Charleston Currents – Andy Brack

Articles by: Andy Brack

CALENDAR, Jan. 25+: Plays, festivals, library programs

On the calendar soon: The Realistic Jones, A Streetcar Named Desire, Lowcountry Oyster Festival, Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, special library program.

by Andy Brack · 01/25/2016 · Comments are Disabled · calendar

BRACK: Why do we even need a “Confederate Relic Room?”

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | At the risk of irritating — and alienating — a majority of South Carolinians, here’s a question: Why do we even need something called a Confederate Relic Room?
Before you spit out your coffee, consider that South Carolina doesn’t have a separate Revolutionary War Relic Room or an exclusive World War II Relic Room or a stand-alone Vietnam War Relic Room. Instead, the state has the Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum.

by Andy Brack · 01/25/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

LETTERS: On Haley and leadership; old photos

Fred Palm: “South Carolinians will know that Gov. [Nikki] Haley is all grown up when she brings the uninsured into the medical universe of the treated with adequate medical care and when she brings in the uninsured by exercising her option of enrolling S.C. into the Medicare option of the Affordable Care Act.”

Cheryl Smithem: “I love browsing these images from all across S.C. history. :

by Andy Brack · 01/18/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Feedback

BRACK: Remembering Leo

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | A friend died last week and I’ll miss his wise counsel and long, engaging conversations.

Leo Fishman, a Massachusetts-born Washington lawyer who retired to the Lowcountry, believed in something many Americans seem to have forgotten – the vital need to protect and promote the common good to keep our democracy strong.

Leo knew the country gets in trouble when private, often selfish agendas impede that which is best for all. Investing in the common good got America out of the Great Depression and won World War II because Americans worked together to meet common goals. Investing in interstate highways, education for veterans through the G.I. Bill and even the space program moved our democracy forward.

by Andy Brack · 01/18/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

Gov. Nikki Haley gives the 2015 State of the State address, 2015.

BRACK: Haley joins the establishment

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds is the gift that keeps on giving for Gov. Nikki Haley.

Not only will she receive a major leadership award Jan. 12 from Furman’s Riley Institute for her role in taking down the flag, she’s been tapped to give the national GOP response to President Obama’s final State of the Union address.

Cynics easily spin the speech as little more than an attempt to illustrate that Republicans can be brown and female, not just white and male. Others may take it a step further and say the nationally-televised response is political payback.

by Andy Brack · 01/11/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

GOOD NEWS: Holder to deliver MLK keynote on Sunday

Staff reports | Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will deliver a keynote address 3 p.m. Sunday during the 44th annual Martin Luther King Tri-County Ecumenical Service, which will be at Morris Street Baptist Church, 25 Morris Street, in Charleston. It’s one of several events scheduled through Jan. 19 in South Carolina’s largest annual tribute to King, an event coordinated by the YWCA of Charleston. Also in Good News: Legislature to convene; Discounts at Magnolia; Festival of Lights is nation’s third-best.

by Andy Brack · 01/11/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News briefs

MYSTERY: Pier-viewed?

Charleston reader Kristina Wheeler sends along the Mystery Photo above to tantalize other readers. Clue: There might be an object in the photo that suggests where this is. Send your guesses to editor@charlestoncurrents.com — and make sure to include the town you live in for identification purposes.

by Andy Brack · 01/11/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Mystery Photo, Photos

BRACK: New year brings new look at how we’re doing as community

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Just as individuals review how they’re doing at the beginning of a new year, a practice that fuels resolutions that seek to transform lives, maybe now is a good time to take a reading of how our county as a whole is doing based on an array of statistics.

For this, we turn to CountyHealthRankings.org, a collaborative tool by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute that offers accessibility to data to seek to build awareness of factors that influence health across the United States and engage leaders to create change to make places healthier.

by Andy Brack · 01/04/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

PHOTO: A warm December walk on the beach

This year’s New Year’s Day polar plunges on Sullivan’s Island and Folly Beach will be more like invigorating fall dips in the ocean thanks to mild December temperatures. As many awed residents and visitors remark, who would have thought you could be strolling on the beach in shorts, as this pair is, or grabbing a few rays at this time of the year? Colder weather has got to be on the way, but apparently not anytime soon! Photo by Andy Brack.

by Andy Brack · 12/28/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Photos

BRACK: Too many dying in South Carolina traffic wrecks

By Andy Brack | Too many South Carolinians are dying in traffic wrecks as more state residents take to the road due, in part, to less expensive fuel.
As reported Friday by Statehouse Report, some 930 people died as of Christmas Eve on South Carolina roads in 2015. That’s 133 more people than died in wrecks in 2014 and it’s more than any year since 2007 when 1,077 people died on the state’s highways.