Press Time is moving on up to the main site, www.CharlestonCityPaper.com. Click here and you can RSS the “News” section to get the same fun, smart (enough) coverage you’ve come to expect here at Press Time, as well as the in-depth reporting we produce in our weekly edition [...]
Here’s the latest results. The survey is taking a week off in advance of Easter (to avoid a really inappropriate question about Christ).
1. The 32nd Annual Cooper River Bridge Run is this Sat., April 4. It’s a 10K run that starts in Mt. Pleasant and ends on the other side [...]
S.C. Senate leader Glenn McConnell is raising his bet on reforming the state’s stringent gaming laws. Last week, McConnell introduced a new bill (S. 628) that would completely rewrite the state’s lottery and gambling laws, as opposed to two minor changes he’d proposed a few weeks earlier.
Like the first [...]
A startled horse in Downtown Charleston overturned a carriage and bent a stop sign down to the ground, according to a police report.
Near 10 a.m. on March 26, a Classic Carriage Tours driver was turning the corner at Market and Anson streets when she says the horse was startled by [...]
Rep. Wendell Gilliard (D-Charleston) has proposed a study to determine how the recession is impacting the state’s homeless population, including the possible use of tents for those turned away from crowded shelters.
Introduced last week, H. 3801 would require a study of the number of homeless in the state and [...]
photos by Greg Hambrick
Gov. Mark Sanford has been facing pressure from Statehouse leaders and local elected officials to take $700 million in federal stimulus aid, but the calls today came from Charleston residents.
More than 70 Charlestonians gathered at a peninsula rally to plead with Sanford to [...]
Mt. Pleasant Mayor Harry Hallman has penned an appeal to Gov. Mark Sanford, asking him to accept $700 million in federal stimulus aid.
Sanford has said he plans to refuse the money. In a letter sent late last month, Hallman told the governor that he understood the desire to stand on [...]
This week, we look at the Cooper River Bridge Run, South Carolina’s 11 percent unemployment rate, Madonna’s baby drama (she just came on my iPod as I was typing this up — creepy), and just how crappy our March Madness bracket is looking (Clue: Only the trash man knows [...]
More than 50 local community leaders, pastors, and citizens came out Monday to oppose a new effort for tax credits to go toward private school education and to call out their friend Sen. Robert Ford for introducing the measure.
Ford (D-Charleston) is one of the only members of the Legislative Black [...]
Here are the unofficial results. You can still take the survey and see all the prospective answers.
1. It’s Charleston Fashion Week. Last year’s event drew national attention when a shop owner fell through the floor. What will be this year’s YouTube phenomenon?
D. In an attempt to [...]
Two events coming up for those who don’t get enough stimulus chatter from Rachel Maddow and/or Sean Hannity:
Support the Stimulus Rally
12:15 to 1:15 p.m.
Tuesday, March 31
Brittlebank Park, 180 Lockwood Blvd., Charleston
StimulusRally@gmail.com
But if that’s not your thing:
Charleston Tax Day Tea Party
Hosted by Lowcountry Young Republicans and the Charleston County Republican Party
5-10 [...]
UPDATE: The family will receive friends from 4-7 p.m. Friday, March 27 at the J. Henry Stuhr Downtown Chapel, 232 Calhoun St.
Following up on the news last night of the death of Bill Moore, a College of Charleston political science professor and frequent City Paper source, Nancy Barrood forwarded [...]
UPDATE: The family will receive friends from 4-7 p.m. Friday, March 27 at the J. Henry Stuhr Downtown Chapel, 232 Calhoun St.
William Moore, known in our pages for his political insights and at College of Charleston basketball games as the voice of the Cougars, died this afternoon, according to a [...]
Charleston has always had the reputation of being a drinking town. These days, it may be more accurate to call it a drinking enforcement town.
In a $210,000 grant request for two additional DUI officers, a patrol car, and other equipment, the Charleston Police Department lays out the numbers of what [...]
Another question from this week’s Press Time survey:
It’s Charleston Fashion Week. Last year’s event drew national attention when a shop owner fell through the floor. What will be this year’s YouTube phenomenon?
A. When skin tone is presented as the new black, a model mistakenly forgets her outfit.
D. In an [...]
State Senators held a public hearing this evening about two bills proposed by Senate leader Glenn McConnell (R-S.C.). One would make charity casino nights legal. The other would put a measure on the ballot to legalize charity raffles.
The first bill would also correct the state’s antiquated gaming laws, [...]
Four new questions in the weekly Press Time Survey. This week we look at the Charleston Fashion Week, the Ravenel Cocaine Scandal, and the Wal-Mart Hoax.
To kick things off this week, we’ve got a Sanford stimulus question with a create your own answer slot. We’ll print our favs at [...]
Ugh. Recovering from a b-day weekend. Here’s a look at last week’s survey results. This week’s survey should be up by the end of the day.
1. A new billboard campaign along Interstate 26 highlights the poor water conditions in third world countries (www.watermissions.org), showing a child who has never had [...]
Yes, we can report that the socialites on the Charleston Peninsula who have been holding their collective breath and praying they aren’t suspects in the Ravenel cocaine case can hold a big party sometime in 2012 (drug-free, of course). Ravenel was indicted in June 2007 of passing out cocaine [...]
Super busy today, but I thought I’d throw this out there.
City Councilmen Aubrey Alexander, Larry Shirley, and Gary White have been in Washington this week for a municipal convention and to sit down with our S.C. delegation. Topics have included Spring/Fishburne drainage, commuter rail, energy, and roads.
No word on Seersucker [...]
Reviewing the list of 79 mayors who have supported Charleston Mayor Joe Riley and his call for the Gov. Mark Sanford to actually spend $700 million in federal stimulus aid (instead of Sanford’s proposal to pay off debt or refuse the money), we noticed that Isle of Palms Mayor [...]
Quick update on the presentation by the Angel Oak Village developers next week. The project has upset some fans of the really old tree who are worried about the proximity. Developers have agreed to a substantial buffer, but it hasn’t assuaged fears that the tree’s health will be [...]
Seventy-seven South Carolina mayors have now signed a letter begging the governor, the state legislature, and that excited person standing beside Howie Mandel to take the deal — well, maybe just the first two.
Gov. Mark Sanford announced earlier this month that he wanted to spend $700 million of the [...]
Save The Angel Oak is ringing the alarm again in its fight against Angel Oak Village, a private development planned near the very very very old tree. The developers, their experts, and city officials have repeatedly said that the development will provide enough of a [...]
An amendment to the federal economic stimulus make the state legislature the final word on accepting the money may be illegal, according to a McClatchy story today.
Gov. Mark Sanford has said that he’ll refuse up to $700 million of the state’s take if he can’t apply it toward [...]
I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but it can actually help your odds in the office Final Four pool if you have absolutely no idea about basketball. Feel embarrassed by your lack of hoops knowledge? This exchange from yesterday might help:
Press Time: Are you going to do a bracket for [...]
Politics is absolutely a “What have you done for me lately?” profession. It’s a problem when you, the politician, did something great last year, but nobody remembers. But it’s an asset when you make a horrible mistake in the last crisis and everybody is too busy worrying about the current [...]
The online news site gave a round of calls to the big political strategists in the state to gauge reaction on a potential primary challenge form Carroll Campbell III for Congressman Henry Brown’s 1st congressional seat. Brown’s office suggests he will be running. I’d say that Campbell’s early [...]
Charleston County Councilman Paul Thurmond says he doesn’t want to run against Congressman Henry Brown, a fellow Republican who is already facing potential primary challenges from others in the party.
Carroll Campbell announced last week that he is considering a run against fellow Brown for the 1st Congressional District seat. [...]
Green Drinks Charleston is hosting its first “Carrotmob” on Sat., April 11. Carrotmob is a group of organized consumers who buy products to reward businesses that are making socially responsible decisions.
“Think of it as the opposite of a boycott with a little healthy competition thrown in the mix,” says Jason [...]
The new weekly survey is up. Here’s a sample question and a few of the possible answers. For the full question and others, go take the survey.
The newsstand price for the Post and Courier has increased from 50 cents to 75 cents. What will you get for the [...]
After giving out a bajillion plaques last week for the Best of Charleston awards, The Charleston City Paper received four first place wins at Saturday’s South Carolina Press Awards.
Among the honors in the paper’s weekly division (over 6,000 circulation):
1st Place Lifestyle Feature Writing: Jon Santiago, “Suitcase Full of Songs”
Here’s the unofficial results for the latest survey. Go take the survey while it’s still open. The new one will be up on Monday.
Last week, we learned that a popular local restaurant doesn’t have a website. What archaic method must they be using to get information to their customers?
C. [...]
Charleston Mayor Joe Riley has quickly amassed the support of more than 50 of his fellow municipal leaders last week, calling on the state legislature to accept $700 million in federal stimulus aid. On Wednesday, Gov. Mark Sanford told the Obama administration that he wanted a waiver to put that [...]
Earlier this week, we pointed out a remotely sexually suggestive headline from the News 4 Twitter feed.
Tonight’s headline is a little more obvious.
You go girl. Keep it up.
[...]The Charleston County Government’s Solid Waste and Recycling Department recently won the 2008 Most Outstanding Waste Reduction/Recycling Program Award for a county with a population greater than 150,000 at the 14th Annual Recycle Guys Awards Program.
The program recognizes South Carolina’s top recycling programs, projects, and people and it’s easy to [...]
Gov. Mark Sanford tells the City Paper he’s “comfortable with the consequences,” and prepared for $700 million in federal aid to be spent elsewhere rather than having to spend it in the Palmetto State.
Sanford has requested a waiver to spend that money (about 25 percent of the what was allocated [...]
The Sustainability Program at the Medical University of South Carolina is the 2008 winner of DHEC’s Outstanding College or University Waste Reduction and Recycling Program. MUSC beat out 80 other schools based on the education efforts, expansion, and measured success. During the past year the Sustainability team, headed by Christine [...]
If Gresham Barrett’s early announcement for Governor wasn’t enough to formerly open the 2010 election gates …
It would seem that Republican Congressman Henry Brown’s close race in November (against Charleston Democrat Linda Ketner) has left a rather sizable bullseye on his back, with at [...]
Mark Sanford wants federal stimulus money put toward debt, according to Yvonne Wenger at The Post and Courier. The governor sent a letter to legislators today regarding $700 million of the state’s $2.8 billion portion of federal stimulus money. He’s expected to make a public announcement on Wednesday.
Sanford’s compulsion [...]
This is why it pays to check your Twitter feed:
The link goes to the main website of an ABC affiliate in Arlington, Va. Unfortunately, there’s no real clear answer on what hasn’t been done in more than five years.
This is a convenient way to introduce [...]
Liberty National Life Insurance Co. is holding a job fair at the North Charleston Embassy Suites, 5055 International Blvd. They’re hoping to fill 125 management and sales positions. Interviews will be at 9 a.m., noon, 3 and 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11. Take a look at their site [...]
UPDATE: Oh, what did we do. The previous headline, “Stavriankis Has Enough of S.C. House Politics” apparently provided some mid-budget drama. We’ve provided a little clarity. Nobody’s quitting.
A tweet recently from SCHouseDems read:
Democratic Rep. Leon Stavrinakis puts the GOP in their place regarding their skewed priorities. When are they [...]
The Food & Wine Festival over the weekend was a huge success, according to several sources. Some will say it was because of the terrific weather, but we think it was because of the booze in the title. Which Charleston festival should get a little inebriated?
B. The Cooper River Bridge [...]
Here’s the unofficial results to this week’s survey. We’re going to keep it up over the weekend and launch the new one Monday morning. So go take it if you haven’t, or take it again if you have.
1. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal gave the GOP reaction to President Obama’s [...]
Heading down I-26 this morning and I saw that the billboard for the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry has been replaced with one touting Jesus as the answer. I thought I read it as “www.faithistheanswer.org,” but I guess I was wrong because that doesn’t work. UPDATE: One more look at [...]
Senate leader Glenn McConnell (R-Charleston) introduced a bill today that would allow charities to hold fundraisers and events that would currently be illegal under the state’s stiff regulations against gambling.
“It makes no sense to me that a member of a church cannot offer a handmade quilt to raffle to raise [...]
From CP Contributor Dan McCue:
Concerned that far more than a soured U.S. economy is eroding the state’s position in the global supply chain, the Orangeburg County Development Commission is promoting a $700 million plan to create a “global logistics corridor” extending from the Port of Charleston to Columbia.
The proposal, [...]
Editor Stephanie Barna has some photos from the scene today.
The Post and Courier report doesn’t say “gutted,” but that’s the word we’re getting from other folks and, considering the small size of the restaurant, it wouldn’t take much of a fire to destroy it.
An [...]
I still listen to the radio daily (Top 40, NPR, and local talk radio), but the argument over the threat of a renewed fairness doctrine was just ridiculous.
In our paper, we go out of our way to try to present a balanced look at political candidates in an election, but [...]
Apparently, while the rest of us were focused on what President Barack Obama was saying last week at the sort-of State of the Union, the folks at MTV where watching his upper lip.
We took a look at a few recent photos, and there’s a itty-bitty hint of something on [...]
The S.C. House is expected to give final approval today to a ban on candidates representing more than one party on the election ballot. The measure will then go to a Senate committee for consideration. Candidates have occasionally sought the support of more than one party as a way [...]
The City of Charleston is continuing to two-way all of our one-way roads. The latest victims are Spring and Cannon streets. Officials are considering going two ways on Coming Street, but they’ll have to pull that primo peninsula escape route from my cold, dead hands.
Here’s one of the latest [...]
Another NonCensus question and one of four possible answers:
Popular radio and TV commercials for internet dating site Match.com claim that, “It’s okay to look.” When is it not okay to look?
C. When the ink’s still wet on the last restraining order.
The new NonCensus is up. Here’s the first question and one of four possible answers. Go take the full survey.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal gave the GOP reaction to President Obama’s sort-of State of the Union, telling viewers that the FEMA’s response to Katrina showed the ineptitude of the federal [...]
The weekly NonCensus survey is unofficially over and here are the results. But the polls aren’t closed. Go check out the full survey before it’s gone.
1. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott announced on Feb. 16 that Michael Phelps will not face charges due to the photo taken [...]
A few stories we’re passing on this morning:
• The Wahsington Post has a list of the 10 Republicans to watch and Sanford is still at a strong No. five.
Of all the Republicans looking seriously at 2012, Sanford, the governor of South Carolina, is the one who has leaned the [...]
The story is riveting. Really.Two men allegedly coordinate several heists of local Wal-Marts by impersonating employees and loading expensive electronic equipment in their truck.
They got caught in Summerville, the small town where everybody obviously knows everybody.
What struck us was this line in the Post and Courier story:
They were wearing [...]
The South Carolina House approved a bill today to require a picture ID to vote, led by House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston.
“To say that requiring a picture ID to vote creates an undue burden is absurd,” said Speaker Harrell.
Actually, it’s not absurd. It’s actually a fact. Charleston college students [...]
Well, actually, it’s the Senate Friends of Scotland Caucus, and Graham kicked off its formation with a visit from none other than the most popular Scot in the world (and the hottest spy, until Daniel Craig walked onto a beach). That’s right: Sean Connery.
Graham is [...]
In the caves of the City Paper office working hard on the Best of Charleston issue, but we wanted to pass this release along about this weekend’s book sale in North Charleston. It’s a terrific event for a good cause and worth your time (we found [...]
Here’s another entry from this week’s Press Time NonCensus survey. Take the full survey here.
South Carolina officials are trying to press their requests for the $787 billion federal stimulus plan. What local stimulus project has been overlooked?
• Pirates of the Charleston Harbor: An animatronic boat ride through the Provost [...]
A few headlines we thought we’d pass on about Charleston:
• Edgar Allen Poe is 200 this year, and the Boston Globe shines a light on his brief time on Sullivan’s Island and how his time there has shaped the island’s lore.
In fact, “The Gold Bug,” one of his best-known [...]
More information regarding the incident downtown where a tow truck driver broke a woman’s car window. The police report states that the tow truck driver says he had his hand stuck in the luggage rack and broke the window to get the woman to stop the car so he [...]
We haven’t received the police report yet, so we’re leaving the details vague at this point, but here is the story, as told to us by the car owner.
A woman was eating at a downtown restaurant Saturday and had paid for two hours of parking in a private lot nearby. [...]
Warren Peper, the popular local news anchor who was shown the door earlier this month by News Channel 2, has joined The Post and Courier staff as a multimedia producer, according to a news release on the paper’s website (What? No video?).
The real surprise comes in the comments of [...]
We’re happy to announce a new weekly feature on the Press Time blog that will be just like every other weekly feature (it’ll keep going until the steam runs out). It’s the NONCENSUS survey. We’ll be highlighting sample questions today and early next week so you get a feel of [...]
A bill introduced in the South Carolina House this week would provide local law enforcement with the ability to confiscate money and cars collected during a prostitution bust. Fortunately, the law is written broadly enough to mock. It states that property “used or … positioned [...]
Charleston Mayor Joe Riley will be back in Washington on Friday to meet with President Obama and other federal officials, along with some 60 other municipal leaders. We should note that he is the only mayor from South Carolina on the attendance list. No doubt the stimulus will come up. [...]
The Mt. Pleasant poker players are likely to press on with their case against the state’s gambling law after a municipal court judge ruled they would have to pay fines for betting on a poker game.
The expectation was that Judge Larry Duffy would rule that poker is a [...]
South Carolina’s high unemployment rate means that it will see less of an impact from the jobs created under the stimulus bill than other states. It seems an equitable distribution of the stimulus aid won out over sending more aid to states hardest hit by the economic crisis (That’s not [...]
In a post on the economic guru prospects of the GOP (which included mention of S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford), The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza mentioned that former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney is staying busy in his old stomping grounds, namely by helping out S.C. Sen. Jim DeMint.
Romney is also [...]
Thirty-three state House members, including four local legislators, have put their support behind a proposed statehouse monument that would memorialize “South Carolina children whose lives ended before their birth.”
Reps. Wendell Gilliard (D-Charleston), Jim Merrill (R-Daniel Island), Tim Scott (R-North Charleston), and Mike Sottile (R-Isle of [...]
Estimates continue to suggest that South Carolina will have a seventh congressional district after the next census. Robert Behre goes in depth on the potential location of this new district in today’s P&C, but he doesn’t delve too deep into the politics of it.
Two parts of the article worth [...]
We have come to a put up or shut up moment in Gov. Mark Sanford’s opposition to the federal stimulus bill. The governor suggested the White House plan was doomed to failure in an op-ed in The State over the [...]
Stratton Lawrence wrote up a quick story on the New Ideas for a New Carolina contestants last week. The real fun is always the wild card category. And the winner is …
Wild Card category:
Winner: Bryan Pierce Bowers, Jr., Charleston County - BikeBack, small, weatherproof GPS technology to [...]
Last month, iconic artist Shepard Fairey sat down with fellow Charleston-native Stephen Colbert for an interview. Since then, the Associated Press has claimed partial credit for Fariey’s now infamous Obama/Hope poster and Fairey has sued the news agency in an attempt to settle the argument.
Colbert spent a [...]
On Wed., Feb. 18, Laury Hammel, co-founder of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, will discuss the “10 percent shift,” a grassroots effort to strengthen local communities by supporting local, independent businesses and farmers. The event at One Cool Blow will be hosted by Lowcountry Local First (LLF), [...]
In some of the most pointed language yet in studies of the 2007 Sofa Super Store blaze that killed nine Charleston firefighters, a new report calls for a change in state and federal firefighting standards and implores departments everywhere to take note of the fatal lessons learned at the [...]
The City of Charleston’s Fire Department will release the final report from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at 2 p.m.
The report stems from the June 18, 2007 death of nine Charleston fire fighters who were trying to battle a blaze at the West Ashley Sofa Super Store. [...]
The City of Charleston is stopping bikers who do not have a bicycle license visibly displayed, an obvious attempt to address the area’s long struggle with bike thefts
In our weekly dig through police reports, we found two instances where officers stopped bikers because they didn’t see a license. [...]
Two hurrdles for non-smoking advocates in the news today.
The Town of Goose Creek voted down a smoking ban last night. It was a 4-3 vote and I’m not terribly sure how committed the majority is, but it’s clear the mayor doesn’t want a ban.
In Lexington County, the council is [...]
With the $820 billion plan now headed to conference committee in the Congress, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley presented a few projects he says the city will be promoting for stimulus aid once it is signed into law by President Obama.
“We need to get people back to work,” Riley said Tuesday, [...]
WIS is reporting that Columbia law enforcement has made eight arrests stemming from the Michael Phelps bong photo. The charges involve drug posession and distribution as the result of a raid, likely on the house where Phelps was photographed partying.
The best part: the police now have the famous bong. [...]
From the folks at the Charleston Green Fair:
Come lend a hand at one of Charleston’s largest and most exciting events - the 27th Annual Southeastern Wildlife Exposition (SEWE). Friday February 13th to Sunday February 15th join
Hands On Charleston, The Charleston Green Committee and the Charleston Green Fair in helping [...]
Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said South Carolina’s governor should “energetically” support President Obama’s stimulus plan in light of the state’s dismal employment numbers.
Gov. Mark Sanford has been a high-profile opponent of the jobs plan, claiming it will only grow the nation’s deficit. But Riley said Tuesday that, in light of [...]
Well, Rhianna’s fingernail is probably safe, but the news giant claims it should get some credit for the Obama print that has made Charleston-native Shepard Fairey a household name. Fairey based his work on an AP photo, but argues that [...]
It looks like last year’s buyouts weren’t enough to stop the bleeding at the Post and Courier. Several managers and long-time staff members were let go today as shoulders were tapped and boxes were packed at Charleston’s daily newspaper.
Names we’ve heard from the inside are internet director Paul Crawford, marketing [...]
Rep. Anne Hutto (D-James Island) has joined other state House members to call for an end to the General Assembly getting the final word on election disputes. Hutto’s election in January was by a wide enough margin to avoid a recount, but former Rep. Wallace Scarborough pressed on with [...]
You’ve certainly heard by now that Christian Bale has a potty mouth when somebody screws up a scene. We thought it would be fun to take a look at a few spoofs of the soon infamous flip-out.
First, the original.
For those with weak stomachs, there’s a censored version that includes a [...]
Sen. Jim DeMint just sent out a release announcing a $2.53 million staffing grant for the City of Charleston aquired through a competitive, merit-based selection process from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The funniest part of the release is the great pains that DeMint’s office goes to in order to [...]
A new effort by conservatives to talk women out of abortions requires a 24-hour waiting period between an ultrasound and an abortion. Approved by a subcommittee on Tuesday, it’s part of the larger effort to chip away at abortion rights.
The interesting part is the subcommittee’s refusal for a rape-victim [...]
Sen. Lindsey Graham was in Spartanburg today talking some sense on the stimulus plan. Unlike Sen. Jim DeMint’s efforts to meet ridiculous Democratic proposals with ridiculous Republican proposals, Graham says he’s looking for help across the aisle for a reasonable stimulus plan.
Sen. Lindsey Graham said the economic crisis will [...]
The close race between Congressman Henry Brown and Democrat Linda Ketner in November has led the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to invest money in local attack ads against Brown for his vote against the House stimulus plan, according to a Stuart, Fla., newspaper.
The campaign, expected to last a [...]
The King Street hotel planed for the old library building off Marion Square is scheduled to be back in front of the city’s zoning board on Tuesday, requesting another year-long extension of the project’s 2004 approval. The project has been tied up in courtroom hell, largely due to it’s nine(ish)-story [...]
Three disappointing points on Michael Phelps and his bong:
1. He actually did visit South Carolina and gets in trouble in Columbia instead of Charleston.
2. The kid who took the picture will no doubt blow the thousands that he got for it on weed.
3. Proving he’s an athlete first and [...]
On Sunday morning’s “This Week,” ABC put two nice-enough CEOs in the middle of a stimulus battle between Sen. Jim DeMint and Congressman Barney Frank.
Jim DeMint says we do need to do something with the economy. Move the economy forward and create jobs by leaving money in the private sector. [...]
A foreign tabloid is suggesting that Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps had a blast and a bong on a visit to Columbia. First, we don’t know what he was doing in Columbia instead of Charleston. (Doesn’t he know we’re considering a multi-million dollar aquatic center?!) [...]
