Carolina Ledger

FLORENCE, S.C.— A $388 billion spending bill approved by Congress includes money for construction of the proposed Interstate 73 and other projects.

Details of the measure must still be completed before the bill can be signed by President Bush.

The bill contains $4 million in funding for Interstate 73, the planned interstate to run from Detroit to Myrtle Beach, U.S. Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., said Monday.

The bill also includes $1.5 million to upgrade the interchange at Interstate 95 and state Highway 327 north of Florence, Spratt’s office said. Upgrading the interchange would include expanding it to handle a larger volume of traffic, with new ramps and more lanes.

‘‘Expanding the interchange will ensure that tourists can reach the beach safely and easily,’’ Spratt said.

More than 42,000 vehicles travel that stretch of I-95 daily.

FBI thinks copycat

sent threatening letter

GREENVILLE, S.C. — A copycat may be responsible for a threatening letter from Atlanta that is similar to one that contained the deadly poison ricin at an Upstate post office, federal investigators say.

The FBI said Monday that a letter signed by ‘‘Fallen Angel’’ was sent through an Atlanta postal facility to the FBI nine months ago.

But unlike the letter found at a postal distribution center in Greenville last year, the latest letter did not contain the poison and officials have not connected the two.

The Atlanta letter was sent in February, a few days after it was reported the letter in Greenville was linked to one sent to the White House, said Ann Middleton, supervisory senior resident agent for the FBI in Greenville.

Middleton said authorities aren’t convinced the Atlanta letter was written by the same person who threatened to dump ricin last fall if federal trucking regulations weren’t repealed.

The FBI is releasing the new information in hopes of generating fresh leads in the case, Middleton said. Increasing the reward money to $120,000 in October didn’t generate new leads.

The new trucking laws went into effect Jan. 4.

Sanford pressure

curtails Santee Cooper giving

COLUMBIA, S.C. — State-owned Santee Cooper plans to cut about $758,000 in donations to groups, events and economic development under pressure from Gov. Mark Sanford.

Santee Cooper is state-owned, but generates money for its operations from sales to customers. It will generate enough extra money to give the state’s general fund $10.9 million this year.

But some legislators and Sanford say Santee Cooper should give more to the state and take a dim view of the utility’s money supplementing golf tournaments and Girl Scouts.

In budget hearings last month, Sanford called the donations ‘‘a slush fund’’ and ‘‘a third window by which people are being taxed.’’

The Moncks Corner company now is spending $2.73 million on contributions, sponsorships and economic-development efforts. On Monday, the board reviewed a plan to reduce that by 28 percent to $1.98 million in its 2005 budget.