Small quake provides shocking wake-up call

BENNETTSVILLE - A small earthquake rattled sections of northeastern South Carolina on Friday, causing some residents to run from their homes, authorities said.

"We got numerous calls at the 911 center - mostly that the house was shaking," said Roy Allison, the emergency manager for Marlboro County. "We don't have any reports of structural damage."

There were no injuries reported.

The quake, reported at 7:22 a.m., measured as a preliminary magnitude 3.5, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The epicenter originally was reported near Blenheim but was later reported near Wallace, about five miles from the North Carolina state line, the survey said.

Audit of management at agency is delayed

COLUMBIA - The director of the Legislative Audit Council said its report on the state Department of Transportation's management probably won't be released until November at the earliest.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Hugh Leatherman, appointed a five-member special committee to review the audit.

The nine-member audit council decided some of the language in the report should be rewritten, said council Director George Schroeder. Officials previously had said they hoped the report could be released by Oct. 12.

Department leaders have said it is in a financial crisis.

Cigar Factory under contract to be sold

CHARLESTON - The historic Cigar Factory on East Bay Street, one of the largest privately owned buildings on the Charleston peninsula, is under contract to be sold and could be turned into condos next year.

The building is on the National Register of Historic Places, and We Shall Overcome is said to have first been used as a protest song there, during a six-month strike by American Cigar Co. workers that started in 1944.

However, Charles Carmody of CB Richard Ellis Carmody LLC, the leasing agent for the Cigar Factory, said the sale is not necessarily complete.

New state Labor Party plans first meeting

COLUMBIA - The new South Carolina Labor Party planned its first organizational meeting Saturday after gaining recognition by the South Carolina Election Commission.

The state Election Commission certified the group earlier this month as an official party.

The state Labor Party says it is an independent party "expressly and exclusively committed to pursing the most widely shared concerns of the state's working people."

Its membership includes the South Carolina AFL-CIO and steelworkers locals.

- Edited from wire reports