Russ McKinney

For the past couple of months a group of state regulators, utility executives, representatives of the state’s fledgling solar energy industry, and environmentalists have been meeting in Columbia trying to come together on a new plan that could determine the future of residential solar energy use in the state.

  According to a recent analysis by the U.S Chamber of Commerce, South Carolina will be among the state’s hit hardest by the looming trade war, threatening the more than $30 Billion dollars in goods exported from the state each year.  The state exports cars, steel products, refrigerators, soybeans and many other goods putting it in the top three states in the country that relies on exports and imports.

According to the U. S. Chamber, almost 580,000  jobs in the state are tied to trade, and there are more than 6,000 companies operating here that export goods around the world.

Lawmakers head toward a perfunctory session with work stalling on next year's state budget and V.C. Summer Nuclear bills.

This year's session of the General Assembly has adjourned, but lawmakers will return to Columbia for unfinished business.

The SC General Assembly heads towards its' final week of the 2018 session. Key bills have yet to pass, but Democrats in the State Senate managed to kill a sweeping anti-abortion bill.

The State House and Senate remain at odds over reducing SCE&G's nuclear charge, and the state will soon have a new Child Advocate.

The S.C. General Assembly has moved to cut SCE&G's nuclear rate, and prison violence sparks calls for action.

The SC Senate approves next year's $8 Billion state budget, and a major setback for proponents of solar energy in the state.

Action on the future of Santee Cooper, and the future solar energy industry were debated by the SC House of Representatives this week.

Fallout from the V.C. Summer nuclear fiasco dominated action at the State House this week.

Keeping schools safe, and passage of a new state "liquor bill" highlight action at the Statehouse this week.

The S.C. House of Representatives approves next year's $8 Billion state budget package, and gun safety measures advance in the State Senate.

Half way through the 2018 session of the S.C General Assembly, members of the House and Senate are at odds concerning the V.C. Summer Nuclear project, and the Senate has passed a bill re-instating the use of the 'electric chair' for death sentences.

Gun safety advocates were out in force at the Statehouse this week, and leaders of the House of Representatives express frustration with the State Senate over the V.C. Summer Nuclear issue.

A major anti-abortion bill is headed for debate in the Senate, and work is underway on next year's almost nine-billion-dollar state budget.

More fallout from the ongoing Statehouse corruption probe, and the S.C. Senate moves to give state regulators more time to consider SCANA Corp and Dominion Energy's request to continue to charge ratepayers for the failed V.C. Summer nuclear project.

This week the issue of the failed V.C. Summer nuclear project moved from the State House of Representatives to the Senate, and a controversial bill prohibiting cities and counties from banning plastic bags being sold is passed by the  House.

The S.C. House this week passed what's expected to be the most important piece of legislation to be considered during the 2018  legislative session, a repeal of the 2007 Base Load Review Act.

Gov. Henry McMaster delivers his first State of the State Address to the SC General Assembly, and as expected fallout from the V.C. Summer nuclear debacle is shaping up to be the dominant issue for this years' legislative session.

Wintry weather cut this week's session of the SC General Assembly short, but lawmakers had plenty of questions for the CEO of Dominion Energy.  Domion Energy has proposed to buy SCANA Corp., the parent company of South Carolina Electric and Gas.

State lawmakers returned to Columbia this week for the 2018 session of the S.C. General Assembly. Fallout from last summer's collapse of the V.C. Nuclear is expected to dominate this year's session.  Also, this week the House of Representatives wasted little time in overriding Gov. Henry McMaster's veto of some $20 million dollars for new school buses.

Doug Echols concludes his 20 year tenure as Mayor of Rock Hill, SC on Jan. 8, 2018.  He is the longest serving Mayor in Rock Hill history.  Attorney and former City Council member John Gettys assumes the Mayor's Office.  Rock Hill is a City on the move.  It is now the fifth largest in the state, and is considered a model for successful planned growth.

Next week state officials expect the U.S. Census Bureau to officially estimate that the state’s population has passed the five million mark.  In fact, they believe the state reached that milestone back on June 8th.  Officials estimate that the state is growing by 157 people a day making it one of the fastest growing states in the country.  And it’s growing really fast.  It took 67 years for the state to grow by a million people, from one million to two million. It took just 17 years though to grow from four million to five million people.

The five major interstate highways that crisscross South Carolina are part of its social and economic lifeblood.  Since 1982, when Ronald Reagan was President, there have been plans for a sixth interstate, I-73 which would run from the North Carolina-South Carolina state line near Bennettsville through the Pee Dee to the tourist Mecca of Myrtle Beach. Over the years there have been a number of proposed routes for the new federal highway, questions about how best to pay for it, and concerns raised by environmental groups.

The curtain surrounding the ongoing probe into alleged Statehouse corruption was raised some this week as special prosecutor David Pascoe alleged for the first time in open court that the powerful Republican political consultant, Richard Quinn, Sr. is at the center of what he called a “sphere of unlawful influence over elected officials." Quinn and four current and former legislators were indicted last week on criminal conspiracy charges.

The political firestorm surrounding the failed V-C Summer nuclear project intensified this week with the release of a private document containing the results of a critical audit of the management of the mammoth construction project.

This week’s momentous decision by South Carolina Electric and Gas Company and Santee Cooper to abandon a project to build two, new nuclear reactors after spending billions of dollars, could cause economic and political ramifications for the state that could last years.

It is believed that the final price tag for the project could have ended end up being $25 Billion. It’s original projected cost was $10 Billion. 

The saga of the problem plagued V.C. Summer nuclear project continues, but its’ future will be determined by some critical decisions expected to be made over the next several months.

Two new Westinghouse reactors are under construction by SCE&G and state-owned utility Santee Cooper at SCE&G’s Summer plant some 25 miles north of Columbia in Fairfield County.

Last week’s daring escape by an inmate at a maximum security state prison has brought the issue of prisoners having smuggled cell phones behind bars to the forefront.

Authorities say that 46 year old Jimmy Causey, who was serving a life sentence for kidnapping, used contraband cell phones to aid in his escape from Lieber Correctional Center near Ridgeville in Dorchester County.

Officials say cellphones allow easy ways for prisoners to stay in touch with the outside world, and can even allow them to continue to be involved in criminal activities.