GOOD NEWS: Almost $2 million raised in mayor’s race

Almost $2 million raised so far in Charleston mayor’s race

Three candidates are dominating fundraising in the 2015 race to replace Charleston Mayor Joe Riley. Less than $65,000 separates them despite their fundraising almost $1.5 million:

• S.C. Rep. Leon Stavrinakis leads the field of seven candidates with $510,628 raised and $400,127.53 on hand, according to campaign disclosures filed by July 10 with the S.C. Ethics Commission.

• Nonprofit leader Ginny Deerin raised $476,316 and had $362,719.53 on hand. In the second quarter, she raised the most money — some $258,521, compared to just over $200,000 for Stavrinakis.

• Charleston Realtor John Tecklenburg isn’t far off the mark with $437,885.24 raised in total and $301,737.27 on hand.

The November election is non-partisan. A runoff is expected.

In other good news:

WINGS for Kids program to connect more students. In response to the recent tragedy at Mother Emanuel AME Church in downtown Charleston, WINGS for Kids last week announced a new initiative to help Charleston students build new friendships and deepen one-on-one relationship skills with other kids across the community through social awareness programming.

“As an organization rooted in social / emotional learning and based in Charleston, WINGS cannot go back to business as usual,” said WINGS CEO Bridget Laird. “We cannot not do more, try harder, dive deeper, and grow bigger. Standing together against racism, we will promote friendship and understanding starting with the open hearts and minds of the future — kids.”

According to a press release, WINGS is the only afterschool program in the country that focuses solely on improving social and emotional learning (SEL) for students. As part of the new Kindred Kids initiative, the four WINGS programs in Charleston will partner with other afterschool programs serving middle-income fourth and fifth graders in the area to bring together kids in the community who may have never crossed paths with before.

Charleston law professor teaches in China. Charleston School of Law Professor James Klein recently returned from a two-month visit at the East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai where he taught an intensive six-week course on the U.S. judicial process and civil procedure.

“My goal was to teach the way we teach law courses in the U.S. utilizing the case method and encouraging the student to engage in active classroom discussion, rather than lecturing,” Klein said.  “This is different from what the students are accustomed.”

Klein, a distinguished visiting professor in Charleston since 2010, was able to make the visit to Shanghai thanks to being picked by as a Fulbright specialist by the Chinese university.  The Fulbright Specialist Program is a highly-esteemed, selective international educational exchange program designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and the people of other countries.  More: Charleston School of Law.