By Ben Fanning, contributing editor | Often, when parents take an overseas trip, they leave their kids at home; however, this can be a missed opportunity.
Recently, we traveled to Italy for two weeks and decided to take our 5-year old daughter with us. We discovered taking our kid added to the fun and was a rewarding experience for the entire family…without the stress. Cl;ick to read 10 tips for traveling well with kids:
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Every one will have a different way of remembering Hurricane Matthew, which got everybody’s attention after it killed hundreds in Haiti on its way north to make a tempestuous landfall in South Carolina.
From now until eternity, I’m sure that every time I encounter a chocolate-covered almond, I’ll remember eating them while waiting out the storm in Georgia at my parent’s home with my daughters in the Atlanta area. My dad had a Costco-sized container full of them that we all ate until they were gone, And then another container miraculously appeared.
One daughter says she’ll likely remember visiting her grandparents whenever asked about Hurricane Matthew. Another daughter predicts she’ll recall worrying about the fate of our home in Charleston as the storm blew through.
By Michael Rentiers, special to Statehouse Report | Something happened to me recently that helped bring home a problem in our society. A problem that I believe is exacerbated in our digital lives. It dovetails on a blog Wesley [Donehue] posted recently called,“How the Internet is Fueling Hate.”
I say it happened to me, but that’s not right. It happened to other people and, for whatever reason, I was there to play a part in it. It was a living nightmare.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Maybe it’s time for America to reinstitute conscription or develop a program to require national service for youths after high school or college.
Or maybe schools need to do a better and more comprehensive job of providing instruction on how America works from when students start school until they graduate.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | If you’re relatively new to the state or under age 50, you may not know the story of Esau Jenkins.
But you should. And now, the world knows more about this incredible Johns Island civil rights leader thanks to a permanent exhibit in the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture that opened Saturday. The exhibit displays Jenkins motto — “Love is Progress, Hate is Expensive” — on the back panels of a Volkswagen microbus that ferried people on the sea islands to work, school and the voting polls.
By Kyra Morris, contributing editor | Transportation in the Charleston area is an issue that needs to be dealt with by the community as a whole. The region needs to provide a lot of the necessary infrastructure, businesses need to get involved with incentives, and individuals need to coordinate travel to either share the ride or consider alternatives. Our transportation issues are serious today. Unless we address them, they are only going to get worse over time. The future is ours to plan for now.
Studies have been done to evaluate potential solutions. Avenues from light rail and water ferries to improved bus systems have been explored. These ideas all have a certain appeal, but when you get into the logistics of implementation there are cavea
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Charleston, a world-class city in many respects, is missing one important thing: a logo that looks like more than a smudge.
You’ve seen it, a black and white monstrosity of an old-school design that has been reproduced so many times that it looks like a bad copy of something that you have no idea what the original was. There’s some palmetto fronds crossed at the bottom of some kind of building and the Carolopolis seal in front of it. There’s no telling what’s on top of the whole thing — a bird or a genie’s lamp or Lord knows what. Below the smudge is thin cursive script that reads, “City of Charleston.”
Is this really the best that a city that welcomes millions of visitors a year can do? A city that is busting at the seams with too many new hotels? A city where history intersects with charm? Folks, we can do better.
By Doug Holmes, contributing editor | Things are just going so well in Charleston right now. We are so blessed to live in such a wonderful city. We just got voted #1 City in the World by Travel and Leisure magazine!! For the 2nd time!! Boeing, Volvo, Silicon Harbor, lots of sports teams, shopping, restaurants, etc, etc. You really need to check out Lewis Barbecue downtown on Nassau and see what’s happening to that section of town. Amazing!!
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Boy, the S.C. legislature’s lawyers have some gall.
In a state where public education has been underfunded by about $4 billion since 2010, lawyers for the General Assembly and Gov. Nikki Haley essentially say they’ve done enough to comply with a state Supreme Court order to do more for poor school districts.
Yeah, right. More than two decades ago, a handful of poor school districts brought suit against the state seeking more equitable education funding. Referred to as the Abbeville case, the lawsuit wound its way through a too-slow judicial process until late 2015 when the state Supreme Court finally ordered the General Assembly and school districts come up with a way to pay for the state’s failure to provide adequate public education opportunities, especially in poor, rural districts. The court said it would provide oversight on the case until the state got its act together.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Political positioning has already started for next year’s state budget, not that you should be surprised.
The culprits are two big numbers causing some confusion before the debate even begins.
Last month, the state Board of Economic Advisors projected South Carolina lawmakers would have about $440 million in new revenues for the 2017-18 budget. It’s not the $1.2 billion they had to craft the current budget, but it’s not small potatoes either. The lower number — which would have been a dream come true during the Great Recession a few years ago — reflects a slowing economy, perhaps. But it’s important to note this: The economy is still growing.
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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