***Palmetto Morning Presented by Jim Dyke & Associates***
THIS FIRST — END OF WH/NCAA FLIRTATIONS? The day President Obama called the Kentucky basketball team to thank them for helping to raise more than $1 million for relief efforts in Haiti, the Wildcats were upset by the Gamecocks.
NO LIE — IT’S STATE OF THE UNION DAY — More on that in a bit.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Keith Olbermann celebrates today. On this day in 1984, Michael Jackson burned his scalp in that infamous filming of a Pepsi commercial.
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NATIONAL LENS — “When President Obama appears before Congress and the nation on tonight to deliver his State of the Union speech, his goals will be to reset his agenda, assure his demoralized party that he has not given up on key priorities and try to convince a skeptical public that he can still change Washington.”
SC GETS A SHOUT-OUT — “A South Carolina county is getting millions in federal funds to replace a crumbling school cited by President Barack Obama in his first address to Congress last year as an example of how the government should help with school construction.”
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GUEST OF HONOR — “Claflin University sophomore Isaiah Jones recently renewed his acquaintance with U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint at a student leadership forum. The two met about a year ago at a similar function. Again they shook hands and had a short, friendly conversation. It was the kind of brief meet and greet that is an everyday routine in the life of a politician. But something about Jones struck a chord with South Carolina’s junior senator. Last week, the Orangeburg student found out that DeMint invited him as a personal guest to hear President Barack Obama give his State of the Union address. ‘To have a United States senator invite me somewhere is amazing,’ Jones said. ‘Was it something I did or said?’ DeMint said Jones’ leadership and character set him apart from the crowd.”
SHOTS AT THE SENATE — “Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will be all smiles as the president arrives at the Capitol for his State of the Union speech Wednesday night, but the happy faces can’t hide relationships that are fraying and fraught. … House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), a Pelosi ally, took his shots at the Senate on Fox radio Tuesday, describing the Senate as the ‘House of Lords’ and accusing senators of failing to ‘understand that those of us that go out there every two years stay in touch with the American people.’”
A MORE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE — Rep. Joe Wilson promises to be good during this joint address, but he is planning a response — but on Facebook.
BACK TO BUSH BASHING — “The U.S. budget outlook is ‘daunting,’ with deficits stuck at levels not seen since World War Two, congressional forecasters said on Tuesday in a report that lays out the challenge facing President Barack Obama as he seeks to boost the economy while cutting spending. The report ‘confirms that the recession inherited from the Bush administration continues to erode the budget’s bottom line,’ House of Representatives Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt, a Democrat, said in a statement.”
GIMMICKY WELCOME NEWS — “Interest in President Barack Obama’s plan to freeze most discretionary spending for the next three years has already divided Senate lawmakers on party lines.” Sen. Lindsey Graham, “described the plan as ‘a little gimmicky,’ though he did say the plan could be ‘welcome news to the American public.’”
TESTING THE CLIMATE — “Senators trying to salvage climate- change legislation this year are circulating a scaled-back plan to reduce emissions in a bid to win over more lawmakers. Among proposals being discussed to achieve President Barack Obama’s goal of capping carbon-dioxide pollution is a ‘hybrid’ approach combining a tax on carbon emissions from refineries and emissions limits for other industries, according to Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican.”
ESC-ELATING PROBLEMS — “An audit of the state unemployment system found agency management did not do enough to warn lawmakers that S.C.’s jobless benefits fund was running out of money. And S.C. workers fired for misconduct over a three-year period collected $171 million – or 10 percent of the total jobless benefits paid during that time.”
VIEWPOINT — Samuel R. Foster, who was appointed in November of last year to serve as the interim executive director of the S.C. Employment Security Commission, addresses the problems in a Greenville News Op-Ed. “For the past few months, the monthly S.C. unemployment rate has given fresh meaning to the word ‘unprecedented,’ as each monthly figure climbs higher than the last. South Carolina bears a lot of the brunt of the worst recession in 25 years, as it has the fourth highest unemployment rate in the nation. It’s time we laid some facts on the table about the UI Trust Fund and its impact on unemployment in this state.”
STRONG WORDS — House Speaker Bobby Harrell “said the Legislative Audit Council’s findings in a report on the Employment Security Commission released Tuesday revealed an agency in ‘shambles’ that has the state indebted to the federal government to the tune of $1 billion. ‘We must act swiftly,’ Harrell said. ‘Millions of taxpayer dollars have been lost to fraud and overpayments with no action taken to protect or retrieve our money.’”
COMEDY CENTRAL — Has more fun with the Palmetto State.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Thank You, South Carolina – Andre Bauer | ||||
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GOTTA HAVE FAITH — “U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett has formed a Faith & Family Coalition steering committee to advise him on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage.”
GOTTA HAVE FAIR — “S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster picked up an endorsement from of the state’s most conservative senators Tuesday. Sen. Mike Fair, R-Greenville, endorsed McMaster.”
TRANSITIONS — “Stanley Vanderford, a lifelong Union County resident and former executive director of the Union County Development Board, was introduced as the newest member of the Spartanburg County Commission for Technical and Community Education at the commission’s monthly meeting on Monday.”
JUDGING THE JUDGES — “The S.C. Supreme Court said Friday it will hear the challenge to the state’s procedure for screening and electing judges, a challenge filed by Ninth Judicial Circuit Family Court Judge F.P. “Charlie” Segars-Andrews. The court’s decision comes one day after state lawmakers moved to postpone judicial screenings and elections because of the cloud that her lawsuit has cast over those processes.”
DEMOTIONS — The director of North Myrtle Beach’s public safety department was demoted to the position of police lieutenant, four weeks after he admitted he lied about the circumstances surrounding the theft of his city-issued police handgun.
SPARTANBURG — Veteran speaks up for lottery tuition funds
CLEMSON — Candidates focus on community improvements
CHARLESTON — State of the City of Charleston address
BEAUFORT — County celebrates new art center
GREENVILLE — Mission helping care for disabled in Haiti
STATEWIDE — SC Global climate roundtable
FINALLY THIS — “At 90, Trudy Varner figures it’s time to spread her wings. ‘I’ve been working 75 years. I think that’s long enough,’ says Varner, who is scheduled to work her last shift at the Stone Plaza Pharmacy cash register Friday. The Greenville native, who began working full time at the Kress Department Store in 1935, has been greeting and serving customers at Stone Plaza since January 1980. She has an immediate plan for a new morning routine. ‘Next week, I’m going to stay in bed until 8 o’clock, if Buddy Boy will let me,’ Varner says of her Collie-mix companion. ‘Then I’m going to fix breakfast and take it easy. I might work in the yard a little.’ In March, she’s off to Florida.”
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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