Charleston Currents – Andy Brack

Articles by: Andy Brack

Pictured above is a hand-colored 1863 image (Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper) of the Emancipation Day celebration on Jan. 1, 1863, under a grove of oaks outside Camp Saxton along the Beaufort River. Columbia filmmaker and Charleston native Bud Ferillo, who provided the engraved image, tells us that celebration of the first Emancipation Day was the largest in the South of freedmen when sine 3,000 people attended. Today, the location is home to Naval Hospital Beaufort.

FOCUS: Morris Brown AME to host special Watch Night today at noon

By Herb Frazier | Today at noon, the Charleston community will gather at Morris Brown AME Church to celebrate a moment in history when enslaved people anticipated freedom.

This special event at Morris Brown will be an homage to services first held on Dec. 31, 1862. At that time, the enslaved met in praise houses and churches to await the end of slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863.

Those first freedom’s eve services in 1862 have become an annual celebration called Watch Night held on New Year’s Eve in black churches across America. While many congregations, like Morris Brown, have held this service its original purpose had been lost in time. Last year, the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission began an effort to preserve and sustain this cherished tradition.

by Andy Brack · 12/31/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

BRACK: Pay our teachers better

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | This should be a no-brainer for state legislators: If you want to have better teachers, you have to provide a better salary.

South Carolina has been failing its teachers, students and parents for years. Over the last eight years, the General Assembly has steered $4 billion less to public education than state law requires. If you want to know why we keep showing up at the bottom, trying to get education on the cheap is the biggest reason of all.

by Andy Brack · 12/17/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

FOCUS, Morris: Lowcountry Rapid Transit project makes whole lot of sense

By Kyra Morris, contributing editor | Community anticipation has been growing in recent months for the Lowcountry Rapid Transit (LCRT) project, which would serve as the spine of a premium mass transportation system in the Charleston region.

As proposed, LCRT would connect Summerville, North Charleston and downtown Charleston, running largely in dedicated, separated lanes, while providing relief from traffic congestion.

The LCRT is often referred to as “light rail on wheels.” LCRT would perform more like a train service than a bus route with many of the same conveniences, such as level boarding and wide doors on both sides of vehicles, modern transit stations, pre-payment, free Wi-Fi and more.

by Andy Brack · 12/10/2018 · 2 comments · Focus, Good news

BRACK: No halfway needed on tax reform

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The newly-found political buzzphrase among the South Carolina legislative class is “tax reform.”

Suddenly, after years of hemming and hawing about doing something about the hodge-podge of laws that make up the state’s tax code, there’s a little juice to do something real to stabilize the tax structure and, we hope, make it a little bit fairer up and down the line.

by Andy Brack · 12/10/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Let’s look at how we do electricity in S.C.

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | There’s a huge disconnect going on with electricity in South Carolina.

On one hand, we’re in the second year of trying to figure out why there was a $9 billion debacle of a nuclear power plant project in Fairfield County being built by SCE&G and Santee Cooper. There’s been finger-pointing by legislators, finger-pointing about the legislature, testimony to regulators, lawsuits, and on and on. At the end of the day, it’s still a mess and it’s probably going to consume the legislature again in 2019. …

by Andy Brack · 12/03/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

12/3: Holiday at the Gaillard; S.C. and electricity: Palmetto Poem

IN THIS ISSUE | Dec. 3, 2018

FOCUS: Enjoy the season at the Charleston Gaillard Center
COMMENTARY, Brack: Power for the people: Let’s look at how we do electricity in S.C.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Titan Termite & Pest Control
PALMETTO POEM: In December Artroom
GOOD NEWS: Airport predicts a banner year of travel in and out of Charleston
FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
MYSTERY PHOTO: Tell us about this artwork
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Alfred Hutty
CALENDAR: Holiday events crowd the calendar

by Andy Brack · 12/03/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Full issue

BRACK: State should wisely target surplus funds

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The state of South Carolina has won the lottery. It has a billion dollars in surplus funds in the coming year that can be used to address generational problems left lingering for far too long.

Let’s hope state lawmakers who let too many things get out of control because of too little money and vision don’t miss this gigantic opportunity to do a whole lot of good.

by Andy Brack · 11/26/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

GOOD NEWS: New map shows real power grip in South Carolina

Staff reports | Our sister publication, Statehouse Report, provided an interesting map of where real power in the S.C. House lives in its recent issue. The map, inspired by a report in The New York Times, is proportional making geographically-large districts the same size as compact ones. The result? As highlighted above, the Republican Party totally dominates the S.C. House of Representatives (we knew it has an 80-44 grip on power, but the map shows the Upstate’s grip on politics.).

by Andy Brack · 11/26/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News briefs

BRACK: Some tonics to soothe an unhappy America

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The big takeaway from a month-long trip to 13 states during the midterm elections might sound simplistic, but it has a deeper meaning: the United States of America is an unhappy country.

Unhappy because of the widening division between Republican and Democratic leaders, who often don’t seem like they can stand being in the same room. …

by Andy Brack · 11/19/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views