***Palmetto Morning Presented by Jim Dyke & Associates***
THIS FIRST — WEATHERWATCH — “Many Upstate schools will be closed or will open late today, and forecasters were warning that invisible patches of ice leftover from the winter storm will make driving treacherous through the morning. Greenville County Schools will remain closed today, while Pickens County and Oconee County public schools will operate on a two-hour delay. Anderson School District 1 schools planned to open on time.”
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Pauly Shore and Outkast’s Big Boi
IF YOU WANT TO SING OUT — Today is National Freedom Day
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NATIONAL LENS — BUDGET DAY — “The $3.8 trillion budget blueprint President Obama plans to submit to Congress on Monday calls for billions of dollars in new spending to combat persistently high unemployment and bolster a battered middle class. But it also would slash funding for hundreds of programs and raise taxes on banks and the wealthy to help rein in soaring budget deficits.”
MOMENTUM SWING — “Republican lawmakers, seizing on New York City’s resistance to hosting a high-profile terrorism trial, are renewing a push to block foreign terrorist suspects from getting trials in U.S. civilian courts,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “Sen. Lindsey Graham plans to introduce legislation on Tuesday to cut off funding for alleged Sept. 11 conspirators to face prosecution in federal courts, saying they should be tried by military commissions instead. … Supporters of the legislation say they have the momentum, in part due to renewed fears of a terrorist attack against the U.S. following the Christmas Day airline bombing plot. … White House officials said Republicans were far more accepting of trying terrorism suspects in civilian courts when President George W. Bush was doing it. ‘The Bush administration tried 190 or more terrorists in that system,’ David Axelrod, an adviser to Mr. Obama, said on NBC News’s ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday. ‘Now we have a Democratic president and suddenly we have these protests.’”
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BY THE NUMBERS — “Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer’s recent comments about welfare programs in the state largely don’t square with the numbers, a review of state records show. Some of his assertions were correct, such as the number of voters now outnumbering the number of workers in the state. However, other statements appeared tied to the welfare programs of the 1980s and early 1990s that were overhauled in a 1996 federal reform effort.”
SINISTER — Sen. DeMint takes issue with the idea he’s a “combative senator in the steel cage.”
WHERE CREDIT IS DUE — “After five years of cooking magic, Roseanne Walden has made her last meal at the Daily Bread Ministries soup kitchen in Greer. Walden, the ministry’s operations manager, is retiring and relocating to Fort Smith, Ark., with her husband, Bo. She will leave behind a soup kitchen that has grown considerably — from an average of 105 clients served a day in 2005 to 171 last year.”
DON’T START TELLING — Rep. Joe Wilson, the ranking member on the Committee that would debate repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” says he “would favor keeping the policy as it is. It is a system that is working. … I would still believe that at this time it is not the time to make a change as we are confronting two wars. I would be of the opinion we have a system that is working. … It has been very respectful of a person’s privacy.”
$C-05 — According to The Hill, John Spratt raised less than $80,000 but has $646,000 in the bank. “While his total wasn’t big, he outraised state Sen. Mick Mulvaney (R) by about $25,000. Mulvaney did self-fund $75,000, giving him more in total receipts.”
STROLLING — Ranging from Clyburn to Inglis, Lou Parris has the reactions.
MOST CLOSELY WATCHED — “While there are no safe bets in politics, here’s one that’s 99.9 percent certain. Charleston-Berkeley state Rep. Tim Scott will run for the U.S. House rather than for lieutenant governor, guaranteeing that a South Carolina congressional primary will be one of the most closely watched in the nation,” writes Barbara Williams.
NO SAFE DOLLAR — “As South Carolina lawmakers prepare to slash hundreds of millions of dollars from state services and departments, Governor Mark Sanford warns that no state entity is immune from cuts.”
VETERANS DAY — “South Carolina students would get Veterans Day off under a bill legislators are considering. A Senate Education panel unanimously approved legislation Wednesday requiring districts to close schools for Veterans Day. It’s already a holiday for state employees. Districts could wait until November 2011 to include it in their school calendars. Schools currently are required to devote at least one hour of the school day to Veterans Day activities.”
GAFFNEY — New signs aid tourists visiting area
GREENWOOD — Business leader honored by Legislative leaders
COLUMBIA — College programs help disabled students
SPARTANBURG — Hall of Fame calling Converse professor
CHARLESTON — Study on impact of SC cruises being released
VIEWPOINT — COMPROMISED SOCIETY — John Fallon, a 31-year veteran teacher at Walhalla High School, opines, “During the last three calendar months, we’ve given thanks for our many blessings, put away the Christmas trimmings and seen many of our New Year’s resolutions fall by the wayside. Now we turn our attention to a new annual tradition: cutting the education budget in addition to other program cuts. In his most recent budget proclamation, Gov. Mark Sanford prepared a budget to make further cuts in South Carolina’s education funding. The lack of logic behind educational cuts never ceases to amaze me. Like it or not, the future of American society is being compromised every time an education cut is enforced. Before long, with declining support for education, future generations will find they live in a country they no longer own.”
FEEL THE POWER — “North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey says hiring the chairman of Charleston County Council as the city’s new tourism director was the right decision. And he thinks giving away three acres for a local regional planning agency to build a new headquarters in the city is good for North Charleston too. Summey’s critics, though, question his motivation, especially when they take into account that the mayor’s son, Elliott Summey, is a County Council member and sits alongside Chairman Teddie Pryor, the city’s new tourism boss. Summey said there is nothing out of the ordinary in the moves, saying North Charleston is just asserting itself as a geographic and logistical leader in the Lowcountry. ‘It’s not that we’re a force to be reckoned with,” he said, “but a force to move forward with.’”
CURFEW — This week, Florence city officials will be looking for public input regarding a proposed curfew ordinance.
FINALLY THIS — GROUNDBREAKING — “An earthquake of the magnitude that struck Haiti two weeks ago is not an impossibility for South Carolina, seismologists say. ‘A lot of the things we’re seeing in Haiti — where the harbor sinks a little and homes are sinking into the ground because of soil liquefaction — we saw in Charleston in 1886,’ said Erin Beutel, a seismologist and director of the College of Charleston’s S.C. Earthquake Education and Preparedness Program. … As Haiti digs out from the Jan. 13 quake, researchers and state emergency management officials say residents should be aware of the Palmetto State’s own seismic past. While a 7.0 magnitude quake might be a once in every 500-year occurrence in South Carolina, the state’s coastline is still at significant risk of a sizable earthquake, Beutel said.”
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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