Months after endangered gray nurse shark Mary-Lou was seen participating in mating activities in an Australia aquarium, the ocean predator welcomed a “surprise” pup, the aquarium announced. The “extraordinarily rare event” was captured on video by the aquarium team during a routine check of the Shark Valley exhibit, according to a March 13 news release from Sea Life Sydney. “In a jaw-dropping moment of marine history, Sea Life Sydney Aquarium has announced the rare arrival of a baby gray nurse shark!” aquarium officials said. “The tiny yet mighty male pup,...

The Columbia Metropolitan Airport is adding more East Coast flights, with the low-cost Spirit Airlines announcing Wednesday three new fights from Columbia. The discount airline known for cheap flights announced three new flights from Columbia: nonstop service to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and Orlando International Airport. The new flights to Newark and Orlando launch June 5. The Fort Lauderdale service begins June 6.

Not long after workers began clearing land for a massive electric vehicle plant in South Carolina two years ago, project officials ran into trouble with state and federal agencies over damage being done to the environment in northern Richland County. Wetlands had been disturbed without federal permission and land was being cleared too rapidly at the Scout Motors site, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the S.C. Department of Natural Resources said in the summer of 2023. But the problems didn’t end there. By March 2024, Richland County — in...

Severe weather is predicted to hit the Columbia area of South Carolina as storms are in Wednesday’s forecast, according to the National Weather Service. Effects from the storms are expected to begin Wednesday morning and could continue into the early afternoon, National Weather Service meteorologists said in a Tuesday morning briefing. The storms are expected to include rain showers and strong winds, according to the briefing. Isolated tornadoes also will be possible, according to the National Weather Service. The Midlands are forecast to be affected by the storms beginning at...

It was a relatively quiet February in Columbia when it came to concert announcements at the city’s large venues. Colonial Life Arena, the largest such venue in the state, didn’t add any concerts to its calendar — and the calendar as it stands right now is a little light, with no music events yet added for the summer months. The only events currently scheduled at the arena between May and August are a pair of comedy shows — Katt Williams (May 3) and Nate Bargatze (Aug. 14). The Township Auditorium,...

Jerome Jordan, 43, of Columbia, was charged with abuse of a vulnerable adult last month, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. SLED said in October, Jordan poured milk on the adult male, grabbed him by the hair and put him on the floor. Jordan also pushed a trash can at the Wellpath resident. SLED said it corroborated the allegations with surveillance video and through interviews. Wellpath Recovery Solutions, at 7901 Farrow Road in Columbia, is an inpatient facility that provides mental health treatment for people involved with the...

The inevitability is now a mere hope. No longer does making the Final Four — let alone cutting down the nets in April — feel like a guarantee for South Carolina women’s basketball. The possibility is still there — high even. But where there was certainty, there is now doubt. Because South Carolina did not just lose on Sunday, it fell at home in a building where the Gamecocks have walked out as victors the past 71 games over the course of 1,536 days. And they did not just fall...

Isuzu North America Corporation will convert a 1-million-square-foot building in Greenville County for a $280 million truck assembly plant. The facility, expected to be completed in 2027, is located on 200 acres on Augusta Road in Piedmont. More than 700 jobs will be created. In a news release, the subsidiary of Isuzu Motors Limited said Isuzu has sold commercial vehicles in the United States and Canada since 1984. In the last fiscal year, a record 44,000 units were sold. The plant will make N-Series Gas, N-Series Electric and F-Series Diesel...