***Palmetto Morning Presented by Jim Dyke & Associates***
THIS FIRST — FIGHTING FOR JOBS — “A fight broke out at the Employment Security Commission in Camden Monday afternoon, sending a Midlands man to the hospital and a man working at the ESC office to jail.”
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — McDreamy is 44 & Julia Louis-Dreyfus is 49
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NATIONAL LENS — BY THE NUMBERS — “The $787 billion economic stimulus package has created or saved between 1.7 million and 2 million jobs, but its impact on the economy ebbed slightly in the final quarter of 2009 compared with prior months, the White House said Tuesday night. Releasing the administration’s second quarterly report to Congress on the stimulus’s impact, Christina Romer, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, said a third of the tax cuts and spending in the package is out the door. Her office estimates that the stimulus added between 1.5 and 3 percentage points to the growth in gross domestic product in the final quarter of 2009. That estimate, which is in line with other analyses, is lower than her office’s estimate of stimulus-related impact in the third quarter, between 3 and 4 percentage points,” reports the Washington Post.
INTERNATIONAL LENS — The news coming out of Haiti seems to get worse. Here is how you can help with earthquake relief.
IN THE BOOKS — The General Assembly reconvened yesterday around lunch time. The P&C’s Brian Hicks labeled it a “subtle affair.” The AP reports “A censure resolution will be debated [today] after it was put in a special debate status. The nonbinding measure has no effect on Sanford.” And, “State Sen. Lee Bright added a new wrinkle Tuesday in his effort to push through a resolution reaffirming South Carolina’s sovereignty under the 10th Amendment,” according to the Herald-Journal.
SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF — AP’s Davenport writes, “South Carolina legislators sweating a wrecked budget that threatens schools, colleges and law enforcement cheered plans to borrow $270 million to build a new Boeing airliner assembly line in North Charleston.”
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FIRST DISTRICT UPDATE — “Most of the movement has been on the Republican side, where state Rep. Chip Limehouse, R-Charleston, Charleston County Councilman Paul Thurmond and possibly others are looking at running,” according to Robert Behre of the P&C. Grooms appears to be out along with Campsen and Merrill. The “already-in” Tumpy Campbell announced three former South Carolina GOP chairmen are backing him — Van Hipp, George Graham and Greg Shorey. “Democrats who already have announced they will run are Robert Burton of Mount Pleasant, Robert Dobbs of Georgetown and Dick Withington of Horry County. Another Democrat, Charleston businesswoman and philanthropist Linda Ketner, who narrowly lost to Brown in 2008, indicated that Brown’s departure would cause her to reconsider her previous announcement that she would not run.”
I AIN’T BLIND AND I DON’T LIKE WHAT I THINK I SEE — “Protesters took to the streets Tuesday outside U.S. Rep. John Spratt’s Rock Hill office for a rally against health care reform. Waving signs with messages such as ‘John Spratt is Nancy’s Lap Dog’ and ‘Re-elect nobody,’ they accused Spratt of going along with an agenda pushed by President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.”
ENDORSEMENT WATCH — “Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. is endorsing state Sen. Vincent Sheheen for the Democratic nomination for South Carolina governor. Riley makes a formal endorsement during a news conference in Charleston” TODAY.
FUNDRAI$ING — Andre Bauer raised $219K in the fourth quarter. “That means Bauer has brought in nearly $1.1 million, putting him in third place financially behind U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett and state Attorney General Henry McMaster, who have raised $2.1 million and nearly $1.5 million respectively. … Nikki Haley raised more than $200,000 in the fourth quarter, according to her campaign.”
REVENUES — State revenues for December 2009 were down 3.1% compared with the previous December, Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom reported.
“AN OVERFLOW CROWD turned out tonight to hear U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham warn about Iran, call the health-care reform bill methods ‘sleazy’ and support drilling for gas in the U.S.
More than 1,000 people packed the Brooks Center at Clemson University to hear Graham, including one man who was removed for shouting and being disruptive.”
SOME PEOPLE JUST NEED KILLING — Democrat Chad McGowan, a Senate challenger to Sen. Jim DeMint, “was asked if he supported capital punishment on Tuesday at a South Carolina Business and Industry Political Education Committee debate. The Rock Hill lawyer said that his head tells him that it doesn’t work but his heart tells him that some people just need killing.”
VIEWPOINT — McGowan writes in The State, “This country is divided into two competing political camps. You’re either a Republican or a Democrat. You either watch Fox News or MSNBC. You mistrust, even hate, the other party. And if your guys are out of power, you count down the days until they’re back on top.”
TRANSITIONS — Charleston County Council Chairman Teddie Pryor has been hired as North Charleston’s new full-time director of tourism, but he won’t be giving up his top elected spot as he shifts work duties.
CLEMSON — Gift to help expand wellness programs to schools
STATEWIDE — Five South Carolina Public Schools Nominated for Blue Ribbon Recognition
SPARTANBURG — District 4 teachers to take 2-day furloughs
BAMBERG, CALHOUN & ORANGEBURG — Lottery brings in money, but some want more
ORANGEBURG — NAACP Youth Council raises funds, presents awards
GREENVILLE — Realtors see sales rebound this year
VIEWPOINT II — The Rev. Joseph A. Darby, senior pastor at Morris Brown African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston and board president of the S.C. Christian Action Council,” writes, “On Monday, our nation will celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The day will include rallies – such as the NAACP King Day at the Dome – to spur recommitment to advocacy, more than a few community ‘service projects’ and remembrances of Dr. King’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech. What’s often lacking on King Day, however, is honest and frank dialogue on the issue of race in America, the issue that led Dr. King to sacrifice his life for the hope of progress.”
TEXTING — Rev. Darby sheds some light on texting too
FINALLY THIS — COME TOGETHER — South Carolina fans are finally united with Tennessee’s on one thing – vitriolic hatred for Lane Kiffin.
THAT’S IT FOR THIS MORNING – STAY TUNED ON TWITTER OR FACEBOOK FOR UPDATES THAT JUST CAN’T WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW. HAVE A GOOD ONE!
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