MELINDA WALDROP PROFILE

Rob Viglione wants to change the world through cryptocurrency. While Viglione, founder of privacy-centric cryptocurrency ZenCash and a PhD candidate in finance at the University of South Carolina, served as a military scientist workin... Read More

The financial future Dominik Mjartan envisions includes both bankers and baristas. Standing in the glass-fronted lobby of the soon-to-be-christened Optus Bank on Main Street in downtown Columbia, Mjartan can see it clearly: bank staff... Read More

As he surveyed glass cases filled with memorabilia from his life in public service, former S.C. governor and U.S. Secretary of Education Dick Riley came to a realization. “I’ve had a fascinating life,” Riley told an ... Read More

As a federal judge weighs whether to grant an S.C. Electric & Gas request for an injunction staying temporary rate cuts ordered by the S.C. Public Service Commission, the company bidding to acquire the utility’s paren... Read More

S.C. Community Bank has been removed from the FDIC’s troubled bank list as the organization continues a turnaround. At the close of the second quarter of 2018, the bank’s total assets have increased from a low of $47.8 mil... Read More

Danielle Park is not a typical millennial. At 32, she just became a homeowner for the third time, moving with her husband to a custom-built house in Chapin. But then again, a typical millennial is becoming an oxymoron in the reside... Read More

Diane Bunnell has never seen anything like it. The housing demand engulfing the nation and mirrored in Midlands markets, coupled with a lack of inventory, has created uncharted territory in Bunnell’s residential real estate fiel... Read More

This morning, I walked into the office and sat down at my desk. An unremarkable sentence. An unremarkable act. Yesterday, five people in Annapolis, Md., did the same unremarkable thing — for the last time. A gunman opened ... Read More

Emile DeFelice saw promise in an empty street. In 2012, as DeFelice considered a new location for his popular and growing street market, the heart of downtown Columbia cropped up as a candidate. Before making any decisions, DeFelice d... Read More

The S.C. Legislature signaled resounding approval for a deal struck Wednesday by a joint legislative committee, easily passing two bills that address fallout from the failed nuclear reactor project at the V.C. Summer power station. But t... Read More

On a recent Thursday afternoon, Matt Kennell had lunch in downtown Columbia with his daughter. Sitting by a window at Main Street Public House, he marveled at the view. “It was like being in Manhattan,” said Kennell, presi... Read More

The most obvious change to the renovated and newly reopened Hampton-Preston Mansion is the burnt ochre color that replaced its previous beige façade. But it’s not the most profound. Inside the 19th-century mansion at 1... Read More

Diane Carr has had the slogan at the ready for years. On Tuesday, as Midlands Technical College and the University of South Carolina signed an agreement to streamline the transfer process for MTC students pursuing an undergraduate edu... Read More

Few things are as quintessentially American as noshing on a hot dog at a baseball game. But Columbia Fireflies fans in the mood to spice things up a bit this summer have another option available to them: crickets. Terminix Service ... Read More

Making her first trip to Columbia as part of National Small Business Week, Linda McMahon emphasized how her entrepreneurial experience makes her an empathetic advocate for the nation’s 30 million small businesses. McMahon, admin... Read More

When D. Nichole Davis decided to go to law school, the firm where she worked as a paralegal rallied around her, handwriting letters of support. Nearly 70 years earlier, Sarah Leverette faced a slightly different environment, periodica... Read More

For a moment, Rita Patel had to fight back tears. Seeing a dream become reality can have that effect on a person. Patel and her husband and investment partner, Marcus Munse, celebrated the soft opening of Hotel Trundle, a 41-room b... Read More

In the nights following the devastating flood of 2015, Michael Marsha sat on the porch of his Lake Katherine home, listening to the silence. “It was pretty eerie,” Marsha said. “It was totally dark. No one was drivin... Read More

A rapid rise in senior home health care service is not likely to subside soon, not with an estimated 10,000 baby boomers retiring per day. Alexandria Brown’s family got in on the ground floor of the fast-growing industry. Bro... Read More

Although some questions linger, the two men leading the partnership formed by Palmetto Health and Greenville Health System say the new relationship is working out better than imagined. “I certainly figured that Chuck and I would... Read More

In the nights following the devastating flood of 2015, Michael Marsha sat on the porch of his Lake Katherine home, listening to the silence. “It was pretty eerie,” Marsha said. “It was totally dark. No one was drivin... Read More

There’s a story University of South Carolina associate history professor and local historian Bobby Donaldson likes to tell to illustrate the importance of Victory Savings Bank.  “In the 1950s, when African-Americans i... Read More

Money may not seem the most romantic subject, but financial advisors say an upfront discussion about finances is key to avoiding conflict in marriage, whether it’s a person’s first or second time walking down the aisle. &l... Read More

Columbia mainstay Cromer’s is settling into its new digs, and the popcorn, peanut and cotton candy makers already feel right at home. Cromer’s held a soft opening on Feb. 15 at its new store at 3036 N. Main St., a... Read More

With the number of flu-related deaths in South Carolina now at 84, one local hospital has turned to an unusual solution to help handle patient volume. Palmetto Health Richland began using a temporary mobile unit to expedite patient di... Read More

While its index value in four of five categories rose in the 2017 Midlands Regional Competitiveness Report, Columbia’s ranking among peer cities fell in three of the indicators used to measure economic competitiveness, leaving loca... Read More

Dominion Energy concedes its proposed acquisition of SCANA won’t satisfy all the players in the ongoing V.C. Summer nuclear debacle. But the company says its proposal is the best and — outside of a widely criticized proposal ... Read More

Mike Adams remembers a very different time at Prysmian Group. Adams, plant manager at the global cable manufacturer and energy solution company’s North American headquarters in Lexington, has worked for Prysmian for 26 years. Th... Read More

One of downtown Columbia’s most visible gathering spots may soon look quite different. The city Design/Development Review Commission approved plans by Columbia-based Quackenbush Architects to revamp Boyd Plaza, the open space in... Read More

Richland County Council members presented more details about the “Richland Renaissance” redevelopment plan at a meeting today, extolling the project’s virtues while vowing to fund it without raising taxes. The plan w... Read More

The money has arrived, Prakash Nagarkatti said, and it’s full speed ahead for the 10 S.C. universities that shared a $20 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competi... Read More

It’s been a convent, the headquarters of the Union Army and a governor’s mansion. Built in 1818, the Hampton-Preston Mansion at 1615 Blanding St. has gone through many incarnations in its rich history. Now, it’s gett... Read More

After 25 years in the beer business, Kevin Varner is branching out. Not into a different line of work; just into a new location. Varner, who opened Main Street mainstay Hunter-Gatherer Brewery and Alehouse in 1995, is weeks away fr... Read More

The four-year relationship between Continental Corp. and the University of South Carolina has been a fruitful one, and now it’s taking the next step. A $2 million grant from the S.C. Commerce Department will fund a new endowed c... Read More

The day after New Year’s in 2016, a bit of unwelcome news interrupted Scott Middleton’s holiday relaxation. “I was in North Carolina, and somebody said turn on the television,” Middleton said. “I flipped ... Read More

Lou Kennedy admits her motives are partly selfish. Kennedy, president and CEO of Nephron Pharmaceuticals and a graduate of the University of South Carolina, oversaw the relocation of her company’s headquarters from Orlando to We... Read More

The goal was clear from the start: Make people the priority. As the two-year, $10 million renovation of Richland Library’s main branch in downtown Columbia nears completion, those most closely involved in the changes to the... Read More

Money matters took up residence in C. Justin Hawkins’ consciousness early. “I’m the youngest of 23 grandkids on mom’s side and of the youngest of 11 on my dad’s side,” said Hawkins, Wells Fargo&rsqu... Read More

From carriage rides to candlelight tours, there’s more behind the bricks walls and wrought iron fences of Historic Columbia’s four downtown properties than many who pass by them every day might realize. From December to Ja... Read More

Almost 44 million Americans have student loan debt, and nearly three in 10 of them stand to be affected by the proposed elimination of a deduction in House Republicans’ Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. IRS records show that more than 12 m... Read More

There are lots of reasons why Colonial Life decided to concentrate on promoting and increasing diversity. The most important reason also is the simplest, said company diversity and inclusion consultant Beth Ruffin. “It’... Read More