State-owned utility Santee Cooper is expected to drop plans for a controversial coal-fired power plant in South Carolina. The State newspaper of Columbia reported Monday that the utility’s board is expected to ratify a committee’s earlier vote to suspend efforts to secure permits for the Florence County plant.

The final figures are in and they show more alligators than expected were taken during last year’s South Carolina gator hunting season.

A new bill introduced in the South Carolina Senate is either a worrisome threat to children’s safety or a minor change to keep law-abiding citizens from inadvertently breaking the law, depending on your viewpoint. The bill would allow anyone with a concealed weapons permit to have his gun on a school campus, as long as the gun is locked in a vehicle. WJBF News Channel 6’s Capitol reporter, Robert Kittle, has more.

A zebra that was stolen and set loose in a college building as a prank has been taken from his owners because they didn’t have proper wildlife permits. Todd Nims, a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, told the Newton Citizen that the zebra known as Barcode and another named Jazz were seized Dec. 12 and shipped to a Midwest zoo.