Charleston Currents

SENIORS: The ABLE Act — a new, special tool

By Catherine LaFond | At the end of 2014, President Obama signed the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act (hereinafter “ABLE Act” or “Act”). The law creates a new tool for a person with a disability to save money without losing needs-based public benefits such as SSI or Medicaid. An ABLE account provides the special needs community with another option, in addition to special needs trusts, to consider when creating a plan for persons with a disability.

by Charleston Currents · 03/30/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Seniors, Views

BRACK: A vaccine that saves women’s lives

By Andy Brack | A pat on the back to the S.C. House for passing a bill last week that will save women’s lives. For seven long years, women’s advocates have been working to get the male-centric legislature to approve a bill that would allow the state to educate and vaccinate girls — with parental permission — to protect them against a virus that causes deadly cervical cancer, a disease that kills about 4,100 women in the U.S. annually. Every month, five South Carolina women die from cervical cancer.

by Andy Brack · 03/23/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

Enjoyed column about SOB (Sweet Ol’ Bubba)

Over the decades, I have since met many attorneys who believed firmly that Uncle Bubba wasn’t exactly “sweet,” but that the SOB moniker was indeed appropriate.

by Charleston Currents · 03/23/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Feedback, Views

BRACK: Colorful nicknames becoming part of past

By Andy Brack | Spot. Goat. Boopa. Preacher. Peatsy. Red.

Nicknames, including those of political figures of all stripes, once were commonplace, perhaps a reflection of a society that spent more time talking with each other than emailing, blogging and staring at smartphones.

These days, with what South Carolina novelist Josephine Humphreys calls the “gentrification of South Carolina politics,” political nicknames run a comparatively narrow gamut with the occasional, bland Chips and Treys.

by Andy Brack · 03/16/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

Pluff Mud Kids enjoy last week's Chase The Leprechaun event benefiting Pattison's Academy at Mount Pleasant Waterfront Park.

SABINE: Site offers monthly calendar for kids

By Leigh Sabine | Did you happen to see Pluff Mud Kid’s printable monthly calendar for March?

Each month we aim to highlight a few of our favorite events for children in the Lowcountry. You can print the calendar, add some of your own ideas, and stick it on the refrigerator to remind you to plan your weekends and day trips ahead of time.

by Andy Brack · 03/16/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Kids, Views

The Sergeant Jasper building, Charleston, S.C.

FOCUS: Don’t allow a monstrosity on Broad Street

By Margot Rose and Jay Williams Jr. | If you like “The Boulevard,” the apartment-office complex on Coleman Blvd, you’re probably a fan of the proposed new Sergeant Jasper complex on Broad Street!

It may not look the same, but that same developer’s plans for a new Broad Street apartment-retail complex are generating the same anxiety here that “The Boulevard” did in Mount Pleasant.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 03/09/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Views

BRACK: Two dumb ideas: Splitting the school district, offshore drilling

By Andy Brack | There are a lot of dumb ideas floating around these days, but we thought it was time to pick on two: breaking up the Charleston County School District and drilling for oil and gas off our shore.

by Andy Brack · 03/09/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

Now is time to support public education

I appreciated your commentary on education in this week’s newsletter. Very well done. Now is indeed the time.

by Charleston Currents · 03/09/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Feedback, Views

Brack: “Dum spiro spero” on S.C. public education

By Andy Brack | Twenty years from now, historians just might look back on the past week as the tipping point for state legislators finally “getting it” that public education, particularly in rural areas, needs a lot of attention, not episodic Band-aids.

The state House of Representatives finally seems to have a leader — a man who grew up in the Corridor of Shame’s Darlington County — who is walking the walk, not just talking the talk about public education.

by Andy Brack · 03/02/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

Brack: Mayor’s race is shaping up

Boy, this year’s race to replace Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, retiring in his 40th year at the top spot, is shaping up to be a doozy. First, just try to wrap your brain around the notion of whether anyone can replace Joe.

by Andy Brack · 02/23/2015 · Comments are Disabled · 2015 Mayor, Andy Brack, Views