Jeffrey Collins, Author at The Rapid City Post

FILE - Radioactive waste sealed in large stainless steel canisters is stored under five feet of concrete in a storage building at the Savannah River Site, near Aiken, S.C., Nov. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, File)

Radioactive wasp nest found at site where US once made nuclear bombs

July 30, 2025

Workers at a South Carolina site that once made nuclear bomb parts have found a radioactive wasp nest. Officials say there’s no danger to anyone. Employees checking radiation levels at the Savannah River Site near Aiken found the nest on July 3. It was near tanks storing liquid nuclear waste. The nest had radiation levels 10 times above federal limits. Workers sprayed it with insect killer and disposed of it as radioactive waste. No wasps were found. Officials say the nest was likely contaminated from residual radioactivity. Watchdog group Savannah River Site Watch criticized the report for lacking details on the contamination source.

Bhagavan “Doc” Antle from the Netflix Tiger King documentary, center, reaches out to a supporter after he was sentenced to a year and a day in prison on federal animal trafficking and money laundering charges on Tuesday, July 8, 2025 in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Latest ‘Tiger King’ twist finds ‘Doc’ Antle sentenced to 1 year in prison for animal trafficking

July 8, 2025

“Tiger King” star Bhagavan “Doc” Antle has been sentenced to one year and one day in prison for illegally buying endangered animals. Prosecutors say Antle bought animals like chimpanzees and tigers on the black market, fueling illegal poaching. The 65-year-old Antle used the animals for his Myrtle Beach Safari, which charged $200 for a five-minute photo session with a chimpanzee. Federal guidelines and prosecutors asked for around a two-year sentence, but the judge says he was swayed by Antle’s love for animals. Antle’s friends and family say he is generous and caring and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight poaching and preserve wild habitats for tigers, lions and chimpanzees.

Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster holds up a ceremonial copy of a bill he signed changing South Carolina's energy laws on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Under a hot summer sun, South Carolina’s governor says energy law will keep air conditioners humming

June 18, 2025

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has held a ceremonial bill signing in the hot summer sun to assure the air conditioners across the state will keep humming well into the future. McMaster signed the energy bill into law more than a month ago. But Wednesday’s ceremony was a chance to bring utility executives and others together to celebrate. The law clears the way for private Dominion Energy and state-owned Santee Cooper to work together on establishing a natural gas plant on the site of a former coal-fired power plant — as long as regulators give their OK. The law also streamlines appeals when regulators rule against utilities.

Mother Emanuel AME church is seen at the start of a service commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Charleston Church Massacre on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

10 years after Charleston church massacre, faith leaders lament that the country hasn’t changed

June 17, 2025

Mother Emanuel AME church made an ecumenical gesture for the commemoration of a racist shooting that killed nine of its Black members 10 years ago on Tuesday. The church invited members of a Pittsburgh synagogue where 11 were killed in an antisemitic shooting to join them in South Carolina. Leaders of both denominations said at the service that much more needs to be done to fight hatred in the U.S. They lamented that the country in some ways appears to have moved backward since the 2015 Charleston church massacre. But the leaders said that if the targets of hatred come together, they can overcome the country’s scary turn.

FILE - Defense attorney Gerald Kelly confers with defendant Stephen Stanko during a pretrial hearing at the Georgetown County Courthouse in Georgetown, S.C., Monday, July 31, 2006. (AP Photo/Tom Murray, Pool, File)

South Carolina executes a man serving death sentences in 2 separate murders

June 13, 2025

A South Carolina man sent to death row twice for separate murders has been put to death by lethal injection in the state’s sixth execution in nine months. Stephen Stanko was executed Friday for shooting a friend then cleaning out his bank account in Horry County in 2005. The 57-year-old inmate was serving another death sentence for killing his live-in girlfriend in her Georgetown County home hours earlier, strangling her as he raped her teenage daughter. Stanko was leaning toward dying by South Carolina’s new firing squad like the past two inmates before him. But after autopsy results from the last inmate showed the bullets nearly missed his heart, Stanko went with lethal injection.

FILE - This undated photo released by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows the room where inmates are executed in Columbus, S.C. (South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP, File)

Judge won’t halt execution in South Carolina over lethal injection concerns

June 11, 2025

A federal judge doesn’t plan to stop the execution of a South Carolina inmate in two days because the convicted man’s lawyers didn’t have evidence of problems with the state’s lethal injection process. The federal judge limited arguments in Stephen Stanko’s case to just lethal injection since that’s the method Stanko chose for his death Friday evening. Stanko’s lawyers also wanted to argue about the state’s last execution by firing squad. They say Stanko changed his mind about dying by bullets because of accounts about that execution and autopsy results that showed the firing squad shooters nearly missed the man’s heart.

Mohammad Sharafoddin, left, and his wife, Nuriya, right, show a photo of their niece in Afghanistan who won't be able to travel to the U.S., under the new travel ban, during an interview at their home in Irmo, S.C., on Saturday, June 7 2025. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Travel ban may shut door for Afghan family to bring niece to US for a better life

June 7, 2025

Mohammad Sharafoddin, his wife and young son managed to make it out of Afghanistan as refugees nine years ago, at one point walking 36 hours in a row over mountain passes. Sharafoddin hoped his wife’s niece could follow them to their new home in South Carolina. But President Donald Trump’s travel ban on people from Afghanistan and 11 other countries appears to have shut that door. Sharafoddin says his niece wants to be a doctor, and it is especially hard because she can’t study in her home country under the Taliban, who returned to power in 2021 .

This Sept. 17, 2021 photo provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows death row inmate James D. Robertson. (South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP)

South Carolina death row inmate seeks to volunteer to die after friends are executed

May 21, 2025

A South Carolina inmate whose best friend and four other inmates have been put to death in less than a year appears to want to die himself. James Robertson has asked to become his own attorney which would likely mean his own execution in weeks or months. A federal judge has ordered a 45-day delay in Robertson’s request to have a different lawyer talk to him. The 51-year-old Robertson has been on death row since 1999 after killing both his parents in their Rock Hill home to try to get part of their $2 million estate.

Jeffrey Collins.