South Carolina

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Sunday he chose South Carolina to deliver an apology for his controversial remarks about segregationist senators because he wanted to offer it to an audience most likely to have been offended by his words.

Kamala Harris, a rival for the Democratic nomination who sharply criticized Biden for those remarks and his views on federally mandated busing, used her campaign trip to the state Sunday to praise Biden for apologizing.

SUMTER, S.C. (AP) — Former Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday apologized for recent comments about working with segregationist senators in his early days in the U.S. Senate, saying he understands now his remarks could have been offensive to some.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The leader of House Democrats’ political arm wants to build on 2018 midterm gains by turning out more voters who are young and diverse.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairwoman Cheri Bustos said Friday that the organization is honing in on 70-plus districts held by Republicans or newly-minted Democrats.

BEAUFORT, S.C. (AP) — Beto O’Rourke took a path somewhat less traveled on Friday, meeting with a small group representing a community of slave descendants in South Carolina as he strives to make connections with the black voters who will play a dominant role in next year’s Southern presidential primaries.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The Latest on a death penalty trial for a South Carolina father (all times local):

3:10 p.m.

A jury says a South Carolina father should be executed for killing his five children.

The jury unanimously agreed on the death penalty Thursday for 37-year-old Timothy Jones Jr. in the slayings of his children, ages 1 to 8, in their Lexington home in August 2014.

Jones admitted he exercised 6-year-old Nahtahn until he collapsed and died, then several hours later decided to kill the other four children.

WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Democrat Kamala Harris played up her experience as a prosecutor on Saturday, telling a mostly black crowd in South Carolina that her prosecutorial credentials have given her a window in to helping improve the criminal justice system and also make her uniquely qualified to take on President Donald Trump.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Charleston is opening 17 days of operas, plays, chamber music and jazz Friday as the world-renowned Spoleto Festival USA returns.

The 43rd season of the arts festival kicks off Friday at noon with the opening ceremony from Charleston City Hall. It will run through June 9.

The spotlighted performance is the opera “Salome.” Spoleto plans a contemporary retelling of the 1905 Richard Strauss opera. It is based on an Oscar Wilde play of the same name about the Biblical story of the woman who asked for the head of John the Baptist.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders wants to suspend taxpayer funding of new charter schools and ban those that are for-profit as part of his plan to overhaul public education that he released on Saturday.

Saying charter schools are “exacerbating educational segregation,” Sanders proposes more transparency and accountability for them, as well as limits on the pay of their chief executives. According to the campaign, the 10-point plan focuses on “reversing racial and economic segregation that is plaguing elementary and secondary schools.”

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Hurricane Florence that caused road flooding on the U.S. East Coast weakened to a Category 1 storm on Thursday night, hours before making landfall in the Carolinas.

"Hurricane Florence is producing a life-threatening storm surge and hurricane conditions over portions of eastern North Carolina. The threat of freshwater flooding will increase and spread inland over the next several days," the the U.S. National Hurricane Center tweeted late Thursday night.