***Palmetto Morning Presented by Jim Dyke & Associates***
THIS FIRST — LAST DAY — S.C. lawmakers return today for what is likely a one-day session that will wrap the General Assembly’s business for the year. Lawmakers will continue debating Gov. Mark Sanford’s budget vetoes and will settle differences between the House and Senate on a handful of bills.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Greenville Great George Hincapie and Mirror Ball Trophy winner Nicole Scherzinger
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NATIONAL LENS — WAR-WEARY — Gen. David Petraeus is on a mission to convince a war-weary Congress that he’s the man to turn around the war in Afghanistan and mend the military’s tattered relations with civilian leaders. Petraeus, who goes to Capitol Hill on Tuesday for a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, will probably be confirmed as early as this week.
KEEPING TABS — It’s hard for East Bay Sikhs to know what to make of Nikki Haley, the daughter of Sikh parents, darling of the tea party movement and favorite to become South Carolina’s first woman and minority governor in November. Haley’s recent victory in that state’s Republican primary is evidence that even some of the nation’s most conservative voters are willing to embrace minority candidates.
RESURRECTION — Dead nearly two decades, the late Justice Thurgood Marshall looms improbably over Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court, a resurrection in liberal robes courtesy of Republicans eager to cast President Barack Obama’s selection as a judicial activist-in-waiting. At its core, the debate over Marshall has less to do with the past than it does with the future. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said what others have doubtlessly concluded, that adding one member to the court’s liberal bloc while another departs is unlikely to alter the overall balance of the court. Obama named Kagan to succeed Justice John Paul Stevens, who is retiring.
MARK HIM ABSENT — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will not attend a pivotal Tuesday meeting at the White House on energy and climate legislation between President Barack Obama and a bipartisan group of senators. Graham cited conflicting hearings with Gen. David Petraeus, who is the newly designated head of the military campaign in Afghanistan, and Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.
SPOTLIGHT SHIFT — Elena Kagan was the nominee at her confirmation hearing Monday for the Supreme Court, but you would not be faulted for believing the real spotlight was on those not attending– the conservative members of the bench who drew so much attention from senators on the Judiciary Committee.
ROUND UP — Kagan hearings: what you need to know about the first day
GET OUT — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday that despite the troubles of the Great Recession this is a good time for President Barack Obama’s outdoors initiative. “It’s a better time in terms of getting people’s attention focused on it,” said Vilsack, in Charleston for the third in a series of public listening sessions as part of America’s Great Outdoors Initiative. Announced in April, the initiative is to find ways to conserve the nation’s lands and waters and get people again engaged in the outdoors.
GREENE MATTER — State Attorney General Henry McMaster said Monday he hasn’t yet received a law enforcement request to subpoena records of unemployed U.S. Senate candidate Alvin Greene that could determine how the candidate got the money to pay his filing fee in the Democratic primary. The Associated Press reported that the chief of South Carolina’s state police said his agency is trying to determine how Greene, an unemployed veteran who lives with his father in Manning, got the money to pay his $10,440 filing fee and if Greene broke any laws by the way he presented his financial situation in a court case.
JAMES & FLAMES — Volunteer fire departments are about as American as apple pie. But under legislation moving quickly in Congress, this staple of American life could soon be a thing of the past. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D.-S.C.) wants to include the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act as part of the war supplemental coming before the House this week. The bill forces state and local governments to collectively bargain with police, firefighters and emergency workers. Its critics say it would compel volunteer firefighters to join unions, threatening the survival of America’s nearly 26,000 volunteer fire departments.
PARKING LESSONS — Republicans urged Elena Kagan to be straightforward about her political leanings when she faces direct questioning on Tuesday. Republicans signaled that Kagan will be grilled on specific issues, including gun control, abortion, and her decision to block military recruiting at Harvard Law School. “It’s okay to be liberal,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican. “It’s okay to disagree with us up here.”
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2010 WATCH — UP 12 — A new poll shows state Representative Nikki Haley leading state Senator Vincent Sheheen in the race to be South Carolina’s next governor. Ms. Haley leads Mr. Sheheen 52 percent to 40 percent. Five percent were undecided, and 3 percent favored some other candidate.
LONG SUMMER — In the race for governor both candidates face challenges as they enter the summer’s long slog of campaigning and the weighty task of debating the issues.
IN MEMORIUM — A 30-year-old MMA fighter has died from head injuries after making his professional debut Saturday in South Carolina. Michael Kirkham, from Gaston, S.C. was pronounced dead at Aiken Regional Medical Center.
SLIM JIM — Jim Pratt appears to have eked out a narrow, 111-vote victory over Nancy Harrelson in the Republican runoff for the 6th Congressional District, according to recount results posted today by the S.C. Election Commission.
ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMIN — Get ready for Steve Benjamin Week in Columbia. The city’s next mayor will be officially sworn-in Wednesday night by civil rights icon and U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Perry, but the party will be going all week as Benjamin’s supporters celebrate Columbia’s first African-American mayor.
JUST THAT SIMPLE — Alvin Greene, perhaps the most mysterious candidate on South Carolina’s November ballot, wants to send a message to the State Law Enforcement Division: “I have nothing to hide.”
CHARLESTON — Green Party gov. candidate visits Charleston
HILTON HEAD — 1860s-era sword found in shack’s attic
SPARTANBURG — Spartanburg school districts 4 and 5 to furlough teachers
COLUMBIA — Bauer to honor state’s past lieutenant governors
WILDEWOOD — Diabetes charity golf tournament tees off today
SUMTER — Lakewood High School student named state FFA officer
CHARLESTON — Business Journal staff wins top honors for Boeing coverage
MYRTLE BEACH — Tents become safety issue, may be banned in Myrtle Beach area
BEAUFORT — Tax hike for school budget denied
RIDGELAND — Space academy rockets teacher to deeper level or professional development
CHARLESTON — Abstinence-only program kept in Charleston classrooms
UPSTATE — Four more Upstate companies get Michelin Development loans
SPARTANBURG — Caterpillar considers Upstate for plant
VIEWPOINT — SCOTT & SPENDING — “Reject spending and bring on a recession? Labor Secretary Hilda Solis saying that is what Republicans are doing by killing a bill that would have extended unemployment benefits. My next guest doesn’t buy it. Tim Scott just winning the GOP nomination in South Carolina for the U.S. House race there, the state representative joining me right now.”
VIEWPOINT II — BAIL MONEY — “A recent article “New tools sought to fight textile fraud” is another example of how our elected leaders want Americans to pay taxpayer money to bail out their mistakes. Rep. John Spratt stated in a recent article that trade in illegal textiles and apparel has grown worse and is devastating the U.S. textile industry. Where has he been since he was first elected to Congress in 1982?”
VIEWPOINT III — PEN DROP — “I’m going to miss Mark Sanford’s veto pen. Granted, I have considered a number of his vetoes wrong-headed and his arguments misleading. But more often than not, his quirky vetoes have been on-point, raising legitimate concerns that other governors have dared not raise about the way things have always been done and calling out lawmakers for actions that don’t get the scrutiny they deserve because no one has enough of a vested interest to object.”
FINALLY THIS — IS IT YOU? — If you bought a Palmetto Cash 5 ticket from the Piggly Wiggly on Bacons Bridge Road in Summerville last week, you’ll want to check the numbers carefully. Someone matched all five numbers with Power-up to win a $300,000 top prize in Friday night’s drawing, according to the S.C. Education Lottery. The winning numbers were 7, 9, 31, 36 and 38.
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