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SC’s education system has failed. Here’s how McMaster’s plan can fix it

Gov. Henry McMaster has brought South Carolina’s broken education system to light with a proposal to raise teacher salaries, consolidate districts, and reform education spending.

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‘Let’s Make A Deal’ is not good economic policy for Columbia or Richland County

Columbia and Richland County should stop offering tax breaks to non-industrial businesses that don’t create well-paying jobs. That strategy may be hurting, not helping, the local economy.

The BullStreet project is frequently called the biggest land deal in Columbia’s history.

Columbia City Council member Daniel Rickenmann says the city must prevent the Bull Street development project from failing. His plan calls for seeking funds from the University of South Carolina and others.

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USC’s Pastides: It’s time to invest in higher education

USC president Harris Pastides says he is hopeful that a partnership between colleges and universities and the the state Legislature can be renewed. Legislators should pass a higher education reform bill.

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Cathy Novinger Girl Scout center will develop leaders for Columbia and SC

The Cathy Novinger Girl Scout Leadership Center will serve girls from around the Southeast. Girls will develop skills in the arts, business enterprise, healthy living, outdoor education and STEM.

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Richland County must return to the guiding principles the brought progress

Richland County Council chairman Paul Livingston said the county must return to its guiding principles in order to make progress. The county must take greater advantage of its resources.

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Lindsey Graham should help protect Mueller’s investigation

Sen. Lindsey Graham should help protect Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 election campaign. The investigation has led to several people close to President Donald Trump pleading guilty.

Yesterdays Restaurant & Tavern sits at the intersection of Harden, Devine and Santee streets in Columbia, SC's, Five Points district.

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Here are five ideas for improving Columbia’s Five Points

From recruiting an Apple store to improving safety, here are five ideas for improving safety in Columbia’s Five Points neighborhood. The community is near the University of South Carolina.

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S.C. Black Caucus pushes for education, health care, criminal justice reform

The South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus will seek to improve education funding, health care service, jobs and the state’s criminal justice system, says Democratic Rep. Jerry Govan of Orangeburg County.

The City of Columbia plans to build a twenty-acre park behind Spirit Communications Park. The park will feature a walking trail, dog park, playground and a two-acre pond. Smith Branch Creek will be brought to the surface from underground culverts to run through the park.

Opinion Extra

Columbia, stop giving giving so many tax breaks. They force everyone else to pay more

Columbia City Council member Moe Baddourah says the city gives too many tax breaks to developers. He’s especially concerned about breaks given to developers at BullStreet, site of the former state mental hospital.

The former construction site at the V.C. Summer expansion construction site.

Opinion Extra

The myths about selling Santee Cooper

Selling Santee Cooper would be good for the state-owned utility’s customers and all South Carolinians. Several myths are being spread about selling the company, but the Palmetto Promise Institute debunks those claims.

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SC should avoid another drug crisis by not rushing to approve medical marijuana

The South Carolina Medical Association, an association of Palmetto State doctors, doesn’t want the state legislature to approve the use of marijuana for medical reasons.

Protestors briefly interrupted a meeting of the S.C. Public Service Commission before the commission voted to set SCE&G’s electric rates moving forward and to approve Dominion Energy’s offer to buy SCE&G’s parent company, SCANA. 12/14/18

Opinion Extra

SCE&G ratepayers should hope that PSC corrects the errors in their order

I and other intervening parties were disappointed in the results of the S.C. Public Service Commission (PSC) hearing on SCE&G’s failed nuclear project and Dominion Energy.

Groups that oppose Atlantic oil drilling have held protests up and down the coast since the Trump administration advanced plans for oil exploration in the region. Here, protestors hold a sign in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at the annual Hands Across the Sand event in 2017.

Opinion Extra

SC leaders should back McMaster’s opposition of seismic testing, offshore drilling

The Trump administration proposed opening almost all federal waters to oil and gas development – a move that would put South Carolina’s fishery resources and hundreds of related businesses at risk. This poorly considered policy could severely damage South Carolina’s coastal economy.

Most liberal arts majors “are well employed and well compensated,” according to recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

Opinion Extra

Majoring in liberal arts could turn out to be a very smart move

Why study the liberal arts?

South Carolina voted to be able to continue voting for the constitutional officer who oversees the largest portion of South Carolina’s state budget and the education of 700,000 of our citizens, the state schools superintendent.

Opinion Extra

Voters got it right on state superintendency issue on Nov. 6; Legislature didn’t

On Nov. 6, South Carolina voters were correct in saying they wanted to be able to continue voting for the constitutional officer who oversees the largest portion of South Carolina’s state budget and the education of 700,000 of our citizens. The fact that a question that has few defensible arguments for bringing about real improvements to our beleaguered public education system –or improving the level of accountability for doing so – was chosen should tell South Carolina voters a great deal about how seriously our state Legislature desires the public’s input on issues that truly matter to our state and its future.

Members of the Tri-County Electric Co-op gathered in St. Matthews to express their disapproval of the board of directors who didn’t show up for the meeting in August.

Opinion Extra

Results of Tri-County scandal ‘a testament to the power of an informed community’

Tri-County Electric Cooperative members spent the past six months working collaboratively to oust the entire Tri-County board for abuses surrounding board compensation and other possible wrongdoing. Co-op members across Tri-County’s six-county service area collected more than 1,600 signatures on petitions, held community meetings, attended Tri-County board meetings — ones properly announced and those unannounced — to amass enough member support for a special member called meeting. As a result, the entire board was ousted in August by a vote of more than 1,400 to 30. Tri-County co-op members followed their member-approved bylaws throughout the entire process, and on Nov. 17, they elected nine new members to the Tri-County Electric Cooperative board. Working with co-op members in their grassroots effort was for me a testament to the power of an informed community.

Ken Browne and Carlette Walker testify before the S.C. Public Service Commission on Nov. 20 during hearings into the failed effort by SCE&G, a SCANA subsidiary, to build two nuclear reactors in Fairfield County.

Opinion Extra

A cloud hangs over SCE&G rate rollback decision

After 15 long days, the S.C. Public Service Commission (PSC) wrapped up its hearing on the SCE&G nuclear debacle. In the next few weeks, it will rule on how much SCE&G electric customers will have to pay for the $5 billion the utility spent on the now abandoned nuclear energy project in Fairfield County.

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