South-Carolina
Alabama's Pringle, Texas signee Scott among new faces for South Carolina this season
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Nick Pringle had the chance to finish his career anywhere after Alabama’s run to the Final Four this past season. He chose to come home, especially after South Carolina completed its own rags-to-riches season in the second year of coach Lamont Paris.
“I’m home, I’m home. I can’t stop saying that,” said the 6-foot-10 Pringle, who started 16 games with the Crimson Tide last season and played a critical role in the team’s first-ever time in the national semifinals.
It was not long after that Pringle, who’s from Seabrook near South Carolina’s coast, knew he needed a change and the Gamecocks gave him logical place to look. South Carolina, which lost 21 games in Paris’ first season, turned things around by going 26-8 and reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017.
“Alabama, it wasn’t bad,” Pringle said Tuesday. “But I feel there was more room for me to grow and these coaches, they’re allowing me to do that.”
Pringle is not the only new face for a team picked last in the Southeastern Conference in the preseason, yet tied the school mark for most wins in a season.
Cam Scott, twice the Gatorade Player of the Year in South Carolina, had originally signed with Texas, but was released from his national letter of intent in April and came back to his home state.
Scott, a 6-6 guard, is fast and a strong shooter, which the Gamecocks will need after losing three of their top four scorers from a year ago.
Scott was recruited by Paris and felt a good connection to the program. But the team’s struggles two years ago had Scott looking elsewhere. Scott said he saw things blossom last season and when he did not want to stay with the Longhorns, he knew where he wanted to go.
“(Paris) had a great foundation for this team,” Scott said. “But it wasn’t set yet. So once you got to see that set, it was honestly unbelievable. And I think we’re in for good things this year.”
Pringle, Scott and two other newcomers in 7-footer Jordan Butler and guard Jamarii Thomas worked out for more than an hour on court with their new teammates. Paris, who received a hefty raise to $3.75 million this season this past March, ran the session with the team still more than three months from the season’s start.
Paris has liked the effort and intensity early on, although the team is nowhere near a finished product. He’s grateful for the leadership of Pringle, who played 70 games at Alabama after transferring in from Dodge City Community College after the 2021-22 season.
“He’s an incredible talker,” Paris said of Pringle. “I find myself constantly saying something to him about how he’s communicating with his teammates. He’s unselfish. He’s been around this league.”
And he’s not alone in SEC knowledge. Butler was a freshman at Missouri last season. Like Pringle and Scott, he decided home — he’s from Greenville — was an enticing opportunity.
Thomas was the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference player of the year at Norfolk State and is eager to show what the power schools missed in recruiting. “This is going to be fun,” he said.
Pringle is ready for the season’s start, encouraging teammates that’s he’s known only a few weeks to go harder, faster and crisper with each drill they do. He’s prepared to give South Carolina a chance to once more compete for an SEC title and advance in the NCAAs.
There are only a small percentage of players in college basketball who’ve played in the Final Four. He believes he can instill that ethic on the Gamecocks this winter.
“Me knowing what winning means, I can come and bring that home,” he said. “I just want us to be the best.”
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Six Republican candidates vying to become South Carolina’s next governor met in downtown Charleston for a wide-ranging debate that put abortion, infrastructure and the future of data centers at the center of the race.
The forum was held at the Sottile Theatre, where Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, Lowcountry businessman Rom Reddy and Attorney General Alan Wilson took the stage.
Questions included whether they would support a state hate crime law, how they would address concerns about growth and infrastructure, how to navigate collaboration, abortion and the future of data centers in the state.
One issue that drew near-unanimous opposition was state Senate Bill 1095, a proposed total abortion ban that passed out of committee earlier in the day. All of the candidates opposed the bill, but they differed on what they would do if it reached the governor’s desk.
READ MORE | South Carolina governor candidates tout infrastructure, growth at business forum
Norman said he would sign it.
“You know, this is an emotional issue, but I will tell you if this bill came to my desk as governor. If it passed the House and the Senate, I would sign it,” Norman said.
All of the other candidates on stage said they would veto the bill if it came across their desk as governor, with Reddy arguing the question should be decided by voters.
“The Supreme Court did not say the loudest voice in the ruling class prevails. It said it’s up to the people in the state, so let’s put it to a referendum,” Reddy said.
On infrastructure, candidates discussed reforming the South Carolina Department of Transportation and allowing private-sector involvement to help pay for improvements.
Wilson outlined ideas that included leasing interstate easements and expanding private express lanes.
“We privatized that grass between the interstates. We turn it into private express lanes that can be told we leased the easements on the sides of interstates to telecommunication companies and energy companies, and charge them for natural gas line and fiber optic fiber optic cables,” Wilson said.
Evette also pointed to public-private partnerships and the possibility of fast-pass lanes.
READ MORE | South Carolina governor candidates tout infrastructure, growth at business forum
“We want to make sure that we’re innovative public private partnerships coming in and creating fast pass lanes to allow people that are in a hurry to be able to utilize that,” Evette said.
The final question focused on data centers, with candidates agreeing corporations should “pay their way.”
“They should pay for their water. They should pay for their infrastructure, any roads around it, and we should look at what Governor Ron DeSantis has done in Florida with the large data centers that are coming to Florida. That should be the model in South Carolina and everywhere,” Mace said.
Kimbrell said the state should set limits to protect natural resources and guard against higher power costs for residents.
“Put parameters around data centers to ensure that the water consumption does not impact places like the ACE Basin,” Kimbrell said. “Ensuring that the Public Service Commission makes absolutely sure nobody’s power rate goes up and we try to get behind the meter energy grids in place so they can be self-sufficient.”
Two more debates are planned ahead of the primaries on June 9.
A bill that could make it a felony for doctors to perform an abortion is moving to the full South Carolina Senate with just a few weeks left in the legislative session.
The South Carolina Senate medical affairs committee continued a debate of Senate Bill 1095 on April 21 in Columbia. The bill, sponsored by State Sen. Richard Cash, R-Anderson, builds on a restrictive abortion bill that failed to progress in the fall.
The committee passed the measure in an 8-4 vote, moving it to the full Senate for consideration. Lawmakers have until May 14, the last day of the 2026 legislative session, to pass the bill for it to become law.
Senate Bill 1095, also called the “Unborn Child Protection Act,” bans performing an abortion or supplying abortion drugs. It makes it illegal for a woman to get an abortion, with the only exception being to save a pregnant woman’s life.
It also makes mifepristone and misoprostol Schedule IV controlled substances. Alprazolam (Xanax) and zolpidem (Ambien) are two other examples of Schedule IV substances.
Pro-Life Greenville, an anti-abortion organization based in Greenville, responded to the bill’s progress with “full endorsement” of the legislation.
“Unborn children, like all human beings, deserve to have their lives protected under law here in the Palmetto State,” Pro-Life Greenville stated. “Today’s vote by the SC Senate Medical Affairs Committee brings that urgent need one step closer to reality.”
Under the bill, a woman who has an abortion could face misdemeanor charges. The maximum sentence would be two years in jail with a $1,000 fine.
Those found guilty of performing an abortion or providing a pregnant woman with abortion-inducing drugs could face felony charges, a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail, and a possible $100,000 fine.
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT), a firm opponent of the bill, decried the Senate committee passage. PPSAT Director of Public Affairs Vicki Ringer said in a statement that the bill will cost people their lives, and it will make it more difficult for women to get reproductive and pregnancy healthcare.
“Abortion bans have and will continue to cost people their lives,” Ringer stated. “As this ban inches closer to the governor’s desk, it is becoming increasingly clear just how many of our lives anti-abortion lawmakers are willing to endanger in service to their agenda.”
Bella Carpentier covers the South Carolina legislature, state, and Greenville County politics. Contact her at bcarpentier@gannett.com
BARNWELL, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) – An officer was injured, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has issued a Blue Alert for an “armed and dangerous” woman.
According to the Blue Alert, Cushman is wanted in connection with an officer being injured.
The location of the assault was Gardenia Road in Blackville, S.C.
On Monday night around 10:35 p.m., officials said they were looking for Lacey Cushman, 37, a white woman who is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs about 210 pounds.
According to SLED, she has brown eyes and an unknown hair color. Her hairstyle and clothing are unknown.
She was last seen driving a 2011 white Chevrolet Traverse with an S.C. tag, 706IRU, in Barnwell County.
Her last known direction of travel was toward Bamberg County.
If you see her or have information, call 911 immediately.
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