23 Senators Want Boeing to Negotiate with Union at S.C. Plant

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Nearly two dozen Democratic U.S. senators are calling on Boeing Co. to negotiate with a union representing some employees at a South Carolina plant.

Twenty-three Senate Democrats penned a letter to Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg to recognize the International Association of Machinists, as the company has at its facilities in the state of Washington.

Flight-line employees at Boeing's North Charleston plant decided in May to join the Machinists. Boeing wants the National Labor Relations Board to toss that vote because flight-line workers aren't a distinct group from the rest of the plant.

Last month, South Carolina's governor asked federal officials to overturn the vote, saying that allowing the union would threaten the state's economy.

The same union failed to attract enough support to represent all of the plant's hourly workers last year.

Economist John Tamny to Speak at Clemson

John Tamny, noted political economist and editor of RealClearMarkets, will be the inaugural guest speaker for Clemson University’s newly formed Hayek Center for the Business of Prosperity.

Tamny will speak at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 12, in Room 100 of Brackett Hall, followed by a Q&A. Admission is free and open to the public, but registration for the event is requested. Pizza will be provided at 5:15.

He will speak on wealth inequality in his lecture, “The Unrelenting Genius of Rising Wealth Inequality.”

School Dist. 4 Superintendent Talks about New School Year

Michelin to Reactivate Earth Mover Plant at Thursday Event

Michelin will officially reactivate their Anderson US10 plant, which manufactures the company's largest tire, at 12:30 p.m. Thursday during an event at the facility.

Michelin manufacters "the Earthmover" tire (which can stand up to 13 feet tall and weigh up to 5.5 tons) for the global mining business at the plant. The event to reactivate the plant, which was idled in 2015, will include remarks from global Michelin executives as well as local and state government officials.

A spokesperson for Michelin said while the ceased manufacturing at the plant in 2015, the facility was never actually closed since a maintenance and training crew was still working on site.

The factory opened in 2013, and, as the fastest greenfield construction in Michelin’s history, began production of commercially available tires in January 2014.

Michelin is South Carolina’s largest manufacturing employer.

The US10 facility is Michelin’s 19th plant in North America and ninth in the state of South Carolina. It will produce large Earthmover tires – which can stand up to 13 feet tall and weigh up to 5.5 tons – for more than 1,300 mining operations around the world. Eighty percent of the tires manufactured at this facility will be exported, most of it through the Port of Charleston.

The Earthmover tire plant is adjacent to Michelin’s existing rubber processing plant in Starr, S.C., and is the third Michelin plant in Anderson County. The company also operates a 2.5 million square foot rubber processing plant, the largest in the world, in Sandy Springs.

In addition to the Lexington and Anderson County plants, Michelin produces Earthmover tires  in Waterville, Canada; Campo Grande, Brazil; Le Puy-en-Velay and Montceau, France; Vitoria, Spain and Zalau, Romania.

The plant is located at 1 Bib Way, Anderson, SC 29626

School Dist. 5 Superintendent Talks about New School Year

Fox21: Fund Set Up for Anderson Firefighter

Fox 21 Report

ANDERSON, SC (FOX Carolina) - A fund has been setup to benefit an Upstate firefighter who is preparing to undergo surgery as he fights cancer.

Jeff “Bubba” Todd has battled fires in Anderson County since 1993. He worked for the Homeland Park Fire Department before ending up at the Walker McElmoyle FD in Anderson County, where he continues to serve. He also worked with EMS for 16 years.

Now, he is battling a different threat after being diagnosed with penile cancer.

“I’ve chose the life of emergency services and unfortunately you see death pretty regularly, and you think about there’s people that get killed, it’s suddenly,” Todd said. “They don’t get a second chance.  Getting diagnosed with cancer, I still got a second chance.”

A fundraiser was help over the weekend to benefit Todd’s family as he prepares to meet with a specialist in Houston, TX on September 5 before having surgery in Greenville on September 25.

Todd said people who could not attend the fundraiser can donate to the “Jeff Todd Benefit Fund” at any United Community First Bank. 

N.C. GOP-Drawn Districts Tossed by Federal Court

(Reuters) - A federal court ruled on Monday that North Carolina Republicans illegally drew up U.S. congressional districts in the state to benefit their party, suggesting that new lines be crafted before November’s election. 

The three-judge panel for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina said in a 321-page opinion that Republican legislators responsible for the map conducted unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering to dilute the impact of Democratic votes. 

“That is precisely what the Republican-controlled North Carolina General Assembly sought to do here,” the opinion said. 

The panel gave parties until Thursday to file their recommendations to fix the problem. 

The decision could have national implications in this November’s battle for control of Congress. Democrats need to pick up 23 seats to gain a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives that could thwart Republican President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda. 

Among the suggestions from the judges were holding state nominating primaries in November with new district lines that remove illegal partisan bias and then holding a general election before the new U.S. Congress is seated in January 2019. 

The North Carolina dispute centered on a congressional redistricting plan adopted by the Republican-led legislature in 2016 after a court found that Republican lawmakers improperly used race as a factor when redrawing certain U.S. House districts after the 2010 census. 

The Republican lawmaker in charge of the plan said it was crafted to maintain Republican dominance because “electing Republicans is better than electing Democrats.” 

Party officials were not immediately available for comment on the court’s decision. 

North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Goodwin said the decision “is a monumental and necessary line in the sand stating that politicians cannot choose their voters by silencing other voters.”

Furman QB a Full-Time Clemson Student

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) - Harris Roberts is a quarterback for Furman. He is also a full-time engineering student at Clemson.

His worlds will collide on Saturday when he and his Furman teammates play at Clemson in the season opener for both teams.

Roberts admits it is going to be a little weird. Roberts says Clemson's football complex looks spectacular. He gets jokes from teammates about sneaking into one of Clemson's practices for a little pre-game spying.

Roberts will have a bachelor's degree from Furman and a mechanical engineering degree from Clemson.

More AP college football: http://collegefootball.ap.org/poll

Anderson County Unemployment Rate Down to 3.4 Percent

Anderson County's unemployment rate dropped to 3.4 percent for July, with 86,628 of the county's 89,716 workforce employed. Statewide, the jobless rate fell to 3.6 percent.

“The numbers reflect a fairly consistent statewide trend that is typical for end-of-summer labor force activity,” said Steve Newton, Governmental Affairs Director for the Anderson County Administrator’s Office.

The number of individuals working across the state increased by 1,651 people to 2,227,624, setting a new record level.

The state’s labor force declined by 3,115 to 2,309,954 people, the changes in the labor force drove the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate down to 3.6 percent from June’s estimate of 3.8 percent.

Nationally, the unemployment rate ticked lower to 3.9 percent from June’s rate of 4.0 percent. 

Shiloh Road to Close for Bridge Repair for 8 Months Beginning Sept. 10

A portion of Shiloh Church Road near Highway 17 in the Wren community will close Sept. 10 to replace the west bridge near Shiloh Creek Subdivision.  The roadway will be closed between Highway 17 and Cane Hill Drive C-01-0307 for approximately eight-nine months. The new bridge is scheduled to be open to traffic by May 31, 2019.

The existing road and bridge near Highway 17 is too narrow for the volume of trucks using the road. according to the Anderson Roads and Bridges Department. The new bridge will be a 30-feet long precast concrete hallow-cored slab, 33-feet wide with concrete parapets on each side.  Approximately 1,000 feet of roadway near intersection of Highway 17 will be reconstructed.

Estimated construction cost of $240,000 will be funded by Anderson County General Funds and labor and equipment provided by the Anderson County Roads and Bridges Department.

The posted detour will follow Highway 17 north to Hurricane Creek Road.

Former S.C. Gov. Riley Participates in Prison Reading Program

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A former South Carolina governor is participating in a program that officials hope helps keep inmate fathers in touch with their children.

The Department of Corrections says former Gov. Dick Riley is spending time at Kirkland Correctional Institution on Tuesday as a special guest for a program called Father's Voice.

Officials say the program was created through the Riley Institute Diversity Leaders Initiative and aims to establish a bond between incarcerated parents and their children by providing ways for them to connect when they can't visit in person or talk on the telephone.

Organizers say inmate fathers on good behavior are given recordable books, on which they can tape their voices and send home to their children.

Univ. of S.C. In Violation of Freedom of Information Act

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The University of South Carolina has refused to turn over public records to a newspaper for more than four months.

The State newspaper in Columbia reports it asked the school on March 23 for addresses, sale prices and current use for properties owned by the university, its foundation or related entities.

South Carolina law gives public bodies no more than 55 days to turn over public records.

The university told the newspaper it doesn't have a dedicated staff to fulfill Freedom of Information Act requests and it gets a lot of them, so it might take them a while.

South Carolina Press Association Executive Director Bill Rogers says having a lot of requests is not a valid reason to break the law.

Retired S.C. Parks Chief Joins Clemson Faculty

Clemson’s department of parks, recreation and tourism management has gained a veteran of South Carolina’s state parks system as faculty this fall. Phil Gaines, a Clemson alum, began his tenure as director of South Carolina State Parks in 2005 and has enjoyed a 37-year career with the parks system.Credit: www.myplainview.com

This fall, Gaines will teach a park planning class and work on leadership development initiatives with Clemson’s Institute for Parks. He said he looks forward to working with faculty and students at Clemson to share the practical knowledge he’s gained throughout his career.

“Parks, recreation and tourism management is tasked with producing thinkers and leaders who work in the gray because problems in the real world are rarely black and white,” Gaines said. “I’m excited to work in academia so that I can bring practical experience that will help faculty and students.”

Gaines’ career was marked by a quick climb up the ranks into leadership and executive positions where he inspired some of the most sweeping changes in park management. He helped conceptualize the transformation of state parks from custodial assets to natural and cultural destinations.

When he became assistant state park director in 2000, he was able to focus on strategic goals that favored stewardship and service. When he became director in 2005, state parks were mandated to move closer to a self-sufficient enterprise that could generate revenue to cover costs and operate efficiently.

Under Gaines’ leadership, the park made the necessary changes to upgrade infrastructure, improve visitors’ experiences, and encourage repeat visitation. In just 11 years under Gaines’ leadership, the park service went from a system that generated $18 million in revenue and covered about 73 percent of its expenses, to one that generated $27 million that paid for 95 percent of its operational costs.

“I gave a lot of myself to state parks, but I’ve received so much more in return,” Gaines said. “I’ve met people who have changed my life and who have become lifelong friends. My hope is I left my mark and that the foundation is deep and strong, and that the next generation is ready to do some good stuff.”

Gaines’ affinity for that “next generation” is a primary reason Clemson faculty are so happy to have him join the department. Wayne Freimund, chair of Clemson’s parks, recreation and tourism management department, said Gaines has proven throughout his career that he can communicate the value of parks to a variety of audiences that might otherwise not pay attention.

“Phil is the embodiment of what we want our students to be,” Freimund said. “He graduated here, hit the pinnacle of his field and he brings 37 years of experience back to our students. It has been his responsibility to work with engineers, architects, accountants and then be the conduit that society understands.”

Gaines would likely play down such praise and put the focus more on the work. This was certainly his strategy on his last day on the job as director of state parks. During his last day in the system in early August, Gaines performed the same park duties he handled as a young ranger in 1982. He cleaned bathrooms, took out the trash and landscaped at King’s Mountain State Park in Blacksburg.