South Carolina

COLUMBIA

Senators file voter ID, immigration bills

Photo identification at the polls and a further clampdown on illegal immigrants are among proposals prefiled by South Carolina's senators.

Wednesday was the first day senators could prefile bills for the upcoming session. Voter ID was the first of 210 measures filed. Republicans have argued for the past two years that it's an issue of voter integrity.

The bill died in June as Senate Democrats pushed to allow more days of early voting. They argued the version Republicans wanted limited voters' ability to cast ballots.

Republican Sen. Larry Grooms followed through on his pledge to re-introduce a bill to put South Carolina in line with Arizona's law. It would direct law enforcement to check the legal status of people they suspect are in the U.S. illegally.

COLUMBIA

Company to pay $527,000 to settle fraud

Federal prosecutors say a medical transport company has agreed to pay more than half a million dollars to settle Medicare fraud allegations.

U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said Wednesday that Carolina MedCare Inc. is paying the U.S. government almost $527,000.

Nettles says the government believes Carolina MedCare submitted claims to Medicare with a forged physician's signature, an altered date, or the signature of a person who was not qualified to make the certification.

The government also says Carolina MedCare had no certificate of medical necessity for other transports.

Carolina MedCare is a nonemergency ambulance service serving 20 counties.

ANDERSON

Ex-deputy indicted on bribery charges

A former Anderson County sheriff's deputy has been indicted on charges that he took bribes in exchange for dropping traffic violations.

The Anderson Independent-Mail reports that Larry Brent Moore, 36, was indicted Tuesday on three charges each of misconduct in office and taking bribes.

Moore was fired in August. The indictments do not say how much money Moore is accused of accepting.

CHARLESTON

Struggling musicians agree to contract

Musicians of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra have agreed to a contract that allows the music to continue but trims the ensemble to 24 full-time performers.

The contract reduces the operating budget by $1 million to $1.3 million during the first year of the agreement. A dozen musicians lose full-time status.

The orchestra dropped full-time operations last March because of money problems. This fall the ensemble did stage a 75th anniversary concert that generated a profit of $20,000.

The musicians in May rejected a contract that would have cut base salaries by 84 percent to $3,600 a year. The new contract provides a salary of $14,000 and improved health benefits.

North Carolina

HICKORY

DNA from bones match Zahra Baker's

The state crime lab says DNA taken from bones found in Caldwell County match a sample from Zahra Baker, the disabled girl who was reported missing last month.

A statement issued Wednesday by Hickory police says the State Bureau of Investigation's crime lab confirmed that the remains were Zahra's.

Investigators expected that result when they announced the discovery of the remains last month.

Police are still investigating. The 10-year-old girl was reported missing on Oct. 9. Police have found her remains in two sites around Caldwell County. No one has been charged in her death.

Her stepmother, Elisa Baker, is in jail on charges of obstructing the investigation. Her father, Adam Baker, is on bail after being arrested on unrelated charges.

RALEIGH

More charges against terror suspect

A new federal indictment adds charges against a North Carolina man accused in a terrorism case.

Anes Subasic has been charged with two counts of "unlawful procurement of citizenship" because authorities say he misrepresented his past while applying to become a naturalized citizen. Prosecutors say Subasic claimed in 2003 documents that he had never been charged with committing any crime or offense. They say he had been charged on at least 10 occasions prior to filing the documents.

Subasic is one of several suspects accused in 2009 of plotting international terrorism. An attorney for Subasic declined comment Wednesday.

RALEIGH

NAACP comes to debate school diversity

The NAACP is bringing a national conference on education to Raleigh, where a debate over school diversity remains a live issue.

The civil rights group said Wednesday that its annual Daisy Bates Education summit will be held through Saturday. The conference will include representatives from 2,200 NAACP branches and units from around the country. NAACP national president Benjamin Jealous will deliver an address on Friday.

Wake County has been near the center of national debates about racial and ethnic diversity in schools. This year, a newly-elected school board voted to end the county's decade-old policy of busing for socioeconomic diversity.