April 15 Podcast: Anderson International, Blowing Smoke, Banning Bible, Making the Grades

GAMAC Names Interim Conductor

The Greater Anderson Musical Arts Consortium, Inc. (GAMAC) has appointed Dr. Andrew Pettus as Interim Conductor of the Anderson Symphony Orchestra (ASO) for the 2016-2017 Concert Season.   

This announcement follows the ASO’s recent pops concert at which long-time conductor and founder, Alex Spainhour, celebrated his retirement. 

Pettus is in his first year as Director of Instrumental Music at the South Carolina School of the Arts at Anderson University.  A native of Florence, AL, he holds two Bachelor of Science degrees in music education and pure mathematics from the University of Alabama, a Master of Music degree from the University of Miami in music education with emphasis in conducting, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Minnesota in conducting. 

Founded in 1975, the Anderson Symphony Orchestra is a civic orchestra comprised of volunteer instrumentalists from Anderson and surrounding area communities along with students from Anderson University.  Exceptional high school students are also included.

Instrumentalists interested in learning more about membership in the Anderson Symphony Orchestra are encouraged to contact the GAMAC office at (864) 231-6147.  Membership is by audition only and is open to all instrumentalists regardless of race, religion, gender or orientation.  The ensemble is funded in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives funding in part from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Study: Antibiotics in Animal Feed Causing Problems in Humans

Use of antibiotics in farm animal feed is helping drive the worldwide increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, researchers report.

"In the fight against the rise of antibiotic resistance, we need to understand that the use of one antibiotic or, in some cases, antibacterial disinfectants may increase the abundance of multidrug-resistant bacteria," said study leader James Tiedje. He is a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Michigan State University.

The research team studied large-scale swine farms in China and a population of pigs in the United States. The findings showed that multidrug-resistant bacteria were the norm, not the exception, on farms where antibiotics are used continuously in feed to promote growth and prevent disease in animals.

"Tracking the source of antibiotic resistance is quite complicated because antibiotic use, which increases the occurrence of resistance, is widespread, and antibiotic resistance can spread between bacteria," Tiedje added in a university news release.

The Chinese farms in the study were close to large cities, so controlling antibiotic resistance in the pigs is important to minimize the risk to people, Tiedje explained.

This is a global issue, not an isolated Chinese issue, Tiedje said. "Multidrug resistance is just a plane ride away. This is why our work in China is definitely as relevant as in the United States," he said.

The findings were published online April 12 in the journal mBio.

Antibiotics have been used so extensively that the bacteria they are intended to kill have adapted to them, making the drugs less effective, health experts say.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 2 million Americans a year become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria and at least 23,000 people die each year as a result of these infections.

Controlled Burn in Union County Spreads Smoke Across Upstate

A controlled burn of 2,500 acres in Union County has cast a smoky haze across Anderson County and the rest of the Upstate.

Anderson County Emergency Preparedness Director and Chief Deptuy Taylor Jones said a weather pattern has led to the smoke settling and has left a haze in Anderson County and even more problems in Greenville and Spartanburg counties were heavy smoke has caused some problems on Interstate 85.

Smoke from the burn can cause problems for people with allergies and asthma, so those with any respiratory issues should stay indoors until the smoke settles and is pushed slowly out of the area tonight.

A shift in the winds is expected to completely clear the smoke out of the widespread area by Friday.

Study: U.S. Corporations Hiding $1.4 Trillion in Tax Havens

U.S. corporate giants such as Apple, Walmart and General Electric have stashed $1.4 trillion in tax havens, despite receiving trillions of dollars in taxpayer support, according to a report by anti-poverty charity Oxfam.

The sum, larger than the economic output of Russia, South Korea and Spain, is held in an “opaque and secretive network” of 1,608 subsidiaries based offshore, said Oxfam.

The charity’s analysis of the financial affairs of the 50 biggest US corporations comes amid intense scrutiny of tax havens following theleak of the Panama Papers.

And the charity said its report, entitled Broken at the Top was a further illustration of “massive systematic abuse” of the global tax system.

Technology giant Apple, the world’s second biggest company, topped Oxfam’s league table, with some $181 billion held offshore in three subsidiaries.

Boston-based conglomerate General Electric, which Oxfam said has received $28bn in taxpayer backing, was second with $119 billion stored in 118 tax haven subsidiaries.

Computing firm Microsoft was third with $108 billion, in a top 10 that also included pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer, Google’s parent company Alphabet and Exxon Mobil, the largest oil company not owned by an oil-producing state.

Oxfam contrasted the $1.4 trillion held offshore with the $1 trillion paid in tax by the top 50 US firms between 2008 and 2014.

It pointed out that the companies had also enjoyed a combined $11.2 trillion in federal loans, bailouts and loan guarantees during the same period.

Overall, the use of tax havens allowed the US firms to reduce their effective tax rate on $4tn of profits from the US headline rate of 35% to an average of 26.5% between 2008 and 2014.

The charity said this had helped firms spend billions on an “army” of lobbyists calling for greater state support in the form of loans, bailouts and guarantees, funded by taxpayers.

The top 50 US firms spent $2.6bn between 2008 and 2014 on lobbying the US government, Oxfam said.

“For every $1 spent on lobbying, these 50 companies collectively received $130 in tax breaks and more than $4,000 in federal loans, loan guarantees and bailouts,” said Oxfam.

Robbie Silverman, senior tax adviser at Oxfam said: “Yet again we have evidence of a massive systematic abuse of the global tax system.

Full Story Here

Senate Strips Funding for Flint from Bill

The U.S. Senate moved past a three-month impasse on a comprehensive energy bill Wednesday after stripping emergency funding to address the Flint, Mich., water crisis from the document.

The bill, which has bipartisan support, is the most comprehensive energy legislation since 2007. It reinforces the nation's energy infrastructure and modernizes government energy policy at time when the United States is the world's leading producer of oil and natural gas, the use wind and solar power is increasing and clean-air regulations are changing power systems across the country.

It has been delayed because it includes an amendment providing $600 million to Flint to aid victims of lead-corroded pipes and water so harmful that residents are relying on bottled drinking water.

The Flint provision includes $250 million in federal funding to replace its water lines.

Full Story Here

Jimmy Drew and Joie Chitwood Receive Fair Industry Top Awards

In a significant crossroads of entertainment history, Jimmy Drew, James H. Drew Exposition, and Joie Chitwood of the Joie Chitwood Automobile Show family received the two top industry awards presented by the Outdoor Amusement Business Association. Joie

Chitwood received the Pioneer Award while Jimmy Drew and Beverly Burback received the Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award. This is the first time in history that the 50 members of the OABA Board elected the recipients by unanimous vote. The OABA is an industry watchdog group monitoring national and international issues such as H-2B

Foreign Labor, wage legislation and other laws affecting the fair and entertainment industry. The Showmen's League of America, organized in 1913 by its first president,

William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill), is a benevolent and fraternal organization focused on the welfare of show people. The SLA's Showmen's Rest section at Chicago's Woodlawn Cemetery with its huge white marble elephants was created in part to bury nearly 80 unidentified workers and performers from the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train wreck at 4:00 am on June 22, 1918, in Ivanhoe, IN.

Jimmy Drew, from Augusta, GA, is the only person to ever serve as president of both organizations in the same year (1984) and the first person since the 1930's to be elected as president twice. Carolyn Crayton, founder of the renowned Cherry Blossom Festival in Macon, GA, and well known in International Festival circles says, "Jimmy Drew is the Walt

Disney of the fair and festival business". Dean Chance, former pitcher of the California Angels and Cy Young Award winner, also heavily involved in the fair and entertainment industry says, "Jimmy Drew is the person the other show owners all look up to and try to emulate and he makes it look easy". He is a strong proponent of country and bluegrass music at county and regional fairs. Many fair manages acknowledge that Jimmy Drew may be the one person that has introduced more country and bluegrass music to fair events than anyone else.

Ron and Beverly Burback, and their organization, operates the largest fair entertainment midway in the Pacific Northwest. Beverly Burbank is the founder of the Pacific Northwest Ride Safety programs.

The families of Joie Chitwood and James Drew have remained close friends most of their lives. Joie Chitwood took over the Earl "Lucky" Teeter Helldriver's after Lucky Teeter was killed during a war memorial at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in 1943, while attempting to

jump long ways over a greyhound style bus. Joie Chitwood and sons, Joie, Jr. and Tim, operated the Chitwood Auto Thrill Show. Joie Chitwood, Sr. is in the Indianapolis Speedway's historical Hall of Fame after placing in the top five in over five Indianapolis races. Joie Chitwood, Sr. is the first person to use a seat belt in a racecar and is credited to be the person behind the eventual use of seat belts in passenger cars. Joie Chitwood, III, president for many years of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is currently president of the Daytona International Speedway.

House Changes Could Kill S.C. Roads Bill

The South Carolina House made changes Wednesday to the roads bill that has been debated for more than a year, leading senators and the governor say the proposal is likely dead for the year.

South Carolina roads will still likely get more money. The House has placed an extra $400 million in its budget it sent to the Senate.

But Wednesday’s amendment greatly reduces the chances of reforming how commissioners are chosen to the board that helps run the Department of Transportation. Many lawmakers have said that is a critical first step toward getting closer to the extra $1 billion a year the road agency has said it needs to get state highways back to good condition.

The House could have agreed to the Senate road bill, which allows Gov. Nikki Haley to appoint all members of the DOT board with Senate approval. But instead, the House changed the bill to have approval by the House and Senate.

40,000 Verizon Workers Go On Strike

Nearly 40,000 unionized employees of Verizon Communications went on strike Wednesday after working without a contract since August.

Workers left the job at 6 a.m. Wednesday, as they threatened to do in a strike announcement Tuesday.

The strike, by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, is the second in the past four contract cycles with Verizon. It largely affects employees in the company's landline business in the northeast, from Massachusetts to Virginia.

A 2011 strike against Verizon lasted two weeks before it was settled with a new contract.

At issue, the CWA said, are reductions in job security, the planned closure of some Verizon call centers, the move of some jobs to foreign countries and to outside contractors and a plan for some employees to relocate for up to two months.

Cruz Likely to Block Trump at GOP Convention

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is close to ensuring that Donald Trump cannot win the GOP nomination on a second ballot at the party’s July convention in Cleveland, scooping up scores of delegates who have pledged to vote for him instead of the front-runner if given the chance.

The push by Cruz means that it is more essential than ever for Trump to clinch the nomination by winning a majority of delegates to avoid a contested and drawn-out convention fight, which Trump seems almost certain to lose.

The GOP race now rests on two cliffhangers: Can Trump lock up the nomination before Cleveland? And if not, can Cruz cobble together enough delegates to win a second convention vote if Trump fails in the first?

Trump’s path to amassing the 1,237 delegates he needs to win outright has only gotten narrower after losing to Cruz in Wisconsin and other recent contests, and would require him to perform better in the remaining states than he has to this point.

In addition, based on the delegate selections made by states and territories, Cruz is poised to pick up at least 130 more votes on a second ballot, according to a Washington Post analysis. That tally surpasses 170 delegates under less conservative assumptions — a number that could make it impossible for Trump to emerge victorious.

Full Story Here

Oconee Nuclear Station to Test Sirens Today

Oconee Nuclear Station will conduct its second quarterly siren test of 2016 on Wednesday. The sirens near the nuclear power plant will sound at approximately 11:50 a.m., Duke Energy officials said in a news release.

People living in the area should not be alarmed and are urged to call Duke Energy’s World of Energy at 864-873-4600 with any questions.

The sirens are tested every quarter to ensure functionability in the event of an actual emergency.

S.C. Senate Transgender Bill Discussion Today

A South Carolina bill limiting transgender people's bathroom choices is up for discussion Wednesday, a week after Republican Gov. Nikki Haley and state business leaders called the proposal unnecessary.

People are expected to pack a Senate hearing on the bill, though the subcommittee is unlikely to take any vote. Its chairman, Sen. Lee Bright, introduced the measure last week, saying he supports a North Carolina law that has led to companies ending expansion plans in the state and conventions going elsewhere.

Bright, who faces three GOP challengers in June, said he's had enough of tolerance if that means "men who claim to be women" going into a bathroom with children.

His proposal, which mimics part of North Carolina's law, would require multistall bathrooms on public property to be designated and used "based on biological sex." It specifically includes student bathrooms, locker rooms and shower rooms in public schools. It would also bar local governments from requiring businesses to let transgender people use the bathroom of their choice. 

How private businesses handle their bathrooms should be up to the owners, not government, he said.

The president of the state Chamber of Commerce, Ted Pitts, said senators need to focus on "real issues" such as the state's crumbling roadways.

"Sen. Bright is trying to create a political crisis that doesn't exist to save his political career," said Pitts, Haley's former chief of staff.

Supporters include the faith-based Palmetto Family Council, which is bringing in attorneys from the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom to testify. They argue Bright's bill and others like it nationwide are about privacy and safety.

"If the right to privacy means anything, it certainly means that women and girls should not be compelled to undress, shower, or use the restroom in the presence of men. This is just common sense," said Alliance attorney Kellie Fiedorek.

But the executive director of Charleston-based We Are Family, which advocates for LGBT issues, said that's ridiculous.

"It is transgender people whose safety is at risk," Melissa Moore said. "Transgender people face incredible discrimination in the workplace, in schools, and in public places. They face threats and physical assaults in public spaces."

She said the bill "perpetuates hateful rhetoric and myths about trans people."

Haley said South Carolinians are generally respectful and kind, and a law is unwanted.

"Businesses in South Carolina have very much shown respect and customers have shown respect back," she told reporters last Thursday. "While other states are having this battle, this is not a battle we've seen is needed in South Carolina or that we see citizens are asking for in South Carolina."

Besides, she said, the bill's doomed.

It's unlikely to make the May 1 crossover deadline for bills to move from one chamber to the other. And House leaders say it won't be taken up in that chamber anyway for the session that ends in June.

"Nothing's going to happen with this bill this year," Haley said.

S.C. Students to Move to 10-Point Grading Scale

Superintendent Molly Spearman says the state's move to a 10-point grading scale next school year allows South Carolina students to fairly compete for college entry and scholarships.

The State Board of Education approved the change unanimously Tuesday for high school, beginning Aug. 1. Supporters say it removes the unfair advantage that students outside South Carolina have when applying to colleges.

Currently, an A in South Carolina is 93 to 100. But most states, including neighboring Georgia and North Carolina, use the 10-point scale. That means, for example, that a South Carolina student who earns a 90 receives a 3.0 toward his grade-point average, while a Georgia student earns a 4.0.

Middle schools aren't required to make the change but are encouraged to, since many eighth graders take high school courses.