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Vigil planned for missing teen

April 19, 2010 By

A vigil for New York teen, Brittanee Drexel, that went missing one year ago from a Myrtle Beach hotel is planned for this weekend. This Saturday, Drexel’s mother is coming to South Carolina for a prayer vigil to honor her daughter.

“We’re doing a march from the Bar Harbor down to the Blue Water Resort and then we will have a candle-lit vigil prayer service,” says Drexel.

Dawn Drexel says she still doesn’t have closure. Police have said they do have several people of interest identified, but no clear answer as to what exactly happened to Brittanee Drexel. The vigil will be this Saturday night at the Bar Harbor Motel in Myrtle Beach.

Filed Under: Accidents & Disasters, News

Spoleto box office opens in Charleston

April 19, 2010 By

The internationally known arts festival, Spoleto U.S.A., opened its box office for in-person sales Monday. Spoleto Marketing Director Paula Edwards says despite the economy, they have high hopes. “Sales have been strong thus far and we are anticipating a very successful season,” says Edwards.

That’s because this year there’s a new draw to the festival.

“The one thing that people seem to be very excited about is one of the festival’s favorite venues, and well-known theater here in Charleston is reopening this year, the Dock Street Theatre. So, people are very interested in that, and ticket sales in that venue have been very, very strong,” says Edwards. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy, News, Recreation & Entertainment

NRC expands inspection at Robinson plant after fires (Audio)

April 19, 2010 By

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission(NRC) has created an special inspection team to further review what caused two fires at the Robinson nuclear plant near Hartsville on March 28.

The plant remains shut down and is now in a planned refueling outage period. The NRC dispatched a three-person specal inspection team to the plant two days later, and deficiencies were found by the inspectors as well as plant officials, deficiencies involving plant operations.

NRC spokesman Roger Hannah says an eight-person Augmented Inspection Team will review other issues, expanding the scope of the plant’s inspection beginning Monday.

(Hannah on plant inspection  MP3  1:57)
Hannah on plant inspection

Hannah says the inspection was expanded to look at how workers handle emergencies at the plant.  He says the fire alert was classified as next to the lowest NRC emergency classification.

The Robinson plant is operated by Progress Energy.

Filed Under: Accidents & Disasters, Energy, News

SC Teacher of the Year: Fund education for economic future

April 19, 2010 By

South Carolina Teacher of the Year Bryan Coburn, a pre-engineering, computer programming and business teacher at Northwestern High School in Rock Hill, says if members of the General Assembly make severe cuts to education as they attempt to deal with revenue shortfall, they’ll create greater problems in the future. He says supporting education year by year is essential to the state’s economic future.

We caught up with him at last week’s education rally at the Statehouse. He says he was amazed at the rally’s turnout, and he hopes that the pressure on state lawmakers will make a difference.

The 19-year teaching veteran says lawmakers need to see the direct connection between education funding and the state’s productivity and financial well being.

With a high quality education, we’ll have better students, and with better students, we’ll have better workers and a better economy.  We will draw businesses.  Some people have spent too much time putting this state down.  South Carolina has been number one in the nation in teacher quality, two years in a row. 

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, Education, Legislature, News

Increased fees and fines help make up budget shortfalls

April 19, 2010 By

The proposed state budget will be debated on the full Senate after staffers work through the details.

South Carolina lawmakers have kept their budget plan to around $5 billion, though the state operated with a $7 bill spending plan two years ago. The way some agencies stayed afloat was with charging fees and fines and selling licenses. This year, the Senate saw that revenue source and increased many of the costs.

Those include : $12 more for car registration fees paid every two years, $5 more for watercraft and upping fishing and hunting licenses by $2.

The State Department of Environmental Control avoided fee increases.

Those alone won’t cover a $600 million budget shortfall, of course, and as written, would be temporary. The bulk of the money saved would come from cuts to agencies—amounting to about $59 million. However, Senate staffers are left with working out the details.

Senate leaders, right now, are saying the budget will be introduced to the full chamber the week of April 26.

Filed Under: Legislature, News, Recreation & Entertainment
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