Staff reports | Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott this week said the state needs a law to make it punishable to target a person for their race, religion, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.
Lott’s statement was on the heels of a jury finding a woman guilty of shooting into her Black and Hispanic neighbors’ homes in 2017 while she yelled racial slurs. The former paramedic was charged with attempted murder and was sentenced to 20 years in jail, but Lott said she could have received additional charges and time in jail if the state had a hate crimes law, according to the Associated Press.
During the 2021 legislative session, moderates, progressives and business leaders were unable to get long-awaited hate crimes legislation approved as it stalled at the last minute on the Senate floor from objections by nine senators. Leaders with the state Chamber of Commerce, which pushed hard for the legislation for the first time, vowed to continue the effort in 2022.
In other recent news:
State Supreme Court hears suit on Heritage Act. The S.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday heard its first challenge to the state law protecting Confederate and other historical monuments since its passage 21 years ago. More: AP News | The State | The Post and Courier.
Justices question landfill operator aims to take coal ash. Several South Carolina Supreme Court justices on Tuesday questioned whether a landfill operator in Pickens County sought to install a liner on a new landfill to ultimately accept coal ash. More: Spartanburg Herald-Journal.
Early municipal estimates for fed money off mark in S.C. Seventeen municipalities in South Carolina have learned they will receive $67.9 million less from federal coronavirus relief than they first expected. That adjusted estimate is felt differently among the towns and cities — with most seeing a 15 percent or less decline in expected funds. But for Bluffton, Conway, Mount Pleasant, Myrtle Beach, North Charleston and North Myrtle Beach, the amounts were between 39 and 80 percent lower than expected. More: The Post and Courier
A third of S.C. residents worry about eviction, foreclosures, data shows. Nearly 30 percent of South Carolinians are worried about evictions or foreclosures, according to recent data collected around the country. More: WIS TV
S.C. unemployment payments since pandemic began top $6.2B. For the week ending May 22, $49.6 million in state and federal benefits were paid as 2,061 initial claims were filed, a drop of 484 claims from the previous week. More: Columbia Business Report
Ag chief touts new program for minority farmers. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn came to Rowesville Monday to meet with Black farmers and to talk about the loan forgiveness program aimed at helping minority farmers. More: The Post and Courier | The Orangeburg Times & Democrat.
Howard names reestablished arts program after S.C. native. Twenty years ago, S.C. native Chadwick Boseman helped lead a student protest against Howard University’s plans to merge its College of Fine Arts into the College of Arts and Sciences. The programs merged anyway. But now, the college will again stand on its own, and bear Boseman’s name as Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts. More: AP News | NPR
Haley reads to kindergartners as part of book program. Former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley — and favorite early 2024 Republican presidential contender — read to Columbia kindergartners this week as a part of her nonprofit work to distribute 12,500 new books to schools in high-poverty areas around the state. More: The Post and Courier
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!