Connect with us

Southeast

180-year-old Christian university in South Carolina to close after $6M fundraiser falls short

Published

on

180-year-old Christian university in South Carolina to close after M fundraiser falls short

A 180-year-old private Christian university in South Carolina is closing at the end of the semester after failing to raise $6 million to sustain its educational operations.

Limestone University raised about $2.1 million from nearly 200 donations during a two-week fundraising period, falling short of the funding needed to continue its on-campus and online programs, the university said in a news release Tuesday.

“Our Limestone spirit will endure through the lives of our students and alumni who carry it forward into the world,” said Randall Richardson, chair of Limestone University’s trustees. “Though our doors may close, the impact of Limestone University will live on.”

Limestone University’s online and in-person enrollment dropped from about 3,200 students in 2014 to about 1,600, according to state higher education data.

HARVARD PRESIDENT APOLOGIZES FOR FAILURE TO ADDRESS ANTISEMITISM, ISLAMAPHOBIA AFTER NEW REPORTS RELEASED

Advertisement

Limestone University in Gaffney, S.C., announced late Tuesday it would close after failing to raise $6 million. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain, File)

Several hundred professors and support staff will lose their jobs as part of the closure. The school said it promised to help students transfer to other schools.

Students and faculty have questioned whether the school’s financial problems could have been handled sooner.

“Why didn’t we do anything sooner?” Emma Knapp, a student, told WSPA-TV. “We kept spending money when we shouldn’t have been.”

“The problems didn’t happen overnight and they probably could have been addressed sooner,” Paul LeFrancois, a professor of economics at Limestone told the station.

Advertisement

TEEN REJECTED BY 16 COLLEGES, HIRED BY GOOGLE, SUES FOR RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

Daniel Deneen Jr., who plays football for Limestone, said he was shocked at the school’s dire financial situation and sudden closure.

“When we found out the school had $30 million in debt, we all wondered how they were going to get out of it. The last two weeks have been very stressful with finals coming up this week,” Deneen told The Post and Courier.

Limestone, founded in Gaffney in 1845, will hold its final commencement ceremonies on Saturday.

Advertisement

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read the full article from Here

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Southeast

Murdaugh family housekeeper says white truck ‘haunts’ her from night of murders years later

Published

on

Murdaugh family housekeeper says white truck ‘haunts’ her from night of murders years later

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The Murdaugh family’s longtime housekeeper, Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson, said a white pickup truck still “haunts” her years after the brutal Lowcountry murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

Her book, “Within the House of Murdaugh: Amid a Unique Friendship,” co-authored with Mary Frances Weaver, chronicles not only her close relationship with Maggie Murdaugh but details of the night Maggie and her son Paul were killed.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Turrubiate-Simpson discussed the moment that still troubles her more than four years later, including a white pickup truck she saw near the family’s property off Moselle Road in Colleton County, South Carolina. The property was known simply as “Moselle.”

“The part that really haunts me,” she said, “was not looking into that white truck that was parked out there by the hangar.”

Advertisement

Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson answers questions from prosecutor John Meadors during Alex Murdaugh’s trial for murder at the Colleton County Courthouse Feb. 10, 2023.  (Joshua Boucher/Pool via USA Today Network via Imagn)

ALEX MURDAUGH SLAMS NEW TRUE-CRIME SERIES DEPICTING FAMILY’S DOUBLE-MURDER: ‘MISLEADING PORTRAYALS’

She recalled that she initially assumed it belonged to Paul and felt no reason to check it.

“When I heard testimony during the trial where they specified that Paul’s phone was dinging in Okatie, I said, ‘Well, who was driving that truck? Who was driving the white truck? The white F-150?’ That’s one of the main ones that bothers me.”

Disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh arrives in court in Beaufort, S.C., Sept. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/James Pollard)

Advertisement

MURDAUGH HOUSEKEEPER REVEALS ONE DETAIL THAT CONVINCED HER ALEX WAS GUILTY OF MURDERS: ‘HE DID IT’

Turrubiate-Simpson said she has often replayed that moment in her mind, wondering why she felt compelled to leave the property through a different gate rather than drive past the kennels.

Maggie and Paul were found dead near dog kennels at the family’s home, police said. The Colleton County Sheriff’s Office said both victims suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

“Perhaps it was like a divine intervention or something that said, ‘No, you need to go out the other gate,’” she said. “I wasn’t worried because the truck looked just like Paul’s truck, so it wasn’t a red flag then.”

A side view of the house at the Murdaugh Moselle property March 1, 2023, in Islandton, S.C. (Andrew J. Whitaker/Pool via USA Today Network via Imagn)

Advertisement

In the book, Turrubiate-Simpson shares several small inconsistencies on the property the morning after the murders that only a longtime confidant would catch.

She told Fox News Digital that Maggie’s car was parked in a spot she had never seen her use.

“Maggie used to always pull up to the left of Paul,” she explained. “But that morning, Maggie’s car was to the right, and it was not close up to the house. It was a little bit further to the right, kind of where the hunting room entrance is. I knew she didn’t put it there.”

The placement didn’t make sense, she said.

“There was no need for her to park there when there were no other vehicles really there.”

Advertisement

Bullet holes in glass at the Murdaugh Moselle property March 1, 2023, in Islandton.  (Andrew J. Whitaker/Pool via USA Today Network via Imagn)

‘Oh my God. He did it.’

Turrubiate-Simpson said she had her doubts about Alex Murdaugh’s responsibility in the double murders until bodycam video was played in court.

During the trial, prosecutors played video from Deputy Daniel Greene, the first officer to arrive at the property. Turrubiate-Simpson said her husband encouraged her to watch the video, even though she initially said she had no interest in seeing the crime scene.

“He said, ‘I think you need to watch at least a little bit of it,’” she said.

When the camera briefly passed the family’s black Suburban, she immediately recognized a towel.

Advertisement

“I saw one of the towels that I had washed, that was going to be going back to Edisto [Murdaugh family’s island getaway],” she said. “In a glimpse, something caught my eye.”

Alex Murdaugh talks with defense attorney Jim Griffin during a jury-tampering hearing at the Richland County Judicial Center Jan. 29, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool)

She said she immediately asked her husband to rewind.

“And I told my husband, ‘Go back, go back, go back.’ He’s like, ‘What’s going on?’ I said, ‘Go back to the truck, go back to the truck.’ So, he’s steady going back, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God.’ I said, ‘He did it.’ And, at that point, my husband said, ‘What are you talking about?’ I said, ‘He did it. That was him.’ I said, ‘That towel was going back to Edisto. I had just washed it and set it on top of the shelf.’ I said, ‘He … he … he did it.’

“To me, that towel being there made no sense unless he grabbed it,” she added, suggesting she believed Alex used the towel during a frantic cleanup as he moved between the house and the kennels.

Advertisement

“His demeanor didn’t match up with the nurturing, loving father that I saw within the home.”

A view from the path toward the house of the kennels at the Murdaugh Moselle property March 1, 2023, in Islandton.  (Andrew J. Whitaker/Pool via USA Today Network via Imagn)

ALEX MURDAUGH’S DOUBLE LIFE: HOW GREED AND CORRUPTION BROUGHT DOWN LOWCOUNTRY LEGAL EMPIRE

In her book, Turrubiate-Simpson floats a theory that Alex may not have acted alone that night, not in the murders themselves, but in the aftermath.

“My theory in the book is that he had help to clean, possibly setting up,” she told Fox News Digital.

Advertisement

The distance between the main house and the kennels, she said, plays a critical role.

“It takes a good few minutes to get back and forth. In the time that they said it was done, there’s just not enough time.”

Turrubiate-Simpson said her theories are rooted in her intimate knowledge of the family’s routines, noting that “there’s no evidence” that she’s aware of suggesting that Alex had help.

“Within the House of Murdaugh: Amid a Unique Friendship, Blanca and Maggie” is a 2024 book by Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson that offers a personal account of her experiences with the Murdaugh family. (Palmetto Publishing)

‘Because of Paul and Maggie’

In her memoir, Turrubiate-Simpson said her purpose was not to fuel speculation, but to remind the world of Paul and Maggie’s lives.

Advertisement

“I wrote this book because of Paul and Maggie,” she said. “I don’t want her forgotten. When they hear his name, I’m tired of hearing just his name. The two victims have been forgotten in all of this.”

A possible new trial

The South Carolina Supreme Court is scheduled to hear Murdaugh’s appeal Feb. 11.

Murdaugh’s team requested a new trial, arguing he did not receive a fair trial because of alleged jury tampering by Colleton County Court Clerk Becky Hill.

Alex Murdaugh, right, is shown here with his family.  (Fox News)

FOX NATION: FALL OF THE HOUSE OF MURDAUGH: FROM EGG TO Z

Advertisement

“I think we all deserve a fair trial,” Turrubiate-Simpson said. “If they determine that he did not receive one, then we just must follow through. It’s the law.”

Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s headstones mark their final resting places in Hampton. (Michael M. DeWitt Jr./USA Today Network via Imagn)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Turrubiate-Simpson said she doesn’t plan to watch Hulu’s recent dramatization of the Murdaugh saga.

“I’ve watched some documentaries,” she said. “But I don’t feel the need to watch the Hulu series because I lived it. There’s no point in watching something that I already lived.”

Advertisement

Read the full article from Here

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Southeast

Suspect in second Charlotte light rail stabbing ID’d as twice deported illegal immigrant with criminal history

Published

on

Suspect in second Charlotte light rail stabbing ID’d as twice deported illegal immigrant with criminal history

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Court records obtained by Fox News Digital revealed a man charged in a violent stabbing on a Charlotte, North Carolina, light rail on Friday is a criminal illegal immigrant previously deported multiple times.

Oscar Solarzano, 33, of Honduras, was arrested in the stabbing and is charged with attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with serious injury, breaking/entering a motor vehicle, carrying a concealed weapon and intoxicated/disruptive behavior, according to multiple Departement of Homeland Security (DHS) sources and arrest warrants obtained by Fox News Digital.

Bond was not set due to Solarzano’s immigration status, according to a release order filed in Mecklenburg County.

BODYCAM SHOWS CHARLOTTE TRAIN MURDER SUSPECT’S INTERACTION WITH POLICE MONTHS BEFORE IRYNA ZARUTSKA STABBING

Advertisement

He was booted from the country by the Trump administration in March 2018 on a deportation order and reentered illegally during the Biden administration at the Texas border in March 2021, DHS sources said.

Solarzano was deported a second time by the Biden administration and reentered illegally as a got-away at an unknown time and location.

Oscar Solarzano, 33, was arrested in a stabbing on a Charlotte, N.C., light rail. (Mecklenburg County Jail)

At about 4:49 p.m. Friday, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) officers responded to a call regarding assault with a deadly weapon. 

When they arrived, they found the victim, identified as Kenyon Kareem-Shemar Dobie, with a stab wound, according to warrants.

Advertisement

CMPD noted Dobie was in critical but stable condition when he was taken to a hospital.

A suspect has been arrested in a stabbing in Charlotte, N.C. (WJZY)

Prior to the attack, warrants allege, Solarzano broke into a railroad car “with the intent to commit a felony,” while carrying a large fixed-blade knife.

While intoxicated, he challenged Dobie to a fight, cursing and shouting at others using “unintelligible and slurred words,” according to court documents.

Solarzano has a prior conviction for robbery in the U.S. and prior arrests for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest and false ID, DHS sources said.

Advertisement

Court records indicate he had known aliases, including Solarzano-Garcia, Oscar Herardo and Kevin Garcia.

Solarzano has a scheduled court appearance Dec. 8 and will later be released into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, according to a release order.

He is being provided with a Spanish interpreter, according to arrest records.

SHOOTING AT NORTH CAROLINA CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING LEAVES 4 PEOPLE WOUNDED

Iryna Zarutska curls up in fear as a man looms over her during a disturbing attack Aug. 22, on a Charlotte, N.C., light rail train. (NewsNation via Charlotte Area Transit System)

Advertisement

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The stabbing attack comes months after Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, 23, was fatally stabbed on a LYNX Blue Line light rail while on her way home from work. Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, who is accused of killing Zarutska, was charged with violence against a railroad carrier and mass transportation system resulting in death, a capital offense under federal law.

President Donald Trump reacted to the news on Truth Social Saturday, saying, “Another stabbing by an Illegal Migrant in Charlotte, North Carolina. What’s going on in Charlotte? Democrats are destroying it, like everything else, piece by piece!!!”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also chimed in, calling out Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles in an X post.

“Apparently, the death of Iryna Zarutska wasn’t enough. What is it going to take for @CLTMayor to remove violent criminals off the streets and protect her constituents?” Duffy wrote. “The time to act is NOW.”

Advertisement

The Department of Homeland Security, ICE and CMPD did not immediately respond to additional inquiries from Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Bussey contributed to this report.



Read the full article from Here

Continue Reading

Southeast

Louisiana manhunt continues as dangerous inmate charged with attempted murder remains on the run

Published

on

Louisiana manhunt continues as dangerous inmate charged with attempted murder remains on the run

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Louisiana authorities are continuing to search for the last of three inmates who broke through a deteriorating wall on Wednesday and escaped a jail about 130 miles northwest of New Orleans.

The three inmates, identified as Keith Eli, 24, of Opelousas; Johnathan Jevon Joseph, 24, of Opelousas; and Joseph Allen Harrington, 26, of Melville, allegedly used sheets and other items to scale an outer wall, drop onto the roof of the first floor and lower themselves to the ground, according to a statement from the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Harrington killed himself with a hunting rifle Thursday after a standoff with police at a home in Port Barre, The Associated Press reported. 

Prior to his escape, St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office records show, he was charged with nine felonies, including home invasion and aggravated assault with a firearm.

Advertisement

Keith Eli, left; Johnathan Jevon Joseph, center; and Joseph Allen Harrington, inmates who escaped from a Louisiana prison. (St. Landry Parish Sheriff via Facebook)

‘ARMED AND DANGEROUS’ INMATE ESCAPES ATLANTA HOSPITAL, STEALS GUN AND SUV: POLICE

Police nabbed the second escapee, Joseph, the next day after a foot chase. 

Sheriff’s officials said a tip led deputies to a home where he was hiding out, according to the report. He surrendered after fleeing to a nearby storage shed.

Joseph, also a convicted felon, was previously charged with principal first-degree rape, along with drug and gun offenses.

Advertisement

The inmates escaped St. Landry Parish Jail Wednesday in Louisiana. (Google Maps)

MURDER SUSPECT IN MAJOR US CITY MISTAKENLY FREED FROM JAIL RECAPTURED AFTER MULTI-DAY MANHUNT

The third missing inmate, Eli, remains missing and was charged with attempted second-degree murder.

“We would prefer that he surrender himself peaceably, but we will not rest until he is captured,” St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz wrote in a statement obtained by the AP.

In May, 10 prisoners escaped a minimum-custody New Orleans jail after removing a toilet from a wall inside a cell and crawling through it.

Advertisement

Video cameras in the prison captured the brazen escape, with footage showing the group scaling a fence, using blankets to protect themselves from barbed wire and running across an interstate to a nearby neighborhood where they changed clothes.

CALIFORNIA JAIL CUTS SEATTLE MURDER SUSPECT LOOSE BY MISTAKE, TRIGGERING MANHUNT AS VICTIM’S MOM FUMES

Inmates wrote messages, including, “To Easy LOL” and “WE INNOCENT,” among others, near the hole they used to flee the jail.

The last remaining fugitive, a four-time convicted killer, was arrested five months after the escape after a standoff with authorities in Atlanta.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Advertisement

Three jail employees have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, Fox News Digital previously reported.

An internal investigation has been initiated, and the jail supervisory staff will be providing a comprehensive report, according to Guidroz.

Read the full article from Here

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending