***Palmetto Morning Presented by Jim Dyke & Associates***
THIS FIRST — HAPPY HOLIDAY — During the Fourth of July weekend, law enforcement agencies are enforcing safety on all state waterways, so more accidents don’t occur. Coast Guard and law enforcement officials are teaming up to enforce more safety procedures for boaters that plan to head out on the water for the holiday weekend.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Two no longer behind the wheel: Richard Petty and Lindsay Lohan
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NATIONAL LENS — ALMOST THERE — Solicitor General Elena Kagan’s critics failed to deliver a striking blow to her nomination to the Supreme Court, making her confirmation a near-certainty later this month, but she may receive scant bipartisan support, according to senators and aides involved in this week’s confirmation hearings.
HOLD UP — A federal panel has ruled that the U.S. Energy Department is not allowed to withdraw its application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for permits to build the nation’s permanent nuclear waste repository inside Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will also allow Aiken County and the state of South Carolina to become intervenors in the case, as well as other communities that want to keep the project alive.
PROVIDING A PATH — President Obama strongly urged Congress on Thursday to pass comprehensive immigration reform, including provisions that would expand access to higher education for illegal immigrants. Although the president did not offer many details or a legislative timeline in a speech at American University, he laid out a broad outline of what he would like to see in immigration legislation.
HEALTHY SITE — House Majority Whip James Clyburn on Thursday announced that the new HealthCare.gov site will empower Americans to take control of their health care by providing them with information and resources to learn about the Affordable Care Act and access health care coverage.
SPITTING OUT TEA — The tea party has no shortage of critics, especially among left-leaning folks who regard it with a mixture of anxiety and suspicion. And then there’s Lindsey Graham. The South Carolina senator has already ticked off the right by being willing to negotiate deals with Democrats. He doesn’t see bipartisanship as a dirty word. Now he’s turned his tart tongue on the tea types.
WHOLE ENCHILADA — This Year’s Maverick
SHARP ANGLE — Sharron Angle, the Nevada GOP candidate campaigning to defeat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the fall, dodged a question Thursday on whether Barack Obama was born in the United States and is thus eligible to be president. Angle’s comments came as she removed from her website the endorsement of the group Declaration Alliance, which vows to protect the Declaration of Independence but has claimed a “substantial doubt about Mr. Obama’s eligibility to serve as commander in chief.”
WHY THE DRAMA — Senate Republicans do not plan to block future attempts to give subpoena power to a commission President Barack Obama has appointed to draw up safety and oversight recommendations for offshore oil and gas drilling in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico spill. Democrats — on short notice — Wednesday tried to grant Obama’s commission subpoena power by unanimous consent and without a roll call vote. But Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who happened to be on the Senate floor at the time, was forced to object on behalf of the Republican caucus.
HATERS — As the November election inches closer, conservatives are offering a preview of a major strategy with an ad portraying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a 50-foot monster hell-bent on destroying small-town America in a taxpayer money-devouring rage. Desperate or not, the Fire Nancy site raised over $1.5 million in less than a week. And another new ad, launched by the National Republican Congressional Committee, blasted Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.), chair of the House Budget Committee, as “Nancy Pelosi’s Budget Chair.” The Pelosi haters are just getting started.
END OF AN ERA — ‘End of an era” is an overused trope, but in this case it’s appropriate: The last of the old Southern Democrats is gone. Sen. Robert Byrd had long since repented, of course. The West Virginian, who died Monday at 92, deeply regretted his segregationist past, which included a year as a member of the Ku Klux Klan and at least several more years as a Klan sympathizer. But that was after Byrd’s personal enlightenment. Byrd’s career reminds us that times and people do change.
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2010 WATCH — GREEN TEA — The green tea party candidate is on the ballot and is looking to dunk the “entrenched” incumbent he said is too tied up in Washington and big government. Longtime environmental and nuclear non-proliferation activist Tom Clements is running as the Green Party candidate for Jim DeMint’s Senate seat, and his early attacks are going to be critical, Clements said.
MORE — Green Party gubernatorial candidate Morgan Bruce Reeves visited Florence on Thursday as his campaign traveled through South Carolina looking to pick up speed before a planned debate with Republican candidate Nikki Haley and Democratic candidate Vincent Sheheen. “What makes me different is that I have a plan, and I have a real plan, and I have a plan to get the money,” Reeves said.
EZONE — CT&T Southeast is a joint venture announced Thursday by state and local leaders between South Korea-based CT&T and the 2AM Group in Duncan. The new company plans to invest $21 million and create up to 370 jobs over the next five years in a 100,000-square-foot regional assembly and sales plant situated on the community college’s Tyger River Campus on Highway 290.
WORK IT — Hiring Details Released For Duncan Electric Car Plant
FIRED, HIRED — S.C. State University’s Board of Trustees voted to reinstate recently deposed President George Cooper in a heated meeting that saw a pair of board members stripped of their leadership positions and underscored the school’s many troubles. Cooper’s reinstallation comes just three days after the board had appointed Greenville Municipal Court Judge Merl F. Code as acting president, and it comes two weeks after board members voted not to renew Cooper’s contract.
GRILL GUIDE — Food poisoning can be common when barbecuing outdoors under blazing temperatures and experts remind those planning to head outdoors for the holiday weekend to handle food with care.
TURN TO THE HILL — In the wake of a June 3 federal judgment against Tuomey Healthcare System, officials representing the hospital recently flew to Washington, D.C., to seek help from their congressmen. The response? We can’t do anything.
SPARTANBURG — BMW hiring 500 to produce X3 Sports Activity Vehicle
CHARLESTON — Panel rejects charter school’s application
COLUMBIA — Benjamin’s inaugural gala helps support the arts
GREENWOOD — Piedmont Technical College Signs Plus ONE Agreement with Lander University
SALUDA — Saluda Co. sheriff warns residents about shoddy contracting work
BEAUFORT — Area counties improve census response rate by 15 percent over 2000 count
CHARLESTON — Holiday flyover set for S.C.’s coast
VIEWPOINT — WHISTLING DIXIE — “The S.C. Republican Party’s quarterly meeting passed last weekend with barely a mention of repercussions against state Sen. Jake Knotts for his noxious ethnic slur, and committee member Jill Kelso of Georgetown makes no effort to hide her frustration.”
VIEWPOINT II — DEEP CUT — “What have already been two tough budget years in South Carolina look even worse as the new fiscal year begins. The General Assembly upheld 55 of Gov. Mark Sanford’s 107 vetoes, including $7.4 million in cuts from the Department of Health and Environmental Control. But the most disheartening — and, in our view, counterproductive — move is the continued decrease in state support for public education.”
FINALLY THIS — LOVEFEST — Are marching bands available on 24-hour notice? How about garnet and black convertibles? Those were just a couple of the dilemmas city officials faced as they met early Thursday to plan today’s parade beginning at noon honoring the University of South Carolina’s national championship baseball team. The parade will begin at noon at the corner of Main and Laurel and continue on Main to the State House, where Coach Ray Tanner and others will speak from a platform.
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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