This month marks 20 years since Susan Smith drowned her two young children and lied to cops, telling them her kids were missing after a black man carjacked her at gunpoint. Two decades later, and one former state prison official says Smith, reportedly a problem inmate at a women’s correctional facility, still hasn’t seemed to “turn the corner” as many former murderers do. [The State]

The owners of nuclear power plants in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia are poised to ask federal officials for permission to run their plants well after the proprietary technology they use turns 80 years old. [NY Times]

The Post and Courier chronicles the quickening pace of gentrification on the Charleston peninsula, where average home prices above the Crosstown have gone from $170,000 ten years ago to more than $325,000 so far in 2014. [P&C]

Nearly 475,000 people attended the State Fair in Columbia this year, which closed this weekend, with record-high single-day attendance coming on Sunday alone. [The State]

Loopholes in campaign finance law have permitted several big donors to S.C. political campaigns to max-out their donations personally as well as from associated business entities under a provision that would allow any fat-pocketed and determined would-be donor nearly limitless capability to donate to a candidate for office. [P&C]

From the Opinion pages of The Nerve, by John Crangle: “What Should ‘Ethics Reform’ Look Like in 2015?” [The Nerve]

Cadets at the Citadel were granted amnesty on Friday by Gov. Nikki Haley, one of only a few people with the power to do so, meaning that they won’t have to serve punishments for minor violations on campus. [AP]

Cover photo by bunchesandbits

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