Debate over explicit memoir becomes a focus of GOP gov races
Debate over a memoir that contains explicit illustrations of sexual acts is surfacing in a handful of states where Republican governors are gearing up for reelection next year, foreshadowing a recurring theme for conservative leaders in the coming campaigns. The book in question, Maia Kobabe's “Gender Queer,” has been the focus of ire from Republican governors in various states, most recently playing a role in the Virginia governor's race. In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster on Wednesday released a letter — similar in nature to one days earlier by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — calling on Superintendent Molly Spearman to perform a systemic review of “inappropriate” materials in the state's schools.
news.yahoo.comSouth Carolina officials want out of mask mandate ban suit
The plaintiffs are challenging a budget measure passed this summer that prevents South Carolina districts from using any state funding to require masks in schools. In papers filed last week, attorneys for McMaster — a Republican who has said repeatedly that parents alone should decide if children wear masks in schools — argued that the ACLU and its clients “have not alleged, and they cannot reasonably or plausibly allege, that Governor McMaster acted with bad faith or gross misconduct.”
news.yahoo.comSeeing danger, some in GOP leery of Texas abortion law
Almost instantly after most abortions were banned in Texas, Democrats were decrying the new law as unconstitutional, an assault on women's health that must be challenged. “I’m pro-life,” said Republican Glenn Youngkin, a GOP candidate for governor in increasingly Democratic Virginia, where the only open governor's race in the nation is coming up in November. When pressed on the Texas law by a reporter, he quickly noted that he supports exceptions in cases of rape, incest and where the mother’s life is in danger — exceptions notably not included in the new law.
news.yahoo.comFederal government takes notice of South Carolina's stance on masks in schools
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona has sent a letter to South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and Department of Education Superintendent Molly Spearman, warning against policies that prevent school districts from requiring masks.
news.yahoo.com‘We know the vaccine saves lives,’ McMaster says as SC reaches 50% COVID vaccination
“If (people) have questions they can get answers and they need to talk to the people they trust. Whether it’s a preacher, a doctor, neighbors or friends, and make a decision. We made what I think is the right decision,” said Gov. Henry McMaster who has been vaccinated.
news.yahoo.com20 states support South Carolina in abortion lawsuit
Twenty states are supporting South Carolina's defense of a new abortion law, arguing in an amicus brief that a federal judge was wrong to pause the entire measure instead of just the provision facing a court challenge. In a filing Tuesday with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of the states, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall argued that U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis overstepped her authority when she put the entire abortion law on hold, rather than just the portion being challenged. The judge's ruling, Marshall wrote, “treads on South Carolina’s sovereign ability to decide for itself the purposes of its legislation” and “aggrandizes the judicial power by treating the court’s injunction of the challenged provision as erasing it entirely so the whole Act collapses.”
news.yahoo.comMcMaster directs health officials to prohibit door-to-door COVID vaccine efforts in SC
“Enticing, coercing, intimidating, mandating, or pressuring anyone to take the vaccine is a bad policy which will deteriorate the public’s trust and confidence in the State’s vaccination efforts,” McMaster wrote in a letter to DHEC’s board chairman.
news.yahoo.comMcMaster directs health officials to prohibit door-to-door COVID vaccine efforts in SC
“Enticing, coercing, intimidating, mandating, or pressuring anyone to take the vaccine is a bad policy which will deteriorate the public’s trust and confidence in the State’s vaccination efforts,” McMaster wrote in a letter to DHEC’s board chairman.
news.yahoo.comSouth Carolina gov: Abortion order 'oversteps' federal power
South Carolina's governor wants a new abortion law to take effect, arguing Wednesday that a judge's decision to put the whole measure — and not just the parts being challenged in court — on hold during a lawsuit “oversteps the bounds of federal judicial power.” Gov. Henry McMaster's brief with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asks appellate judges to lift a lower court's injunction on the “ South Carolina Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act. ” The Republican signed the measure into law earlier this year. Planned Parenthood attorneys sued immediately, and the entire law has been blocked from going into effect during the litigation.
news.yahoo.comRead the room: Now is not the time for these huge government salary increases
It’s hard to justify such exorbitant increases, writes The State Editorial Board. These are government jobs, publicly-funded jobs. The men and women earning the statewide median salary of $53,199 are paying these salaries.
news.yahoo.comThe Latest: WHO director calls for more vaccine donations
The head of the World Health Organization lamented the lack of COVID-19 vaccines being immediately donated by rich countries to the developing world, saying that the global community is failing and that the mistakes of the AIDS pandemic are being repeated.
South Carolina court weighs pausing new death penalty law
A South Carolina judge should block the executions of two men scheduled to die later this month so the court can evaluate a new law that effectively forces death row prisoners to choose to die by either electric chair or firing squad, prisoners’ attorneys argued Monday. Attorneys for Brad Sigmon and Freddie Owens, two men set to die later this month, said the law is unconstitutional because their clients were sentenced under an older iteration of the statute that made lethal injection the default execution method. If South Carolina carries out the executions as scheduled, both men would likely die in the state's 109-year-old electric chair because prison officials have not yet put together a firing squad.
news.yahoo.comExecution set for 2nd SC inmate suing over death penalty law
The South Carolina Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an execution date for the second of two men on death row suing the state over a new law forcing inmates to choose between dying by firing squad or the electric chair. Owens and another man on death row, Brad Sigmon, sued South Carolina earlier this month, arguing that they can’t be electrocuted or shot since they were sentenced under a prior law that made lethal injection the default execution method. The state Department of Corrections has previously said the electric chair is ready to use.
news.yahoo.comGovernor's OK means S Carolina now allows open carry of guns
Gov. Henry McMaster said Monday he signed into law a bill allowing people with concealed weapons permits from the state to carry their guns in the open. McMaster posted on Twitter that he was keeping his promise to sign any bill that protects or expands gun rights. The proposal allows so-called open carry of guns for people who undergo training and background checks so they can keep guns hidden under a jacket or other clothing or in their vehicle anywhere there isn't a sign prohibiting it.
news.yahoo.comSC Gov. McMaster signs open carry with permit gun bill into law. What you need to know
Despite the governor’s signature, the law will not take effect until 90 days from May 17 — a measure added by lawmakers to give the State Law Enforcement Division and police agencies more time to educate police and the public on the new law.
news.yahoo.comSC’s McMaster praises ex-USC President Caslen, who resigned amid plagiarism scandal
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster defended Bob Caslen, who resigned as University of South Carolina president after he wrongly named the state’s flagship college and plagiarized part of his commencement speech.
news.yahoo.comSC’s McMaster praises ex-USC President Caslen, who resigned amid plagiarism scandal
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster defended Bob Caslen, who resigned as University of South Carolina president after he wrongly named the state’s flagship college and plagiarized part of his commencement speech.
news.yahoo.comFiring squad bill headed to South Carolina governor's desk
Legislation adding a firing squad to South Carolina's execution methods amid a lack of lethal-injection drugs is headed to the desk of Gov. Henry McMaster. On a routine vote Wednesday, the state Senate concurred with a version of the legislation, approved last week by House lawmakers. McMaster has not yet said when he will sign the bill into law, although his office said it would happen as soon as the bill was ratified, which could happen in a matter of days.
news.yahoo.comEying 2024, Pence makes 1st speech since leaving office
In his first public address since the end of the Trump administration, former Vice President Mike Pence put down a marker for a potential return to elected office, telling an audience in early-voting South Carolina that he plans to use the coming months “pushing back on the liberal agenda” he says is wrong for the country.