***Palmetto Morning Presented by Jim Dyke & Associates***
THIS FIRST — SITE SEARCH — Developers are moving forward on an industrial building that’s believed to be a leading candidate for Boeing Co.’s jet fixtures factory. Boeing’s announced the plant in March, kicking off a regional search for building sites. The company has said it wanted a spot within 20 miles of its existing campus at Charleston International Airport. Time is running short. Boeing has said it wants to open the 787 fixtures plant around the time of its first locally assembled passenger jet at the airport in early 2012.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Married to their college sweethearts Matthew Fox and Tim Hudson, and from the Carolina Court Renaldo Balkman
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NATIONAL LENS — WATER BREAK — Four months before midterm elections, the Obama administration and congressional Democrats show signs of collective battle fatigue, ducking political fights they might once have welcomed and quarreling among themselves as they confront the likelihood of majority-threatening losses this fall.
LIFELINE — Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has pledged to bring to the Senate floor an energy and climate package that includes controversial greenhouse gas curbs, throwing a lifeline to liberals who say the legislation falls short without them. The last time the Senate passed a massive energy bill, in 2007, the measure originally included two provisions favored by many liberals but attacked by many Republicans: A mandate that utilities supply escalating amounts of power from renewable sources, and provisions that repealed oil industry tax breaks. Reid reluctantly stripped both after the bill stalled, clearing the way for final passage.
COURTING — Opponents of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan are looking to peel off several Senate Democrats and persuade them to vote no on her confirmation — something Republicans couldn’t get a single Democrat to do when President Barack Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, came up for a vote last year. Lincoln and Nelson, as well as Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — a Republican who has said he’s considering voting for Kagan — are already targets of TV ads urging them to vote no.
HAPPY BASTILLE DAY!
NEWT WRITES — Last Friday, I had an amazing trip to South Carolina. Change has come to South Carolina, and it is a story worth studying as the country wrestles with bad government policies, a bad economy, big deficits, incompetent bureaucrats, and arrogant politicians.
ANNOUNCEMENT — Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C) and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) finally agree on something: Ron Johnson is the best equipped Republican to take on Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in Wisconsin. Johnson, a 55-year-old Oshkosh plastics manufacturer, will receive DeMint’s formal endorsement Wednesday.
TIM TALKS TEA — Are tea party activists racist? The NAACP’s annual conference said Tuesday night that some members are, issuing a resolution that “calls on the tea party and all people of good will to repudiate the racist element and activities within the tea party.” But Tim Scott, who has embraced the movement in his bid to become the first black Republican from the Deep South to serve in Congress since Reconstruction, disagreed.
MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION — Heritage Classic Foundation board chairman Simon Fraser hopes the latest economic study on the PGA Tour event’s strong financial showing has a longer lasting impact on the tournament. A study by Clemson University released Tuesday found that last April’s Verizon Heritage brought nearly $82 million to South Carolina and its coastal region. The Heritage, however, is searching for a major sponsor since Verizon announced that this spring’s event would be its last, an association that had existed for more than two decades at Harbour Town Golf Links.
TARP-POON— In the fall of 2008, when the global financial system was on the brink of collapse, Congress approved the much-detested bank rescue known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP for short. It was not an easy or popular vote. But eventually it did pass, averting the distinct possibility that the economy could be headed for another depression. That might have been the end of the story, with TARP playing out like other votes that generate a firestorm of controversy only to be quickly forgotten. But this time, some Republican partisans are out to punish those who voted for it.
WATCH IT — The Columbia Tea Party and Tea Party Express will hold a news conference Thursday to discuss its ad aimed at pressuring U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham to block the nomination of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court.
SPILL IT — Since the BP oil disaster, offshore drilling has become a hot button issue in politics. On Tuesday night, it was the focus of a panel discussion at the Charleston Visitor Center.
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2010 WATCH — UH-OH — A minor party candidate for governor in South Carolina has a criminal record that includes arrests for fraudulent checks, assault and battery and nearly a dozen driving offenses, state police records show. Morgan Bruce Reeves, 51, was arrested in 1993 and charged with passing two fraudulent checks, according to records provided Tuesday by the State Law Enforcement Division.
EXPLAIN YOURSELF — Reeves talks about past arrests
SWIPE IT — South Carolinians receiving unemployment benefits will no longer have to wait for their check in the mail. The state will start using debit cards instead of checks. They’ll begin phasing out the traditional checks starting next week.
JUST PEACHY — Gov. Mark Sanford wasted little time taking advantage of the bill he publicly signed into law on Tuesday. Sanford was at RJ Rockers Brewing Co. in downtown Spartanburg for a ceremonial signing of H. 4572, which allows breweries to offer limited tastings of their products to consumers in conjunction with a tour of the breweries’ facilities.
COMING TO TOWN — Vice President Joe Biden will headline a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. John Spratt next week during a visit to Columbia. Biden will be in town July 23 to help dedicate the new Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library at the University of South Carolina. Completed in June, the $18 million library is named in honor of the retired Democratic U.S. senator from South Carolina, a close friend of Biden’s.
BEER AND FOOTBALL — Talk about a historic day for RJ Rockers Brewing Co. On Tuesday, with Gov. Mark Sanford standing just a few feet away during a personalized tour of the downtown Spartanburg facility, something big was cooking. Bubbling away inside the massive brew kettle was Rockers’ first batch of Maelstrom IPA, the flagship product from Skull Coast Ale Co., which this football season will be available to Carolina Panthers fans at Bank of America Stadium.
EYEING GREEN — Fred Green, who helped grow Columbia’s NBSC into a statewide banking giant, said he plans to try it again – this time starting with one of the state’s smallest banks. Green told The State he wants to transform Sandhills Bank with its three branches in Bethune, McBee and North Myrtle Beach into a $5 billion Southeast powerhouse within five years.
MYRTLE BEACH — Myrtle Beach refunds helmet fines to bikers
GREENVILLE — Insurance Auto Auctions Relocates Facility in Greenville, South Carolina
COLUMBIA — Columbia phasing out backing of homeless project
ORANGEBURG — SC State begins construction on research center
ANDERSON — Chamber to host celebration for Anderson dental practice
GSP — Greenville-Spartanburg Airport to receive $98M upgrade
MYRTLE BEACH — Foot-driven taxis soon to cruise Myrtle Beach
FOLLY — Rich wins seat on Folly council
WEST COLUMBIA — Charity Textbooks Ship Books to Togo, West Africa
HILTON HEAD — Surfing alligator delights crowds at Hilton Head beach
VIEWPOINT — UNTRADITIONAL — “While we cannot refer to Tim Scott as “Congressman-elect,” it is highly unlikely that his Democratic challenger, Ben Frasier, will beat him on Election Day in November. Nevertheless, Scott will continue to campaign hard within the 1st Congressional District.”
VIEWPOINT II — LITTLE MEANING — “There was lots of bad news for Democrats in a poll released last week by Democracy Corps, the well-known liberal consultancy, but the factoid that captured my attention was an item buried deep in the report. After recording likely voters’ views on whether President Barack Obama could be described as “too liberal” or “a big spender,” the pollsters found that fully 55% of them believed the term “socialist” fit the president well.”
VIEWPOINT III — OMG WHY — “On July 1, texting while driving became illegal in Georgia, just like it is in 29 other states for all drivers and another eight states for the least experienced drivers. It didn’t become illegal in South Carolina. Not for adults. Not for minors. Not because the laws of brain activity or physics are different in South Carolina, but because the laws of politics are different.”
FINALLY THIS — PUPPY LOVE — A Boiling Springs neighborhood caught a case of puppy love Tuesday that soon spread to two fire departments and a nearby plumbing company. Animal-loving volunteers gave up a full work day to rescue a baby German shepherd mix from a storm drain in the Ferndale subdivision off Parris Bridge Road. Another puppy was too deep inside the drain to be reached, but rescuers are hopeful a small trap placed inside the drain will save a second furry life.
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