Richard Hollis can’t move around like he used to. He says it’s a combination of leg injuries and congestive heart failure, which can fill his lungs with fluid and make it hard for him to catch his breath.

Congestive heart failure is a chronic condition that occurs when the heart can’t pump blood as well as the body requires.

Rapid weight gain is common among patients with congestive heart failure, and it usually means excess fluid buildup. Doctors say these symptoms must be regularly monitored to prevent emergency situations in patients.

On this episode of the South Carolina Lede, host Gavin Jackson is joined by the Post and Courier's Andy Shain and South Carolina Public Radio's Russ McKinney to discuss the recently-elected new president of the University of South Carolina, Robert Caslen.

From band camp to the 14 hours of weekly practice, high schools across the state work constantly to prepare a show for football games and fall competitions. Between the practices leading up to their performances, bands across the state must do physical preparations in order to prepare for their upcoming seasons. Meredith Rhodes, drum major for the Lugoff-Elgin Marching Band, states that in order to prepare physically they “do a series of dancing warm-ups …  marching warm-ups to check technique, and weightlifting for the low brass instruments.”

“I don’t want Savannah to go through what I’ve been through,” said Joe Ann Calvy of Eastover, SC. At 48, she has already had a heart attack.  She said growing up “I didn’t know how to eat properly, and I’ve always had weight problems.”

This is one reason why she and her husband have been so supportive of Savannah’s after-school class on nutrition. The class is offered through a partnership between Prisma Health and SC DHEC. The educators use telehealth to teach the class remotely so that they can reach more children at once.

Dressed in a brightly colored, patterned dress and wearing stylishly large, black rimmed glasses, 51 year-old Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr flashes the most fantastic smile. The mayor of Freetown, Seirra Leone in West Africa has travelled more than 4,000 miles to visit Charleston and South Carolina's Sea Islands. She must be exhausted. Yet she glows with warmth and enthusiasm.

South Carolina's farming industry remains a stalwart economic engine. With approximately 25,000 farms over 4.9 million acres of land, the Palmetto State's agricultural community maintains its relevance in South Carolinians' day-to-day lives. In a changing world, though, South Carolina's farming industry still continues to face the same old problems that it has for years. A common denominator for a successful crop is the weather, and this equaled a negative for this year's summer produce crop in the Palmetto State.

Leading up to the 2020 election, South Carolina Lede is keeping you up to speed on what the candidates are saying on the campaign trail in the Palmetto State with these "Trail Bites" mini-episodes. On this edition for the week of July 18, 2019, host Gavin Jackson takes us to the recent South Carolina Democratic Party Convention to hear from presidential hopefuls former Texas Congressman Beto O'

Host Gavin Jackson sat down with Susie Shanon, president and CEO of the S.C. Council on Competitiveness, and Carl Washburn, the department head of aviation at Greenville Technical College.

Highlights:

South Carolina’s freshwater lakes and ponds are as vibrant as they come, full of pretty plants with pretty names like water primrose and water hyacinth. The only trouble is, these plants shouldn’t be here. They, and about two dozen other aquatic plants – some with more ominous names like arrowhead and alligator weed – are invasives; uninvited residents that find a foothold in the state’s lakebeds and coastlines and surfaces and then just choke out the native plant life.

Leading up to the 2020 election, South Carolina Lede is keeping you up to speed on what the candidates are saying on the campaign trail in the Palmetto State with these "Trail Bites" mini-episodes.