Charleston Currents

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FOCUS: $1 million challenge to fuel no-kill effort to save animals

Staff reports | The Charleston Animal Society on Sunday announced plans to make South Carolina become a “no-kill state” for animals by 2024 through a $1 million challenge grant from the Petco Foundation.

“Our efforts with No Kill South Carolina over the past six years have made tremendous gains in the fight to save animals in every corner of the state,” said Charleston Animal Society President and CEO Joe Elmore during the organization’s 147th annual meeting. “The trending shows that we can make this groundbreaking initiative a reality by 2024.”

According to the society, “no kill” is a term used in animal welfare that refers to the goal of saving “all healthy and treatable dogs and cats, typically about 90 percent.” No-kill communities do not euthanize animals for space. Instead …

by Charleston Currents · 03/15/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News

Karen Byko with the Wienermobile. Photo by Rob Byko.

NEWS BRIEFS: Wienermobile made Mount Pleasant appearance Thursday

By Rob Byko, contributing photographer | “THE WIENERMOBILE IS IN TOWN!” Karen Byko shouted excitedly. “One day, if I’m really, really lucky, I will be the driver of this awesomely fabulous vehicle!”

by Rob Byko · 03/15/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News briefs

FOCUS, Saul: Why telling the truth is so important

By Dr. Robert Saul, special to Statehouse Report | Truth-telling is an essential skill for personal life, for interpersonal social interactions, for community activities and for governmental decision-making.

This obviously goes without saying, but I would argue that we are suffering from some of the recent ill effects of “less than truth-telling.”

Before everyone starts pointing fingers at each other or at the other political party, let’s settle back and just be honest with each other. Truth-telling can be hard at times (it has consequences) and listening to truth-telling can be hard at times (it can change our thoughts and actions). And it indeed takes a good deal of perseverance.

Truth is not in the eye of the beholder. Truth is a series of facts that often need to be proven or investigated. Truth is not an opinion. Truth is not a series of alternate facts because a series of alternate facts is a series of untruths. The search for truth can be frustrating but eventually leads to the correct way to live and to conduct oneself.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 03/08/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, My Turn, Views

NEWS BRIEFS: Charleston GOP straddles the fence on Trump

A new profile in The New Yorker of the South Carolina fissure between Trump acolytes and old-time Republicans has Charleston County GOP Chairman Maurice Washington in a pickle, Peter Slevin reports:

by Charleston Currents · 03/08/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News briefs

FOCUS: Special window open to sign up for health insurance

Staff reports | If you are uninsured and want health insurance but missed signing up in a short window just before Christmas, you have until May 15 to apply for coverage. Local groups are ready to help.

Last month, an executive order by President Joe Biden, who promised to make health care more affordable and available for people without work-provided coverage, reopened Affordable Care Act enrollment on the federal health insurance exchange in a special enrollment period.

The Palmetto Project’s director of programs, Shelli Quenga, said that the only thing stopping many people from enrolling before was the lack of information, and the new administration has helped.

“When people know the facts and the truth of the ability to enroll, that really helps,” Quenga said. “Most people are covered by their employer-sponsored coverage, but they just don’t know how individual coverage works. It’s stuff you don’t need to know until you need to know it.”

by Charleston Currents · 03/01/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

NEWS BRIEFS: Police say lessons learned; coalition pushes back on report

Staff reports | Charleston police say an internal assessment of May 30-31 protests downtown show the agency has learned, but a coalition of activists is pushing back.

During the presentation of the final after-action report during Tuesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting, Chief Luther Reynolds said the report was made to include the perspectives of officers, community leaders, business owners, residents, protesters and arrested criminal offenders.

by Charleston Currents · 03/01/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News briefs

Travel writer Bill Thompson says he's itching to get on the road to places like the Lake District in England. Photo via Unsplash.

FOCUS: Time to plan travel is now says local author in new book

By Bill Thompson, special to Charleston Currents | Feeling claustrophobic? After a year of social distancing and, for many, relative isolation, you could be excused for feeling the walls are closing in.

Thompson

Though the progress of distributing and administering COVID-19 vaccinations has been spotty, those receiving them finally have a chance to take a deep breath and have a glimpse of what life may be like not too far down the road. But no matter how well-appointed our homes or numerous our diversions, the avid travelers among us are bound to be getting itchy.

Count me among them. It’s been a long, if sometimes productive, wait.

I have traveled and written about travel for 40 years. And while I daily count my blessings and good fortune, it does not diminish my eagerness to be on the road or in the skies again, to set foot on another land, in another city, or hike the wilderness.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 02/22/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

NEWS BRIEFS: Judge issues temporary order blocking new abortion law

Staff reports | A federal judge on Friday issued a temporary restraining order on the after S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill that effectively banned most abortions, one of his top priorities since he took office more than four years ago. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and Greenville Women’s Clinic immediately sued in federal court to block it.

by Charleston Currents · 02/22/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News briefs

Wentworth, left, and Singleton. Photos provided.

FOCUS: Wentworth, Singleton receive top state arts honors

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Former S.C. Poet Laureate Marjory Wentworth of Mount Pleasant and Grammy Award-winning trumpet player Charlton Singleton of Charleston have received the state’s highest award for 2021 for arts achievement from the S.C. Arts Commission.

““It means a lot to me that Charlton and I are getting this honor at the same time,” Wentworth said today about the S.C. Governor’s Awards for the Arts. “We used to teach together at [Charleston County] School of the Arts. We’ve improved together. It’s been so much fun to watch his trajectory. Because he got it too, It just means so much more. It’s just sweeter.”

Singleton received the award for Artist of the Year, while Wentworth received a special award.

by Andy Brack · 02/15/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

Firefly Distillery in North Charleston again will host the Safe Sounds series. Photo via Charleston City Paper.

NEWS BRIEFS: Safe Sounds returns with 15 shows starting March 19

Staff reports | Firefly Distillery last week announced the third installment of its social-distanced Safe Sounds series. The 15 spring and summer concerts will begin March 19 with a performance by Sam Bush.

by Charleston Currents · 02/15/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News briefs