WIS viewers protest anchor’s dismissal
Demonstrators gathered outside of the WIS-TV building on Gervais Street Friday to protest the release of news anchor Ben Hoover.
Supporters of Hoover also rallied on social media following his departure, bringing discussions to Twitter and launching a petition to “Keep Ben Hoover”.
The station released a statement Sunday to calm viewers. WIS declined to discuss the reasons why Hoover’s contract with the station was not renewed, calling Hoover’s release a “private personnel matter”.
Despite the backlash, station leadership told The State that WIS has already begun the search for a replacement anchor.
— Kelley Kennedy, News Editor
Report on SC fossil unearths new discoveries
The National Academy of Sciences released its first formal description of a South Carolina fossil on Monday.
The fossil was found by construction workers at the Charleston airport in 1983. Researchers estimate that the Pelagornis sandersi — a large bird with a wingspan of over 20 feet — lived about 25 million years ago.
Computer simulations indicate that the bird was capable of flight. In his newly released essay about the specimen, paleontologist Daniel Ksepka stated that the animal may have been the largest bird ever to have the ability to fly.
Before the discovery of the Pelagornis sandersi, the largest known bird capable of flight was the Argentavis magnificens, which lived only 6 million years ago.
According to Ksepka, the Pelagornis sandersi was similar to the modern-day albatross and would have hunted for prey by gliding above the ocean.
— Kelley Kennedy, News Editor
USC senior dies in July 4 boating accident
Hailey Joanne Bordeaux, a 21-year-old USC student, died after a Lake Marion boating accident Friday.
Officials report that Bordeaux and her friends were on an idling boat near Scarborough Landing when they were struck by another boat around 12:30 a.m.
She was pronounced dead at a hospital around 1:40 a.m. There have not yet been any reports about the injuries of the other people involved in the crash. The Department of Natural Resources is conducting an investigation of the incident.
Bordeaux was a Sumter native, a Phi Mu and a member of the Teaching Fellows of USC. She was studying early childhood education and wanted to become an elementary school teacher.
— Kelley Kennedy, News Editor