First-term Irmo Mayor Barry Walker announced Sept. 26 that he had tested positive for the coronavirus. The mayor’s wife, Susan, also got COVD-19, Walker said on social media. “As you know I’m a kidney patient and require weekly dialysis,” Walker wrote. “This virus compromises my immune syste…
A federal judge has said that witness signatures should not be required for South Carolina voters casting absentee ballots this year as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on. As reported by Jamie Lovegrove at The Post and Courier, U.S. District Court Judge Michelle Childs issued a 71-page order on …
Even though her possible move to take a job in Ohio didn’t happen, South Carolina’s public health director is still exiting her role with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. As reported by The Post and Courier’s Jessica Holdman, state Public Health Director Dr. Joan Duw…
Have you ever gone to the fridge late at night, surveyed the options and decided you might as well finish off the leftovers? State-owned utility Santee Cooper knows the feeling. As reported by Andrew Brown at The Post and Courier, the power provider has reached a deal with Westinghouse Elect…
Congaree Riverkeeper is among several groups across the South suing President Donald Trump’s administration over recent rollbacks of the National Environmental Policy Act. The Southern Environmental Law Center is representing the various groups in the suit. Riverkeeper is a nonprofit that ad…
Not so fast, governor. A judge hit the pause button, at least temporarily, on Republican Gov. Henry McMaster’s plan to put $32 million in federal COVID-19 aid toward helping parents with private school tuition this year. As reported by The Post and Courier’s Jamie Lovegrove, Orangeburg attor…
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office has issued an opinion about the constitutionality of the Heritage Act, the 20-year-old law that prevents the removal of historic monuments and the names of historic figures from public buildings and other places. The law has been thrust ba…
After nearly a year as the interim director of the embattled Columbia Housing Authority, Ivory Mathews has been named the executive director and CEO of the public housing agency. The housing authority board unanimously selected Mathews during a June 18 meeting. She had been the interim since…
You can’t accuse U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn of holding back in his thoughts about Republican President Donald Trump. As reported by Jamie Lovegrove at The Post and Courier, Clyburn says Trump has been fanning the flames of racial tensions as protests have continued across the country after George…
Columbia state Rep. Beth Bernstein and attorney Overture Walker, a candidate for Richland County Council, are locked in a legal dispute, with Bernstein’s law firm accusing Walker of stealing clients when he left Bernstein’s office to establish his own firm. As reported by Bristow Marchant at…
The South Carolina House of Representatives has passed a measure that would prevent state and local detention centers from shackling pregnant inmates. As noted by Adam Benson at The Post and Courier, the measure had been championed by prison reform advocates and civil rights groups. “This is…
In a deal that’s been brewing for a while, the NFL’s Carolina Panthers scored a major win in their efforts to establish a new headquarters and practice facility in York County. As reported by Jamie Lovegrove at The Post and Courier, York County Council narrowly approved $225 million in tax b…
Well, here’s a novel idea: The South Carolina Legislature is going to actually get around to addressing how the state budget will work for the rest of the year. As reported by Jamie Lovegrove at The Post and Courier, legislators are planning to come back into session on May 12 to help break …
Expanding access to absentee voting for the upcoming election primaries would seem like a no-brainer. We are in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, after all. But this is, of course, South Carolina, so such a move has been slow in coming. Now a pair of lawsuits have been filed in hopes of…
It’s pretty rare for the numbers in a fundraising battle between political candidates in South Carolina to more closely resemble the multi-million dollar reporting of weekend movie box office grosses. But, more and more, the U.S. Senate race between Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and De…
For months, there have been debates at the Statehouse about how the Legislature would choose to spend what was expected to be a $1.9 billion budget surplus for the upcoming fiscal year. But now, much as it has done for virtually every other segment of society, the coronavirus has slammed on …
It briefly appeared that Moe Baddourah, the businessman and former two-term Columbia City Councilman, was going to run for South Carolina Senate in District 20, which is currently represented by Democrat Dick Harpootlian. But, just two days after filing to run for the seat as a Republican, B…
What a difference a few weeks can make. South Carolina job numbers hit record highs in February, before the sweeping coronavirus pandemic crept across the nation and the Palmetto State. According to Andrew Brown at The Post and Courier, the state Department of Employment and Workforce report…
As the economy continues to grind to a halt amid the coronavirus pandemic, the chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court took a demonstrative step in favor of renters statewide. On March 17, Chief Justice Donald Beatty ordered a temporary stop on all evictions statewide. As reported …
Give Republican state Sen. Tom Davis credit: He’s persistent. The Beaufort Republican has been working for years to try and get medical marijuana legalized in South Carolina, and now he’s indicated he’s willing to make several concessions in his proposed legislation in hopes of quelling the …
