Morning Answer Daily

GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) — Suspended Greenville County Sheriff Will Lewis is expected to go on trial starting Monday.

Lewis is charged with misconduct in office and obstruction of justice.

Lewis was indicted last year after his former assistant, Savanah Nabors, claimed in a lawsuit that she was sexually harassed and assaulted on a taxpayer funded trip to Charlotte.

Lewis said a sexual encounter with Nabors was consensual and denied wrongdoing...

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) – The Spartanburg Police Department is using different social platforms to help them close cases. On Friday, the police department turned to Facebook for information about a deadly shooting from over the weekend. In the video, investigators shared limited details but urged the community to speak up if they know anything. Investigators tell 7News they recognize the number of people that will see the video on Facebook. So detectives are using social media as an additional avenue to drum up tips. In the parking lot of Prince Hall Apartments, investigators say Antonio Mckinney was shot and killed on Sunday...

BALTIMORE (AP) — Maryland Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a sharecropper’s son who rose to become a civil rights champion and the chairman of one of the U.S. House committees leading an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, died Thursday of complications from longstanding health problems. He was 68...

GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA)- After voting to hold a resolution of support for a downtown Greenville convention center a few weeks ago, Greenville County Council voted to pass that resolution Tuesday night.

The resolution passed unanimously, except for the absence of Councilman Joe Dill, but with a catch: County Council can withdraw their support if Greenville City Council does not support a new plan for affordable housing at the county’s redevelopment project of 37 acres at University Ridge.

The city has jurisdiction over the county’s redevelopment project because it lies within the city limits. The city originally mandated that a percentage of part of the University Ridge project be reserved for affordable housing.

GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA)–Just a week before his criminal trial suspended Greenville County Sheriff Will Lewis is back in the public eye. This after recordings of conversations about his possible resignation have been made public.

Lewis was indicted on criminal obstruction of justice and misconduct in office charges last spring, this after he admitted to an extramarital affair that may have happened on a taxpayer-funded trip to Charlotte.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Monday President Donald Trump “strongly condemns” a graphically violent parody video that depicts a likeness of him shooting and stabbing his opponents and members of the news media. The parody was shown at a meeting of Trump supporters at his Miami resort.

Journalists covering the White House have called on Trump to condemn the video, in which Trump’s critics and media members are portrayed as parishioners in a church fleeing his gruesome rampage. The fake Trump strikes the late Sen. John McCain in the neck, hits and stabs TV personality Rosie O’Donnell in the face, lights Sen. Bernie Sanders’ head on fire and shoots or otherwise assaults people whose faces are replaced with news organization logos...

(via WYFF) GREENSBORO, N.C. — Evangelist Franklin Graham’s "Decision America Tar Heel State Tour" stopped in North Carolina on Wednesday night. Graham, who is an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump, is known for infusing politics in religion. At the event in Greensboro, Graham said the country was in trouble morally, spiritually and politically. About 8,600 people gathered at the White Oak Amphitheater at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex to hear Graham’s 30-minute message that focused on the parable of the prodigal son...

(via WSPA)  Former 4th District Rep. Trey Gowdy is joining a South Carolina law firm now that his Congressional term is over.

Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough said Thursday in a news release that Gowdy is joining their staff and will work in Greenville and Washington, D.C. Gowdy did not seek re-election to the seat he held for eight years. He told The Greenville News he has no plans to return to politics, either as an elected official or a lobbyist...

(via WSPA) WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has barred Gordon Sondland, the U.S. European Union ambassador, from appearing Tuesday before a House panel conducting the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, his lawyer said. Attorney Robert Luskin said his client was “profoundly disappointed” that he wouldn’t be able to testify. Luskin did not give a reason, and the State Department had no immediate comment...

(via WYFF) NEWBERRY COUNTY, S.C. — An AMBER Alert was issued Saturday for two missing children after authorities said they were kidnapped Saturday morning. Just before 3 p.m. Saturday, the alert was canceled. SLED said the children were located but the accused abductor has not been arrested. SLED said the children were taken from a home on Brown Chapel Circle in Newberry. Officials said Tommy Lee Toland, the children's noncustodial father, abducted Tommir Toland, 11, and Ommira Toland, 3...

(WSPA) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will visit the Upstate for a Democratic fundraising dinner. The event will be held Friday evening at the Hyatt Regency on N. Main Street in Greenville. Pelosi is guest speaker at the fundraiser hosted by the S.C. Democratic Party (SCDP). Pelosi’s visit comes after she called for an official impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. A group of Trump supporters are expected to protest Pelosi’s visit. In a statement last month, SCDP Chair Trav Robertson Jr. said the Democratic party was thrilled to welcome Pelosi to the Palmetto State...

Hear our Morning Answer Interview with SC GOP's Drew McKissic about supporting Trump during Nancy Pelosi's visit

(Via WYFF) 

State Treasurer Curtis Loftis helped return more than $2.5 million in unclaimed property during the "Claim Your Cash" phone bank at WYFF News 4 last week.

Staff from the State Treasurer’s Office manned the phones from 4 to 7 p.m. at WYFF News 4, fielding calls and searching for property for residents of the Upstate.

“Thanks to WYFF’s efforts to promote the phone bank this week prior to our arrival and the inspiring stories we were able to share on-air about how people have benefited from receiving unclaimed property, we had an overwhelming response that is helping us get money back to South Carolinians,” said Treasurer Loftis...

Click Here to find unclaimed property in SC

Click Here to find unclaimed property in NC

Click Here to find unclaimed property in GA

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A Republican former South Carolina congressman is part of a lawsuit filed Tuesday over the state party’s decision to cancel its GOP primary ahead of the 2020 election, a move taken by several states in erecting hurdles for the longshot candidates challenging President Donald Trump...

(via Fox News)  A Virginia sixth grader who claimed three of her white male classmates held her down and cut off her dreadlocks is now saying she made up the entire story.

Amari Allen, an African-American 12-year-old who attends Immanuel Christian School in Springfield — a private school where second lady Karen Pence teaches art — reported the alleged incident last week. She told several media outlets that three boys at school pinned her down and cut off her hair, and local police opened an investigation....

Answer Insider Meg from Duncan tells Joey Hudson that there is more to the story. Click Here to Listen!

(via Fox News) Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz has dug up a nearly two-year-old prank call in which House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff told two Russian radio hosts posing as a Ukranian politician that he would be willing to accept damaging anti-Trump information.

Gaetz on Sunday tweeted an edited clip from the eight-minute-long phone call. It comes as Republicans are pushing back at the House Democratic impeachment inquiry over allegations President Trump pressured the Ukranian president into investigating the family of 2020 rival Joe Biden....

(FOX Carolina) A nonprofit group that advocates the separation of church and state has expressed their dismay over the use of prayer during South Carolina official's hurricane press conferences, citing "unconstitutional practices." 

The Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote a letter to Governor Henry McMaster concerning two of this year's Hurricane Dorian press conferences that began with sectarian Christian prayers. 

The foundation says they've reached out to the governor before regarding the scheduled prayers...

(via Fox News) The text has been released. Decide for yourself if there was any wrong doing by POTUS.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — Authorities said Monday that DNA helped them identify the man who killed a neighbor in South Carolina 32 years ago, but the killer is now dead himself.

Spartanburg Sheriff Chuck Wright announced the details of the solved case Monday during a news conference.

(WSPA) Fall allergies are here and people in the Upstate are already dealing with them.

Dr. Jaime Lagos is a Physician at Allergy Partners of the Foothills.

He says 30%t of the population deals with allergies.

Dr. Lagos says allergies can cause symptoms like itching, sneezing, stuffiness and dripping.

He also says in your eyes allergies will cause watery and itchy symptoms...

(via Fox News)  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., called on Thursday for Washington, D.C. to receive statehood, indicating that residents didn't have the "right to vote."

"DC was the 1st territory in the United States to free the enslaved. It’s where Black Americans fled the tyranny of slavery & towards greater freedom, to DC. Yet today it’s where 2nd class citizenship reigns, and the right to vote is denied," she said...

Contact her Washington Office here