South Carolina

Rapper DMX was arrested in South Carolina early Wednesday on a charge of driving without a license. The rapper recently completed a stint behind bars after his probation was revoked for the same reason and because he refused to submit to a drug test. The 42-year-old entertainer, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was arrested after police said they saw him leaving a gas station in Greer, in northwestern South Carolina, around 1 a.m., the Associated Press reported. He was taken to jail, then released after paying a fine.

A week before Christmas in 2003, a retired Los Angeles schoolteacher stood before a phalanx of news cameras and 250 reporters in a South Carolina ballroom and declared, "I am Essie Mae Washington-Williams, and at last I am completely free. " After more than 60 years, Washington-Williams had chosen to unburden herself of a secret: that she, a black woman, had been fathered by a white man - Sen. Strom Thurmond, the legendary South Carolina politician who had built a long Washington career as a champion of segregation.

South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney turned in what might have been the best play of the college football bowl season Tuesday afternoon during the Outback Bowl. But don't ask Michigan's Vincent Smith. He might not want to talk about it. He may not even remember it. Clowney, a 6-foot-6, 256-pound true sophomore, raced into the Michigan backfield untouched and plastered Smith, who lost both the ball and his helmet on a hit that college football fans will be talking about for a long time.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Tim Scott, a freshman tea party Republican, will become South Carolina's first black senator, Gov. Nikki Haley, announced Monday, appointing the congressman to fill the seat left vacant by Jim DeMint. "It is a great day for South Carolina," Haley said, speaking at the statehouse in Columbia. "It is a historic day for South Carolina. " Haley was joined by Scott and DeMint, as well as the state's senior senator, Lindsey Graham, and members of its congressional delegation.

Is Stephen Colbert going to join the Senate? Probably not, but that won't stop him from trying. The news last Thursday that Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) would be retiring from public service sparked immediate speculation about the possibility that everyone's favorite fake pundit, quasi-presidential candidate and South Carolina native son would run to replace him. Within hours, someone launched a “Colbert for Senate” Twitter account, and the host was named the top choice to replace DeMint in a survey conducted over the weekend by Public Policy Polling -- never mind that there's virtually no chance that Gov. Nikki Haley, an actual Republican, would appoint a fake one like Colbert to the vacant seat.

There was a reason Alan Moore's "Neonomicon" was shelved in the adult section of the library in Greenville County, South Carolina: It contains adult content. And it was checked out with an adult library card -- but that adult library card was in the hands of a 14-year-old girl. When the girl asked her mother about an unfamiliar word she found in "Neonomicon," the trouble started. The mother, Carrie Gaske, filed an official challenge against the graphic novel in June. An official decision has now been made to ban it from the library.

WASHINGTON - The surprise resignation of Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina on Thursday could prove to be a marker for a decline in the influence of the tea party movement he has helped lead. His departure from Congress, effective next month, comes as the political winds appear to be blowing against the 61-year-old lawmaker and the movement he has spoken for. Some of the movement's most fiery members lost reelection bids last month, including Reps. Allen West of Florida, Joe Walsh of Illinois and Chip Cravaack of Minnesota.

Alabama and Georgia are playing Saturday for the first time since ... 2008. Such is the nature of scheduling in the Southeastern Conference and the quirks of the Bowl Championship Series. Alabama, for example, won the BCS title last season when Georgia won the SEC East. The teams avoided each other in the SEC title game, however, because Alabama made the BCS title game without winning the SEC West. LSU won the division and then defeated Georgia. The Tigers were "rewarded" with a rematch against Alabama that the Tigers lost at the Superdome.

ESPN, citing a source familiar with the discussions, reported Sunday that high-powered California political officials have been courting Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson about moving the franchise to Los Angeles. The Panthers are one of four teams that own their own stadium, so they could move without breaking a lease. And the politicians reportedly spoke to Richardson at the recent Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., where L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was chairman of the convention.

Rankman O'Reilly apologizes profusely for giving Notre Dame no chance against Oklahoma. May the road (but not Pittsburgh, Boston College or Wake Forest) rise to meet all you Irish before coming West after Thanksgiving. Kudos to Oregon for not beating Colorado, 220-0, the way Georgia Tech did Cumberland back in 1916. And someone tell USC "Flag Day" is supposed to be celebrated June 14 and not every Saturday in the fall. This is a big week for Alabama, which faces Louisiana State in its biggest away-from-home test since Michigan (now 5-3)