McMaster Nixes $16M from Budget He Says for Abortions

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Gov. Henry McMaster is removing $16 million for health care from the South Carolina budget to make sure no taxpayer money goes to abortion providers, even though some fellow Republicans said less than $100,000 of it would go to Planned Parenthood.

Other Republicans urged McMaster, who is running for re-election this year, to veto $34 million from the $8 billion budget. But the governor's office said eliminating all that money would keep 700,000 women and children from getting prescriptions through Medicaid.

Some Republicans opposed removing any of the money, saying it was almost all for family planning and abstinence. They also warned that filling the funding hole created by the veto might hurt law enforcement or children with autism.

Lawmakers could override the vetoes later with a two-thirds vote.

Council to Finalize Tax Incentives for TTI, Consider Zoning Requests

Anderson County Council will give final approval to tax incentives for TTI, Inc., and consider zoning requests as part of the regular meeting set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the historic courthouse downtown.

At the 6 p.m. recogniztion and honors meeting, council will fete the Clemson Intercollegiate Eventing Team and Berkely Bryant, Miss South Carolina Teen 2018.

Complete agenda here.

Sheriff Needs Help Finding Missing Pig's Owner

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office is asking for help tracking down the owner of a wayward pig. Deputies said they found the pig on Tuesday near King Arthur Drive in Anderson.

If you have any information or if you are or know who is the owner of this pig please contact the Anderson County Sheriff's Office Animal Control Division at (864) 260-5576.

Heat Stroke Added Danger for Outdoor Summer Workers.

Much of the United States has been sweltering in triple-digit heat this week, but new research finds outdoor workers can suffer fatal heat stroke from temperatures that only reach the high 80s.

In fact, six of 14 cases of fatal heat stroke investigated in the new study "occurred when the Heat Index was below 91 degrees Fahrenheit," noted a team led by Dr. Aaron Tustin, from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

The Heat Index -- often announced on media weather forecasts -- is a calculation of heat and humidity that gauges how the combination "feels" to the human body. It also assumes the person is in the shade, wearing a single layer of light clothing.

Early summer heat waves are particularly deadly, the OSHA researchers said, since people may not yet be acclimatized to high temperatures.

Dr. Robert Glatter, an ER doctor at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, has seen many cases of heat stroke.

"It's important to remember that extreme heat combined with humidity can kill," said Glatter, who wasn't involved in the new study. "Extremes of heat are most concerning to public safety, and a large number of heat-related deaths are generally preventable."

Glatter called heat stroke "a medical emergency. Patients may develop temperatures of up to 106-108 F, with confusion and disorientation, and loss of ability to produce sweat to cool the body. Skin is generally is red, hot and dry ... Cooling ice baths and misting fans can help reduce core temperatures."

Workers -- who often wear bulky clothing and have little choice but to labor outside in searing temperatures -- are at particular risk.

In the new report, Tustin and his colleagues focused on 25 cases of outdoor, on-the-job heat stroke occurring between 2011 and 2016, 14 of which proved fatal.

The study found that in half the cases, victims had at least one "predisposing personal risk factor" for heat stroke -- illnesses such as diabetes or heart disease, or use of certain medications or illicit drugs. According to Glatter, medicines such as blood pressure pills or diuretics affect a person's "fluid balance," upping the odds for dehydration in severe heat.

A strenuous workload also increases the risk. On the day workers suffered an attack, "workload was moderate, heavy or very heavy in 13 of 14 fatalities," the OSHA researchers noted.

Four cases were also likely exacerbated by workers wearing heavier clothing, another known risk factor for heat stroke, they said.

Across the 25 cases, the median Heat Index was 91 degrees, but temperatures for individual cases of heat stroke ranged from just 83 degrees to 110.

Glatter said hydration is crucial for people who must work outside in the heat. "Water is the ideal fluid for hydration, and it is recommended to avoid excessive amounts of caffeine, which can lead to dehydration," he said.

Tustin's team offered these tips to stay safe from the heat when working outside 

• Make sure workplace supervisors are trained to recognize the signs of heat stroke, and in first aid to help if it occurs.
• Designate at worksite heat "monitor" to be mindful of rising temperatures and oversee protective measures.
• Make sure new workers get the protective measures they need to acclimatize to working outdoors in the heat, and be mindful that workers with predisposing risk factors might need extra precautions.
• Schedule frequent breaks in shade or air-conditioned spaces to allow workers to cool down, and adjust work schedules to try and avoid the worst conditions.
• Provide plenty of accessible water or electrolyte-bearing beverages.

The new report was published July 5 in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a journal of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

S.C., Ga. Having Online Food Fight Over Peaches

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - It might be one of the sweetest battles on record, but the peach war is really starting to get juicy.

Georgia is officially known as the Peach State, boasting bountiful harvests of the succulent, fuzzy fruit. But earlier this week, the South Carolina Department of Agriculture took to Twitter to point out that the Palmetto State actually produces three times as many peaches as the Peach State.

That spawned a good-natured online back-and-forth between the neighboring states, with Georgia's Department of Agriculture tweeting that its fruits are "3 X SWEETER."

South Carolina's Ag Department threw the ultimate Southern shade with its "Bless your heart" response.

The online back-and-forth comes as both peach-producing states look for a more plentiful year than 2017. Georgia's peach bounty has nowhere to go but up as compared with last year, when nearly 80 percent of the state's crop was wiped out thanks to an overly warm winter and a hard freeze in early spring. South Carolina experienced similar hardship, with a late freeze wiping out up to 90 percent of the state's peach harvest.

Things appear to be looking up for this year, a buoyancy reflected in both states' genial online sparring. Georgia growers have said they expect a bumper crop of peaches there this summer, with plenty of beneficial chill hours - dormancy necessary for the trees to grow fruit - happening over the winter for the first time in three years. That optimism comes despite freezes in early March that killed off some varieties already blooming, although some agents have estimated that loss at only about 20 percent.

Those same conditions may have helped South Carolina, where agricultural agents at Clemson University have said that 2018 could be peach farmers' best harvest in a decade. The South Carolina Agriculture Department has said that the state's peach crop is usually valued at $90 million annually, and officials in Georgia have estimated that a good peach crop there is worth about $50 million.

Aside from being the Peach State, Georgia is home to countless namesakes for its official state fruit, from dozens of streets in the Atlanta area to even a Peach County. The fuzzy, pitted orb is also the official fruit of South Carolina, which also boasts a famously quirky, peach-shaped "Peachoid" water tower painted to match the variety grown in Cherokee County, where it's located.

With high hopes for a better crop this year, even agriculture officials in other states got in on South Carolina and Georgia's Twitter fun Thursday. Jai Templeton, a farmer who serves as Tennessee's ag chief, offered to serve as a peachy peacemaker, tweeting, "I feel qualified to conduct an independent taste test."

TTI Innovation Center on Schedule for 2019 Opening

Construction on TTI's 300,000-square-foot Innovation Center - which will be highly visible from I-85 is well under way near the Exit 27 off S.C. 81 North.

“This new world-class campus will provide an exceptional environment for fostering the development of talented associates and industry leading products,” said Lee Sowell, president of TTI Power Tool  and Outdoor Products. 

Earlier this year TTI completed construction of its 1.3 million square-foot building at the site, and another testing facilty which currently employs nearly 1,000 workers, and and an investment of more than $150 million in Anderson. 

The video below shows the most recent progress.

The Smokin' Pig to Open Anderson Location in Stoney's Building

The Smokin' Pig, a barbecue fixture in the Upstate, is expected to open a new location in Anderson in the recently closed Stoney's BBQ building off S.C. 81 North.

A number of sources have confirmed the move, though officials for The Smokin's Pig are not ready to comment on the story at this point.

With locations in Pendleton, Easley and Williamston, long lines and large portions have been a hallmark of The Smokin' Pig. (Menu here). The restaurants are also well-known for their tailgate packages during football season and for catering.

While this story is developing, the Observer expects news on projected opening in the next cpuple of weeks. Stay tuned.

The Declaration of Independence

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Survey: Hamburgers Top Hot Dogs for Best Holiday Cookout

Americans can't even agree on which food is the "most American" to eat at a July 4th cookout, according to a new Axios/SurveyMonkey poll.

Data: SurveyMonkey poll conducted June 25 to June 27. Poll methodology; Chart: Lazaro Gamio/Axios

Behind the numbers: Among all Americans hamburgers are the patriotic choice, backed by 35%, and are the top pick regardless of income level and gender (though women cite hotdogs and hamburgers at almost the same rate 31 percent vs. 32 percent).

• Beer polled better among millennials (12%), non-voters (13%) and people in New England (17%).
• A sheet cake literally in the shape of our nation's flag trailed both waterlemon and bbq as a patriotic food.
• Apple pie was dead last, picked by only 1% as the most patriotic food, but possibly because nobody wants to eat pie at a cookout.

WSPA: Anderson Fireworks Stands Battle for Good Cause

ANDERSON Co., SC (WSPA) - It's a friendly competition between two fireworks stands in Anderson County this Independence Day.  

Big Jack's Fireworks has been a well known fixture in the area for over a decade giving back to community members.

Last year, they painted one of their stands pink and donated the proceeds from it to Kim Strickland, a Broadway firefighter battling breast cancer.

This year they decided to have some fun and compete in what they are calling the "Battle of the Sparks." A twenty-year veteran and comedian Chris Moo-Moo Phillips will face off against actor and rookie Adam Minarovich on who can sell more fireworks.

"We came up with a bet that if I sell less fireworks I have to wear this bikini and shave my head and if he sells less he will wear nothing, but daisy dukes and we will wax his camel like back," Minarovich said.

The competition will go until about 6 p.m. on July 4th with Phillips selling at the location on Abbeville Highway and Minarovich at the new Main Street location.

The pink stand is back out this year at the substation for the Broadway Fire Department off Old Williamston Road.  This year they are donating their proceeds to another fellow firefighter who's traveling to Charleston for his daughter to have brain surgery. For a $5 donation, you can be entered into a drawing for the biggest firework pack the stand is selling. The drawing will take place Wednesday afternoon.

Some Fast Food Eggs Not Exactly Straight from Chicken

By BRIDGET MCCUSKER

Eggs help you stay healthy—and even lose weight! But it turns out not all eggs are what they’re cracked up to be. When you get a breakfast sandwich from a fast food spot, there’s a pretty good chance that “egg” is a blend of eggs and something else.

Panera Bread was recently developing its lineup of breakfast sandwiches and discovered that the FDA didn’t exactly define what an “egg” was. The loose definition of one of our favorite kitchen staples meant a restaurant could include added flavors, xanthan gum and added color to anything listed with “egg” as an ingredient. Don’t forget these 9 foods nutritionists never order at fast-food restaurants.

What’s in popular fast food eggs

Panera did some research and found that 50% of the top 10 fast food restaurants that sell breakfast have an “egg” made of at least five ingredients. To confirm, we did some research of our own! Here’s a look at the ingredients in popular fast food breakfasts:

McDonald’s: The classic Egg McMuffin is made with a real egg.

Taco Bell: The Breakfast Crunchwrap and Grande Scrambler Burrito, among others, are made with an egg blend that includes whole eggs as well as soybean oil, salt, citric acid, pepper, xanthan gum and guar gum.

Panera Bread: The Bacon, Egg & Cheese and most of the chain’s other breakfasts are made with a real egg.

Chick-fil-A: The scrambled egg in the Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit is made with whole eggs and water plus salt, natural butter type flavor [medium chain triglycerides, coconut oil, natural flavors], xanthan gum, citric acid, and annatto.

Dunkin’ Donuts: The Bacon, Egg & Cheese Sandwich uses a blend of egg whites, egg yolks, soybean oil, and water.

We’re not going to stop eating at restaurants like Chick-fil-A—they have a secret menu!—but it does make us love Panera and McDonald’s even more than before.

Is this healthy?

Well, it’s always best to build your diet around whole, unprocessed foods. You want to know exactly what you’re eating, even when you’re on the go. (That’s at the heart of clean eating and plans like Whole 30.) It’s OK to splurge on a breakfast sandwich every now and then, but you can always make a copycat at home—with a freshly cracked egg! Check out these other secrets your fast-food worker won’t tell you.

The post The Shocking Secret About Your Fast-Food Eggs appeared first on Reader's Digest.

Trump to Revoke Race Guidelines in College Admissions

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration plans to revoke guidelines that encourage considering race in the college admissions process as a way of promoting diversity, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. 

The guidelines, put in place in the Obama administration in 2011 and 2016, put forth legal recommendations that Trump officials contend “mislead schools to believe that legal forms of affirmative action are simpler to achieve than the law allows,” the Journal reported.

Anderson Police Remind Residents to Lock Cars

The Anderson Police Department is reminding members of the public to lock their cars after a series of break-ins.  Of the seven car break-ins in the last 24 hours, six of the cars were unlocked, police said. 

Police are asking residents to lock their vehicles and place valuable items in their trunk. Anyone who sees a suspicious person or vehicle in the area is asked to call 911.