MORNING HEADLINES | The S.C. Department of Public Health on Sunday declared the nation’s worst measles outbreak since 2000 to be over in the Palmetto State. The last confirmed case of the disease in S.C. was March 15.
The disease sickened almost 1,000 unvaccinated people over the course of several months before officials were able to bring it under control — years after the disease was supposed to be officially eradicated in the U.S.
Most of the cases were in the Upstate’s Spartanburg County, where childhood vaccination rates had fallen to 89% in recent years. For a community to have “herd immunity” from the disease, it needs to have a 95% vaccination rate. Officials said 932 of the 997 cases in South Carolina were among unvaccinated people, according to Reuters.
There are signs, however, that vaccination rates have been rising among young children after outbreaks and record numbers of cases led hesitant parents to vaccinate their kids, CNN reports. In fact, S.C. officials say increasing vaccination rates helped get the outbreak here under control.
Public health officials continue to emphasize that getting vaccinated against highly contagious measles is safe and effective.
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In recent headlines
CP OPINION: Brack: Get rid of cruel abortion bill or take away the Viagra. “This is not something shared lightly: I will discourage my college-age daughters from returning to live in South Carolina as long as venal Republican legislators keep trying to make the state’s already barbaric anti-abortion restrictions even stricter.”
CP WEEK IN REVIEW: Statehouse sprint: 10 major bills in session’s final days. With only nine working days left in the 2026 legislative session that officially ends May 14, lawmakers are scrambling to get bills over the finish line before the clock runs out. Here are the ten major legislative initiatives we’re watching as time runs short.
- S.C. Senate budget bill includes one-year suspension of liquor liability requirement
- S.C. senators approve $35M for farmers facing drought, tariffs
- S.C. data centers got almost $1B in tax breaks last year
- Renowned Southern historian Jack Bass dies at 91
- Worst S.C. drought since 1895 leaves peanut farmers in jeopardy
Mentally ill face hellish conditions, uncertain justice in S.C. jails. “If mentally ill people — mentally ill American citizens — were in a foreign country being treated the way a lot of the mentally ill inmates are in this country, the public would demand that the government go and rescue them,” one former jail official tells The Post and Courier in this deep-dive investigation.
Charleston police arrest suspect in West Ashley homicide. Jacob Andreas Steer, 19, of Charleston, was arrested and charged with murder in the weekend gun slaying, according to Charleston police.
James Island breaks ground on new arts and community center. The $3 million project will include three buildings and an outdoor garden, and feature programming such as craft instruction, yoga classes and after-school programs.
Hundreds gather for 39th ‘Blessing of the Fleet’ in Mount Pleasant. The Sunday event in Mount Pleasant’s Memorial Waterfront Park celebrated the Lowcountry’s fishing heritage and honor area shrimpers as they headed out for another season.
Charleston budgets $1M to bring down condemned parking garage. The city of Charleston has approved $1 million to demolish a College of Charleston-owned parking garage on Wentworth Street that the city’s chief building inspector says is in danger of imminent collapse.
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