Gingrich will visit SC later this month
Conservative political personality and former Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich is scheduled to return to South Carolina in April for the first time since winning the state’s 2012 presidential primary election.
The former House speaker announced on his Committee for America website that he and his wife will visit the state “for a number of events” between April 29 and May 1.
According to National Review, Gingrich “isn’t ruling out a 2016 presidential run.”
“I would like to be somebody who plays a role in developing a new generation of ideas,” Gingrich told National Review.
— Sarah Ellis, Assistant News Editor
Sex offender charged with indecent exposure
A registered sex offender was arrested and charged with indecent exposure Thursday in connection to an incident near Dreher High School last month.
Herbert John Smith Jr., 27, is accused of exposing himself to four teenage girls on the morning of March 6 at 3121 Millwood Ave., according to a Columbia Police Department release.
Smith was previously convicted of sexual assault in Florida in 1999, The State reported.
He is being held at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.
— Sarah Ellis, Assistant News Editor
Sunny Z Foods to bring 150 jobs to Saluda
A prepackaged meals company could bring 150 new jobs to Saluda County by the end of the year.
Sunny Z Foods is investing $12 million to set up a new production facility in the county’s old Milliken textile plant, WLTX reported.
The hirings will be a boost for small-town Saluda, which has a population of around 3,000 and an unemployment rate of 7.5 percent, according to WLTX.
“It is obviously going to diversify our economy; it will expand our tax base and of course provide 150 jobs,” Saluda County Council Chairman Donald Hancock told WLTX.
— Sarah Ellis, Assistant News Editor