***Palmetto Morning Presented by Jim Dyke & Associates***
THIS FIRST — WHO VOTED YES? — Amidst massive cuts in the state’s budget, the legislature passed a considerable increase in one area: transition costs for the new governor and lieutenant governor. When they are elected and take office in January, the governor will have five times the amount Governor Mark Sanford had eight years ago. The lieutenant governor will have 10 times that amount.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Big Ok State fans Barry Sanders and Jimmy Johnson, Terry “lord of the bats” Pendleton and Michael “lord of the dance” Flatley
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NATIONAL LENS — SC SAID NO — The Senate on Thursday voted 60-39 to approve the most sweeping overhaul of the nation’s financial regulatory system since the Great Depression, clearing the legislation for President Barack Obama to sign into law. Passage of the 2,323-page bill was a triumph for Obama, the third landmark legislative victory of his 18-month presidency. Like the other two – last year’s $862 billion economic stimulus and the health care overhaul approved this year – it came with little Republican support.
CONTEST — Tim Pawlenty’s political action committee is launching a new online endorsement contest Friday, asking supporters to pick their favorite midterm candidate backed by the Minnesota governor. Six of the candidates are from South Carolina, a pivotal presidential primary state that Pawlenty recently visited for the first time.
TAKE A VOW — Liberals wary of cuts to Social Security benefits are taking on President Obama’s fiscal commission, seeing it as a more serious threat to the entitlement program than President George W. Bush’s push to privatize the system five years ago. Obama’s commission, which was created to deal with the country’s $13 trillion debt, is planning to issue recommendations on fiscal policy in December.
WATCH THIS SHOT — A House Republican who lost his primary race criticized the top two leaders in his conference on Thursday for being overly partisan. Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) suggested that House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) have done too much to woo the base of the party.
GOING LIVE — The Associated Press will stream live a statement by President Barack Obama on developments in the Gulf of Mexico to that have stopped oil spilling from the damaged Deepwater Horizon wellhead. The event is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m.
EARFULL — Tea Party activists rallied Thursday at the State House to encourage U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham to oppose the confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. A vote by the U.S. Senate judiciary committee, of which Graham is a member, is expected next week. Graham has given no clear indication of how he plans to vote.
NO GIBB GAB — Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was not a topic of conversation at the White House session with President Obama and fellow Democrats last night, according to Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC). “We didn’t even talk about Gibbs. We talked about jobs,” Rep. Clyburn told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell today on Andrea Mitchell Reports. “We have moved on from those things that happened on Sunday morning,” he continued.
UNACCEPTABLE — A key US senator urged Attorney General Eric Holder Thursday to swiftly try the accused 9/11 co-plotters in military tribunals, decrying plans for a civilian trial as a “logistical nightmare.” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who co-authored a draft bill to block any public funding to try the alleged mastermind of the 2001 attacks, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, and his four co-accused within the US federal court system, said it was “unacceptable” that Holder had yet to decide where to hold the trial.
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UP SIX — South Carolina scored in the top six for cost of doing business and work force but ranked poorly in the quality of life, economy and education categories in CNBC’s fourth annual America’s Top States for Business report. South Carolina ranked No. 31 overall.
LOTTS OF LUCK — Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott is on a mission that will take him half way around the world to Iraq. “It’s an honor to be invited to come over,” said Lott. “It’s recognizing some of the things we’ve done good at the Richland County Sheriff’s Department for us to receive this type of invitation.”
DROPPED THE BALL — The Hilton Head Island nonprofit Strive to Excel remained on suspension Thursday by the S.C. Secretary of State’s Office after failing to pay a fine for missing the deadline to file its annual financial report. Strive to Excel, founded 10 years ago, serves students at Hilton Head and Bluffton middle and high schools. It offers emotional and academic support to students as they prepare for post-secondary education and careers, according to the organization’s website. The program also offers scholarships.
KNOW NEGLECT — South Carolina AIDS expert Dr. Bambi Gaddist has returned from a trip to the White House to weigh in on what might become federal policy on the issue. “South Carolina can ill afford to attempt to treat as we ignore the constant and ongoing increase of new infection,” said Gaddist.
TACKY — US Senate Candidate Alvin Greene called a figure made by a South Carolina minor league baseball team “tacky.” The Charleston RiverDogs (web) had made the Alvin Greene figure to spur economic growth. It all started when the team planned to give out statues Saturday of a male Statue of Liberty. That was based on a Georgia group’s plan to build a mate for New York’s Lady Liberty on the South Carolina coast. But after hearing Greene’s idea, the team decided to add a picture of the candidate’s face on the figures.
STORYTIME — Wouldn’t it be nice if politicians would amend laws to fit your personal needs? Of course, lawmakers often do just that for their privileged friends, but one particularly egregious example this year didn’t quite work out. Unfortunately, a good law had to die to keep a bad amendment from passing. It happened like this.
ON THE INSIDE — Boeing Co. has selected a site for the 787 Dreamliner interiors fabrication facility it announced in May, the company said today. The new location, lot No. 9 on Patriot Boulevard in North Charleston’s Palmetto Commerce Park, doesn’t yet have a street address. But by early 2012, 150 workers will be busy inside a brand-new building that measures nearly 250,000 square feet.
BEAUFORT — Thousands expected for SC coastal festival
GREENVILLE — SC Interstate 385 to reopen early
FLORENCE — Florence County Council OKs $1 million bid to build elections facility
SPARTANBURG — Cook-Out to crank up its first grill in Spartanburg
LEXINGTON — Lexington 2 complies with public disclosure
NEWBERRY — Newberry uneasy as Black Panthers’ Saturday rally nears
HILTON HEAD — Hilton Head Chamber in running for national award
PIEDMONT — Residents weigh in on future of S.C. 153
SUMTER — 25 workers accused of forged documents at SC base
MYRTLE BEACH — City Council weighs in on one percent sales tax
NINETY-SIX — Local Man Lauded at Unveiling of New Postage Stamp
VIEWPOINT — GOOD RIDDANCE — “Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) who just lost by 42 points in his primary, recently said to GreenvilleOnline.com that the “fear-driven conservative movement . . . will ultimately die out and cost the party dearly unless leaders resist the ‘demagoguery’ and ‘misinformation’ of its figureheads.” But it’s Inglis — and like-minded Republicans — who make people angry. They have shown no leadership in attempting to fix what is wrong with Washington. They have passively, and actively, contributed to big government — which accounts for their abysmal approval ratings (Gallup, 20 percent).”
VIEWPOINT II — 2010 SUMMER — “An open letter to 24th century historians. I’ve left this note for you as a public service. Three hundred years from now, when you study the things that dominated American thought in the summer of 2010, I suspect one pressing question will rise above all others: Who the heck was LeBron James?”
FINALLY THIS — FINS TO THE LEFT — Don’t look now, but they’re out there. Sharks. A lot of them. They’re sneaking up behind shrimping nets in swarms, biting head-size holes in the nets to chomp away on the free lunch of shining, silvery crustaceans. Shrimpers up and down the coast are reporting a slew of them, particularly good-size blacktip sharks, which can grow to 6 feet long. “They’re the worst I’ve seen it in my 50 years of shrimping,” Shem Creek shrimper Wayne Magwood said. “They’re just eating the nets all apart.”
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