Sam Aaron

Candidates - if your whole campaign messaging is (1) “I’m endorsed by ______, so vote for me!” or (2) “Dump _______!” — you will lose. Voters want substance. Tell us what you will do. Tell us how you will lead.

A conference committee is scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. today to take up the budget. We're told South Carolina must pass a new budget because agencies need more money for Medicaid, teacher raises, and who knows what else. But here's the question no one seems willing to ask: Why should taxpayers provide more money before agencies use the hundreds of millions they already have sitting in surplus "other funds"? The Department of Education alone has $527.1 million in surplus other funds. That's more than enough to cover the roughly $90 million needed for teacher pay raises. DHHS says it needs an additional $103 million to maintain Medicaid and $53 million for Medicare premium increases, a combined $156 million. Meanwhile, DHHS has $805.4 million in surplus other funds. Why should taxpayers be asked to foot the bill before those funds are put to use? If these agencies already have hundreds of millions sitting in surplus accounts, lawmakers ought to leave the continuing resolution in place and require agencies to dip into the piggy bank before asking taxpayers for another dime. Skip the roughly $1 billion increase in spending this year. Then next year, when lawmakers return to write a budget, use those savings to deliver meaningful tax relief instead.

So America turns 250. That's cute. My local pub is 364 years old.

As we mentioned in the story, Nike places all its its college programs in color categories: Team Crimson, Team University Red, etc Seems like South Carolina is in Team Crimson ... which is close but not USC's exact Pantone 202 color South Carolina garnet ----- Team Crimson

South Carolina’s new fiscal year starts July 1, and lawmakers still haven’t finished the state budget. So far, the budget includes nearly $470 million in earmarks. SCPC’s investigative outlet, The Nerve, requested the detailed underlying House earmark forms through FOIA to find out what lawmakers are actually funding beyond vague labels like “community center.” The House clerk denied the request. The House and Senate reconvene today, but there still hasn’t been another public budget conference meeting since the initial one. That means millions in earmarks could be finalized with little public scrutiny and no meaningful opportunity for taxpayers to weigh in. This process is broken.