South Carolina News and Sports
State leaders were dissatified with Washington, DC about a few things this week. William Christopher brings us the voices from the past week at the South Carolina Statehouse.
(Voices from the Statehouse MP3 1:42)
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(This is a regular political feature of SCRN)
Ana Lopez-Defede, Anton Gunn
Lawmakers recognized World Tuberculosis Day at the Statehouse on Wednesda. South Carolina has one of the highest rates of tuberculosis (TB) infection in the nation. In history, the dreaded disease was a pandemic killer until it was better controlled by drugs. Yet it still runs rampant in some countries . University of South Carolina researcher Ana Lopez-Defede says it’s a threat to the U.S. as well, due to the emergence and spread of strains of tuberculosis that are multi-drug resistant. She says there are counties in South Carolina where the death rate from the disease is three times the national average of about ten per 100,000.
(Dr. Lopez-Defede on tuberculosis MP3 1:24)
Dr. Lopez-Defede on tuburculocis
Turberculosis is commonly considered a disease that affects the lungs, but in reality it can affect all parts of the body.
(from press release)
South Carolina’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 12.5% in February from the revised January rate of 12.5%, the State Employment Security Commission reported Friday. January’s preliminary rate was revised to 12.5% from 12.6%.The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated the state’s labor force at 2,175,356 in February, up 1,375 over the revised January level. The estimated number of unemployed decreased by1,035 to 271,140. The national jobless rate also held steady in February at 9.7%.
The non-farm job count increased by 13,000 in February with increases in every major industry division except Construction and Manufacturing. Retail trade added 1,400 positions in February. This was followed by increases in leisure and hospitality (+2,400), professional and business services (+2,400), education and health services (+3,000), and government (+2,500). Construction jobs were down 500 over the month, and manufacturing showed a small loss of 100 jobs. The overall job count for February was 24,100 below the year-ago level.
“We are encouraged by the job gains in most industry divisions as well as the slight downward movement in the number of unemployed in February. Going forward, we are hopeful this direction will continue; nevertheless, we feel this will be a slow and arduous process as the state attempts to recover from the recent recession,” said Samuel Foster, Interim Executive Director of the South Carolina Employment Security Commission.
Brent Nelsen, a Republican candidate for state Superintendent of Education, launched his “Act Now, Improve Education” drive today. Nelsen challenged all South Carolinian’s to get involved in education, and do it now.
“I’m calling on all South Carolinians to do one thing for one child in one school this year. Large things, small things. We need to get churches, civic groups, individuals all involved in schools, to make education the number one priority in South Carolina. We can’t wait for the economy to come back. We can’t wait for test scores to improve. We need to do it now.”
Nelsen spoke to students at Langston Charter Middle School in Greenville and Woodland Heights Elementary in Spartanburg County.
Laurens Representative Jeff Duncan had his day in subcommittee Thursday to defend his bill to assert a state’s right to refuse to follow the new national health care law. When the bill was slated Wednesday to come before a Judiciary subgroup on Thursday, he called on a contingent of Tea Party supporters throughout the state. By 9:00 a.m., the committee room was packed.
Anderson County Tea Party leader Jonathan Hill says he was excited to be at his first subcommittee meeting and to be “part of the process.” He reached fellow activists across the state mainly by email, sending out maps and legislative background. “Our reason for being is first of all to educate people who are waking up to what’s going on and look around and don’t like what they are seeing. A free republic can only survive with an educated populace.”
In spite of Hill’s quiet demeanor, there were people who were impatient with the process, prompting this interchange between Republican Jim Harrison and a witness who demanded that the panel skip the testimony and take a vote:
(Harrison and Tea Party witness MP3 :45)
Harrison interchange with Tea Party speaker MP3
A speaker from the Columbia Tea Party warned legislators to “do the right thing.”
Sue Berkowitz of the Appleseed Legal Justice Center was the only speaker against this proposed amendment to the state’s constitution. She says there are too many uninsured in the state. “There are more than a million South Carolinians who cannot afford not to have coverage, ” she says. “In South Carolina we have 15 percent of our state who live at poverty or below, 20 percent of our children. Over 900,ooo who are uninsured. In fact we do have a history of health care in South Carolina being covered by the government. Those patriotic men and women who are in the military, they get their coverage through TRICARE.”
