Thumbs up
Horne. We’re a little disappointed we didn’t break the news on S.C. Rep. Jenny Horne’s candidacy for Congress against incumbent and former Gov. Mark Sanford, but we’ll get over it. We’re glad she’s running.
Birthdays. Hats off to author Pat Conroy, who is celebrating his 70th birthday this weekend with a big literary festival in Beaufort, and to Parris Island, which last weekend celebrated its 100th anniversary as a major part of the Marine Corps.
In the middle
Lott. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott is rightfully getting high marks for his reaction to a disturbing incident at Spring Valley High School involving a school resource officer who dragged a student out of a classroom. It’s good he acted quickly and fired the officer. We’re a little more cautious about pinning too much blame on the student. And we’re very concerned about a student bystander being arrested, too, for videotaping the incident. More.
Graham. South Carolina’s U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham did well in the “undercard” forum before this week’s GOP presidential debate but still isn’t connecting, leading him to wonder earlier this week how he could be losing to political newcomers Donald Trump and Ben Carson in the polls. More.
Templeton. We don’t really understand why former DHEC Director Catherine Templeton resigned from a big $235,000-a-year job at the S.C. Ports Authority, but stranger things have happened. More.
Thumbs down
New Emanuel info. Mainstream media squawked about needing more information about the Emanuel Nine shootings in June and asked for a court gag order to be released. And what did we really learn from these new documents provided to the media: Not much. And what did the media do soon after photos and documents were released: They posted them online — just like we predicted and advised against earlier. It was unnecessary, added little new understanding to a tragedy and the impatient media could have waited until a trial.
NEAP scores. Not good news that S.C. students still lag those from other states on scores of the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests. More.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!