Our weekly Top Five feature offers big stories or views from the past week with policy and legislative implications.
What terrorism taught me about leadership, Anton Gunn in Huffington Post, Oct. 12. 2016
Former state Rep. Anton Gunn, who is a health care thought leader after service as a senior official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, offered this commentary on the 16th anniversary of the USS Cole in which his brother, Signalman Seaman Cherone L. Gunn, was one of the 17 people killed. An excerpt:
“What is clear to me, if you call yourself a leader, you should exemplify these seven qualities [Initiative, commitment, preparation, service, respect, temperance and courage]. This is what Signalman Seaman Cherone Gunn exemplified each day, this is what our family exemplifies and this is what our country exemplifies when we are attacked by terrorists. It’s my sincere hope that if you believe yourself to be a great leader, you will exhibit these qualities to yourself, your family, your team and your organization.”
2. S.C. KKK group reported to be recruiting at Clemson campus, Atlanta Black Star, Oct. 11, 2016
“According to WSPA, the flyers have appeared all over Oconee County. Reporters spoke to local KKK member Rob Locklear, who is responsible for recruitment calls. The exalted cyclops — another name for the leader of a local chapter — shamelessly says the chapter recruits where the most people are.”
Other stories:
- Clemson University police investigating, ABC News/Associated Press
- Recruitment flyers found on campus, Free Times
- Racial slurs used, KKK flyers found at Clemson, WYFF TV
3. Identification non-compliance may cause problems for S.C. travelers, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Oct. 13, 2016
South Carolina lawmakers refused in past years to comply with REAL ID identification changes with drivers’ licenses – and that could cause a real problem starting in January for people traveling by air, as outlined in this story:
“Beginning Jan. 30, residents of those [six] states won’t be able to use their driver’s license to enter federal facilities, Homeland Security officials said in a letter to the state Department of Transportation released Thursday. The only exception will be for residents who want to enter federal facilities to apply for such things as Social Security or veteran’s benefits. …
“Homeland Security has issued many extensions to complying with the REAL ID Act since it was scheduled to begin in 2007. But the department said in letters this week to officials in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Maine, Oklahoma and South Carolina that it will issue no more extensions unless they make significant progress toward compliance.”
4. How to fix the broken child care system, David Loewenburg in New America, Oct. 11, 2016
“The child care system in America is costly, low-quality, and, in a word, broken. That’s according to a newly released Care Index from New America’s Better Life Lab and Care.com which offers a comprehensive picture of the state of child care in America. And the picture is bleak.
“The state-by-state analysis on the cost, quality, and availability of child care reveals startling realities American families face when it comes to caring for the 12 million children below the age of five. The typical annual cost of full-time care in child care centers for children ages 0-4 is higher ($9,589) than the average annual cost of in-state college tuition ($9,410).”
5. How to fix America’s balloting, Adrienne Lafrance in The Atlantic, Oct. 5, 2016
“In many jurisdictions, ballots have improved dramatically in the past decade and a half, but it’s difficult—maybe even impossible—to assess how ballots are changing on larger scale because each place is “hugely different,” says Norden, from the Brennan Center. “There’s a different process in each of those election jurisdictions. On top of that, you have different voting machines that allow for different ability to do things. And then, you have very different laws.”
“The result is that even as some ballots and voting systems improve, many others will stay the same—or, potentially, get worse. “The bad news is that the future is unevenly applied, as always,” Quesenbery told me. “But I think there’s some good news… Things change slowly, but once they begin to change—they can change quickly.””
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!