NEWS BRIEFS: General Assembly adjourns after passing budget, bond reform
This year's S.C. General Assembly officially ended this week following enactment of a number of GOP-favored priorities, including a new six-week abortion ban, reform of the state’s bail bond system, a...
View ArticleBRACK: Establishment brushes off self-anointed Freedom Caucus
By Andy Brack | There are always theatrics during the state’s annual budget process, but most of the time they seem limited to a minority party desperately trying to be heard so that the majority...
View ArticleBIG STORY: Teacher pay, tax cuts highlight ‘lean’ $13.2 billion House budget
By Jack O'Toole | Pay raises for teachers and state workers along with tax cuts on homes and incomes are at the heart of a new $13.2 billion state budget that passed Wednesday in the S.C. House of...
View ArticleNEW for 4/19: Senate budget, $1.8B scandal; the weird turn pro
INSIDE ISSUE 23.16 | April 19, 2024 BIG STORY: Senate budget would fund med, vet schools MORE NEWS: Senators blast Loftis over $1.8B scandal LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: Springtime COMMENTARY, Brack: The...
View ArticleBIG STORY: Proposed Senate budget would fund med, vet schools
By Jack O’Toole | If provisions of the state's proposed budget become law, the University of South Carolina and Clemson University would get enough money to complete projects they call...
View ArticleNEW for 4/26: Top 10 bill status report; Weaver; kindness
INSIDE ISSUE 23.17 | April 26, 2024 BIG STORY: Clock ticks down for these 10 top bills MORE NEWS: Ignore new federal LGBTQ rules, Weaver says LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: The “Bubba” treatment for cicadas...
View ArticleBIG STORY: Session ends with lots of unfinished business
As the 2024 session of the South Carolina General Assembly ended Thursday, lawmakers of both parties were more focused on the bills that failed than those that passed. Senate Minority Leader Brad...
View ArticleNEW for 6/28: On energy reform, book ban, Revolutionary War, immigration
INSIDE ISSUE 23.26 | June 28, 2024 BIG STORY: Critical energy reforms needed soon, experts say MORE NEWS: Book ban denounced by free speech advocates LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: Oh, the stupidity BRACK:...
View ArticleMORE NEWS: S.C. book ban denounced by free speech advocates
By Jack O’Toole, Capitol bureau | Free speech groups on both sides of the political aisle are blasting a new South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) regulation that empowers state officials to...
View ArticleNEW for 7/5: On hemp, vetoes and elections
INSIDE ISSUE 23.27 | July 5, 2024 BIG STORY: Hemp farmers struggle after market collapsed MORE NEWS: McMaster vetoes $2.3M in $14B budget LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: On the DOT and trees COMMENTARY, Brack:...
View ArticleMORE NEWS: McMaster vetoes $2.3 million in state budget
By Jack O’Toole, Capitol bureau | S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster vetoed 21 budget items worth $2.3 million in state spending Wednesday. That’s slightly less than 0.02% of the $14 billion 2024-25 budget...
View ArticleBIG STORY: A look back at the big Statehouse stories of 2024
By Jack O’Toole, Capitol bureau | Referring to the ideological conflicts that occasionally roiled his administration, President Ronald Reagan once winkingly noted that "sometimes our right hand...
View ArticleNEW for 4/25: What’s left; Pay raise; Trade troubles
INSIDE ISSUE 24.17 | April 25, 2025 BIG STORY: Big issues unresolved with few days left in session MORE NEWS: Pay raise overshadows Senate budget items LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: What strategy? BRACK: Stop...
View ArticleStatehouse Report 24.22: Budget pain, wins, carnage
INSIDE ISSUE 24.22 | May 30, 2025 BIG STORY: GOP budget to hurt hundreds of thousands in S.C., experts say MORE NEWS: Teachers, taxpayers, legislators win in state budget LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: You...
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