NEWS BRIEFS: GOP leaders ignoring pressure for special pandemic session

Staff reports  |  Lawmakers are feeling pressure to hold an emergency session to revise a law that prohibits mask mandates in schools as COVID-19 gets deadlier in the Palmetto State but GOP leaders so far are mum about returning to Columbia.  More than 10,400 South Carolinians have died in the coronavirus pandemic with thousands of new cases reported daily as the delta variant rages. 

Rep. Nathan Ballentine, R-Richland, said an emergency session is unlikely to work. Members of the House and Senate GOP leadership that controls the legislature didn’t respond to inquiries last week.

“I do not see us revisiting the budget,” said Richland County GOP Rep. Nathan Ballentine on the possibility of overturning a budget proviso prohibiting mask mandates.  “That would take a two-thirds vote of both bodies and any changes would also require that amount of support. Additionally Governor [Henry] McMaster is likely to veto any efforts to allow districts to decide.”

Ballentine said the General Assembly voted in the budget to give control to parents about their children’s health and safety. “Masks can still be worn to protect individuals and others. The science shows our kids are at the least risk. Not no risk. But least risk. Teachers and other adults (and many kids) can be vaccinated to do their part.”

Other lawmakers say urgent action is needed.

“It’s hard to admit you did something wrong,” Rep. Leon Howard, D-Richland, said of the failure to call a special session. “But people are living in danger.”  Howard, chairman of the House Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee.  Read the full story in Statehouse Report.

In other recent news:

Top hotel, bars in U.S.  Hotel Bennett, located on King Street at Marion Square, was named the top luxury hotel in the country in a new reader survey by USA Today’s 10Best 2021 Hotels Readers’ Choice Awards.  The hotel’s Camellias champagne bar was named fourth best hotel bar, just behind the Bar at the Spectator Hotel on State Street downtown.  Also awarded: Wentworth Mansion’s Circa 1886 was named fourth best hotel restaurant in the survey.  Read more.

COVID-19 cases in schools.  More than 500 students or staff with Charleston County School District reported testing positive for COVID-19 since the start of school Aug. 18, as district leaders say they are unable to enforce a face-mask requirement they passed as students were prepping for the new year. More.

Personal stories about the virus.  If you missed Wednesday’s cover story in the Charleston City Paper, you missed three great stories on how the disease is impacting the community.  Skyler Baldwin talked with a Summerville couple who became vaccine believers after being skeptics.  Samantha Connors shares how more people have been getting vaccinated in a discussion with pharmacist Dottie Farfone.  Baldwin also shares how Dr. Thaddeus Bell is having deep discussions to counter myths about the vaccine. 

Big donation.  Hats off to the Michelin Corporate Foundation for its generous gift of $120,000 to the American Red Cross of South Carolina for four new fleet vehicles that will support mission-critical services. “When disaster strikes, Red Cross workers climb into Red Cross vehicles and get to where our communities need us. Whether it’s providing food, water, and comfort to victims, or pulling up to a hospital with much-needed blood products,” said Rod Tolbert, the state’s regional executive. “Thanks to the generous support of the Michelin Corporate Foundation, we’ve been able to add four new vehicles that will help us reach even more people in need not only in South Carolina but across the country.”

Preview of 2022 gubernatorial election.  Almanac of American Politics senior editor Louis Jacobson last week shared why he expected McMaster to run for governor in 2022 in this piece published by Statehouse Report.