Here are some of the latest headlines from our Off the Cuff crime blog. * A 59-year-old man checked into Piedmont Medical Center with a gunshot wound to his leg.

There is a reason that novels and movies and TV shows are done about private detectives with a heart of gold.

Winthrop sophomore Reggie Middleton wanted the ball in his hands Saturday against Coastal Carolina, especially late in the game. His team had regained the lead, 52-50, with just under 6 minutes left, and he was determined not to let the game slip away.

Randy Peele, Winthrop’s men’s basketball coach, went to Africa three years ago on a recruiting trip as an Eagles assistant. It was in Nigeria he first saw Julius Francis, now a 6-foot-11 freshman for the Eagles.

Professional Business Women’s Association will meet from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9 at the City Club of Rock Hill, 140 E. Main St.

[...]

Hoping to find what they called a new beginning, Elbio and Amanda Suarez left the Pacific Northwest in a Ford Thunderbird and drove until they got to York County.

Coastal Carolina has long been Winthrop’s Big South Conference rival. Coastal leads the overall series 35-32, but the Eagles have racked up seven regular-season championships and gone to nine NCAA tournaments.

Winthrop Eagles pulled out a 55-53 Big South Conference win over the Bucs Thursday at Winthrop Coliseum.

Two Rock Hill teens have been sentenced to 15 years in prison each for the 2008 shooting on Simrill Street that left a man paralyzed.

The earthquake in Haiti two weeks ago shook all the way to Rock Hill, where two families live right across the street from each other in a subdivision filled with new, two-story homes.

Rock Hill and Winthrop University have settled on choices for a group that will explore ways to enliven the areas around campus.

To raise money to support the International Red Cross Haitian Earthquake 2010 Relief Fund, India Hook Elementary will sponsor “Mateys for Haiti.” To participate, students and staff will pay 50 cents (each time) to wear a crazy hat on Feb. 3, model crazy hair on Feb. 10, and wear wild socks [...]

Winthrop will induct five former student-athletes into the 2010 class of the Winthrop Athletics Hall of Fame. The induction dinner and ceremony is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday in McBryde Hall on campus.