Coming Soon
The date: Sept. 7, 1892. The place: New Orleans. The event: the World Heavy Weight title battle, featuring challenger John J. Corbett taking on champ John L. Sullivan.
Today marks the end of Sunshine Week.
Nestled along I-20 between the Palmetto State’s Capital City in Columbia and Augusta, Georgia, where the Masters will be played in April, is South Carolina’s Thoroughbred Country.
If little Debbie’s parents prefer for her to dine on wagyu beef instead of mystery meat, should the taxpayers have to pay for her to have lunch delivered daily from Circa 1886 instead of standing in line in the school cafeteria?
Editor’s Note: Sunshine Week is set for March 10-16, 2024. Sunshine Week is a nonpartisan collaboration among groups in the journalism, civic, education, government and private sectors that shines a light on the importance of public records and open government.
Among the most absurd election pitches ever is the Democrats’ bleak warning — pushed ceaselessly by President Joe Biden himself — that Trump and his “MAGA Republicans” pose an existential threat to American democracy.
Welcome to the best time of the year.
There was a lively debate at the Statehouse Wednesday about House leaders’ plan to strip all the limits from South Carolina’s pilot voucher program before the first “education scholarship” check is even cut.
The earworm “1-8-7-7 Kars 4 Kids” always struck me as a stellar example of how insufferable advertising can be when its creators really put their minds to it. The organization behind the long-running ad boasts that the jingle “has quickly become one of the most memorable and catchy radio ads…
It’s a new day for business in Aiken.
The S.C. Senate was about to vote on a muscular update to South Carolina’s Read to Succeed law, with a heavy emphasis on what’s being called “the science of reading,” and Senate Education Chairman Greg Hembree was explaining the bill and the background.
South Carolina is a top destination for those moving from other states. The state's business and taxpayer-friendly policies make the Palmetto State a great place to live and do business. As a result, our economy is thriving, and state services must increase to match growth.
Agriculture and aviation are key drivers of South Carolina’s economy. With the right strategy, South Carolina’s agriculture sector can power American aviation, too.
Here’s an idea. Instead of hanging on every word from young whippersnapper political pundits about whether or not Joe Biden’s age-related deterioration is a disqualifier for another presidential term, why not ask some real octogenarians — folks who have actually been there?
Well, today’s the big day. South Carolina is holding its Republican presidential primary, and all eyes are on the Palmetto State.
My guess is that right now whoever came up with the idea of sending 30 armed FBI agents to conduct an unannounced raid on a former president’s home would probably welcome a do-over.
There's a special class of political opportunists who believe they can sell people any sort of nonsense just by adorning a "conservative" label or invoking the name of the defeated former president, and the other day they put on an exhibition leading up to a House subcommittee meeting.
The monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics report should be called the original “fake news.”
There’s a thin line between love and hate.
Whether you consider South Carolina’s abortion law too restrictive or too liberal, it’s tempting to roll your eyes over yet another lawsuit challenging it.
U.S. elections have become flashpoints of controversy, particularly at the presidential level involving the Electoral College. An AP poll in December revealed two-thirds of Americans believe our democracy is in peril.
Washington D.C.’s conventional wisdom holdsInfluential Democrats and deep-pocketed party supporters could lean hard on Biden to withdraw gracefully with their promise that on his way out, they would hail him as a modern-day FDR. If Biden resists, Democrats could play hardball, a technique th…
Well, it’s official. We will have an early spring.
The deafening silence that greeted Wednesday’s "draft recommendations" by the S.C. House’s special committee on reforming the judicial selection process speaks volumes.
Unity is in our blood. We are the United States of America. Our traditional motto is e pluribus unum, Latin for “out of many, one.” Our pledge of allegiance declares us to be “one nation, indivisible.”
My report on state legislative news begins with Texas and South Carolina's response to the tug-of-war between the Lone Star State and Washington over the massive invasion of our southern border.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley lost the New Hampshire primary to Donald Trump by double digits Tuesday. It's hard to foresee Haley competing more aggressively, or with better results, in any state in the near future. She hasn't yet quit the field, but it appears to have quit her.
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”
For years, some of the biggest and best opponents of liberalizing our gun laws have been police. So last year, legislators who are determined to encourage everybody in South Carolina to carry a gun in public developed a cynical ploy to buy their silence:
A cluster of measles cases in the Northeast is putting a spotlight on how easily the highly contagious disease can spread — and how dangerous any further slip in childhood vaccination rates could be.
This week, we celebrated Martin Luther King’s legacy. For me, that brings back a flood of memories. As a teenager, I lived in Birmingham, Alabama, a city that later became an epicenter in the battle for racial equality. I will never forget one Sunday afternoon in 1961; I was attending a scho…
I hadn’t thought about the S.C. Legislature’s long-secret, still-obscene, over-the-top pensions for years. Then earlier this month, the clerk of the Senate told me the reason nine senators didn’t collect extra pay for last summer’s special legislative session was that they’re “retired” for p…
Before I read the newspaper each morning, I read daily meditations from a couple of spiritual booklets, plus the comics section of the paper to sort of prepare myself for the news, which seems to go from bad to worse. I am also trying not to watch the news on television. It is mostly negativ…
Around financial markets, the conventional wisdom is to “let the trend be your friend.” What happens in the market on one day will also likely occur on the following. Investors, the theory goes, should ride the “trend” until it “bends,” then bail out.
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
If Sen. Tom Davis is right, then I will turn out to have been wrong; terribly wrong. And I will look forward to apologizing to our legislators for so grossly underestimating their willingness to ignore the special interests, challenge the status quo and improve the way South Carolina’s gover…
In the rapidly evolving global landscape, the ascent of China stands as the ultimate challenge of our times, one that demands a bold and innovative response. As the new generation of conservative leaders in South Carolina, we are acutely aware of the shortcomings in the approaches of both th…
Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, represents the Republican Party’s best hope to vanquish Donald Trump. While many foes and pundits have piled on Haley for her recent Civil War-slavery “gaffe,” the reality is in the Republican primary, voters are unli…
Happy New Year!
How many of these S.C. officials can you identify? Brian Gaines. George Kennedy. Curtis Loftis. • Hartley Powell. Frank Rainwater.
The endless college football bowl season is upon us. Beginning last weekend with the Mrytle Beach Bowl, and mercifully ending on January 8 with the College Football Playoff National Championship game, 43 games will be played.
'Tis the season of joy, and I hope your heart is filled with the holiday spirit today and through the new year. To those having difficulties, I pray that the spirit of this Christmas season provides you with the strength never to give up. With faith and courage, dreams are achievable. May Go…
It’s Christmas season, the time for carols, family get-togethers, exchanging gifts, warm memories of childhood. Here in this great country, we have always been able to do so in peace, the priceless benefit that we so easily take for granted.
Merry Christmas!
A terrible war rages in the Holy Land, a short drive from Bethlehem. It was provoked by a murderous terrorist attack on Israeli civilians, is marked by a horrendous continuing loss of life and has touched off an alarming uptick in antisemitism the world over, along with charges that Israel i…
About that threat to democracy…
As weeks go, I suppose golf has had worse ones. But I am hard pressed to think of one in the light of the news that came out between Dec. 4 and Dec. 10.
The lawyer-legislators hit back this week, insisting that all the stories prosecutors have told about lawyer-legislators manipulating S.C. courts to their advantage are slanderous innuendo.
Celebrating The King of Kings
With all the (bad) news that's fit to print, it's hard to write a column that's hopeful and positive during this holiday season, “the most wonderful time of the year.” Most of us do not need to be reminded of all the horrible things that are happening around the world, and here in America. T…
On Dec. 2, the community, alumni which included my family, elected officials, and citizens, unveiled the historical marker of A.L. Corbett School, a predominantly African American school that opened in 1954 in Wagener during the era of racial segregation.
S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson’s announcement Monday that he was taking over two public corruption investigations in the Lowcountry raised eyebrows across the state: Why such an escalation? Is there a problem with the local prosecutor? Are these cases more significant than they seem?
There’s a saying that goes something like this: Humans make plans, and God laughs.
Let’s talk about littering behavior.
Today's Top Headlines
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Damage reported in downtown Aiken building following fire
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Aiken County authorities looking for missing Batesburg woman
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Missing 2-year-old boy found Sunday in Aiken County
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Did a secret meeting derail Aiken's $75 million project? Here's what we know.
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Wagener Medical Center closes doors, faces murky future