By Andy Brack | The Civil War is alive every day for reporters and editors — and they may not even know it.
A couple of weeks back in a commentary taking the General Assembly to task for caterwauling about a court-imposed time limit on school funding, I observed how reporters face “deadlines” all of the time, just as courts impose deadlines frequently.
We’re saddened this morning by the loss of longtime Post and Courier columnist Ken Burger, who died Tuesday following a long battle with prostate cancer.
Let’s remember him by being inspired from reading his outstanding, poignant writing, such as this sage advice from “Baptized in Sweet Tea,” a collection of columns published in 2011:
1. Always return phone calls: “Calling people back, you see, is a sign of respect, even if they don’t deserve it.”
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | John Tecklenburg has the best line in the campaign to be Charleston’s next mayor:
“Charleston is not a theme park,” he tells people during meetings and in ads.
In just six words, he succinctly captures what’s different about his candidacy and lets us in on his secret: he’s running to serve the people of Charleston. He wants to work collaboratively with people to foster a community vision that focuses on what Charleston’s residents want their future to be.
Nonfiction by Pete Laurie: The ACE Basin: A Lowcountry Legacy is a beautiful book. It’s perfect for anyone who wants to understand the importance of conservationists and governments working together to protect a wholly special place that stretches from the southern end of Charleston County through Beaufort County. With vivid color photographs by Phillip Jones, Laurie’s book explains the history since 1988 behind conserving more than 200,000 acres in the confluence of the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto rivers through purchases of large tracts of land plus dozens of conservation easements by nature-loving landowners.
By Andy Brack | South Carolinians have to get over the cheapskate model of democracy. To do otherwise is to continue to fail our future.
Billions of dollars of underinvestment in roads, bridges and health care over recent years leaves the state at the mercy of disasters of one sort or another.
Just witness the 11 trillion gallons of rain over the last week that flooded rivers, burst dams, destroyed homes, upended lives and killed at least 17 people.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | At age 93, Fritz Hollings is still teaching us.
On Friday as a weekend deluge of rain started, dignitaries from all over gathered at St. Michael’s Church at the Four Corners of Law to rename the federal courthouse annex across the street that was named in 1988 for Hollings.
The senator, who got money put in the federal budget to construct the judicial center, never really wanted it named for him. U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, who had all sorts of things named for him by that time, apparently thought Hollings needed something named for him too.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The sad thing about a new study of state tax systems is that people are going to believe it when, in fact, it is pretty misleading and relatively pointless.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Years back when my father was a boy, he knew his father could fix just about anything. He marveled at his father’s skills, not understanding how he would ever be able to build shelves, craft furniture, fix electrical outlets or repair motors.
Editor and publisher Andy Brack offers 14 photos of the buildings of Cuba, particularly the way things look in central Havana to visitors.
It’s clear there’s a lot of renovation going on these days, in part because of preparations for an onslaught of tourists as U.S.-Cuba relations continue to thaw. But there’s a lot of work to get done.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | An energy revolution is underway in South Carolina and you may not even realize it. Just look at recent news headlines:
Wind energy. Federal regulators have identified almost 1,200 nautical square miles of the South Carolina coast that have the potential to produce wind energy. Within a decade, depending on the regulatory process, sea-based turbines could be generating power much like offshore wind fields in the North Sea.
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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