By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | It’s a season for lists and I’ve been keeping a list of things that I just don’t understand — and probably never will. Yes, it’s a different way to start off a new year, but if I accept I never will understand these things, then maybe I won’t worry about them and life will become even better.
So, without lots of fanfare, here is a hodge-podge of 11 kinds of mush that do uncurl in my brain:
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, 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 Chip Felkel, special to Charleston Currents | One of my heroes is gone and hopefully not the ambition, desire and commitment to see our country through this lens.
A text early last Saturday from an old friend (a loyal Democrat who understands it’s not about partisanship, it is about people) informed me that President George H.W. Bush had died. It was no real shock or surprise. He was, after all, 94, and just like my own parents who shared a long loving marriage, he was likely to soon follow his beloved Barb.
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 Lynn Bailey, special to Statehouse Report | This week, I guess in honor of the turkey, the Medical University of South Carolina Board of Trustees approved a turkey of an idea: the acquisition of four poorly-performing hospitals from Community Health Systems (CHS), a for-profit health company that is rapidly selling off its underperforming assets.
The hospitals to be acquired are: Chester Hospital in Chester County, Springs Memorial Hospital in Lancaster County, Marion Hospital in Marion County and Carolinas Hospital in Florence. Except for Carolinas Hospital in Florence, all of the hospitals are located in rural counties and are in serious danger of bankruptcy and closing.
Bailey
Additionally, CHS is unloading some more loser hospitals in the Upstate to Spartanburg Regional Health Center: Mary Black Health System in Spartanburg and Mary Black Health System in Gaffney. Spartanburg Regional Health Center is also a public health system controlled by Spartanburg County.
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, 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 Marjory Wentworth, contributing editor | In 2016, the lawyers from the International Criminal Court asked me to write a poem for the 70th Anniversary of the closing of the military tribunals at Nuremberg. At the time, I was finishing writing the book We Are Charleston, Tragedy and Triumph at Mother Emanuel, immersed in the unfathomable grief of the families and survivors. Charleston was still recovering from one of the worst hate crimes in American history
The links between racism and anti-Semitism are innumerable. In fact, the NAACP has Jewish roots. The organization was founded by both black and white civil rights activists, including a Jewish man named Henry Moskowitz. …
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher There’s a big lesson in the 2018 elections for the S.C. House of Representatives: The more competitive that elections are, the more likely the old order will be shaken up.
Sadly in 2018, 80 of 124 races for the House were not competitive in the general election. Forty-two Republicans, mostly in the Upstate, and 28 Democrats faced no November challengers, although some had primary challengers in June. Of the 44 remaining November races, only 10 had margins of victory of fewer than 20 points, meaning they were somewhat competitive.
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.
Charleston Currents is brought to you free of charge thanks to the generosity of our underwriters:
Charleston City Paper, an alt-weekly seen by more than 100,000 people, offers the latest on news, views, arts, dining and music. Sign up for newsletters that will keep you up-to-date all week.
Statehouse Report is a renowned statewide policy and politics forecast published every Friday that informs South Carolina’s opinion leaders with key insights and news.
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Use our feed
Send us your comments
Recent Comments