IHOP offers stacks on stacks of free flapjacks
For breakfast lovers, it’s the most wonderful time of the year — IHOP’s National Pancake Day.
From 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. today, IHOP customers will be treated to a free stack of buttermilk pancakes in restaurants across the country.
The day also benefits the Children’s Miracle Network and Columbia locations’ local affiliated hospital, Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital. Guests will have the option to donate to the charity or buy “Miracle Balloons” for $1 or $5 each.
IHOP raised more than $3 million on National Pancake Day last year.
And for USC, last year’s National Pancake Day was memorable for more than just free flapjacks.
Last year, baseball shortstop Joey Pankake scored a winning home run — the first of his college career — to win a 2-1 game against Presbyterian College on National Pancake Day. Pankake followed the win with a stack of free pancakes.
—Amanda Coyne, Assistant News Editor
Newberry College freezes tuition for 3 years
Nearby Newberry College has frozen its tuition for the next three years.
Its board of trustees voted to keep the private college’s tuition at $22,050 through a new program the college is calling Tuition Promise, WIS reported.
Tuition Promise was enacted in an effort to attract and retain successful students, according to WIS. It is also a part of Newberry’s plan to increase enrollment, which has stayed around 1,000 students for the past five years.
The college hopes to increase its enrollment to 1,500 over the next few years. The addition of majors like social media and accounting may also help attract new students, WIS reported.
If Newberry’s enrollment does increase to 1,500, the tuition freeze will not affect the college’s budget.
—Amanda Coyne, Assistant News Editor
State revenue department expecting more paper returns
The Department of Revenue may have to spend between $300,000 and $400,000 more on processing paper tax returns this tax season after 3.6 million Social Security numbers and 387,000 credit and debit card numbers in the department’s database were exposed to a foreign hacker.
It is expected that many concerned taxpayers will forgo the easier online route of filing and instead send their returns in by mail, the Associated Press reports.
While Department of Revenue officials maintain that it will be safe for South Carolina residents to file their taxes online, they are preparing for fewer online filings and bracing for an addition to their nearly $22 million bill from the hacking debacle.
The six-figure bill would include costs of extra postage, paper and printing.
—Amanda Coyne, Assistant News Editor