Jessica Holdman

Jessica Holdman

[email protected]

Jessica Holdman is a senior reporter for the SC Daily Gazette. She has more than a decade of newspaper experience, most recently with The Post and Courier. Before moving to South Carolina in 2019, she worked for newspapers in North Dakota, Washington and her home state of Missouri. Her reporting has won awards from the North Dakota and South Carolina press associations. Jessica reports on South Carolina’s workforce, the economy and higher education.

Grant will aid SC small businesses competing for federal research contracts
South Carolina

Grant will aid SC small businesses competing for federal research contracts

Oct 21, 2026
Jessica Holdman
COLUMBIA — The federal government is tapping South Carolina’s state-run small business investor and incubator to help startups develop new technologies and land government contracts. The U.S. Small Business Administration awarded the South Carolina Research Authority a $185,000 grant to...
Westinghouse investing $1B to make a new kind of uranium at SC nuclear fuel factory
South Carolina

Westinghouse investing $1B to make a new kind of uranium at SC nuclear fuel factory

Oct 21, 2026
Jessica Holdman
COLUMBIA — Westinghouse Electric Company plans to expand its nuclear fuel campus south of Columbia to make a new type of uranium for power plants. The nuclear power giant announced Wednesday it would invest $1 billion in a new factory...
Expanded scholarship program ‘a huge relief’ for SC’s college-bound high school seniors
South Carolina

Expanded scholarship program ‘a huge relief’ for SC’s college-bound high school seniors

Oct 19, 2026
Jessica Holdman
COLUMBIA — Jazz’e Spencer has played soccer — a center back defender — for 14 years. Now the Dutch Fork High School senior dreams of studying sports medicine, either at the University of South Carolina or College of Charleston, to...
Upstate car parts manufacturers investing $82M to supply Scout Motors
South Carolina

Upstate car parts manufacturers investing $82M to supply Scout Motors

Oct 14, 2026
Jessica Holdman
Seven Upstate auto parts makers pledge to hire 200 South Carolinians as they expand production to meet the needs of Scout Motors. The companies — Spartanburg Steel, Magna DRIVE, KV Final, Röchling Automotive, Magna Mirrors, Cooper Standard and Bant Boru...
Upstate hospital building new training center to help address SC’s nursing shortage
South Carolina

Upstate hospital building new training center to help address SC’s nursing shortage

Oct 13, 2026
Jessica Holdman
An Anderson hospital is building a center to train more nurses in South Carolina’s Upstate. Construction is underway on the AnMed Education and Innovation Center, a 30,000-square-foot space beside AnMed Medical Center that will provide clinical classroom space for Tri-County...
In-home program helps 2,800 new SC moms and babies. Advocates want it to continue.
South Carolina

In-home program helps 2,800 new SC moms and babies. Advocates want it to continue.

Oct 12, 2026
Jessica Holdman
When Sanquinita Martin visits the home of new parents in the Upstate, she acts as an extra set of eyes, encouraging parents and answering their questions as they learn to care for their newborn or toddler, “like an outside person...
Father of slain 22-year-old pledges to ‘do anything’ to strengthen criminal record keeping
South Carolina

Father of slain 22-year-old pledges to ‘do anything’ to strengthen criminal recordkeeping

Oct 08, 2026
Jessica Holdman
Seventeen months after his daughter’s murder, Steve Federico said Thursday his “passion now” is a federal law on criminal recordkeeping that could prevent similar tragedies. His daughter, Logan Federico, was killed May 3, 2025, in a downtown Columbia home while...
New Orleans biotech company expands to Charleston with $660K investment
South Carolina

New Orleans biotech company expands to Charleston with $660K investment

Oct 08, 2026
Jessica Holdman
A biomedical company opened its first East Coast operation in Charleston on Thursday. New Orleans-headquartered Obatala Sciences is leasing a lab inside the Medical University of South Carolina’s new Blue Sky Labs, a rentable space for students, researchers and entrepreneurs...
Former SC governor’s childhood home, Pawleys Island beachfront up for preservation
South Carolina

Former SC governor’s childhood home, Pawleys Island beachfront up for preservation

Oct 07, 2026
Jessica Holdman
COLUMBIA — The family farm of former Gov. Robert McNair and beachfront property in Pawleys Island are among the latest lands slated for protection under South Carolina conservation programs. A state spending oversight panel gave the initial nod this week...
SC expanding student loan forgiveness for teachers in effort to keep them in the classroom
South Carolina

SC expanding student loan forgiveness for teachers in effort to keep them in the classroom

Oct 06, 2026
Jessica Holdman
COLUMBIA — South Carolina is spending $10 million to help more teachers pay off or erase their student loans. Legislators tucked the money in the latest state budget for the new program operated by South Carolina Student Loan Corp. Under...
SC colleges can apply to offer new Pell Grants aimed at in-demand trades. So far, none have.
South Carolina

SC colleges can apply to offer new Pell Grants aimed at in-demand trades. So far, none have.

Oct 05, 2026
Jessica Holdman
COLUMBIA — Nursing and medical assistants, mechanics and commercial truck drivers, welders and construction equipment operators. These are among the South Carolina careers newly eligible for low-income, federal education grants. But so far, colleges and trade schools in the Palmetto...
Federal judge dismisses NAACP lawsuit over voter assistance limits in SC absentee ballot law
South Carolina

Federal judge dismisses NAACP lawsuit over voter assistance limits in SC absentee ballot law

Oct 02, 2026
Jessica Holdman
COLUMBIA — A federal judge tossed out a lawsuit from South Carolina civil rights organizations over state absentee voting rules. In the lawsuit, the groups argued a law meant to prevent election fraud makes it harder for people with disabilities...