BIG STORY: Budget, abortion drive order for special legislative session
By Andy Brack | South Carolina’s legislators, who went out of session Thursday without a finished budget for 2023-24, will return Tuesday for a special unlimited session after an executive order...
View ArticleNEWS BRIEFS: Trump, aide indicted on 38 charges by federal grand jury
The U.S. Justice Department on Friday unveiled a 38-count criminal indictment against former President Donald Trump and an aide. Among the charges issued on Thursday by a Miami federal grand jury are,...
View ArticleNEWS 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...
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