horace Mann Insurance and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

“There were days I didn’t want to go,” Hebrew said Tuesday evening as he helped load his new, 15-speed bicycle into the back seat of his aunt’s car. “But then I thought about that bike, and I said, ‘I’m just going to wake up.’”

His sentiments were shared in some degree by the more than 200 students who showed up Tuesday at the Hudson dealership in Irmo to pick up their new Pacific and Roadmaster 15-speed bikes. Each student was individually recognized and also received a Jim Hudson T-shirt, a gift card to redeem a helmet at Dick’s and a certificate marking the achievement.

“It is astounding so few women serve in public office,” said Burke, who graduates today near the top of her class at Richland Northeast High School. “That’s something I want to change.”

That said, Leacy has a clear view of her future — and an impressive political resume already.

In July 2007, her peers elected her vice president of Girls Nation, a one-week summer program that provides 98 rising high school seniors — two from each state except Hawaii — with an up-close view of the federal government. Earlier, she was a delegate to Palmetto Girls State and won a “statewide” office that led to her representing South Carolina in Washington.

“I’m so grateful for Girls State,” said Leacy, 18,. “I kind of knew what I wanted to do, but participating in it gave me focus on what I want to do with my life.”

But that’s exactly what the student body did this week when children completed a final quarter-mile lap around Hilton Head Island High School’s track. They logged, in total, 14,450 miles.

“I thought we were going to walk across the United States,” physical education teacher Jackie Wheeler said. “We ended up going around the globe.”

The walking club started at the beginning of the year as a way to encourage physical fitness. The South Carolina Health and Fitness Act of 2005 requires elementary school pupils to be active 90 minutes a week outside of physical education class, a requirement that took effect this school year. About 85 percent of the school’s 690 pupils joined the club.

“There’s a social aspect to it,” said computer science teacher Cory Tressler, “being in a safe environment and being with their friends.”

Gov. Mark Sanford vetoed just six of 41 bills sent to him last week, signing the rest or allowing them to become law without his signature. He sent the bills to clerks of the House and Senate just before midnight Wednesday.

One new law allows people to buy license tags with a cross and a stained glass window and the words "I Believe." Sanford allowed that to become law without his signature. He said the state already has a process to allow special tags for almost any cause if enough people put up the money.

South Carolina joins half the nation in forbidding its state retirement system from investing in companies with ties to the Darfur region of Sudan.

The state is also closing a tuition program that locks in college costs.

Columbia’s budget hearing, traditionally a time when groups ask the city for more money, comes at a time when council members are searching for ways to cover the city’s rising expenses, from fuel to retiree health insurance benefits.

Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine said the groups shouldn’t expect to get all the money they ask for.

“They don’t seem to understand it’s a tight budget year,” Devine said. “You should be grateful that you’re getting funding from us at all.”

The council meeting starts at 9 a.m. at City Hall.

The measure endorsed Wednesday would let anyone convicted of a violent crime ask to have evidence tested for DNA to show their innocence. It needs another vote in the House. The Senate has already approved the bill.

A group that works to clear wrongly convicted prisoners, The Innocence Project, says the bill would bring South Carolina in line with much of the rest of the country.

Inmates who intentionally file false applications could be held in contempt of court and lose good conduct credit. The Probation and Parole Department could also use that information in deciding parole.

The vote was unanimous.

Keel and his wife, Jeri, and two sons watched the voice vote from the Senate balcony, and later were congratulated by senators outside the chamber.

"I've been waiting for this process to be over," Keel said. "I'm proud the governor chose me, and obviously proud he made that selection."

Keel said he plans to start his duties as new director in a couple of weeks.

J. Brandon Grace claims a story on Councilwoman Cindy Wilson's Web site said Grace organized a fundraiser for the Special Olympics and won the grand prize - a trip valued at $3,000. Grace's attorney says he didn't compete in the event and a Special Olympics spokeswoman says it was won by someone else.

Wilson received the suit just before Tuesday afternoon's council meeting and said she had not had time to read it or consult a lawyer.

Wilson has been in an ongoing fight with the county administrator over legal bills. On Tuesday, the state Supreme Court ruled that county officials are doing enough to provide her with financial records she requested.

"I'm just ready to get started. I'm going to do a top-to-bottom review," Keel said after he was confirmed by the state Senate without debate, adding that his first priority would be to review the agency's disciplinary policies.

Keel has been with the State Law Enforcement Division for 30 years and recently served as its interim chief. His four-year term as Public Safety director will expire in February 2012.

Gov. Mark Sanford nominated Keel to lead the agency that oversees the state Highway Patrol after accepting the resignations in February of Public Safety Director James Schweitzer and Highway Patrol Colonel Russell Roark amid charges of racism among troopers. Black lawmakers criticized the agency after a four-year-old video emerged showing an officer using a derogatory term for blacks while pursuing a suspect on foot.

"You better run," the officer yells, using a slur, "because I'm fixin' to kill you."

Sanford, surrounded by about 20 legislators, said the measure reasserts the rule of law in South Carolina - cracking down on the "wink-and-nod" employment of illegal immigrants. He and legislators said they hope the ideas spread and force Congress to act.

"The message is loud and clear: Stop the silent invasion of this state," said Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston.

Legislators boasted the measure is the most strict and effective anti-illegal-immigrant bill in the country. Lawmakers made the law increasingly tougher as debate progressed, with constituents becoming more frustrated by the federal government's inaction on the issue.

"It's certainly one of the toughest, if not the toughest," said Larry Frankel, state legislative counsel in the American Civil Liberty Union's Washington office.

House Majority Leader Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking black lawmaker in Congress, made good on a pledge to endorse Obama. He was joined by U.S. Sen. John Spratt of York, who compared Obama’s eloquence with that of Ronald Reagan and said “his fresh face and message” is drawing tens of thousands of new voters to the Democratic Party.

“Through a grueling campaign and rigorous debates, he won not just the points but the people, and not just their support but their hearts and minds,” Spratt said. “I am astounded at the mix of people who tell me that they are supporting Obama.”

South Carolina Democrats were optimistic about Obama’s chances of defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in November.

But they acknowledged Obama has some more immediate work to do to mend a divided party and appeal to working-class white voters and women — voters who consistently preferred U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton over the last few months.

Only one person spoke against it — Councilman Bill Malinowski, who questioned whether secondhand smoke causes cancer any more than hundreds of other toxic chemicals in the environment.

The council approved the ban on a 7-1 vote. Final consideration will be June 17.

The measure would make it illegal to smoke in public workplaces, including bars and restaurants, in unincorporated Richland County. The penalty for noncompliance would be a possible $500 fine for smokers and business owners alike.

«Obituary posted: June 5, 2008»