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State lawmakers gearing to go into overtime

May 7, 2009 By

Sine (sign ah) die (die ee) is Latin for without day. In the modern legislative lexicon the term means without any future date designated. By statute, the South Carolina Legislature must adjourn sine die no later than the first Thursday in June, except when an extension is initiated by a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate.

With the anticipated fight over the State Budget with the inclusion of $350 million in federal stimulus dollars Governor Sanford refuses to apply for, state legislators are looking at working overtime to get their work done. The Senate Thursday passed a resolution that originated in the House that would officially end the session on  May 21st, with the stipulation by agreement of the Senate President Pro Tem and Speaker of the House that the two bodies meet beginning June 16 for a maximum period of three days. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Legislature, Politics & Government

Seniors, disabled veterans to get stimulus checks

May 7, 2009 By

The Social Security Administration will deliver $250 economic recovery payments to more than 50 million America’s seniors and disabled veterans as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.According to South Carolina’s Sixth District Congressman Jim Clyburn, “The $250 recovery payments will be a lifeline to millions of America’s seniors and disabled veterans during these tough economic times. And economists agree, we get the biggest ‘bang for the buck’ with this kind of funding as the money will almost immediately be reinvested back into the economy.”

In a statement Thursday, Clyburn says that for South Carolina, $412.87 million in payments will go to 748,319 Social Security recipients.

Starting today, the federal Social Security Administration will deliver the $250 payments by check and direct deposit to Social Security recipients. Payments will also go to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients, Railroad Retirement recipients, and disabled veterans.

Filed Under: Economy, Military, News, Politics & Government

New computer labs, training may boost job creation in SC

May 7, 2009 By

Some areas of South Carolina are being left behind in this computer age, but help could be on the way.

In an effort to train residents for computer literacy and job placement, Clemson University’s Institute for Community and Economic Development gathered geographical information system, or GIS, data to find the area most in need of technological help in the Charleston region. This involved looking into poverty levels, unemployment rates, and working computer knowledge, among other factors.

As the first lab in South Carolina is ready to start up in North Charleston, Clemson spokesperson Harry Crissy says they have plans to implement these work force development labs in other areas of the state as well.

“We hope to identify not just places in need but the places that are interested in having a computer lab like this throughout other parts of the state, I mean, we are interested in the whole state, so we’re not limiting ourselves. We are right now looking to identify, we had some people contact us that are interested, and we are looking at some other cities right now,” says Crissy.

Crissy says these new work force development labs, that will allow residents to have free computer access and training, are expected to be a success, and possibly bring down South Carolina’s unemployment numbers. He explains the underlying purpose of these labs.

“To open up information resources with people being left behind by technology, give people access to all these great resources that we have out there now with the Internet, and create new job skill sets, these become marketable skills, suddenly our population that didn’t have marketable skills for the technology age, they become marketable for a lot of different industries,” says Crissy.

The first neighborhood in South Carolina to have one of these labs is the Chicora-Cherokee neighborhood in North Charleston, after the data showed it most in need. Clemson University and its Restoration Institute partnered with students from the College of Charleston, Comcast Cable, and technical professionals from the Linux Users Group in Charleston to make this first lab possible. Crissy says next stop may be Columbia.

Filed Under: Economy, Education, News

State health plan subscribers get incentive to quit tobacco

May 7, 2009 By

The cost of lighting up will go up for a number of state employees starting next year. Effective January 1, 2010, subscribers of South Carolina’s State Employees Health Plan will pay a $25-per-month surcharge if they are tobacco users.

More than 427-thousand public employees, retirees and their families are currently on the plan. Budget and Control Board spokesman Michael Sponhour says the Board’s Employee Insurance Program has launched a statewide campaign to alert subscribers who are tobacco free to fill out a form in order to ensure that they don’t have to pay the surcharge. Sponhour says the Budget and Control Board thinks that adding the surcharge is a prudent action to take. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, News

Riverbanks Zoo sea lions migrate North…temporarily

May 7, 2009 By

A popular exhibit at Riverbanks Zoo will be closing soon as the two remaining sea lions will be shipped to a Chicago Zoo. The good news is that it is only temporary. The sea lions have been part of the zoo since in opened in 1974 and has always been a favorite of visitors. Executive Director Satch Krantz says that though they are saddened by the loss, in the end, it was the right decision.”The sweet part is that we know we can do a much better job in exhibiting sea lions,” said Krantz.

“We can provide them with a better environment. We can provide them with salt water. We can provide our guests with better experiences with underwater viewing. So, we see this as strictly a temporary move.”

Krantz says that new technology has made it time to improve the exhibit. “Back when it was built in 1973, about 36 years ago, it was probably one of the better sea lion exhibits in the country,” he said. “Over the years, technology has advanced. The use of salt water was not available to us 36 years ago. The use of manufactured salt water…times have just passed that exhibit by.”

Krantz says the new exhibit timetable will depend on funding.

“This is going to be an expensive endeavor. Keeping any animal under water, whether it’s a sea lion or a fish is not cheap, so we’ll be talking with our local governments and our donors over the next many months to see if we can’t come up with the funds necessary to build a new exhibit.”

Krantz says they expect to have sea lions back within three years.

Filed Under: Human Interest, News
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