Here are the Top 10 South Carolina stories of 2003 as voted on by AP members statewide:

No. 1 - Strom Thurmond, the nation's oldest and longest-serving senator, dies at 100 after retiring. Six months after his death, Essie Mae Washington-Williams publicly reveals she is Thurmond's illegitimate, biracial daughter.

No. 2 - Hundreds of reservists and Guard members are mobilized for the war in Iraq, and at least 11 servicemen from South Carolina die during the conflict. Three of the fallen soldiers alone were graduates of Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School.

No. 3 - Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C., announces he will not seek re-election in 2004.

No. 4 - The Republican Party controls the governor's office as well as the state House and Senate for the first time since Reconstruction as Mark Sanford is sworn into office.

No. 5 - Jobless rate hits nine-year high as the state continues to suffer the loss of manufacturing and textile jobs.

No. 6 - Democratic presidential candidates crisscross the state as South Carolina prepares to host the first-in-the-South primary on Feb. 3, 2004.

No. 7 - The state continues to deal with a budget crisis and a multimillion-dollar deficit, forcing many state employees out of work.

No. 8 - South Carolinians lose $275 million when Carolina Investors collapses and files for bankruptcy along with parent company HomeGold Financial.

No. 9 - Three-fourths of South Carolina schools fail to meet new federal standards.

No. 10 - The Rev. Jesse Jackson leads protests in Greenville as the County Council votes against observing a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Eventually, the council lets employees vote on holidays, and MLK Day is rejected for 2004.