Citing support for a statewide bill that became law two weeks ago, Gov. Mark Sanford refused Friday to sign local legislation that attempted to give Columbia-area school boards more authority drafting annual school calendars.

Legislators from Kershaw, Lexington and Richland got bills approved to block an Horry County school board campaign aimed at winning support for a uniform starting date for all 85 school districts. Horry businesses that rely heavily on summer tourism wanted that law adopted.

Instead, a compromise measure empowering school boards to tweak calendars without legislative approval once a school year starts became law when Sanford signed it July 23. The governor said Friday that signing the local legislation was unnecessary duplication and declined to do so.

Four charges dropped in child-death case

St George A woman accused in the death of her 6-year-old autistic son has been released from jail after prosecutors dropped four of the five charges against her.

Renee Britt no longer faces charges of homicide by child abuse, aiding and abetting homicide by child abuse, unlawful conduct toward a child and conspiracy in the death of her son Gabriel in March 2001.

Prosecutors dropped the charges Friday after Britt's husband, Terrance, who also faced the same charges, accepted a deal to plead guilty to a count of unlawful conduct toward a child and was sentenced to four years in prison Wednesday.

Renee Britt's attorney, Andy Savage, said no deal was made to have her charges dropped, and he pledged to continue to fight the remaining charge of obstruction of justice.

Joe Lieberman opens S.C. headquarters

Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Lieberman said Friday that he has opened a campaign headquarters in Columbia and hired a veteran political consultant to lead his South Carolina campaign.

Barry Butler, who has managed campaigns in Oklahoma and New Jersey, will be the state director of the Connecticut senator's effort here. The new office is at 2231 Devine St., Suite 202.

Butler, a graduate of North Carolina Central University in Raleigh, most recently served as director of the Oklahoma Coordinated Campaign in 2002.

Butler joins Lieberman's state political director, Carleton Atkinson

Ninth Air Force to get new boss

The Ninth Air Force, headquartered at Sumter's Shaw Air Force Base, is getting a new boss.

Lt. Gen. Walter Buchanan III will assume command at 10 a.m. Monday, succeeding Lt. Gen. T. Michael Moseley.

Moseley, architect of the Iraqi air war campaign, has been nominated for promotion to general and vice chief of staff of the Air Force. His promotion will become effective Monday.

Buchanan held key command positions during the war, serving under Moseley. Most recently, Buchanan has been at Air Force headquarters as a special assistant to the deputy chief of staff for air and space operations.

Judge rules in favor of paper's FOI request

UNION A circuit court judge has ruled in favor of a newspaper's challenge to view an arrest report withheld by the Union County sheriff.

The Union Daily Times sued Sheriff Howard Wells after he refused to release details on the November arrest of Laura Koskela, who had applied to be superintendent of the county's schools.

Wells' attorney, Sandy Senn, argued the arrest report in a shoplifting case was withheld because Koskela had applied to be in a pretrial intervention program. If Koskela completed the program, the arrest would be removed from her record.

Circuit Court Judge John C. Hayes III of Rock Hill said in an order written July 30 that Wells should have released the report because Koskela was not enrolled yet in the program when the request was made to see details of her arrest.