South-Carolina
Top-25 Basketball Poll Shakeup After Ranked Matchups: USC Trojans, South Carolina
![Top-25 Basketball Poll Shakeup After Ranked Matchups: USC Trojans, South Carolina Top-25 Basketball Poll Shakeup After Ranked Matchups: USC Trojans, South Carolina](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_8017,h_4509,x_0,y_71/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/all_trojans/01jjq1rmp9zdjgc1n4vt.jpg)
The USC Trojans women’s basketball team is 18-1 for the 2024-25 season. The AP Top-25 Poll has shaken up with multiple ranked teams having faced off recently. USC is ranked No. 4 in the current AP Top-25 Poll.
The Women of Troy are one of the most dominant teams this season. The only undefeated team remaining is the No.1 UCLA Bruins. As January comes to a close and teams enter the final full month of the regular season, playoff seeding is at stake.
USC has already faced five ranked opponents this season, going 4-1 against them. The lone loss was against the current No. 3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The biggest win of the season was arguably against the current No. 6 UConn Huskies, who were No. 4 at the time of the matchup. USC went on the road to defeat one of the toughest opponents in women’s college basketball.
Given the toughness of the Big Ten conference, USC still has three ranked opponents on their schedule. One of which is the No. 1 undefeated UCLA Bruins, who the Women of Troy will play twice still. Their first matchup will be on Feb. 13 at a sold-out Galen Center.
The Trojans will also play the No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes on Feb. 8 and No. 16 Michigan State Spartans on Feb. 19. The second matchup against UCLA will close out the regular season on March 1.
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In addition to No. 1 UCLA and No. 3 Notre Dame, the South Carolina Gamecocks are ahead of the Trojans ranked at No. 2. If the Trojans defeat UCLA that should boost USC’s ranking a little higher, especially if USC can go 2-0 against their cross-town rival.
Notre Dame and South Carolina both have four remaining ranked opponents. Two of the Gamecocks’ opponents are in the top 10, the No. 5 Texas Longhorns and the No. 6 UConn Huskies. If either or both Notre Dame and South Carolina lose, and the Trojans maintain their win streak, USC could rise in the AP-Top 25 poll by the end of the season.
The Big Ten Tournament will take place from Mar. 5-9. This is a tough conference, one USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb has spoken highly of since the conference realignment. Gottlieb appeared on Trojans Live on Dec. 9 where she spoke about the power of the Big Ten.
“Of the 18 teams in the league currently nine, at least as of last week, like I said I haven’t looked today, but nine were ranked in the top 25. It is legit,” Gottlieb said. “We have to approach each game almost like an NCAA Tournament game. You get one shot, you don’t get to say okay let’s figure it out and get a doover when we get back home or something. That’s just not how we’re going to approach it.”
The USC Trojans are 8-0 in Big Ten conference play and on a 14-game win streak. There are currently five Big Ten teams in the AP Top-25 Poll, three of which are in the top 10. It is a tough conference, but the Trojans have done well thus far. The team will now have to close the season on a high note and hope for higher seeding in the postseason.
The No. 4 USC Trojans women’s basketball team will next face the 18-3 Minnesota Golden Gophers on Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. PT at Galen Center.
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South-Carolina
Louisiana, Arizona end pauses on capital punishment as 3 executions set for March
![Louisiana, Arizona end pauses on capital punishment as 3 executions set for March Louisiana, Arizona end pauses on capital punishment as 3 executions set for March](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/fdeec2d6eebacdc4aac4f1a493f0d8e70a348be3/c=0-748-1449-1567/local/-/media/2017/06/05/Phoenix/Phoenix/636322855149145211-PNIBrd2-03-26-2017-Republic-1-E002--2017-03-24-IMG-Death-Chamber1-1-1-1THRIT58-L999145752-IMG-Death-Chamber1-1-1-1THRIT58.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=1200)
Three states have scheduled executions in March, including one eyeing a controversial nitrogen gas method in order to carry it out and another state that struggled to insert IVs into three separate inmates during their lethal injections.
Louisiana’s execution of Christopher Sepulvado on March 17 would mark the end of a 15-year break in executions in the state, which plans to use nitrogen gas. Arizona’s execution of Aaron Gunches on March 19 would be the first in the state since 2022, when the state struggled to carry out three executions.
Meanwhile South Carolina is set to execute its fourth inmate since September, when the state reinstated the practice after a 13-year pause.
“The resumption of executions in states which have not killed prisoners in over a decade is a troubling last gasp for the death penalty in the United States,” Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, told USA TODAY on Wednesday. “Killing old men decades after their crimes does not make us safer, nor does it bring back the victims in these cases.”
Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said in a statement Monday that “justice will be dispensed.”
“For too long, Louisiana has failed to uphold the promises made to victims of our State’s most violent crimes,” he said. “I anticipate the national press will embellish on the feelings and interests of the violent death row murderers, we will continue to advocate for the innocent victims and the loved ones left behind.”
So far this year, the U.S. has executed three inmates, with two more scheduled to die and on Thursday and at least 12 more by the end of the year. Here’s what to know about the newly scheduled executions.
Louisiana ends prohibition on death penalty
A De Soto Parish judge granted a death warrant Tuesday for 81-year-old Christopher Sepulvado to be executed on March 17 for the murder of his 6-year-old stepson in 1993.
Attorney General Liz Murrill told The Associated Press that the state will use nitrogen gas and expects to execute four inmates this year.
The Rev. Jeff Hood, a spiritual advisor for Death Row inmates and anti-death penalty activist, was a witness to the first nitrogen gas execution in the United States − that of Kenny Eugene Smith on Jan. 25, 2024 − and described it as being “horrific.”
“Kenny was shaking the entire gurney. I had never seen something so violent,” Hood wrote in a column for USA TODAY following the execution of Kenneth Smith. “There was nothing in his body that was calm. Everything was going everywhere all at once, over and over.”
Sepulvado’s attorney, Shawn Nolan, told KTBS-TV that the inmate is in poor health and confined to a wheelchair.
“Chris Sepulvado is a debilitated old man suffering from serious medical ailments,” he said. “There is no conceivable reason why ‘justice’ might be served by executing Chris instead of letting him live out his few remaining days in prison.”
Arizona to restart executions after review
The Arizona State Supreme Court granted a warrant of execution for Aaron Gunches on Tuesday, setting the first execution in the state in more than two years for March 19, reported The Arizona Republic − a part of the USA TODAY Network.
Gunches was sentenced to death for the 2002 murder of Ted Price, a former longtime boyfriend of Gunches’ girlfriend. Gunches has advocated for his execution, and the state’s Supreme Court previously granted a death warrant for him in 2023 that was not completed when Democratic state leadership paused executions upon taking office.
Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes suspended capital punishment pending a review of Arizona’s death penalty process because the state struggled to insert IVs for three lethal injection executions in 2022: those of Clarence Dixon, Frank Atwood and Murray Hooper.
Dixon’s attorneys said it took 40 minutes to insert IVs. Dixon’s execution team resorted to inserting an IV line into his femoral vein, which caused him to experience pain and resulted in a “fair amount of blood,” according to Associated Press reporter Paul Davenport, who witnessed the execution.
The execution team for Atwood also struggled to insert IVs, prompting technicians to consider the femoral vein, as well. However, Atwood asked the team to try his arms again, eventually guiding them to insert the line into one of his hands successfully.
During Hooper’s execution, he turned and asked the viewing gallery, “Can you believe this?” as the execution team tried and failed repeatedly to insert IVs into his arms before inserting a catheter into his femoral vein.
Hobbs ended the review process late last year, and Mayes announced she was pursuing the execution of Gunches.
State officials have said there will now be additional members on the execution team, including a phlebotomist. During previous executions, the IV team was sometimes staffed with corrections officers.
South Carolina to execute fourth person in five months
Meanwhile the South Carolina Supreme Court on Friday scheduled a March 7 execution date for Brad Sigmon for the 2001 murder of a couple and the kidnapping of their daughter, according to the Greenville News − a part of the USA TODAY Network.
Sigmon would be the fourth man executed by the state since September if the execution is completed, following Freddie “Khalil” Owens, Richard Moore and Marion Bowman last month.
Lawyers representing Sigmon, 67, filed a motion last week to stay Sigmon’s executionafter reviewing Moore’s autopsy.
According to the motion, the previous three men remained alive for 20 minutes after receiving a dose of pentobarbital, and Moore had to be injected a second time.
“This raises grave concerns: that during all three of SCDC’s recent executions, the drugs were either not properly administered, not reliable and effective, or all of the above,” according to the motion.
USA TODAY reached out to the South Carolina Department of Corrections for a response.
South-Carolina
Soggy days prompt flash flood risk across parts of South Carolina; more to come
![Soggy days prompt flash flood risk across parts of South Carolina; more to come Soggy days prompt flash flood risk across parts of South Carolina; more to come](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7d57cb0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/739x388+0+13/resize/1200x630!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fca%2F98%2Fa438265c42edb8c861f9e000ee12%2Fsnip20250212-4.png)
Showers will continue across much of South Carolina on Wednesday and for many on Thursday. We have been sandwiched between systems, so we can expect plenty of rain and a few thunderstorms to pass through the region as the final cold front pushes through the Palmetto state on Thursday. Flash floods are a risk, especially across the Upstate and the northern fringe of the Midlands.
Wednesday was a wet day across South Carolina. The showers arrived in the morning across the Midlands as a cold front pushed through the region. This cold front was weak and quickly followed by a low-pressure system moving over the Lowcountry. As a system slowly drags to the east, a warm front will arrive in the state from the southwest, bringing instability and plenty of moisture from the Gulf. This warm front is attached to the next low-pressure system, traveling over the state on Thursday. This system drags the final cold front of this series, which will put the icing on the cake regarding showers and isolated storms moving through on Thursday.
Between Wednesday and Friday night, up to 4 inches of rainfall is possible across Upstate South Carolina. The Midlands could receive between 1 and 2 inches, with some isolated spots, especially across the northern tier, around 3 inches. Up to 1.5 inches could fall in the Lowcountry, while the Pee Dee will likely get less than one inch.
This wet and slow-moving setup has prompted excessive rain alerts across parts of the southeast. The western half of South Carolina is either under a marginal risk or a slight risk of experiencing flash floods. The slight risk is about a 15% chance of experiencing flash floods within a 25-mile distance of a point extent through the deep south. The marginal risk, at least a 5% chance of experiencing flash floods within 25 miles of a point, extends around the slight risk area and to the Mid-Atlantic region, where Wednesday was a busy day when they experienced dangerous winter weather conditions.
Keep paying attention to the weather pattern because more will come this weekend. Although we will get a break between Thursday and Friday, the soggy and active weather will return to South Carolina on Saturday and likely on Sunday as the next system arrives in the area. This system will likely provide a similar setup that brings plenty of rain and will not likely move out until late Sunday night or early Monday morning. Rainfall totals could be very close to those we receive between Wednesday and Thursday. So remember that the totals mentioned above could repeat over the weekend. Still, they will be repeating over already saturated soils, which could rapidly increase the risk of flash floods once again as the ground is already fragile. We will bring you updates later this week.
South-Carolina
John Bolton on expanding into Greenland
![John Bolton on expanding into Greenland John Bolton on expanding into Greenland](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7a994a7/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3744x1966+0+70/resize/1200x630!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnpr.brightspotcdn.com%2Fdims3%2Fdefault%2Fstrip%2Ffalse%2Fcrop%2F3744x2106%200%20195%2Fresize%2F3744x2106%21%2F%3Furl%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffb%2F39%2F976bdf2d4b82ba05cd87f4a9ee3d%2Fgettyimages-1415430572.jpg)
There seems to be little that President Trump and one of his first-term national security advisers, John Bolton, agree on publicly these days — but one issue may be whether the U.S. should acquire Greenland from Denmark.
Making Greenland an American territory or commonwealth, in Bolton’s view, could help with security interests of “critical importance” to the U.S. and allies in fending off potential threats from adversaries like Russia and China.
Trump fired Bolton, who had previously served as his U.S. ambassador to the U.N., in 2019 — the same year the president first spoke about his ambitions for Greenland. And Bolton told NPR that he thinks the president ruined the country’s chances of negotiating to acquire the semiautonomous territory by failing to speak privately with Danish leaders about the possibility first.
While Bolton maintains there are other paths to allowing the U.S. and allies to fend off geopolitical threats in the Arctic region, he accused Trump of acting like a “playground bully” in his approach — noting Trump’s refusal to rule out military force to take Greenland.
In response to Bolton’s remarks, White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told NPR:
“President Trump’s America First Policy is already paying dividends – especially in the Western Hemisphere. Both Mexico & Canada have agreed to send troops and personnel to our borders to stop the flow of fentanyl from China, Panama is ending its Belt & Road deal with China, Maduro has released six American hostages from Venezuela, and Colombia agreed to take repatriation flights for their citizens in the U.S. illegally. We’re sorry John Bolton can’t comprehend the President’s many successes in just three weeks.”
Claire Harbage / NPR
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NPR
All Things Considered host Juana Summers spoke to Bolton about his views on Trump’s policy toward Greenland and Denmark.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
Juana Summers: Obviously, a possible acquisition of Greenland is a sensitive topic for many. You’ve talked in the past about President Trump’s plans to negotiate with Denmark to buy Greenland during his first term. And you’ve said that he effectively blew up any possibility of that happening by airing those plans publicly before privately raising them with Danish leaders. So to achieve the kinds of strategic security goals that exist in the region now, what kind of path forward do you think there is?
John Bolton: Well, I’d be happy if everybody started to just put it behind them and not discuss it publicly. It’s obviously sensitive both for the government of Denmark and for the local government in Greenland. And by making outrageous statements, including refusing to rule out the use of force, Trump is getting in his own way. He’s making it harder to reach a solution that everybody might agree on, because in a democratic society, when you act like you’re a playground bully, you put other democratic leaders in a difficult position — you’re driving them into a corner. It’s making it much harder for them to think about ways that we can find something that’s mutually acceptable. So this was true in 2019. And, you know, we’ve lost almost six years, and he’s come close to doing it again. I think reasonable people can put it back together. But all of this discussion has been a waste of time.
Summers: So Greenland, as you know, would have to, in all likelihood, vote for independence from Denmark first in order to become a U.S. territory. And as you know, Greenland’s prime minister has repeatedly said Greenlanders do not want to be Danish and they don’t want to be American either. So I’d like to ask you, ambassador, in your diplomatic expertise, how could the U.S. best make the case to Greenlandic citizens and leaders who clearly have strong feelings about their own autonomy, their own independence?
Bolton: Well, there are arrangements, even with U.S. sovereignty, that would give them considerable independence in all local matters. They could become a commonwealth of the United States like Puerto Rico is. And beyond that, there are other things that exist, like the 1951 Defense of Greenland treaty, which is a bilateral treaty between the U.S. and Denmark. We could work on that. And even if Greenland became independent, I certainly hope they would be a NATO member if they decided on that. It’s hard to talk about all these publicly with so much at stake, but there are a range of options. And I do think if we could just get back on an even keel here and stop thinking about Trump casinos in the capital of Greenland, it would be a lot easier to get things accomplished.
Summers: You mentioned the casino, so I do want to ask you about that. You’ve mentioned that Trump wants to potentially put a casino in Greenland’s capital. And back in 2019, he posted a tweet that promised not to put up a Trump property there. To your own knowledge, has he said on record that he might want to put a casino in Nuuk?
John W. Poole / NPR
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NPR
Bolton: Well, it was just this sort of juvenile thing that put out a picture of a casino there and [say], “But I’m not going to do it.” I don’t think it was well received in Greenland, let’s put it that way. And this is a very serious matter. It’s another indication on issues that have enormous national security implications. Trump doesn’t see the gravity of what he’s dealing with and the harm that can be caused by these kinds of playground-level statements.
Summers: Regardless of what we can tell about the president’s motivations, a lot of people who are watching him in his first few weeks in office think that the current rhetoric on Greenland, when you take it alongside what he has had to say about Canada or the Panama Canal as well as Gaza, that it signals a shift to a new era of American imperialism and trying to take over other sovereign places. So, I’m curious what you would say to that part of the discourse and whether you think that concerns about security should outweigh concerns about independence and colonialism?
Bolton: Well, I think the U.S. is about the least imperialist major power in human history. I think our record is not entirely clear on that, but it is much different from almost every other great power over the course of recorded history. And I think that to say that Trump has created a new doctrine or he has a new policy is the most inaccurate thing of all, because Trump doesn’t have a philosophy, he doesn’t have a national security grand strategy, doesn’t do policy in the way we conventionally understand that. And so I think all of these things, although he mentioned them, that at one point, all in one statement, do not form a coherent strategy. And in fact, simply the way he presents them makes it more difficult for him and the United States to achieve the objectives that he says he wants. You know, people say, well, that’s the way he negotiates in business. And I just ask most businesspeople, do you with respect to your customers and suppliers, do you slap them around publicly, frequently? Does that help your business or hurt it? Trump doesn’t seem to get the point there.
Copyright 2025 NPR
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