Jeffrey Collins, Author at The Rapid City Post

FILE - A man supporting restrictions on abortion holds a sign as abortion-rights supporters hold signs behind him outside the South Carolina Statehouse on Thursday, July 7, 2022, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard, File)

Group of South Carolina lawmakers look at the most restrictive abortion bill in the US

November 17, 2025

A bill being considered by a small group of senators in South Carolina could allow judges to sentence women who get abortions to decades in prison. The proposal before a state Senate subcommittee Tuesday also could restrict the use of intrauterine devices and in vitro fertilization and ban all abortions unless the woman’s life is threatened. Current law bans abortions after cardiac activity is detected, typically six weeks into pregnancy. The bill’s overall prospects are doubtful. It has at least a half-dozen more legislative steps. But the proposal includes the strictest abortion prohibitions and punishments in the U.S.

South Carolina looks at most restrictive abortion bill in the US as opponents keep pushing limits

November 15, 2025

A group of South Carolina senators plans to consider a proposal that could introduce the strictest abortion prohibitions and punishments in the nation. The bill, which faces a long legislative process, highlights ongoing divisions in conservative states over abortion. It proposes banning all abortions unless the woman’s life is at risk and could criminalize those who assist in abortions. The proposal has split anti-abortion groups, with some opposing punishment for women. The bill’s future is uncertain, with Senate leaders expressing no commitment to advancing it further. The debate underscores the complex dynamics surrounding abortion legislation.

FILE - This photo provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows the state's death chamber in Columbia, S.C., including the electric chair, right, and a firing squad chair, left. (South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP, File)

South Carolina man is scheduled to be executed by firing squad

November 13, 2025

A man on death row in South Carolina is scheduled to be executed by firing squad. Stephen Bryant would be the second person to die by that method in the state this year. He has no appeals pending before the execution scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday for killing three people in 2004. Bryant would be the third person executed by firing squad in the state, where lethal injection and the electric chair are still legal. He also will be the 50th man executed by South Carolina since the state restarted the death penalty 40 years ago.

South Carolina court rejects death row appeal days before execution

November 11, 2025

South Carolina’s highest court has refused to stop Friday’s execution of a man who killed three people over five days and left taunting messages for police in one of the victim’s blood. Stephen Bryant is scheduled to die by firing squad. His lawyers argued that the judge who sentenced him never considered his brain damage from his mother’s drinking and drug use during pregnancy. But the South Carolina Supreme Court decided that even if Bryant had Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, it wouldn’t change his death sentence. Bryant can still ask for clemency. but no South Carolina governor has reduced a death sentence to life in prison in the modern era.

South Carolina man chooses execution by firing squad despite concerns over last death by bullets

October 31, 2025

A man on death row in South Carolina has chosen to die by firing squad. Stephen Bryant will be the third inmate in the state this year to be killed by volunteers firing from 15 feet away. His execution is set for November 14. The 44-year-old Bryant is being executed for killing a man and taunting investigators with messages written in the victim’s blood. He also killed two other men in 2004. His decision to die by firing squad may lead to a court fight. Attorneys for another man executed this way claimed he suffered before he died because the shooters nearly missed his heart.

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)

South Carolina schedules execution for man who taunted police with message in victim’s blood

October 17, 2025

A South Carolina inmate who killed a man, burned his eyes with cigarettes and then painted “catch me if u can” on the wall with the victim’s blood more than 20 years ago has been scheduled to be executed. The state Supreme Court ordered the state to execute 44-year-old Stephen Bryant on Nov. 14. Prosecutors say Bryant also killed two other men in Sumter County in October 2004, shooting them in the back as they relieved themselves on the side of the road. Bryant must decide by Oct. 31 if he wants to die by lethal injection, firing squad or in the electric chair.

People stand outside of Willie's Bar and Grill in St Helena Island, S.C. after a shooting occurred early Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Lewis M. Levine)

A crowd of 700, but no witnesses? South Carolina investigation into mass shooting at bar stalls

October 15, 2025

A sheriff says his deputies continue their methodical investigation into a shooting at a South Carolina bar that killed four people and injured 16 others. Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner says authorities are testing DNA, analyzing weapons, and enhancing video footage. He says testing physical evidence is important because none of the 700 people at the party has identified any shooter likely because they fear retribution if they talk. No arrests have been made. The sheriff says investigators believe the shooting at Willie’s Bar and Grill on St. Helena Island began as a dispute between two or three people.

The Button King’s legacy lives on in quirky South Carolina museum

October 6, 2025

J.D. Stevens feels his late father’s presence when he enters a shed near his South Carolina home. It’s the home of the Button Museum, filled with creations by Dalton Stevens, known as the Button King. Dalton Stevens began sewing buttons on a denim suit in 1983 during sleepless nights. His fame grew from a newspaper story to a local TV spot picked up by then-upstart news network CNN eventually leading to “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” in 1987. Dalton’s fame lasted for decades, with appearances on various talk shows. The Button Museum in Bishopville has objects made of buttons, including a hearse, coffin, outhouse and piano, all created by Stevens.

FILE - Circuit Judge Diane Goodstein presides over a trial in a lawsuit between the Diocese of South Carolina and the national Episcopal church on July 8, 2014, in St. George, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins, File)

South Carolina’s top law official says no arson evidence so far in fire that destroyed judge’s home

October 6, 2025

South Carolina’s top law enforcement official says state agents have so far found no evidence that a fire destroying a judge’s home on a South Carolina island was intentionally set. The blaze on Saturday nearly burned to the ground the house owned by Circuit Judge Diane Goodstein on Edisto Island. State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel says the investigation is still ongoing, and agents will issue a report when they determine the cause. Three people were hurt in the fire, with one taken to a hospital. Keel also encouraged people to stop sharing unverified information about the fire.

This undated image provided by the Horry County Jail shows Brandon Council. (Horry County Jail via AP)

South Carolina prosecutor seeks death penalty in murder case after Biden reduced sentence to life

September 30, 2025

A local prosecutor in South Carolina plans to seek the death penalty against a man whose federal death sentence for killing two bank employees was commuted to life in prison by President Joe Biden. Brandon Council was not in court Tuesday when prosecutors announced they would ask a jury for the death penalty if he is convicted of murder in state court. Biden reduced death sentences for 37 federal inmates, including Council, in December. This led Solicitor Jimmy Richardson to pursue new indictments against Council in August, opening the door to a state death penalty trial. Families and law enforcement have expressed anger over Biden’s decision.

Jarvis McKenzie talks about how he was the victim of what police called a hate crime at a news conference on Thursday Aug. 21, 2025 in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Black man shot at while waiting to go to work says South Carolina needs hate crime law

September 6, 2025

A Black man in South Carolina is pushing for the state to pass its own hate crime law after police say he was shot at by a white man in a racist attack. South Carolina and Wyoming are the only states in the country without a statewide hate crime law. Local governments in South Carolina have passed ordinances, but penalties are 30 days or less in jail. State laws could impose harsher penalties. Efforts to pass a statewide law have stalled since the 2015 Charleston church massacre. Jarvis McKenzie says he feels the lack of a state law sends a message that racial crimes like the one against him are tolerated in South Carolina.

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.

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.