14 work teams from World Changers, an effort organized through Nashville-based Lifeway Christian Ministries, are in Rock Hill this week working on repairs to 16 homes.

Alyse Malavasi leads the project’s communications efforts and says while the teens come to work, they also minister to those they are serving.

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Participants this summer like Daniel Bergman paid $250 each for the opportunity to serve others.

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Mike Wallace heads the missions developments efforts for the York Baptist Association and says while teens today catch a lot of grief for over-commercialism, these teens are different

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This year, World Changers celebrates its 18th year in Rock Hill and more than 20 years working in communities across the country.

Bryan Huntley, 34, of Lancaster was charged in a one-count indictment with Failure to Register as a Sex offender.

Huntley could face the next decade in prison.

Also, 33-year-old Tina Hall of Rock Hill was charged in a two-count superseding indictment with bank theft and criminal conspiracy.

Hall could face thirty years in prison.

County staff packed York County Council chambers Monday in support of pay increases for county employees. Andrew Kiel/WRHI

After months of debate — and before a standing-room-only crowd Monday night, York County Council approved next year’s budget that calls for a half-mill increase towards the county’s general fund and a 1.5-mill increase towards paying down the county debt.

Sheriff’s Deputies packed council chambers, an outside hallway and an overflow room in support of a three percent raise for county staff, a measure that was ultimately cut back to one percent.

York County Sheriff Bruce Bryant had requested 16 new deputies for the next fiscal year but only received four. Bryant says the lack of manpower is affecting quality of life in York County.

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The one percent raise will be distributed as a pay-for-performance merit raise, while the budget also includes funding for state mandated positions in the public defender’s office and an additional employee to process passports for the Clerk of Court’s Office.

But York County Sheriff’s Office attorney Kris Jordan, one of a dozen who addressed council, saying it’s time the county employees’ needs be taken into consideration.

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After a first motion to raise taxes by a full 2.5 mills failed, council voted 4-3 to approve the half-mill increase for operations and a 1.5-mill increase towards debt service, with council members Blackwell, Chappell, Cox and Williams in the majority.

Councilman Michael Johnson was one of three voting to reject next year’s budget that calls for pulling nearly ten million dollars from reserves.

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The tax increase, which amounts to approximately three percent, would add $8 annually in property taxes to a $100,000 home and cost a business with a $500,000 property an additional $45 per year.

Jeffrey Williams/provided

Hundreds gathered at First Baptist Church in Rock Hill Sunday to say their final goodbyes to an 11-year-old killed just over a week ago at a Boone hotel.

Jeffrey Williams’ death, and the death of two others at the Best Western in Boone have sparked widespread concerns about carbon monoxide in hotels.

Now, lawmakers in North and South Carolina are pushing for stronger regulations in the wake of this tragedy.

State Rep. Ralph Norman was among those who paid their respects to the family. He’s outraged over what he called a senseless tragedy.

“It’s just sad, I mean it’s just something that could be avoided,” says Norman.

Last Saturday, Williams and his mother were found unresponsive inside a room at the Best Western Hotel in Boone.

Jeffrey was pronounced dead at the scene. His mother was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

Authorities say they were exposed to carbon monoxide that came from a pool heater located directly below the room.

Just two months earlier, another couple died from the same poison, after staying in the very same room.

Lawmakers in South and North Carolina are taking steps to make sure this type of tragedy is never repeated.

South Carolina’s Legislature has already passed a bill that will require carbon monoxide detectors in new and existing homes, as well as hotels, dorms and even some apartments.

North Carolina state Rep. Becky Carney calls it an issue of public safety. She says she’ll push for a study to find out if North Carolina should require hotels to install the alarms.

“I’m hoping we can get some study commission put together during this interim and come back next year and discuss the recommendations,” says Carney.

South Carolina’s bill goes into effect July 1.

Origional story by Channel 9 Eyewitness News posted here.

Comstock and her husband Larry pose with members of Winthrop’s Chapter of Pi Kappa Phi, who assisted with the family’s move-in.

Winthrop University’s tenth president officially made Rock Hill her home Friday, as she is set to take over as the head of the Rock Hill school July 1.

Jayne Marie Comstock, her husband Larry and chocolate lab Cocoa moved into the President’s Home with the assistance of volunteers from Winthrop’s chapter of the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity.

It’s a welcome Comstock says has been indicative of the attention her family has received since first hearing she was chosen to lead the university in February.

“We’re just very enamored with Rock Hill,” Comstock said. “But the Winthrop community has filled us with so much warmth and welcoming spirit that it makes it humbling and overwhelming at the same time.”

Comstock says university staffers rearranged their schedules for the early Friday move-in, and the fraternity members made the welcome extra special.

The brought the new First Lady a dozen red roses.

“That was a nice surprise,” Comstock said. “They treated me like an honored dignitary…once I got to know them all I realized that they are exactly what we hope all of our Winthrop students will be. They’re fine, upstanding, polite, honorable men who were doing everything they could to make us feel at home.”

Comstock comes to Winthrop by way of the Washington-based American Council on Education and succeeds retiring president Anthony DiGiorgio.

Friday was a day her family had been looking forward to for some time.

“Once we had our campus visit, we started counting down the day for when it was time to move in and start the process,” Comstock recalled. “Each day, we would mark one off.”

Winthrop’s Board of Trustees officially approved Comstock’s five-year contract at its June 7 board meeting. Her contract runs through June 30, 2018.

“This formally brings to a conclusion Winthrop’s search for a tenth president and prepares us for a smooth start to the new fiscal year on July 1,” said Board Chair Dalton Floyd following the contract’s approval last week. “As a rolling contract, it follows the concept that has been in place at Winthrop for many years.”

Comstock will earn a state funded salary of $169,970 per year, including a supplement fro the Winthrop University Foundation. The contact also provides for $5,000 in moving expenses, a monthly car allowance, membership dues in sate and national professional educators’ organizations and reserved parking spots around campus.

David Warner runs the new Technology Incubator and after months of training, says the concept is one that brings the major resources of a research university to those could use a little in growing their ideas.

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For $200 a month, entrepreneurs get access to the facility and its fifth-floor headquarters in the Citizens Building on East Main Street and what may be thousands of dollars in professional resources.

Warner doesn’t think there will be any shortage of volunteers.

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On June 27 at 7 p.m., Warner is holding the first of what will be several Idea Nights where tech startups can get a first glimpse of what can become of their business with the incubator’s help.

Idea Night is free to attend and takes place at the Technology Incubator, 5th Floor, Citizen’s Building at 157 East Main Street.

Thompson is retiring this year after 30 years leading the department.

Rock Hill Public Parks and Recreation Commission member Beverly Carroll says Thompson is regarded as one of the founding fathers of sports tourism in South Carolina.

Carroll says one thing Thompson did is add Tourism to the name of his agency.

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Thompson told the dozens gathered to honor him that he believes in what the City of Rock Hill calls the number-one question: Is it good for the children?

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Thompson officially retires June 30.

Greg Suskin/WSOC-TV

Two people died in an early morning accident Friday on Interstate 77 in York County.

Around 6 a.m., Trooper Billy Elder of the S.C. Highway Patrol said an 18-wheeler ran off the southbound side of the Interstate, off the embankment and hitting a tree.

Elder said the two occupants of the tractor-trailer died at the scene.

The incident occurred near mile marker 72 near the York-Chester county line.

Authorities said the victims in the crash are from New Jersey. Their names have not been released.

The truck was carrying frozen crab legs, which were propelled into nearby woods.

Meanwhile, traffic along the southbound lanes of I-77 remains backed up as crews clean up the wreck scene.

An additional accident was reported on I-77 at mile marker 75.

The tweaking comes after controversy stalled decisions by the council this spring on awarding a contract for an addition of the city’s law center.

Steven Gibson of the city’s office of management and budget says the move helps out both the local bidder and the city.

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The modifications made this week allow city council to determine if a bidder is truly local and provides for a 5-percent margin, not to exceed $25,000, for a bidder that is within city limits.

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The tweaks Monday allow council to decide if a bidder is truly local.

It also requires a local business to have a city business license for a year and includes provisions for businesses within city limits or businesses within county limits but not actually in the city.

The city’s local bidder preference ordinance came into play and review in late May as the contract for the expansion was awarded to a bidder that city councilman Kevin Sutton says wasn’t as local as he appeared to be.