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Post and Courier. Congratulations to the newspaper for shining a light on the scourge of infant mortality in its new four-part series.
Budget. At least the House is done with the $6.9 billion state budget after a painful week of debate. Now it moves to the Senate, which will spend the next month in committee and then on the floor tussling with the numbers.
Minimum wage. Two thirds of South Carolinians say the state should adopt a higher minimum wage, which would improve household incomes and help reduce poverty. More.
Good voice. Rep. Roger Kirby, D-Lake City, has a great voice, but we still don’t understand why he was singing a show tune on the House floor as captured here on video.
Top justice. The state’s next chief justice of the Supreme Court likely will be Associate Justice Costa Pleicones. Why? He’s the only candidate. More.
D-HEC, you say. Might not be a bad idea to split up the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. More.
CHE. The S.C. House voted to take $3 million away from the state Commission on Higher Education, which would effectively close down the agency. Why? Because House members say it isn’t doing its job. More.
Shwedo. This one is for S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles head Kevin Shwedo for being a fan on the weekly Scorecard.
Obamacare. More than 210,000 South Carolinians have signed up for or re-enrolled in Affordable Care Act plans from the federal health insurance marketplace. That’s lots of people who have a lot more security knowing that they’re covered. More.
Haley. While we’re not necessarily opposed to the budgeting outcome of not borrowing $500 million, something bothers us about using social media to pressure the legislature. Maybe it’s a good way to get more people involved. Maybe the House needs to get tougher and ignore the pressure. But it worked for Gov. Nikki Haley, who got her way. Look for more online activism in the future.
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Haley. While the governor may have been successful in charming Facebook devotees into action, she certainly did not make a friend in powerful Sen. Hugh Leatherman, the Florence Republican in charge of budgeting. At this juncture with the budget now in Leatherman’s hands, it would have probably been better if the governor kept her opinion to herself about Leatherman being an impediment to ethics reform. More.
Core replacement. The brouhaha over Common Core education standards has been a monumental waste of time and money. Proof: When the state Board of Education finally approved the much-discussed replacement standards on Wednesday, the “story” only rated five, short paragraphs is a major daily newspaper.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!