By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The white majority in the S.C. General Assembly needs to listen to Black colleagues on this: It’s critical for them to work together to make sweeping institutional reforms in jails, prisons and among rank-and-file law enforcement authorities.
Needless deaths, pain and suffering must stop.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | They don’t want to be told what to do, yet they hold public office to pass laws to let their people do just about whatever they want to do.
We want to carry guns out in the open, they say. Get the slowpokes out of the left lane on the interstate. We ain’t going to wear masks because we don’t believe in them, regardless of what your science says. We know better than you and we’ve got the power so you can go to hell.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | South Carolina, one of 24 states that continues to allow executions, hasn’t been able to carry one out for the last decade because it hasn’t had access to lethal injection drugs. Those on death row currently pick whether they want to die by electrocution or lethal injection. Predictably with the drugs not available, that is the preferred choice, which has ground executions to a halt.
Staff reports | U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, a Charleston County Republican, now has two Democrats running to snare his seat — second-term state Rep. Krystle Matthews and Spartanburg County Democratic Party chair Angela Geter.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | And just as predictable as sunrise, the race to be the next governor of South Carolina is on.
Former Congressman Joe Cunningham of Charleston, a one-term Democrat who lost a bid for reelection in November, came out of the gate quickly this week to try to nab the seat occupied by GOP Gov. Henry McMaster.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Maybe it’s smartphones. Or television and the 10-second soundbite. Maybe it’s all of that instant access to information.
But any way you look at it, the people who get microphones stuck in front of their faces these days just don’t seem as smart or pithy as they did a few decades — or centuries — ago.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The letter from my daughter’s longtime piano teacher gave a start.
“After being in the classroom for 31 years and working with children and youth for another nine-plus years, I have decided to retire at the end of this year,” wrote Debra Benson, who teaches at Charleston County School of the Arts (SOA). “As one of my colleagues said, ‘I have never worked as hard as I do at SOA’ but every minute has been rewarding because of the students we serve.”
For six years, Mrs. Benson has been a steady influence, a reassuring fixture in our family’s life. It’s hard to imagine her not being at SOA during my daughter’s senior year.
IN THIS EDITION
FOCUS: Maritime forest looms large in Sullivan’s Island election
COMMENTARY, Brack: Now is the time to thank a South Carolina teacher
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Magnolia Plantation and Gardens
NEWS BRIEFS: Feedback sought on Ashley River bike/pedestrian bridge
FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
MYSTERY PHOTO: Not the Citadel
CALENDAR: Dill Sanctuary offers Birding Day April 24
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Every 10 years in spring like clockwork, the General Assembly is mired in the minutia of redrawing election lines as required by the U.S. Constitution.
Except this year because of a double-whammy that has delayed everything for months.
Staff reports | There couldn’t have been much more of a perfect day than a Sunday day trip to Brookgreen Gardens in Georgetown County. The temperature was mild. Humidity wasn’t anywhere around. And the sun shined a penetrating light on scores of statuaries and thousands of flowers that filled the attraction.
Brookgreen Gardens, known as one of the world’s finest outdoor museums of American figurative sculpture, has a stunning collection of more than 2,700 works by 425 artists.
Take a look at some photos below from the Easter visit. Brookgreen Gardens is about an hour and a half from downtown Charleston. The ticket price is affordable — $18 per adult — and good for seven days.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina! (2019) by editor and publisher Andy Brack offers incisive commentaries on the American South, politics, the common good and interesting South Carolina leaders. Available exclusively for Kindle for $7.99. A paperback version will be ready soon. Learn more.
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