COLUMBIA — Dawn Staley will be well represented at this year’s ESPY Awards as her current team and former player A’ja Wilson combined for three nominations.

South Carolina women’s basketball is nominated for the “best team” award and Wilson is nominated for both “best WNBA player” and “best athlete, women’s sports.”

The award show is on July 11 (ABC, 8 p.m. ET), in Los Angeles, hosted by Serena Williams.

On Wednesday morning, ESPN revealed the entire list of nominees. Wilson’s current WNBA team, the Las Vegas Aces, is up against Staley’s squad for the award.

2024 ESPYS: Best team award nominees

• South Carolina Gamecocks, NCAA Women’s Basketball
• Kansas City Chiefs, NFL
• Michigan Wolverines, NCAA Football
• Las Vegas Aces, WNBA
• University of Connecticut Huskies, NCAA Men’s Basketball
• Oklahoma Sooners, NCAA Softball
• Boston Celtics, NBA
• Florida Panthers, NHL
• Texas Rangers, MLB

Every team nominated won their respective championship in the 2023-24 season.

Wilson is competing against Caitlin Clark formerly of Iowa women’s basketball and now of the Indiana Fever. Iowa lost to South Carolina in the NCAA championship on April 7. Clark plays with former Gamecocks star Aliyah Boston on the Fever, after being picked No. 1 overall in the 2024 WNBA draft.

2024 ESPYS: Best athlete, women’s sports award nominees

• Caitlin Clark, Iowa Women’s Basketball
• Coco Gauff, Tennis
• Nelly Korda, Golf
• A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces

Wilson’s second award is specific to the WNBA.

2024 ESPYS: Best WNBA player:

• Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx
• Breanna Stewart, New York Liberty
• Alyssa Thomas, Connecticut Sun
• A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces

WILSON’S LOGO: WNBA star A’ja Wilson responds to criticism over new Nike signature logo design

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin

Sheri Biggs, a nurse practitioner who had the backing of Gov. Henry McMaster, defeated her GOP primary challenger in a Tuesday runoff election to clinch the Republican nomination to replace outgoing GOP Rep. Jeff Duncan in South Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District.

The runoff election between GOP candidates Mark Burns and Sheri Biggs was triggered earlier this month after neither candidate received a majority of the vote in the state’s Republican primary election for the district.

Burns received around 33% of the vote, receiving a little more than 27,000 votes in the June 11 primary election. Biggs received about 28% of the vote in the same election, garnering just over 23,500 votes.

Biggs, a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, ran as a “pro-life, pro-Second Amendment lifelong Republican.”

“I’m running for Congress to continue my lifetime of service and treat Washington’s health problem with bold, conservative, servant leadership,” she said on her campaign website.

Biggs had been endorsed by Gov. McMaster and had also highlighted her commitment to work with former President Trump, despite his endorsement of Burns.

“Sheri Biggs epitomizes the greatness of the people of South Carolina — an unwavering belief in God, a commitment to selfless service and a true resolve to fight for our shared values,” McMaster said in his endorsement. 

“While her distinguished military and health care careers are truly admirable, her passion to help heal our nation’s fiscal, mental and spiritual health problems is exactly what we need representing us in Congress. Sheri Biggs will work with President Trump to secure our border, protect tax dollars, defend our conservative values, keep the promises to our veterans and drain the swamp.”

Trump, in his endorsement of Burns on Truth Social, described the pastor as “an America First Fighter” who is “a good man, a hard worker, and will not let you down!”

The former president cited Burns’ positions on border security, upholding the rule of law, the economy and defending “our always under siege Second Amendment.”

Burns has touted his positions on the border and pushing back against the “woke” agenda. He had also loudly touted his endorsement from Trump on his campaign website.

A former member of the South Carolina National Guard, Burns set up a church in Easley and has embraced the label by Time Magazine as “Donald Trump’s favorite pastor.”

Duncan decided not to run again for the seat after seven terms.

Duncan’s wife filed for divorce last year, accusing him of several affairs.

“At some point in a career, one needs to step aside and allow others to bring fresh ideas and abilities into the fight for liberty,” Duncan said in a statement in January.

Bryon Best, who manages a Sherwin Williams paint store in Greenwood, won the Democratic Party’s nomination to represent the district in the state’s June 11 primary election, defeating high school science teacher Frances Guldner by more than 2,050 votes.

The district is a mostly rural area in the northwestern part of the Palmetto State.

A Democrat has not won the district since Lindsey Graham flipped the seat in 1994.

Burns and Biggs sparred with five other Republicans who originally sought their party’s nomination in the race for the GOP-held seat. State Rep. Stewart Jones; businessman Franky Franco; and Kevin Bishop, a former staffer for South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, also sought the nomination.

Crossing the street is finally becoming a bit safer. After hitting a 40-year high in 2022, pedestrian deaths decreased in 2023, according to a report published Wednesday by the Governors Highway Safety Association.

The report shows a 5.4% fall in the annual number of pedestrian deaths, the first decrease since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The association’s CEO, Jonathan Adkins, says the progress is a step in the right direction.

“We’re happy to see it going down, but we’re not having a party,” said Adkins.

The number of fatalities — 7,318 — is still far more than in 2019, before the pandemic. But Adkins said there’s some evidence that new safety initiatives could be helping. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also says that overall traffic deaths are trending down so far in 2024.

Road safety advocates have pushed for a variety of measures, including lower speed limits, more sidewalks and better lighting in pedestrian areas. Adkins says that layering multiple methods is the key to preventing deaths.

“There’s a lot of construction going on across the country that’s making the roadway safer. We’re engaging law enforcement in some new and creative ways,” said Adkins. “We’re looking at vehicle technology. So we’re doing a lot of different things, and that’s a different approach to safety in the United States.”

He singled out California, which saw the greatest decrease in pedestrian deaths, for working closely with local governments. “That’s different than, certainly, historically in roadway safety,” he said.

Adkins says that the report’s findings could reflect the start of a new trend in pedestrian safety, as initiatives continue to be implemented across the United States.

“It’s really just started in the last few years. And so I’m hopeful that that’s starting to pay off,” he said.

Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reveals many pedestrian deaths in 2023 occurred at night in areas without sidewalks. They were most likely to involve SUVs or other large vehicles.

Copyright 2024 NPR