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Study shows impact of higher ed on economy

August 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

A new study by the Darla Moore School of Business at USC asserts that investment in higher education yields plentiful economic returns.Executive Director of the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education Garrison Walters says if South Carolina doesn’t focus on higher education, it will fall further behind in today’s economy, becoming similar to a third-world nation.

Walters says each dollar spent by the state on higher education could boost the state’s annual economic activity more than 25-fold.  “I think it really is the best investment the state can make, because it generates continual returns and allows the state to pay for other critical needs like K-12 education  and health care.”

Walters says the Commission has a goal of increasing the percentage of bachelor degrees in the population from 23 percent to 29 percent by 2030.  He says there is also strong eveidence that associate degrees have a strong influence on income and the economy. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, Education, News

Clemson researcher says students, parents should be first to receive flu vaccine

August 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

A Clemson University researcher and a researcher from Yale University have produced a report on the creation of a better policy for vaccinating the general population against seasonal flu and the new H1N1 or “swine flu.”The Centers of Disease Control already have their rules about that. Flu vaccinations are recommended for children under age 5 and for seasonal flu, people over age 50. And in the last two years, the category of older children has been added, age 5 to 19.

Dr. Jan Medlock is a mathematician at Clemson. He says the vaccines would be better used to prevent transmission within schools and the parents of students, who then spread the flu to the rest of the population.

So Medlock advocates vaccinating children who are actually in school, rather than those under five, as well as adults in their thirties, who are likely to be parents. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, News

Sanford still asking forgiveness

August 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Gov. Mark Sanford

Governor Mark Sanford is travelling the state, still asking for forgiveness two months after he admitted to an extramarital affair. He was in Summerville Wednesday at a Rotary club, asking for forgiveness and support from the attendees as debate over his travel spending still exists.

“If there is anything that is abundantly clear, it’s that my time in politics is over. I’m not running for President. I’m not running for something after that.It’s about the next 16 months,” says Sanford. This comes as the release of his wife’s interview with Vogue Magazine this month has prompted speculation that she might seek public office.

The governor also said today that he has not decided whether to allow the ethics investigation of him to go public.He has jurisdiction over that as governor.

Filed Under: Legislature, News, Politics & Government

Shaw AFB facility breaks ground in many ways

August 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Monday’s ground-breaking event at Shaw Air Force Base begins the US Army’s move from Fort McPherson to Shaw bringing together the Army, the Air Force, the Department of Defense and civilian contractors, government and private employees, state and local leadership.The estimated cost of the new facility is $92 million. These headquarters will be distributed through three separate facilities: command control facility; Headquarters Company facility; and the tactical equipment maintenance facility. Azubuike says the other two forts in Georgia will be no more.

Third Army Major Amanda Azubuike says, “As of September 2011, Fort McPherson and Fort Gilliam will close. There is a small enclave that will remain open at Ft. Gilliam. However, Third Army will be completely moved by September 2011.”

This is the culmination of the work of a taskforce put together by the City of Sumter, the Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce and the business community in response to the 2003 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. The economic impact of the new operation to the Sumter region is expected to be about $150 million a year.

Filed Under: Economy, Military, News

State has gotten $500 million in stimulus

August 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

More than $513 million in federal stimulus money has come to South Carolina’s state agencies and programs so far. The majority has gone to Medicaid and unemployment benefits. State Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom reports this breakdown:

$333.3 million- Department of Health and Human Services (Medicaid)
$ 78.3 million- Employment Security Commission
$ 42.0 million- Department of Social Services
$ 23.1 million- Department of Public Safety
$ 17.8 million- Department of Education
$ 12.4 million- Governor’s Office
$ 3.9 million- Department of Commerce
$ 2.3 million- Department of Health and Environmental Control
$ 260,000- Lt. Governor’s Office on Aging
$ 69,000- Vocational Rehabilitation
$ 24,000- Department of Transportation
$ 19,000- Budget and Control Board

Total: $ 513,491,165

Eckstrom says, “There are widely differing views on the stimulus, and I have offered mine: We’re spending money we don’t have on many things we don’t need.”

The state is slated to get $2.8 billion in American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds.

Filed Under: Economy, News, Politics & Government
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