• Politics & Government
  • Legislature
  • Crime & Courts
  • Business
  • Palmetto Primary

South Carolina Radio Network

  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Reporters
  • Affiliates
  • Affiliate Support
  • Sports
  • Archives
  • PostsComments
You are here: Home / Archives for Lindsay Street

Seismologist: The Valentine’s Day quake deserves (a little) respect

February 17, 2014 By Lindsay Street

It’s the sort of event that is easy to joke about in retrospect. After all, the Valentine’s Day earthquake that struck the heart of Palmetto State rumbled through and left structures mostly unscathed.

Even seismologists don’t seem to give it much respect.

“If you had felt the earth move on Valentine’s Day, it may not have been you,” College of Charleston associate professor of geology Steve Jaume joked Monday.

Adding to the belittling of the event where dozens of pictures of knocked-over lamps were paired on social media with mock promises to rebuild, the 4.1 magnitude earthquake is called a “light earthquake,” according to seismology language.

But Jaume said, like a near-miss by a hurricane or — say — the entire state shutting down twice in two weeks for an ice storm, there are lessons to learn from this event: First, there is the potential for earthquakes across much of the state, not just along fault lines in the Lowcountry. Second: Jaume says it’s what is under your feet that matters.

According to the seismologist, Union County experienced a 5-magnitude earthquake in 1913, which is relatively recently in geology terms.

“People just haven’t experienced it recently,” Jaume said. “They don’t happen as often in the Upstate (or Midlands) as they do in the Summerville area but there actually have been some other ones.”

The other big takeaway: if the same size quake struck the notorious Middleton Fault — which shook and leveled much of the Charleston area in 1886 — the Lowcountry likely would have suffered damage.

And that’s due to what the fault is shaking.

“We would expect, for the same size earthquake, proportionally more damage here in the Lowcountry,” Jaume said. “They have hard rock very near the surface and thin to no sediment on top of it (in the Midlands). Down here, we have several thousand feet (of sediment) underneath the surface … For a specific earthquake, where you are and what’s under your feet matters.” 

While the little earthquake deserves a little respect, Jaume warned against extrapolating any predictions from the event.

“When you have one earthquake it does not mean it’s a harbinger of something bigger coming. Sometimes we find out things in retrospect — and that’s the problem, in retrospect — we’ll find out they were fore-shocks to a bigger earthquake but when there’s one earthquake we cannot tell simply by its occurrence that it’s telling you something about the future,” Jaume said. “Hurricanes and volcanoes are some of the more predictable ones… Earthquakes, no. Earthquakes, most of the time, are a surprise.”

Filed Under: Featured, News Tagged With: Midlands Earthquake, SC Earthquake, Steve Jaume

Ag Commissioner: Brevity of winter storm could minimize impact to SC farmers

February 17, 2014 By Lindsay Street

Ice coating trees last week during Winter Storm Pax will likely affect the timber industry, according to Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers.

Ice coating trees last week during Winter Storm Pax will likely affect the timber industry, according to Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers.

The state’s agriculture division is tallying the cost of last week’s severe winter weather on key crops like timber, fruit trees and more.

But as far as damaging storms go, Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers said he’s is optimistic most S.C. farmers face did not incur a 30-percent loss or more of crops needed to qualify for assistance from the state, although a full assessment is expected in the coming days. Weathers said Winter Storm Pax likely won’t hurt consumer wallets at the grocery store.

“Once we assess the impact of the ice is when we will know the financial impact of this storm,” Weathers told South Carolina Radio Network. “(But) I don’t think the customer will see much of an impact in terms of disruption of supply or a price impact from this weather impact like perhaps we see in something that’s prolonged like a drought or last summer’s excessive rain. It seems like water is always our issue whether it’s not enough or too much or too heavy or too something.”

During the storm some of the most pressing concerns for farmers were halts in deliveries for livestock feed and loss of power for sensitive dairy products. Generators were needed to keep young stock warm in some cases, Weathers said.

In the aftermath of the storm, Weathers said timber — especially grown near the I-95 corridor — might be hardest hit of South Carolina’s key crops. He said nut trees and fruiting trees like peaches probably faced the same conditions as the pines that snapped under the weight of ice last week, but his agency won’t have a full grasp of that impact for another week or so.

The S.C. Forestry Commission will make flyovers this week to assess timber damage, he said.

The state’s wheat and strawberry crops should be unaffected, Weathers said.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Featured, News Tagged With: Hugh Weathers, SC Agriculture

SCHP: 276 stranded motorists, 1 weather-related fatality during winter storm

February 13, 2014 By Lindsay Street

A downed tree sprawled across Interstate 26 westbound near Interstate 95 Thursday morning.

A downed tree sprawled across Interstate 26 westbound near Interstate 95 Thursday morning.

More than 3,000 calls for service were made to S.C. Highway Patrol from 6 p.m. Tuesday to 6 a.m. Thursday, according to patrol spokesman Sgt. Bob Beres.

Beres said his agency responded to one weather-related fatality, where a motorist struck a parked S.C. Department of Natural Resources vehicle that was assisting another motorist on Interstate 95 in Clarendon County. Ten deaths have been reported throughout the Southeast.

Beres gave these stark numbers to South Carolina Radio Network that show winter storm Pax’s icy grip across the state, in the hours from 6 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday:

  • 925 weather-related calls for service; to put that in perspective, this time last year, SCHP responded to 171 calls for service
  • 366 trees in roadway
  • 61 abandoned vehicles
  • 276 stranded motorists

He said trees in the roadway plague much of the state, and that many troopers are working to clear roads.

Beres said continued icy secondary roads in the Midlands mean non-essential works should keep off the roads through Thursday. The Ravenel bridge in Charleston County is still closed due to falling ice. The Upstate is still seeing mostly snow.

“We’re discouraging people to keep off the roadways today … we’re not seeing signs of it melting any time soon,” Beres said.

Filed Under: Featured, News, Transportation, Weather Tagged With: Bob Beres, SC Highway Patrol, Winter Storm Pax

Upstate lawmaker seeks to keep Darwinism from being taught as sole theory

February 12, 2014 By Lindsay Street

Fair-headshot

Greenville Sen. Mike Fair. (File photo)

An education subcommittee will wait and review an update to school science curriculum after a state senator blocked it from moving forward Monday.

Greenville Republican Sen. Mike Fair told South Carolina Radio Network he did not block the update because he believes natural selection is false — but because he doubts Charles Darwin’s evolution and wants all theories, including intelligent design, to be taught alongside the 19th century naturalist’s teachings.

Fair sits on the Education Oversight Committee, which was addressing the first update to science curriculum in five years. Since blocking the natural selection portion, Fair hasn’t received much blowback personally. He said he’s received one email “typical” of those who do not consider other theories valid for creation. He said his actions Monday represent more South Carolinians than that one email.

“Some of us have our minds so closed people on my side of the issue and the other side of the issue are so closed that it’s hard to work out a good debate based on scientific principles that are controversial,” Fair said. “Natural selection is observable. But what I said yesterday (Monday) was natural selection means more to a science classroom teacher than it should mean … It’s hard for me to sit back and just passively allow those things to go by when I know it’s not the truth.”

In other words, Fair said it should not be the teacher’s job to teach creation origins from Darwin’s perspective because that theory is flawed, even though evolution on a micro-level should still be taught. Fair said he would be satisfied if students were presented all theories and allowed to debate the pros and cons of each theory from a scientific perspective.

Fair told South Carolina Radio Network that he’s not certain that the current language sought to bring Darwin’s teachings to the creation of level, but wanted to ensure that it didn’t.

Filed Under: Education, Featured, Legislature, News Tagged With: Charles Darwin, Education Oversight Committee, Mike Fair, SC Senate, SC Teaches Evolution

New report urges legislative action to encourage alternative energy in SC

February 11, 2014 By Lindsay Street

A new report says that new legislation could help expand solar in the state.

A new report says that new legislation could help expand solar in the state.

South Carolina lawmakers must make it easier for alternative energy users to tap into the grid, according to a new report by the state’s Energy Advisory Council.

Lawmakers tapped the council to produce the report , which was released on Feb. 3 to the State Regulation of Public Utilities Review Committee.

“Distributed generation” was the report’s main topic, and is defined as the production of energy by outside a utility company but still connected to the grid  (think: solar panels on a residential home).

According to the report, distributed generation creates problems for utility companies because there is no system to buy surplus energy to put back into the grid, and there is no set way for a user to only use the company’s energy when the alternative source is not available.

The Coastal Conservation League contributed to the report.

“Solar is now competitive with traditional resources. We’re going to see a lot more of it in the future and it’s incumbent upon our elected officials to respond to both the opportunities and the challenges with changed to our current policy framework that makes sense for this state. We’re not going to be able to continue business as usual and accommodate this resource, we’ve got to make changes. And if we do it right then solar is going to be a really good thing for South Carolina,” the conservation group’s Energy and Climate Director Hamilton Davis told South Carolina Radio Network. “Right now we are working with the utilities and with the solar industries to come up with a new piece of legislation yet to be introduced that will move the ball forward significantly in the next few years on solar in South Carolina.”

But while contributors to the report urge action, one lawmaker on the committee said studying South Carolina’s neighbors and doing things right comes first.

“We need to do it right the first time. We need to learn from others,” state Rep. Michael Forrester, R-Spartanburg, said. “There was some mention in this report that we might could look at other states. There are some that have probably done some good things and some that have done some bad things, but look at other states and see what are some best practices and let’s build our network right the first time.” Forrester is a former vice president of Piedmont Natural Gas Co.’s South Carolina operations.

“Down the road, we figure this out, it will allow people to go on. If they want to do solar, they still have backup but… we will figure out what the cost should be (for the backup). Everyone will benefit and it won’t be a burden on any one ratepayer.”

One lawmaker has proposed legislation this session that would encourage utility companies to lease solar panels to customers.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Featured, Legislature, News Tagged With: Coastal Conservation League, Energy Advisory Council, Hamilton Davis, Michael Forrester, SC Alternative Energy, Solar Energy, State Regulation of Public Utilities Review Committee

Organizer: New party outnumbers Democrats, Republicans at Winthrop

February 10, 2014 By Lindsay Street

Winthrop Young Americans President Josh Demarest. (Photo: http://winthropyoungamericans.weebly.com/)

Winthrop Young Americans President Josh Demarest. (Photo: http://winthropyoungamericans.weebly.com/)

College students aren’t known for their reliability at voting time, but a new political party in South Carolina is banking on that being a symptom of a lack of choices rather than apathy.

The American Party received its certification in the state in late January, and founders — two former gubernatorial candidates, a Republican and a Democrat — have announced the party will have a convention in the coming months for selecting candidates.

At Winthrop University, Young Americans President Josh Demarest said his organization already outnumbers both organizations for young Republicans and young Democrats. He said the count is at 85, but that doesn’t represent every person who attends meetings or volunteers with the group. He said other Young American organizations are looking to start up at Clemson University, University of South Carolina, and Coastal Carolina.

Demarest said while many on campus give organizations affiliated with either party a wide berth, that isn’t so with the American Party, which is rooted in middle-ground politics and firm term limits.

“People will come up to me … because people are fed up with the two major parties,” Demarest told South Carolina Radio Network. “I can’t tell you how many people I’ve talked to who didn’t bother voting because they didn’t like either candidate and they just didn’t want to vote for either of them because they didn’t think that either of them would do a good job.”

He called the preconceived notion that college students are apathetic about politics a “faulty assumption.”

“My generation is still young enough to want to do something different than being entrenched in party politics and I think it’s ripe for other party options,” Demarest said.

Filed Under: Featured, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: American Party, Josh Demarest

Legislation would increase penalties for stolen prescription medication

February 7, 2014 By Lindsay Street

Oconee Sen. Thomas Alexander, right, introduced legislation to better prosecute prescription drug thefts. Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell joined the senator Thursday in urging the legislation be passed.

Oconee Sen. Thomas Alexander, right, introduced legislation to better prosecute prescription drug thefts. Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell joined the senator Thursday in urging the legislation be passed.

South Carolina’s chief advocate for aging South Carolinians, Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell, joined state Sen. Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, Thursday to bring a new bill to lawmakers. The legislation would make stealing prescription medication from the elderly a felony punishable by time in prison.

According to McConnell, South Carolina ranks 23rd in the nation for prescription overdose deaths, and that number will likely climb as the state’s senior population is expected to double in the coming years. McConnell said leaving prescription thefts unpunished with the increase in seniors would be like “a picnic on an ant hill.” He said the illegal activity hurts seniors deprived of their medication, and adds to a growing addiction problem.

“We just need to make it clean, clear and simple so that violators will be prosecuted and that seniors will be protected from the temptation that exists for others to rob them of their medicine and painkillers that they need,” McConnell said. “It is our intention to provide effective tools to law enforcement community and the solicitors of South Carolina to allow them to charge arrest and pros those who illegally possess and deal with the use and sale of other people’s prescriptions.”

Alexander said the new bill complements existing law, but makes it easier for law enforcement to prosecute lawbreakers. A major change would make the crime punishable not by weight of the drug, but by amount of pills. Another change is increasing the fines and including jail time in the legislation.

“Penalties (now) are such that they can sell two or three pills and make the amount of the fine. It’s the cost of doing business for them, rather than a crime,” Alexander said.

Filed Under: Featured, Legislature, News Tagged With: Glenn McConnell, Prescription Drug Charges, Thomas Alexander

SC tax agency rules married gay couples must file individually

February 6, 2014 By Lindsay Street

ReturnThe S.C. Department of Revenue made its final ruling on tax filings for legally married gay couples living in the state: those couples must file as single, despite filing jointly under federal law.

According to the tax agency, the decision is based on the state’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between one man and one woman.

S.C. Equality spearheaded an effort to change the proposed rule in January, attending a public meeting with staff. SCDOR received hundreds of emails protesting the rule, according to its staff. Challengers to the rule say it will cost same-sex couples more money to file their returns, and cost the state more money to process the returns.

While the decision was being made, the tax agency asked couples to wait to file taxes. The tax agency released a draft conclusion earlier this year:

“South Carolina does not recognize same-sex marriages. Same-sex couples considered married for federal income tax purposes must use a filing status of single or, if applicable, head of household for South Carolina income tax purposes and prepare their South Carolina returns as though they are single.”

Last week, a top tax lawyer in the state spoke to South Carolina Radio Network and said the ruling is legal.

S.C. Equality released a statement on the official ruling Thursday.

“Through SCDOR’s ruling, South Carolina is forcing all legally married same-sex couples to lie on their tax forms. It is like asking us to take off our wedding rings and pretend just this once, that we are not actually married and ignore our legally binding commit to the person we love, as least for tax purposes.” Executive Director Ryan Wilson said in the statement. “This separate and unequal system for same-sex couples will cost the State of South Carolina tax payers thousands of dollars to process all these additional paper returns and when the IRS flags these returns for audit, will cause an administrative nightmare for SCDOR — something for which our state budget is not currently prepared to pay.”

Wilson’s statement concluded with asking supporters to get behind a proposed bill that would redefine gender terms of marriage in the state, H.4461. The bill’s champion, Rep. Todd Rutherford, also proposed another bill, H.4460, this session that would bring the definition of marriage back before voters in a November referendum.

 

 

Filed Under: Featured, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: Ryan Wilson, SC Department of Revenue, SC Equality, SC Gay Marriage

Democrat, Republican team up to create a third party in South Carolina

February 5, 2014 By Lindsay Street

The American Party headed by former politician Jim Rex earned 16,000 signatures to appear on the 2014 ballot.

The American Party headed by former politician Jim Rex earned 16,000 signatures to appear on the 2014 ballot.

What happens when you put aside divisive issues, and work with others to find common ground?

According to Republican Oscar Lovelace and Democrat Jim Rex, you get the American Party. Both men, who have sought their former party’s nomination in statewide elections, have founded South Carolina’s newest third party. Former educator Rex served as the state’s Superintendent of Education 2007-2011 and ran for governor in 2010, losing his Democratic Party bid against state Sen. Vincent Sheheen. Sheheen later lost to Gov. Nikki Haley in the general election. Family physician Lovelace ran against then-Gov. Mark Sanford in 2006, losing in the GOP primary.

The American Party recently received the green light to be on the ballot this year, and is planning a convention in late spring, according to its founders. The party gathered 16,000 signatures over the last few months; only 10,000 signatures are required for certification in the state. Whether or not their candidates will be “fusion candidates” from either party is not decided yet, Lovelace said.

No single issue centralizes the party — like libertarians tout less government intervention and Green Party members tout environmental concerns. The common theme appears to be common ground. Or as Rex puts it, a party for moderates on all sides and with “no litmus test.”

“What are we going to need to do as a nation to have a globally competitive economy. We’re obviously going to have to be energy efficient, we’re obviously going to have to have a well-trained, well-educated population because that’s who we’re competing with, other populations. We’re obviously going to have comprehensive tax reform: we have a system now that doesn’t work that doesn’t incentivize savings and work and investments. It’s so complicated the average citizen can’t understand it. It’s unfair. Those are legitimate issues. Those focus on the big important issues we face as a nation,” Rex said. “Our candidates will work toward it in the middle of the aisle, in the middle of the field, not by standing at the end zone shouting names at one another.”

Another theme for American Party candidates will be adherence to term limits. He said the party’s candidates will impose term limits on themselves.

“You can have voter remorse … and you’ll be saying that likely for 20 or 30 years if they decide to stay in there. You can actually have a lifetime mistake,” Rex said. He added that 95 percent of incumbent win reelection so political answers that say “voters decide a politician’s term limits” speaks more to the system than of the candidate.

Last year, Rex and Lovelace announced they would create a third party, calling it the Free Citizens Party.

Filed Under: Featured, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: American Party, Jim Rex, Oscar Lovelace

Truthful Tuesday movement focuses on SC denial of Medicaid expansion

February 4, 2014 By Lindsay Street

truthful tuesdayAbout 30 people gathered at the S.C. Statehouse Tuesday to continue the new progressive movement called Truthful Tuesday. The topic of the week was expanding Medicaid through the federal government’s Affordable Healthcare Act, also known as Obamacare.

Several speakers took the lectern, telling their stories of being unable to attain healthcare services or of mounting debt by medical expenses.

Speakers argued that the state could afford the expansion even after the federal government stops paying 100 percent, since the state will only need to pay 10 percent of that expansion thereafter. One speaker proposed eliminating a flat sales tax for luxury items like yachts to pay for the expansion.

The movement’s rallying cry is “Enough is enough.”

Truthful Tuesday is South Carolina’s version of Moral Monday, a movement that has caught on in North Carolina, yet has struggled to gain steam in Georgia. The shift in moniker is to accommodate the legislative schedule in the state. The movement kicked off Jan. 14 at the Statehouse. The following week, Moral Monday founder Rev. William Barber spoke during the King Day at the Dome Celebration.

See a video of Tuesday’s rally here featuring the Rev. Nelson B. Rivers III:

Filed Under: Featured, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: Enough is Enough, SC Progressives, SC Statehouse, Truthful Tuesday

Next Page »
TwitterFacebookYoutube

Featured News

SCRN Midday Newscast (AUDIO)

Proposal would allow more medical professionals to use telemedicine in SC

First ClemsonLIFE student elected to Student Senate

SCRN Evening Newscast (AUDIO)

Ex-Walhalla police chief accused of demanding prescription drugs from officers, citizens

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

RSS Sports

  • #STRecruiting Notebook: Monday Update….
  • USC baseball recap: With LSU sweep, Gamecocks say they’re not dead yet (AUDIO)
  • Clemson baseball sweeps Wake Forest to get back on track in ACC play (AUDIO)
  • #STRecruiting: Lattimore scores again for the Gamecocks
  • #STRecruiting: DB Sheridan Jones commits to Clemson (AUDIO)

Copyright © 2018 · Learfield News & Ag, LLC