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State Comptroller continues to question stimulus

October 26, 2009 By

Last week, the new unemployment figures were posted for the month of September. South Carolina’s unemployment was up to 11.6 percent, that’s fifth highest in the nation. State Comptroller Richard Eckstrom, a longtime critic of accepting money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act says the funds were supposed to create jobs and he hasn’t seen much of that.

“About 40 percent of that money has been disbursed by Washington. We’ve gotten here in South Carolina just at $700 million, actually we’ve gotten a little bit more than that that hadn’t been spent about $700 million of that money. Of course, that money was suppose to have created jobs. The president said if that money got sent to the states immediately it was going to keep national unemployment rate below eight percent,” says Eckstrom. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy, News, Politics & Government

Diocese of South Carolina takes stand

October 26, 2009 By

The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina takes a stand over actions taken by the national church. Officials of the Diocese voted at a special convention Saturday to distance the Diocese from the national church in response to recent church actions affirming the rights of gays and lesbians including calling for the blessing of same sex unions. Officials of the Diocese also express concerns about other issues involving the national church. The resolution also calls for the Diocese to engage other disaffected orthodox Episcopalians that disagree with recent stances taken by the national church. Diocese of South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence calls the action taken by the Diocese a “protest of conscience.”

“The withdrawing is from certain bodies of the Episcopal Church that have gone contrary to Holy Scripture, gone contrary to the to the mind of the Anglican Communion, and gone contrary to our own constitution and cannons of the Episcopal Church.”

Bishop Lawrence and other officials of the Diocese say the vote taken at the special convention represents a disengagement from the governing bodies of the national church, but should not be perceived as a formal separation.

Filed Under: Human Interest, News, Uncategorized

Hearing set for man fined for Horry wildfire

October 26, 2009 By

The Horry County resident fined for starting the state’s worst wildfire is facing court this week. In April, the worst wildfire South Carolina had ever seen brushed through Horry County land destroying 76 homes and damaging another 100.

The fire was said to have originated from a debris fire coming from Horry County resident Marc Torchi’s backyard. Torchi will appear for a court hearing Wednesday in Conway at a Central Jury Court, which is a magistrate-level court. Torchi is facing charges of up to $732, but he claims he is unfairly being blamed for the fire. He says firefighters responded to his call when he called after his fire went out of control, and, according to Torchi, the firefighters thought they fully distinguished the fire, but did not.

Filed Under: Accidents & Disasters, Crime & Courts, News

S.C. Ports Authority CEO looks toward future

October 26, 2009 By

South Carolina Ports Authority CEO Jim Newsome has been on the job for 52 days and he is already riding the crest of hammering out a fresh, new deal with Maersk, keeping the world’s largest shipping line at the Port of Charleston through 2014. Maersk had announced in 2008 that it was leaving the port in 2009. Newsome is now setting his sights on developing the untapped potential and promise of the Charleston port.

“This is a great port, the most productive port in North America and probably in the world. It has great turnaround times on trucks, it has excellent facilities. The most important thing is that it is the deepest natural harbor in the South Atlantic so we can handle large ships without any need for a dredging project.”

Once the second largest container port on the East Coast, Charleston has dropped to fourth behind New York-New Jersey, southeast Virginia and Savannah. Newsome says there is no reason that such a drop should happen: “Our volumes are down probably more than the decline in the market. Our container volumes are at year 2000 levels and to me that is just a complete disconnect. It doesn’t make sense given the quality of the ports, so our major focus short term is to get our volumes moving back in the right direction.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, Economy, News, Transportation

SC Supreme Court questions Sanford waiver

October 26, 2009 By

Sanford Atty Kevin Hall meets with press after Supreme Court arguments

Did Gov. Mark Sanford relinquish all privacy in a state investigation into his travel spending? That seems to be the question at hand as the state’s highest court is asking the governor, the state Ethics Commission and the SC House of Representatives to file additional briefs this week. According to a court order Friday, they must address “a question regarding Governor Mark Sanford’s August 28, 2009 letter to respondent Herbert R. Hayden, Jr.”  (Ethics commission director)

These three parties disagree on who should see an investigation report and when they should be allowed to see it.

At issue now seems to be what the governor’s waiver letter truly meant— as opposed to private agreements that may have happened between his attorneys and the SC Ethics Commission. In the first round of arguments, Chief Justice Toal described Sanford’s letter/press release as “a public waiver with a private reservation.”

Listen to Chief Justice Toal and Justice Donald Beatty questioned attorney-for-Sanford Kevin Hall on the subject of the waiver letter.

The ethics commission contends that Sanford’s public waiver letter is the official, all encompassing waiver. Hayden says the investigation will not be complete until this November.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Legislature, News, Politics & Government
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