TOP FIVE: Supreme Court, income gap, more

Here’s our new Top Five feature — five big stories from the past week with policy and legislative implications.

1. Supreme Court screening panel faces questions, The State

What’s interesting in this story is what the Judicial Merit Selection Commission thinks are appropriate questions for candidates who want to serve on the state Supreme Court. Three judges were nominated for a seat. The commission has been in the news in recent months as lawmakers and others question whether state lawmakers should continue to elect judges.

2. Income gap widening across U.S., Associated Press

“Many of the poorest households still earn just a fraction of what they made before the Great Recession began in late 2007.” The story, which mentions major cities, highlighted how income inequality was highest in Boston, New Orleans and Atlanta.

3. Haley proposes to fund college tuition for rural teachers, S.C. Radio Network

Gov. Nikki Haley proposes to pay tuition for teachers if they agree to work for eight years in struggling school districts. “The governor’s announcement comes as lawmakers try to show they are more serious this year about improving education in impoverished areas. The state Supreme Court in 2014 ordered the legislature and governor to work with affected districts and come up with a final plan. Last year, the justices set a deadline of summer 2016.” More detail on some of Haley’s education ideas here.

4. DHEC wants fetal tissue law clarified, The Post and Courier

The state agency is seeking clarification to the law making it illegal to sell and accept donations of fetal issue to avoid future issues with abortion clinics. The agency has been criticized in recent months for raids on Planned Parenthood clinics as being politically-motivated. Opponents see DHEC recommendations as further political meddling.

5. GOP talks about how to ease poverty in S.C forum, NPR | The Wall Street Journal

U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott held a forum on how Republicans planned to combat poverty. It included several GOP presidential candidates.

• Want more stories like these? If you’d like to get these updates in much more depth every business day, we encourage you to subscribe to our sister publication, S.C. Clips. Click here for a two-week test drive.