For the first time in nearly three decades, voters in South Carolina have selected a Democratic candidate to represent them in the United States Senate. Pediatrician Annie Andrews (D) defeated Darline Graham (R) , the sister of longtime Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), who filled his vacant seat earlier this year when he unexpectedly passed away. Unlike her brother…
Source
Millions of people across the U.S. are angry at their utilities. Electricity costs are rising while CEOs and Wall Street investors salivate over the booming energy demand from data centers. Now, we could be entering a new and ominous stage of utility power: the rise of the corporate mega-utility. On May 18, Florida-based NextEra Energy, owner of the largest electric utility in the U.S.
Source
A South Carolina federal judge ruled last week that the Trump administration’s termination of hundreds of environmental justice grants was illegal, a decision that could impact $20 million in federal funding rescinded from the Walker River Paiute Tribe in Nevada. The Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to terminate the $2.8 billion Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program…
Source
Some Republican lawmakers have routinely proposed criminally prosecuting women for getting abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, despite bipartisan condemnation and criticism from national anti-abortion organizations. These bills never made it to the finish line, but they keep circulating in legislatures across the country. So-called “abortion abolitionists” who…
Source
In mid-January, an unassuming man in khakis and a button-down shirt walked to a wooden lectern at a school board meeting in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. Most chairs in the audience were empty. The man, Tim Smith, was the only person signed up to speak during public comments. He had five minutes. “I trust that each one of you had a good Christmas and New Year’s,” he began.
Source
As a rare winter storm bore down on South Carolina, bringing conditions that historically paralyze the state for days, local officials in a rural county quietly pushed through a massive $2.4 billion data center without most residents knowing it was even on the table. “There was a public meeting, which most were unaware of,” Jessie Chandler, a resident of rural Marion County, told Capital B…
Source