Upstate meets clean air standards

The Greenville News
By Nan Lundeen • STAFF WRITER • March 2, 2009

Feds may tighten rules, making it harder to attract industry, jobs

New data show that the Upstate is meeting federal Clean Air Act standards for fine particles, but even as the area moves toward winning that longstanding battle, a federal court ruling last week laid down a path for the Environmental Protection Agency to consider tighter rules.

Veteran Beverly 'Guitar' Watkins remains a fierce performer

The Post and Courier
By: Sydney Smith

Beverly "Guitar" Watkins is a black woman who has been active in the blues world since the '50s. Because of that, she has stories to share through her music.

Drop her name in conversation with Charleston blues artists and fans and you'll hear two things: She rocks, and she's lived the blues.

"She's from another era," Blues Bash organizer Gary Erwin said. "She is cool."

"She kicks butt," Juke Joint Johnny said. "She's engaging. She's entertaining, she was born with an umbilical cord to American blues."

Beverly turns 70 this year. She's opened for Ray Charles, James Brown and Aretha Franklin. She's survived lung cancer and a minor heart attack.

But nothing has stopped her yet, and she has no intentions of slowing down. She knows she'll surprise and entertain you with her performance.

The State reports: Neb.'s Sen. Johanns undergoing surgery

The office of Nebraska Sen. Mike Johanns says the senator is having surgery on his left lung following the discovery of a spot.

The State reports: Morris: Vols assistant tackles a bigger opponent

When IRMO HIGH’S Brooks Savage took off for Tennessee five years ago, he set his sights on one day being a college basketball coach. Little did Savage know he would also become a fundraiser for cancer research.

The State reports: Is my chemo working? Scans may give faster answer

When Mike Stevens learned his lungs were riddled with cancer, it took only a week to start chemotherapy - but six weeks to find out if it was doing any good. "You're going through all this suffering and stuff and you want to know, am I going to survive? Is this stuff working?" said Stevens, 48, of La Jolla, Calif. "Your whole life is in sort of a limbo."

Doctors typically must wait weeks or months to see if a treatment is shrinking tumors or at least halting their growth. But researchers are exploring a new use for medical imaging that could shorten the stay in purgatory, possibly revealing within a few days whether chemo is working.