State lawmakers return to Columbia Tuesday to begin what they say will be one of the toughest budget years in decades.

South Carolina’s official State Christmas tree is in place and decorated at the Statehouse, ready for the Governor’s Carolighting ceremony Sunday.

The South Carolina Department of Corrections says it may have to close prisons and release inmates early if state lawmakers don’t provide more money.

The NAACP’s effort to boost its boycott of South Carolina because of the Confederate flag is causing some confusion among flag supporters. The lieutenant commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans says the group has made an offer to a property owner to put up a giant Confederate flag along a busy Columbia highway in response to the NAACP. But the commander of the SCV says no offer has been made, only an inquiry, and the lt. commander is speaking for himself and not the group.

The NAACP has met with celebrities and others in the movie industry to pressure South Carolina to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds in Columbia. South Carolina NAACP President Lonnie Randolph says the civil rights group met over the weekend with leading actors and at least one movie studio consultant.

NAACP leaders say they will step up their campaign against flying of the Confederate battle flag on state grounds in South Carolina. Dennis Courtland Hayes, interim president and CEO, said Monday at the civil rights organization’s national convention in Cincinnati that action plans are in the works and to stay tuned for details.

The Senate and House agreed Thursday on a bill allowing motorcyclists, mo-ped drivers and bicyclists to go through a stop light after waiting for two minutes if the light doesn’t change and the intersection is clear.

One of the fastest-growing sports in popularity is illegal in South Carolina, but that would change under a bill that will be debated Wednesday in a Senate subcommittee.

Schedule of events at the statehouse