According to Lt. Tim Pearson, of the North Augusta Department of Public Safety (NADPS), a suspect in a North Augusta attempted robbery was arrested in Augusta on Tuesday.

The former finance director of South Carolina’s social services agency has agreed to plead guilty to stealing more than $5 million from the agency. A plea agreement filed Monday shows Paul Moore is pleading guilty to mail fraud and theft of government funds.

Thousands of South Carolina’s unemployed will miss out on additional benefits after state officials failed to take the steps necessary to secure them. Unemployed residents could have received an additional seven weeks of emergency benefits, from federal stimulus money, if lawmakers had passed a law to temporarily change the index used to count the number of people out of work. WJBF News Channel 6’s SC Capitol reporter, Robert Kittle, and Joseph Kasko, have more.

According to Captain Steve Morris, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office needs assistance from the public in identifying a fraud suspect.

A computer glitch Sunday at the South Carolina Employment Security Commission sent 1,250 people two unemployment benefits checks this week. Now, the agency is scrambling to notify all of the recipients that they need to mail or bring back one of the checks to a local Workforce Center. If they cash both checks, they won’t receive a check next week.WJBF News Channel 6’s SC Capitol reporter, Robert Kittle, has more.

State labor department officials are mailing the first of the checks Thursday. The extension provides for up to 20 weeks of additional benefits to individuals who exhausted regular unemployment insurance and the first and second tier of Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits on or after Feb. 15.

A one time payment of $250 is being mailed to more than 50 million Social Security recipients. Social Security is the only source of income for nearly one-third of all unmarried seniors receiving social security. Count on WJBF’s Renita Crawford to bring you the details.

It’s an update on to the FirstCity Bank that closed, without warning, last week in Gibson, Georgia. Thousands of bank customers were outraged after the FDIC seizure, but Tuesday, some good news surfaced. Count on WJBF News Channel 6’s Fraendy Clervaud for the story.

Sunday a town hall meeting was held by the FDIC, to answer questions of those customers who banked at First City Bank of Gibson, which was shut down on Friday. Count on WJBF News Channel 6’s Barclay Bishop for more information.

A financial organization has sent out the first checks to reimburse victims of the Bernard Madoff scandal. Stephen Harbeck of the Securities Investor Protection Corp. tells The Associated Press that the checks were sent to two investors on Friday.

From Wall Street to your Wallet: Augusta officials say, despite what President Obama told the nation Tuesday night, stimulus money is still not coming our way. In his speech to Congress, Tuesday night, the President mentioned the city of Minneapolis is using stimulus money to keep 57 police officers on the street. Mayor Deke Copenhaver says that town may have budgeted for stimulus dough, but at this point, money from the bill has not filtered down to any cities.

South Carolina won’t have to borrow as much as expected to pay unemployment benefits this month. Gov. Mark Sanford’s spokesman Joel Sawyer says the governor Friday will approve $5 million of federal loans to cover unemployment checks through the end of February.

One of the state’s three Employment Security Commissioners, all of whom Gov. Mark Sanford is threatening to fire, says the agency is not “grossly mismanaged” or “out of control”, as the governor contends. McKinley Washington has been a commissioner for 8 years. WJBF News Channel 6’s Capitol reporter, Robert Kittle, has more.

South Carolina business leaders have a few ideas in mind to fix the ailing fund that pays out unemployment claims to thousands of state residents.

The state cut $20 million in unemployment checks last week and the Employment Security Commission isn’t sure how long its federal loans will carry it into February.