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THIS FIRST — NOT GOOD — Only five states scored worst than SC in terms of the overall well-being of children, according to the latest Kid’s Count report. That’s the same ranking as 2009, and is the average ranking that the state has had over the past 20 years. South Carolina Kids Count Project Director Baron Holmes says since 2000, the child poverty rate has increased by 16 percent to more than one in every five children(or 22 percent) in South Carolina now living below the poverty level.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — LOL: Bill Engvall and Maya Rudolph, and stuck on 599 Alex Rodriguez
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NATIONAL LENS — DEMANDING — Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee want a hearing to investigate how the Department of Justice handled allegations of voter intimidation made against the New Black Panther Party. The minority, led by Sen. Lindsey Graham, wants to look into allegations of racial bias within the DOJ. The charges come most vocally from J. Christian Adams, a former DOJ lawyer who says the Obama administration purposely drops cases against black defendants.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON — Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) and his son Robert may not belong to the same political party, but they do share many other things: a work environment, a taste for inexpensive Mexican food, a pooled tie collection and, perhaps most urgently, the need for a new job come 2011.
TRYING TO STOP — Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, Republican front-runner in the U.S. Senate race, promised Monday to rein in federal spending and offered proposals to help slash the size and cost of the federal government. The Republican also praised a measure backed by U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina, one of Rubio’s biggest sponsors at the national level, that would eliminate all congressional earmarks. Rubio argued that this would save the federal government between $15 billion and $20 billion each year.
LET’S MAKE A DEAL — Embattled Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) and his attorney met in private Monday night with House Ethics Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) as the House prepared to launch a rare, public ethics inquiry on Thursday into alleged misdeeds by the New York Democrat. Lofgren will chair an “adjudicatory subcommittee” that will present its case against Rangel. An investigative panel reported last week that it had found ethics violations by Rangel. A Democratic House source indicates Rangel also met with House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC), a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
SOGGY DOLLAR — In the wake of the disastrous explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20 and the ensuing oil spill, even longtime supporters of the oil industry returned campaign contributions from BP. Early in May, Joe Barton (R-Texas), the oil giant’s infamous apologist who has received over $27,000 from BP since he entered Congress, returned a $1000 donation from BP’s political action committee. Several prominent lawmakers, including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Mich.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), James Clyburn (D-S.C.), John Culberson (R-Texas) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) are keeping the money.
FOREIGN RELATIONS — The Charity Commission has ordered Atlantic Bridge—a charity founded by U.K. Defense Secretary Liam Fox to foster the relationship between the U.K. and the U.S.—to immediately stop promoting political policy associated with the U.K.’s Conservative Party. The charity’s website lists a number of U.K. politicians on its honorary advisory council, including Conservative Party lawmakers Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, Foreign Secretary William Hague, and Education Secretary Michael Gove. It also includes U.S. politicians such as Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, South Carolina Republican Sens. Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham, and Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Lieberman.
FOR THE FUTURE — Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty predicted Monday that the 2010 elections would produce a slate of “next-generation” GOP leaders and cast himself as one leader who could dispel the impression that Republicans are “a bunch of country club elitists.” The second-term Republican and potential 2012 presidential candidate specifically mentioned California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and Senate candidate Carly Fiorina, New Mexico gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez and South Carolina state Rep. Nikki Haley, the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee, as promising candidates for the future of the party.
JOHN’S KEY — The Congressional Budget Committee begins hearings this morning into the financial impact of backing out of a major nuclear waste storage project in Nevada. South Carolina’s 5th District Congressman John Spratt will have a key role in questioning the move by the Obama administration to terminate the Yucca Mountain repository project. The designation of Yucca Mountain for the site has already been approved by Congress.
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2010 WATCH — FREE TO RUN — An attorney says his client’s lawsuit to keep two Republican South Carolina nominees off the Nov. 2 general election ballot for failing to meet a filing deadline has been resolved.
CHOICE WORDS — The panel that decides how questions on South Carolina’s ballots are worded is meeting this week to set several questions up for debate in the general election. Attorney General Henry McMaster says the Constitutional Ballot Commission is meeting in Columbia on Tuesday to determine how the four questions on the Nov. 2 general election ballot will be worded.
CARTS WITH HEART — With the second annual News19 Hero Central Food Drive this week, we want to put a face to this important outreach and the lives you can touch. As each cart is stuffed at Harvest Hope Food Bank, it goes to a family with an individual story.
DOLLAR A DAY — Behind the fence at the state prison here, an unpaved road lined with trees opens up to a farm along the banks of the Wateree River where inmates work to feed themselves. Jon Ozmint, director of the state Department of Corrections, said the prison’s three farms are key to keeping the cost of feeding state inmates at $1.51 a day each, the lowest in the country. The farms produce all the milk, eggs and grits the prisons use, saving the Corrections Department almost $600,000 a year.
HOT STANCE — A group of 10 rallied Monday morning on Johnnie Dodds Boulevard to denounce Sen. Lindsey Graham for his support of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. Staff members from Operation Rescue-Insurrecta Nex, an organization that wants to make abortion illegal, stood outside in the heat for the “Beating, Burning and Hanging Lindsey ‘Benedict Arnold’ Graham in Effigy” protest.
OPEN DOORS — The new S.C. Department of Natural Resources hub office in Florence officially opened for business Monday. “The public will find this a very user-friendly, modern, facility with a generous lobby area and wide ample parking for boats and boat trailers,” DNR spokesman Mike Willis said. The S.C. Natural Resources Board is expected to formally dedicate the new facility in a ceremony Aug. 12.
TAKING A TOLL — The Hardwick Wildfire continues to burn north of Conway, and now it is even worse. A lightening strike caused the fire last month, and crews have successfully contained the fire since. But the wildfire is still not controlled, and recent hot temperatures make the fire worse and have started to take their toll on those fighting the fire.
SPOONFUL — Sugar is making a comeback. Andy Briscoe, president and CEO of the Sugar Association, spent last week talking to South Carolina and Georgia media about how sugar is produced and its advantages over artificial sweeteners, such as its ability to produce a light, crunchy texture and even browning when baking. However, Briscoe said there’s a misconception that artificial sweeteners are a lot healthier than sugar, which he said has 15 calories per teaspoon compared to the 5 calories found in some artificial sweeteners.
COLUMBIA — Midlands ice cream man scoops to his own tune
MOUNT PLEASANT — McConnell voices concerns about Patriots Point
HANAHAN — Lightning bolts cause problems across area
ABBEVILLE — Gov. Sanford, others celebrate opening of pipe products operation in Abbeville
INMAN — Inman Lottery Player Wins $100,000
HILTON HEAD — Space debris found on coast goes on display
KERSHAW — Former Kerhsaw County ATEC Director Allen Teal Honored
GREER — State, local leaders cheer new Greer BMW supplier
CHARLESTON — Behr to expand in Charleston
VIEWPOINT — OUTTA HERE — “I know all the election excitement is focused on Nov. 2. Rightfully so. But I just want to make a quick note for Americans to remember two other names of entrenched politicians who long ago should have worn out their welcome for public service in Washington. They are Republican Sens. Richard Lugar of Indiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.”
VIEWPOINT II — NEVER FULL — “By the time I wake up at 5 a.m. to start a new day at the SPCA, the little green light on my phone is ringing and there are new e-mails waiting to be read. The first one I come across this day is from a supporter and volunteer who found a stray male lab mix running down the road in Barnwell County with the pads of his paws bleeding due to too much time spent running on hot pavement. He’s very underweight, too. Can I make room for him? We do.”
VIEWPOINT III — HALF-RIGHT — “South Carolina’s elected officials shouldn’t profit by using state cars for personal business, nor should they suffer by having to pay the expenses of doing the state’s business. What’s needed is the cheapest and fairest possible system. That’s not what we have now, and that’s why soon-to-be State Treasurer Curtis Loftis is half-right in his attacks on taxpayer-funded vehicles.”
FINALLY THIS — SMALL VS SAFE — At colleges and universities, student success is measured in numbers. And sometimes, so is their safety. “Penelope” went to college to study statistics, not to become one. “These things happen to other people,” says the young woman who graduated from Converse College in 2009. “These things happen to statistics, they don’t happen to me.” She was at a New Year’s Eve party in 2007 when things got out of control.
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