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As of mid-June this year there have been 13 boating fatalities. This compares to a total of 16 boating fatalities in 2007, according to the agency.

Officers will check for required safety equipment and proper boat and motor registration. Those who are not in compliance with safety regulations or registration requirements will not be ticketed during the complimentary inspections. Boaters will be given an opportunity to correct the problem before they launch. DNR officers also will be available to answer questions and give boaters tips on how to stay safe on the water.

-- From staff reports

Courtesy safety inspections at the following locations and times:

Help celebrate the moment by sharing your favorite peach recipe or telling us about your most memorable peach dessert.

Nine-year-old Amber McCall at first had trouble picking out the live animals mixed in with two toy bears and a toy tiger.

“They all look like stuffed animals,” said Amber, a visitor from Tallahassee, Fla., who was among the first to get a peek at the cubs Wednesday.

The cubs, three females and a male, were born June 7. Because of complications at birth, zoo veterinarians had to perform a Cesarean section on the mother, Brynn.

Keepers reintroduced the cubs to Brynn a few days later, but they weren’t getting the necessary nutrition from their mother. So they have been hand-reared by keepers, with feedings every two hours around the clock at first and more recently every four hours most of the day, said John Davis, curator of mammals.

Like the fuzzy fruit it honors, the Lexington County Peach Festival is turning golden.

Residents of Gilbert on Friday are throwing the 50th edition of a celebration that has grown from a gathering of neighbors into one drawing thousands of Midlands residents.

It’s a Fourth of July tradition commemorating a local crop as well as a down-home patriotic salute.

Unlike other regional festivals, the Peach Festival is run by community volunteers. It takes an army of about 200 to put on the event.

No cause of death has been determined for 34-year-old Rodrick Anderson, of Briarcliff Drive, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said Wednesday. There are no signs Anderson was fatally beaten, he said.

The three who were struck by the car about 10:50 p.m. on Nancy Avenue — Darrell Gate, 23; Antonio Baker, 14; and Zachary Gerald, 10 — were treated at a hospital and released.

Witnesses said the three were in a median preparing to light fireworks and the car continued down the road after the accident.

Authorities are still looking for the driver of the 1989 four-door Chrysler, S.C. Highway Patrol spokesman Lance Cpl. Josef Robinson said.

Since she was born, the 7-year-old Horrell Hill Elementary School student has braved the aches, dehydration and fatigue that often accompany a diagnosis of sickle-cell disease. But a new video is offering her family and others a child-friendly tool to help cope with the illness.

“I might be little, but I’m strong,” Kennedy said, sharing a motto she developed after viewing the DVD, “When Cousin Zetta Comes to Visit: A Sickle Cell Story.”

The DVD was produced by The Auntie Karen Foundation — a South Carolina-based global charity — along with Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital and ETV. The 10-minute video uses puppets and music to help explain the disease.

Kennedy joined other pediatric sickle-cell patients and their families for a screening of the DVD last week at Children’s Hospital.

The law, passed last week, sets aside the bus fuel money and $3 million to run the state’s elections in November. Both were shortchanged in the fiscal 2009 budget, which took effect Monday.

The bill doesn’t assure there will be enough money to keep buses rolling through the end of the 2009 school year. At current fuel prices, the state still would be about $2 million short, said John Cooley, who is in charge of budgeting at the state Department of Education.

Meanwhile, legislators also have planned to use $20.8 million from a reserve fund to fuel and maintain buses. But Sanford and others expect slowing tax collections will evaporate that reserve.

The Education Department probably will ask the state’s top financial officers for approval to use $10.7 million set aside to buy new school buses to instead pay to fuel the existing the fleet, Cooley said. After that, the bus fleet still might be as much as $12 million short of what it needs to stay on the road.

The legislation would have required a DNA sample to be taken when people are arrested for felonies as well as for eavesdropping, peeping or stalking. Those samples could be destroyed if suspects are not convicted.

Sanford said the government shouldn’t have access to genetic information without a conviction, warrant or court order.

— The Associated Press

A tax lien on file at the Richland County courthouse shows Frank and Jeanette McBride owed $11,936.09 in back taxes from 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Jeanette McBride was elected in a runoff last week, defeating longtime clerk of court Barbara Scott.

Asked why the taxes had not been paid, Jeanette McBride responded: “I don’t do my taxes; Frank has someone to do them for us.”

She said she and her husband have been paying off the back taxes but that she does not know the balance still due.

Mukasey, who heads the U.S. Department of Justice and its Voting Rights division, said he has reminded Justice employees of “election-year sensibilities.” He said he has warned them to do nothing to influence the timing of investigations that could give advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party.

“Our single obligation is to ensure that the elections reflect the will of the people and not become weapons in a partisan battle,” the nation’s top lawyer said, speaking in Columbia at a training symposium for about 300 Justice Department employees preparing for November’s elections.

“One of my highest priorities, in what remains of my tenure as attorney general, is to assist state and local governments so that the November election runs as smoothly as possible,” Mukasey said.

The Justice Department will have a “large presence” throughout the election season in South Carolina and other states, Mukasey said. He said Justice officials will work with S.C. election officials, civil rights groups and others to protect voting rights and prevent election fraud.

“There’s a lot of work to be done up front — about not playing into that stereotype that the ACLU is a liberal organization,” said Boyd, a Spartanburg native and an attorney with the ACLU in California.

“I want to challenge people to look at the whole range of work that we do, because I think there is some part of work that we do that every single person in this state could agree with.”

The ACLU opened its new state headquarters in Charleston on Wednesday.

Boyd, a South Carolina native, said he will hire local ACLU staffers and rely on the state’s residents to tell him what issues they’d like the ACLU to address through a 10-question online survey.

Dillon Police Sgt. Jason Turner said officers didn’t even know the car was missing until residents reported seeing the boy driving it Sunday. The boy had done the same thing the previous Sunday, but no one noticed.

The boy had watched someone enter a security code on a police department door, memorized it and used it to get into the building to take the keys to the vehicle. The boy, whose name hasn’t been released because of his age, is interested in law enforcement, Turner said.

He has been charged with larceny and second-degree burglary.

His mother was arrested Tuesday and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Patricia Gillespie told police she didn’t report her son’s escapade because she didn’t see anything wrong with his patrolling.

The state Department of Natural Resources says it bought 63 acres of the scenic land in the northwest corner of the state from developer Crescent Resources. The sales price: $37,980.

The newly acquired peninsula on Lake Jocassee will be managed as part of the agency’s Jocassee Gorges, a 33,000-acre tract of Wildlife Management Area.

Natural Resources director John Frampton said if that area had been developed, it would have affected the area’s beauty and habitat.

Willis’ attorneys filed an appeal June 26 calling for the court to reverse last month’s 4-2 decision of the state Democratic party’s Board of State Canvassers of Municipal Primaries and order a new primary. No Republicans filed for the office.

A 90-minute hearing on the appeal took place Wednesday.

Wukela said he thinks the court will uphold the outcome “redeemed on election night” and by the state Democratic party.

Willis said everything remains in limbo until the judge makes a ruling. “We got before a court of law — not a court of opinion, but a court of law.”

Sheriff’s deputy Michael Hildebrand said the teen was charged Wednesday with murder and first-degree criminal sexual conduct in the death of Dymia Janae Woody, who was reported missing Monday. Deputies found her body early Tuesday in a mobile home. An autopsy showed she died of asphyxia.

The teen’s name has not been released because of his age. Hildebrand says he lived in the neighborhood and authorities believe he knew the girl.

Willis, chief executive officer and founder of Cynergi Systems, will be the business sector’s appointee representing the House Education Committee. He succeeds Bob Daniel of Belton.

Bosket, director of legislative and political analysis at the S.C. Business and Industry Political Education Committee and a former aide to Gov. Mark Sanford, will be the business representative of the Senate Education Committee. She succeeds Thomas DeLoach of Columbia.

Old Wire Road, 400 block: A 69-year-old woman called police Tuesday to report that a man she had hired to do repairs on her house had stolen money from her. The victim said the man removed two checks from her checkbook while in her home and used them to deposit $600 into another bank account.

Dudley Road, 3000 block: A woman called police Tuesday to report that a man she met on the Internet was harassing her. The victim met the man online and formed a friendship with him, she said, but the man will not stop calling and threatening her. She said the man has also come by her residence and workplace without her consent.

Phillip Drive, 100 block: A 74-year-old woman called police Tuesday to report that an unknown man called her house and attempted to defraud her. The man claimed he worked for Medicare and needed to get her bank account information. The woman told the man she would not do so, but he recited her account number and told her that her Medicare number was to change. The woman called her bank and had all of her account transactions stopped.

RICHLAND COUNTY SHERIFF

On June 12 and June 27, a man entered Young’s BP gas station at 2527 Devine St., walked behind the counter and showed the clerk a knife, police spokesman Brick Lewis said. He left with cash and lottery tickets.

The suspect is white, 20-30 years old, about 6 feet tall and weighs 140 pounds. He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a gray hooded sweatshirt, white socks on his hands and a white cloth covering his face.

Myers said Benjamin is accused of firing a gun twice at his wife at about 10 p.m. Tuesday at a home on Weddell Street, off Parklane Road. Benjamin’s wife ducked, Myers said, and a bullet struck his sister-in-law in the shoulder. She was taken to Palmetto Health Richland for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

Delaney is charged with assault and battery with intent to kill and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime, Columbia police said.

The charges stem from a Monday afternoon shooting in a parking lot at 2100 Bentley Drive. Police say Delaney shot a victim multiple times after an argument. Gaillard is charged with accessory after the fact, the department said.

Terrence Tidwell, 16, was arrested Wednesday afternoon, said police spokesman Brick Lewis. A CrimeStoppers tip lead investigators to Tidwell. Another suspect, James Lamar Trapp, 19, was arrested last Friday.

Howell, 6 feet tall and weighing 169 pounds, is charged with shooting the unidentified victim in the hand as the victim sat outside an apartment.

Want to get together with neighbors but don’t feel like cleaning up your own house or yard?

Borrow space in Mother Nature’s back yard and head for the park.

Invite neighbors to pack a picnic, and perhaps bring a dessert or other finger food to share.

Set up games for the kids — scavenger hunts, for example, or bring along balls and frisbees.

These women had been there, done that — and worn the crown.

Twelve members of Gilbert Peach Festival’s “royalty” came together this past Saturday for a Peach Queen reunion tea party.

The inaugural event attracted former queens from the festival’s 50-year history.

“They’re all beautiful. Not just the way they look,” said Jillian Bryant, 2005 Peach Queen.

Eighteen-year-old Justin Desrochers this month was awarded a total of $4,000 in scholarships from the Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association for the Columbia Police Department.

“I was just astounded at the generosity,” said Justin’s father, Lt. Scott Desrochers, who has worked at the Columbia Police Department for 25 years. “When I saw the checks, my jaw just hit the ground.”

Formed in 1995, the citizens academy gives everyday citizens the opportunity to learn about the inner workings of the Police Department. Several years ago, the alumni association decided to begin awarding scholarships to children and grandchildren of active-duty officers.

The CPAAA also gives awards to police officers.

LEXINGTON SHERIFF

Madera Road, 700 block, between midnight June 17 and 8 a.m. June 18. Someone stole two cell phones worth $400 from an unlocked vehicle.

ZIP CODE 29016

PROPERTY TRANSFERS

Parade: 9:30 a.m. on Main Street

Activities: Entertainment, craft booths, exhibits and food from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Community dance: 6:30 p.m.

Fireworks: 10 p.m.

As summer shrimping gets under way in the warm, coastal waters off the southeastern United States, fishermen still are struggling to find a viable business model for survival.

Nothing has stopped a price-depressing flood of foreign shrimp — much of which is farm-raised and harvested without the backbreaking tasks of plying the ocean. And many environmentalists still view shrimpers as outdoor perpetrators who harm the ocean, turtles and cherished wildlife.

So shrimp fishermen are borrowing a page from organic farmers, some of whom let their chickens wander freely before being slaughtered and then sold at higher prices than their cooped-up cousins.

Shrimpers are pushing their catch as an organically raised (and presumably happier-in-life) food with a fraction of the carbon tail-print of the millions of shrimp shipped in freighters that must cross the Pacific Ocean or travel from South America to the United States.

Brangelina’s twins aren’t here yet, but the big day is drawing closer.

The seafront Lenval hospital in Nice in the south of France said Tuesday that Angelina Jolie had checked in at its Santa Maria maternity clinic to be kept under doctors’ surveillance and get some rest before she gives birth.

“There’s no urgency. It’s been planned for a long time,” said Nadine Bauer, a hospital spokeswoman. “She’s very well. Everything is fine.”

“She is not on the verge of giving birth, not at all,” she said. “It’s not for right away.”

With skyrocketing gasoline prices, many are betting that local consumers will choose to stay home, grill out and shoot off fireworks this weekend.

“We’re expecting sales to be up, and the weather is good,” said Joy Connor, manager of Jim Casey’s Fireworks on Rosewood Drive.

Connor and store owner John Casey were busy unloading several boxes of fireworks Tuesday, preparing for the last-minute rush — which begins about midweek and runs through late Friday evening.

Columbia resident Clarence Joseph and his 12-year-old son, Cheyenne Bell Joseph, stopped in the store to see what was new and to pick up some old favorites, like Black Cat Firecrackers.

When shopping for groceries and other household items, the two friends share a motto. The way they see it, a bargain price is the only acceptable price.

Even cashiers — awestruck by their cost-saving tactics — have been known to offer up high-fives as the women check out at the front of a store.

Meet the coupon commandos.

“There is no reason anyone should pay full price when you don’t have to,” Bayne said of the cost-cutting campaign she embarked on two years ago and has nearly perfected with Barrett’s help.

Randy Adkins’ brother, Albert, said Tuesday Kimberly and Randy’s marriage was, at times, “definitely a rough patch,” but Randy’s love for Kimberly led him to get a tattoo of entwined hearts on his chest a few years ago.

“That’s his doll — Kim,” he said.

The couple, who have been married 20 years, worked together in a home remodeling business and spent many weekends boating and camping on the lake, Albert Adkins said.

“That was their thing. They’d go out and find a patch of dirt no one had been on and call it home for the weekend.”

“What it’s doing is creating a bigger backlog of work that has to get done in a more compressed time frame,” company president David Zalesne said Tuesday.

The World Trade Center’s owner on Monday proposed scrapping the schedule and budget for the prolonged rebuilding of the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, saying nearly every project is delayed and over budget and that previous estimates are unrealistic.

Zalesne said the slowdown complicates scheduling, but has not resulted in a reduction in the work force or hours for employees because the company has other projects. The backlog, in fact, might allow him to hire more workers, he said.

Owen started fabricating the steel last year and has finished about a third of the project, Zalesne said.

Rawl, 52, will replace S. Hunter Howard Jr. as president and chief executive officer effective Oct. 1. Howard announced his retirement in March after 17 years at the chamber.

Rawl joined the chamber in 2001 as vice president of public policy, and was named chief operating officer in 2004. He was deputy director for revenue and regulatory operations for the S.C. Department of Revenue in 2001, when he retired from state government after 23 years of service.

Rawl, known from youth as “Odie,” graduated from the University of South Carolina with a bachelor’s degree in public administration in 1977.

Howard, a 55-year-old Greenville County native, is retiring to Simpsonville.

The violence in Afghanistan has surged at the same time as the number of attacks and American deaths in Iraq has fallen. Among the American-led forces in the two countries, there were 46 troops killed in Afghanistan, compared with 31 in Iraq, the second straight month in which combat deaths in Afghanistan exceeded those in Iraq.

A recent Pentagon report about Afghanistan painted a stark picture of security conditions inside the country, a militant force that has “coalesced into a resilient insurgency” and a central government in Kabul that still cannot extend its reach into the hinterlands.

An American commander, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser, has said that militant attacks on coalition troops increased by 40 percent from January to May compared with the same period last year.

The violence has spiked even as the number of foreign troops in Afghanistan approaches its highest level since 2001. Roughly 32,000 American troops are currently deployed inside the country, up from 25,000 in 2005. The Pentagon is now considering sending an additional 7,000 troops to help tamp down the worsening violence.

1807: In the wake of the Chesapeake incident, in which the crew of a British frigate boarded an American ship and forcibly removed four suspected deserters, President Jefferson ordered all British ships to vacate U.S. territorial waters.

1881: President Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau at the Washington railroad station; Garfield died the following September.

1926: The U.S. Army Air Corps was created.

1937: Aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight along the equator.

They no longer are depending on $5.3 million taxpayer-funded public parking to build the project.

Instead, they will re-apply for zoning that will allow only four stories but will take final say over the project away from Columbia City Council.

Ron Swinson and Stan Harpe say they will build the first floor retail as planned. But, if the city wants to include three stories of public parking, they will have to renegotiate.

“We’ve got to move forward; it’s been two years,” Harpe said. “We’re losing money in the time we (have dealt) with the city. We’re better off doing what we can and going on.”

Suicides accounted for 55 percent of the nation’s nearly 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There was nothing unique about that year. Gun-related suicides have outnumbered firearm homicides and accidents for 20 of the last 25 years. In 2005, homicides accounted for 40 percent of gun deaths.

Public-health researchers have concluded that in homes where guns are present, the likelihood that someone in the home will die from suicide or homicide is much greater.

Studies have also shown that homes in which a suicide occurred were three to five times more likely to have a gun present than households that did not experience a suicide, even after accounting for other risk factors.

STRONG WINES SALES BOOST CONSTELLATION

The world’s biggest wine company by volume said Tuesday its fiscal first-quarter profit jumped 50 percent, lifted by price increases as well as strong sales of its new higher-margin wine brands such as Clos du Bois and Wild Horse. The results beat Wall Street expectations, and its shares rose nearly 6 percent. Constellation Brands earned $44.6 million, or 20 cents per Class A common share, up from $29.8 million, or 13 cents a share, a year earlier. Shares rose 89 cents to $20.75.

Loser

AUTOMAKERS SEESALES SINK In JUNE

But environmental groups say the limit of 57 pounds per year of mercury that could be released from the generators still would make it one of the dirtiest plants in the country.

Santee Cooper says it must build two 600-megawatt generators along the Little Pee Dee River near Johnsonville in the northeastern part of the state to keep up with expanding power demand.

State environmental officials are considering whether to issue a permit for the plant, which the utility wants to open by 2013.

The Associated Press

City officials in charge of the airport declared it a “gun-free zone” when a law allowing people to carry guns on public transit and other places took effect Tuesday. Gun rights supporters, including a state legislator who helped pass the law, quickly filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the designation.

“My message is simple: Leave your firearms at home,” airport general manager Ben DeCosta said at a news conference.

Atlanta officials said anyone carrying a gun at the airport could be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor.

The new state law allows people with a concealed weapons permit to carry guns into restaurants and state parks and on public transportation.

The privately held company’s apparent financial difficulties are the latest indication of the increasingly hostile environment for retailers.

Bankruptcy attorney Harvey Miller said his partner Lori Fife at law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges is advising the company as it negotiates with lenders and reviews alternatives.

The Port Washington, N.Y.-based retailer had no comment.

Steve & Barry’s, which operates more than 200 stores, made a name for itself in recent years by keeping all of its clothing and accessories priced below $19.98, proliferating rapidly and collaborating on products with big-name celebrities and athletes such as tennis star Venus Williams, actress Sarah Jessica Parker and basketball player Stephon Marbury.

Nevertheless, Hasbro, which has since acquired Parker Brothers, is ready to take its turn at board game-based movies.

Hasbro is interviewing potential directors, assembling a creative team and building an office in Los Angeles on the movie-making lot of Universal Studios, which this year agreed to be a partner in the venture.

Hasbro and Universal, a unit of General Electric, will be rolling the dice on a number of old-time classics, including Monopoly, Candy Land and Ouija. If the projects go well, the companies might even attempt a remake of “Clue.”

The pact between Hasbro and Universal calls for the making of at least four movies over six years, the first of which is scheduled for release in 2010.

— The Associated Press

COLUMBIA

Tuesday: $3.86

Month ago: $3.81

Two new models of iPhones go on sale July 11 for $199 and $299, depending on the amount of memory, with two-year AT&T contracts.

The contract-free versions will cost $599 and $699 and will be sold sometime “in the future,” AT&T said.

The phones sold under contract are subsidized by AT&T, which expects to make the money back through monthly service fees over the life of the contract.

Without a contract, users can cancel service without incurring an early termination fee. But both contract and contract-free phones will be “locked” to work only on AT&T’s network, and the monthly service plans available will be the same, said AT&T spokesman Michael Coe. The plans add a $30 monthly charge for data like e-mail and Web surfing on top of a calling plan.

Starbucks said 70 percent of the stores slated to be closed had opened since the start of the 2006 fiscal year. The total includes 100 previously announced store closures.

The company expects charges between $328 million and $348 million related to the closures, including a charge of $200 million in the third quarter.

Once those underperforming stores have shut down — a process the company said will happen gradually from now until the first half of 2009 — Starbucks said it expects the change to boost earnings by $100 million a year.

Starbucks said it will try to place workers from closed stores in remaining Starbucks.

Her instructions, specified in a two-page “mission statement,” are that the entire trust, valued at $5 billion to $8 billion and amounting to virtually all her estate, be used for the care and welfare of dogs, according to two people who have seen the document.

It is by no means clear, however, that all the money will go to dogs. Another provision of the mission statement says Helmsley's trustees may use their discretion in distributing the money.

The two people who described the statement said Helmsley signed it in 2003 to establish goals for the multibillion-dollar trust.

The first goal was to help indigent people, the second to provide for the care and welfare of dogs. A year later, they said, she deleted the first goal.

Sanford signed a bill Wednesday that sets aside $19 million for school bus fuel and $3 million for running the state's elections in November.

He used it as an opportunity to lecture the Legislature on spending practices and warn again that the state budget requires agencies to operate at deficits.

And the money for the buses may not be enough. The Education Department says the state's slowing economy and rising fuel prices could leave the state $22 million short.

That's $13 million more than the goal set by the Board of Economic Advisors.

The Post and Courier of Charleston reported Wednesday that total lottery sales have topped $6.1 billion since the games started in 2002. Lottery officials say 60 percent of the money has been paid to winners as prizes.

They say $2 billion in proceeds has been appropriated for education programs.

He spent Monday moving around the district office headquarters, getting acquainted with the office staff and “trying to put names to faces,” as he put it.

Aside from some official “meet-and-greet” functions later this month, he has no formal strategy yet to introduce himself to the community.

But that doesn’t mean Mack, who will make $195,000 a year, will be sequestered in his corner office on the second floor of the Stevenson Administration Building.

Sunday morning, while driving around north Columbia, a Baptist church caught his eye, and he stopped on a whim to worship.