A series of state budget hearings continues today as the governor begins preparing the 2005-06 budget proposal he will present to the Legislature next year.

The hearings, which are open to the public, will be held in the governor’s conference room in the Wade Hampton Building, on the State House grounds.

Gov. Mark Sanford will meet with officials from the departments of Natural Resources and Agriculture, Clemson PSA, the environmental component of the Department of Health and Environmental Control and the Forestry Commission beginning at 9:30 a.m.

• Child deaths down slightly

The number of children dying from preventable causes continued to decrease in 2002, but more work could be done to educate people on unsafe sleeping conditions, according to a report released Tuesday.

The State Child Fatality Advisory Committee reviewed at least 205 child deaths in 2002, some of which were from natural causes such as sudden infant death syndrome.

About 40 percent of the 87 natural deaths were classified as SIDS, though the committee said some of those could have been misclassified. Other fatalities included 62 unintentional injury deaths, such as drowning, fires and shootings as well as 23 homicides, 10 suicides and 17 from an undetermined cause. There also were six pending investigations.

In 2001, the State Law Enforcement Division reported 209 child deaths

• MANNINGWitness says PACT scores show progress

A witness for the Legislature in the school funding trial spent Tuesday fending off challenges to his testimony as an expert on South Carolina school reform and finances.

James Guthrie, a Vanderbilt University professor, described Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test performance in 2004 as “positive.”

Pressed by a lawyer for schools suing the state for more money, Guthrie resisted characterizations he was too optimistic describing academic gains in poor, rural districts, and the Legislature’s support to make that happen.

• SPARTANBURGWofford College celebrating impact on judiciary

Wofford College will celebrate its impact on the judiciary with “Wofford and the Law,” a legal education seminar set for Friday and Saturday at the college.

The program is open to practicing attorneys.

Of Wofford’s 14,340 living alumni, nearly 700 are attorneys or judges, many holding high positions in the South Carolina judiciary. Three of the five justices of the South Carolina Supreme Court, two judges of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and a federal District Court judge are Wofford graduates.

Cost for the seminar is $335 per person. To register, contact David Beacham at (864) 597-4206 or by e-mail at beachamdm@wofford.edu or Teresa Reid at (864) 585-5100, extension 100.

Contributing: Staff reports, Bill Robinson and The Associated Press.