State Attorney General Henry McMaster says he is reviewing the “voluminous” investigative report by the State Ethics Commission on Governor Mark Sanford’s use of state funds for travel. In the document it states that there were 18 instances in which the governor flew first or business class in violation to state law. Also, on 10 other occasions, the report says Sanford used campaign funds, which total about $3,000, to pay for personal expenses, also violating state law. There were nine instances when Sanford used state aircraft for personal use with himself, as well as other family members. The governor faces 37 violations in all. If found guilty on all charges, Sanford could have up to $74,000 in fines.
ETV Commission ratifies lease of broadband spectrum
November 26, 2009 By
At its quarterly meeting held on November 19, the South Carolina ETV Commission voted to ratify the Educational Broadband Service lease agreements.
That vote was the final step in allowing the excess capacity of ETV’s Educational Broadband Service spectrum to be leased to two telecommunications companies, Clearwire Spectrum Holdings and DigitalBridge Spectrum Corp.
ETV officials say through the 30-year, $142.7 million contracts, the companies will begin the task of building the infrastructure necessary to expand wireless broadband connectivity throughout South Carolina. The remaining five percent of spectrum will remain under ETV’s control to providing educational services to South Carolina schools.
A special Commission of state lawmakers negotiated those agreements.
ETV Commission Chairman Robert Rainey says his group will work with the Budget and Control Board and both spectrum vendors. Rainey says it will greatly benefit the citizens of South Carolina for many years to come.
But the broadband leasing has its critics, who worry about some poor, rural pockets of the state being properly served, and they say the $142 million contracts are still a small fraction of the value of what the spectrum may be worth in 20 years. And critics worry that once the companies develop the necessary infrastructure, South Carolina taxpayers may end up paying those companies more than they should for use of the spectrum they once controlled.
ETV’s Education Broadband Spectrum is completely separate from ETV’s regular broadcast channels.
College of Charleston documentary highlights SC waterway
November 26, 2009 By
Thursday night SCETV will air “Slow Ride: The Life and Times along the SC Intercoastal Waterway.” The Center for Documentary at the College of Charleston’s Tim Fennell produced and directed the film and says it’s a story behind South Carolina’s waterway and various explorations.
“We focus on the South Carolina coast, and the interesting thing about it is it’s more than just a way to get commerce up and down from North Carolina to Georgia and vice versa. It’s people that live along the route, and people that work and live along the route, and also maybe people that do research along the route and also a people and things kind of thing,” says Fennell.
The documentary was filmed in 2008. Fennell highlights one main feature of the film: “One highlight is the researchers that go up and down the waterway and look for pre-civil war rice-mill remnants and they just take the boat and they look for high ground. There’s no really maps that existed then from the pre-civil war era, just a couple of things they can go by. They’ll see some high ground and a couple of trees, and basically ram their boats into the reeds, there’s no paths, just truck through the reeds and they check and see if there are any rice-mill chimneys are old boilers,” says Fennell. [Read more...]
