The State Law Enforcement Division is defending its recent spending of more than $600,000 on new vehicles and weapons, despite state budget cuts that forced the agency to lay off more than 100 people. WJBF News Channel 6’s SC Capitol reporter, Robert Kittle, has more.

Athens Regional Medical Center officials are considering layoffs, pay cuts and health insurance increases to carve $14 million from the hospital’s spending.

A South Carolina lawmaker says he plans to hold hearings into whether Gov. Mark Sanford spent state money during trysts with his Argentine mistress. State Sen. David Thomas said Friday that a legislative panel he chairs should look into the money Sanford spent when the governor met with the woman he’s called his “soul mate.“

Georgia lawmakers are beginning furloughs next month to cut costs amid the economic crisis. The House and Senate lawmakers will take one furlough day each month. They will go on through the end of the year, when legislative leaders will decide whether they should continue.

Sen. John McCain wants to remove the $1.75 billion recently inserted into the proposed 2010 defense budget for more fighter jets from Lockheed Martin.

Gov. Mark Sanford announced details of his federal lawsuit against the state legislature Thursday morning. It names Attorney General Henry McMaster as the defendant, as the chief enforcer of South Carolina laws. The suit says the Republican governor has sole authority to request nearly $700 million in federal bailout money intended to keep the state from cutting education spending. WJBF News Channel 6’s SC Capitol reporter, Robert Kittle, has more.

Gov. Mark Sanford announced Tuesday afternoon that he vetoed the main section of next year’s state budget and the section that directs federal stimulus spending. He’s been fighting the stimulus plan for months and wanted to spend $700 million of the money to pay down state debt. But the Obama administration twice told him that he could not do that.

Gov. Mark Sanford says South Carolina legislators are wasting money and avoiding government streamlining in a $5.7 billion state spending plan.

A $50 million reduction in state funding to local governments has won key approval by legislators working on the state’s budget. The Senate gave the bill tentative approval on a 23-19 vote Thursday before starting debate on the $5.7 billion state budget because it affects that spending plan.

President Barack Obama says he agreed to sign an “imperfect” spending bill containing pet projects of congressmen because it is needed to keep the government running smoothly.

The Federal Reserve says borrowing increased at an annual rate of $1.76 billion in the first month of the year. Economists expected borrowing to decline at a rate of $5 billion.

South Carolina’s Corrections and Juvenile Justice departments are laying out plans to run a total of $47 million in budget deficits when the fiscal year ends in June. The Budget and Control Board is being briefed on those plans Tuesday.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham says the $827 billion stimulus package the Senate is expected to pass this week is a mix of bad politics and bad spending. The South Carolina Republican plans to vote against the bill.

The government says the economy shrank at a 3.8 percent pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, as the deepening recession forced consumers and businesses to throttle back spending.

Ten years after the tobacco settlement, a national report ranks South Carolina as worst in the nation in what it spends to keep people from smoking. A coalition of public health groups released the report of states’ tobacco prevention funding Tuesday.