NEWS BRIEFS: Cunningham picks Casey as running mate

Staff reports  | Former Congressman Joe Cunningham of Charleston, the Democratic nominee for governor, on Monday tapped a female civil litigator who flew combat missions in Iraq to be his lieutenant governor running mate.

“It is an incredible honor and privilege to be selected to be Joe Cunningham’s running mate,” attorney Tally Parham Casey said in a press release. “I have long admired Joe’s bipartisan approach to governing and believe he is exactly what South Carolina needs as governor.”

Cunningham told the Associated Press this week that Casey’s military service and legal savvy were among the qualities that would make her the right fit for the job. Casey, the state’s first female fighter pilot, served three combat tours in Iraq and has been a civil litigator for more than two decades.

“Tally Casey represents the very best of South Carolina,” said Cunningham in a press release. “As the first female fighter pilot in the South Carolina Air National Guard with three tours of duty over Iraq, Tally is a trailblazer who has courageously fought for our freedoms abroad. Now I have asked her to help me fight for our freedoms here at home.”

In other headlines: 

Slow start to hurricane season, but more activity ahead. While hurricane season is off to a slower than usual start this year, things might change in the coming weeks as the peak of the season has started. Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are expecting more tropical cyclone activity now that August is here. Some 90% of hurricanes and strong storms occur between now and October. The agency predicts 14 to 20 named storms this year, including six to 10 that will become hurricanes, according to an undated forecast.

Lawyers deliver closing arguments in death penalty case. A South Carolina judge is expected to weigh in on the South Carolina’s death penalty as attorneys delivered their closing arguments. The lawsuit calls for S.C.’s two methods of execution — electric chair and firing squad — as unconstitutional for lack of evidence as a painless and effective form of execution. 

Kansas voters reject amendment banning abortion. In a Tuesday vote with national implications, voters in conservative Kansas overwhelmingly rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that called for no right to abortion in the state.  While there is still limited access to abortion in the state, the 59-41 vote is seen as illustrative of a majority coalition of voters who view abortion differently than the U.S. Supreme Court, which struck down constitutional abortion protection in June.

Leventis files for Sumter school board.  Former Democratic S.C. Sen. Phil Leventis of Sumter has filed to run for a seat on his county’s school board. Leventis, who served eight terms in the state Senate, told the Sumter Item, “There is nothing that ought to be a higher priority for Sumter City Council, Sumter County Council and the delegation than the schools because so many people make their decision about moving to Sumter based on the schools. So, we have got to restore confidence and stability in the schools.”

Conroy keeps on teaching.  This City Paper exclusive looks at how the late South Carolina author Pat Conroy is still teaching lessons six years after his death. He is the first White man to be buried in the St. Helena Memorial Gardens, a Black cemetery.  Frequent visitors leave pens and other memorabilia at his headstone to show the inspiration and impact he had on others. Colleagues reminisce about Conroy and the impact on their own lives and they share Conroy’s story to others.

U.S. Senate passes toxic exposure bill impacting veterans. After a long fight over a package of legislation to cover impacts of toxic exposure from burn pits and other chemicals to military veterans while they were serving, the U.S. Senate passed bipartisan legislation by an 86-11 vote. Last week, more than two dozen Republicans stalled the bill. The measure, which now heads to President Biden, includes language to help thousands of Marines exposed to toxic water at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.