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Newberry community stressed out

May 1, 2009 By

The swine flu, or “H-1-N-1″ virus, is taking its toll on more than a just a handful of flu patients in Newberry.

According to D.H.E.C. Epidemiologist Jerry Gibson the entire Newberry Community has been very worried.  “What we’re hearing is they’re not thinking about much else.  This is a very tough time for them.  We’re actually distributing some material on how to deal with stress and we see the possibility that we may see a kind of post-traumatic stress syndrome in some people.” 

The first swine fly cases in South Carolina were associated with a trip that Newberry Academy students took to Mexico.

But Gibson says there’s a silver lining. He says the people who actually had the flu are doing much better.   “They feel lousy for several days and they gradually recover.  But they are no longer infectious, and they are immune, the first people in the U.S. who are for sure protected.  So they’re getting better at this point.”

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, News

USC awarded largest federal research grant in school’s history

May 1, 2009 By

A South Carolina School has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to house a research center that’s expected to bring in $12.5 million in federal research funding. That will be the largest award in the history of the University of South Carolina.  The center is one of 31 Energy Frontier Research Centers being established by D.O.E. at U.S. universities.It’s led by Dr. Ken Reifsnider(REEFS-snider), an internationally recognized researcher in solid-oxide fuel cells. He says the university will concentrate on designing and creating materials essential for engineering devices such as fuel cells, combustion devices, and functional membranes and coatings.   “We trying to use these materials to get into the future.  To use different fuels, for example.  These are high-temperature devices, so we can use different things to fuel our cell phones, even automobiles.  It doesn’t have to be hydrogen, but can be synthetic fuel from coal.  We don’t get get any pollution, and have the advantage of using fuels we have, rather than buying from over seas.” 

Reifsnider says this is a way to advance science as well as U.S.C.’s research program.  “This was acknowledgement from the people who reviewed this competitive grant that was submitted along with several others.  It was picked out of that group on the basis of its promise and the qualities of the people involved.  This helps us to recruit, helps our area and region to develop energy  science and technology.” 

Reifsnider says the award is the culmination of a 20-year dream to find answers to fundamental questions about materials used in energy systems.

Filed Under: Business, Education, News

New tv ad urges Sanford to take stimulus money

May 1, 2009 By

Born out of the recent Tax Day Tea Party taxpayer protests, the fledgling South Carolina Taxpayers Alliance is taking to the airwaves to present a counter television ad to Governor Sanford’s ad sponsored by Carolinians for Reform in which Sanford explains his reasoning for turning down $700 million in stimulus dollars. Alliance chairman Adam Fogle says the Alliance’s ad simply asks the Sanford to reconsider his position.The ad includes comments from citizens including one woman who says “if the Governor turns down the money, then our share is going to go to New Jersey or some other state.” That comment is followed by a gentleman who says “and the people of South Carolina will still have to pay it back.” The ad ends with a woman announcer. “That makes no sense at all. Call Mark Sanford. Tell him this is about our children, it’s about our future. Ask hims to change his mind.”

Fogle says his alliance is a bi-partisan group of about two dozen individuals that basically agree with Sanford’s conservative economic ideals as it pertains to the taxpayer and his position on the stimulus bill, however since the bill is now federal law, Sanford needs to take the next logical step for the good of the people of the state.

“We can either sit around and cry about it or we can do something, and what we need to do is the right thing and that is to take this money. I hope that is what the advertisement says. It says to the Governor and his supporters that we are with you, it was a bad piece of legislation (the stimulus bill) but we cannot afford to turn down this money because we’re paying for it anyway. It just doesn’t make any sense to turn it down.”

Fogle says members of his two week old organization literally “passed the hat” to pay for the ad. Fogle says the ad began running on cable outlets and tv stations last Wednesday along the coast and is now moving into the Columbia and Greenville markets.

Filed Under: Economy, News, Politics & Government

Bilked investors get first glance at payback from jailed economist

May 1, 2009 By

Investors that were bilked out of hundreds of thousands of dollars from a now jailed economist will get a first look at how the recovered money will be distributed.

Out of the 600 investors and $66 million that former economist and Charleston Southern University professor Al Parish bilked, the ones that received little or nothing back from the Ponzi scam will be first to gain some of their money back.

The Post and Courier of Charleston reported that some of these investors could receive as much as 25% of their initial investments back, but a hearing on this plan is not expected to begin until July. The cash will come from the proceeds of the auction held last year on Parish’s assets; including his homes, property, and old collectibles, totaling between $8 million and $9 million.

The recovery plan was filed in federal court this week, and at the same time, Parish’s appeal was denied. He was appealing his 24-year sentence, saying that it did not compare to other white collar cases of his kind. The investors should receive letters in the mail explaining the proposal on their reimbursement checks next week, they will have until June 1 to file an objection. Investors who withdrew money early, or already received payouts from Parish may not see any additional funds.

Filed Under: Business, Crime & Courts, News

Beaufort senator calls passed budget “irresponsible”

May 1, 2009 By

Beaufort Senator Tom Davis was one of 12 senators who voted against the state’s budget. In that, the bill calls to provide revenues to meet the state’s expenses, and to regulate the expenditure of the funds. This year, the federal stimulus package -is- considered in the spending.

“It spends $350 million in federal stimulus money that we’re not sure we’re gonna have, I mean that’s money the governor has to apply for and the governor may or may not apply for it, we went ahead and drafted a budget and just assumed the money was gonna be there and I think that’s highly irresponsible,” says Davis.

Davis says the senate passed the first part of the budget with the money already set aside for the state, but he says it came with many holes. He says in this portion of the budget, they did not propose funding for prosecutors, SLED, state troopers, corrections, and other major state departments, which is in his taste is irresponsible.

“The set up the budget that way so that if the governor doesn’t apply for $350 million dollars, chaos results. Now, that is not a responsible way to deal with the budget. You don’t draft a budget that is so full of holes and so jeopardizing to our public safety in the hopes of motivating or forcing the governor to apply for that stimulus money. That is not responsible,” says Davis.

The bill was passed and sent back to a conference committee, where differences will be worked out between a panel of senators and house members. There will be no further amendments.

Filed Under: Economy, Legislature, Taxes
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