Staff reports | Lawmakers are feeling pressure to hold an emergency session to revise a law that prohibits mask mandates in schools as COVID-19 gets deadlier in the Palmetto State but GOP leaders so far are mum about returning to Columbia. More than 10,400 South Carolinians have died in the coronavirus pandemic with thousands of new cases reported daily as the delta variant rages.
IN THIS EDITION
FOCUS: Time to vote for new Rescue Beer winners
COMMENTARY, Brack: Let’s score victories for America, not just political points
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: SC Clips
NEWS BRIEFS: GOP leaders ignoring pressure for special session on pandemic
FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
MYSTERY PHOTO: Tough photo
CALENDAR: Art by Washington, Ayiku-Nartey on display in September
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The enormity of anti-science fervor in the Republican-controlled South Carolina legislature that will keep students, most unvaccinated, from wearing masks is mind-blowingly ignorant.
As a result, too many children will get or spread coronavirus — now worse than last year at this time because of a new, more contagious strain — and more will suffer. Children and more adults may die, thanks to the lame-brained GOP General Assembly’s lockstep denial of science.
Staff reports | State lawmakers finished their regular legislative session Thursday but still have a lot of work this year. In June, they’re expected to finish with reform to the state’s utility, Santee Cooper, and put final touches on the state’s $11 billion spending plan for 2021-22. Then in the fall, they’ll return to Columbia to hammer out constitutionally-mandated redistricting and details of two supplemental appropriations bills.
IN THIS EDITION
FOCUS: Tips on tax day if you can’t afford to pay now
COMMENTARY, Brack: Meet South Carolina’s red snowflakes
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: SCIWAY
NEWS BRIEFS: Legislative work left on the table for summer, fall and 2022
FEEDBACK: Send us a letter
MYSTERY PHOTO: Moon shot
CALENDAR: Jazz meets classical in four coming shows
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Embarrassed by creating a controversial law that allowed utility companies to charge customers for projects that were not complete, the General Assembly wants to make it all go away.
So they essentially got rid of the 2007 Base Load Review Act after two power companies, the private SCE&G and the public Santee Cooper, suffered the humiliating failure in 2017 of a $9 billion project to build a nuclear plant in Fairfield County. Since then, a Virginia company swept in to take over SCE&G and its parent, SCANA, and Santee Cooper became the legislature’s favorite whipping boy.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | With Americans burning up Zoom to conduct business meetings online and keep up with what’s happening in this year of an invisible enemy, you’ve got to wonder why state lawmakers mostly wasted the 2020 legislative session.
By cutting class for two months due to the novel coronavirus, they missed big opportunities to deal with Santee Cooper’s future, state pension shortfalls, teacher pay, educational improvement, the problems of vaping, gun loopholes, opioids and tax reform. The list drags on.
IN THIS EDITION
FOCUS: Citadel military band to represent U.S. at Edinburgh Tattoo
BRACK: Dark money pours malice, nastiness into elections
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Charleston RiverDogs
GOOD NEWS: Home improvement spending is up, New local social network
FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
MYSTERY PHOTO: Under construction
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Barbecue
CALENDAR: Holiday Festival of Lights to start Nov. 15
EDITOR’S NOTE: Today’s issue starts our 12th year of publication. Happy birthday to us (although we’re still a pre-teen)!
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | There’s a lot that goes on in a legislative session: Thousands of bills are filed. Hundreds of news stories are written about those bills. Scores of committee meetings underscore why making laws is as unsightly as making sausage.
Through it all after several months of work, much hot air was expended. Tempers flared. Filibusterers filibustered. Lobbyists lobbied. Visitors gawked. And a few laws got passed.
In 2019, legislators agreed enough to pass 113 measures – everything from the $9 billion budget to rejiggering voting precincts in Anderson, Greenwood, Dorchester, Pickens, Abbeville and Dillon counties. In fact, they seemed to like fiddling so much with Greenwood County’s precinct maps that they did it twice, first in March and later as the session was coming to a close.
IN THIS ISSUE of Charleston Currents #10.30 | June 4, 2018
FOCUS, Wentworth: Always remember to proofread and spellcheck
COMMENTARY, Brack: 2018 brings more House contests, but not a lot more women
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Magnolia Plantation and Gardens
PALMETTO POEM, Peters: The Ravenel Bridge
WHAT WE LOVE: Tell us what you really love about the area
FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
MYSTERY PHOTO: Red brick building stands out on a sunny day
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Ferries
CALENDAR, June 4+: City seeks input on West Ashley
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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