S.C. Wants Your Feedback on Education Reform

As South Carolina overwrites the common core standards, the committee charged with the task wants citizens to help.

The S.C. Education Oversight Committee has set up an overly-complex survey at http:scstandards.org.  It appears going to the Appendix at the bottom of the language page and Appendix at the bottom of the math page and commenting might be the easiest way to complete the survey.  Within the Appendix, you are able to review the actual material.
 
Comments can also be left on the last page which is labeled "Exit."  However, they do want the comments to be grade-level appropriate.
 
The survey is in-depth and not for the faint of heart.  But it could be a good starting point.

Gubernatorial Candidates At Odds on How to Fix Roads

Candidate for South Carolina governor Vincent Sheheen is blaming a lack of leadership for an Upstate bridge collapse over the weekend.  It happened Saturday night along Memorial Drive Extension.  Four people were hurt after their cars fell into the hole formed after the collapse.

Sheheen said it never should have happened.

“We have to realize that if we had roads and bridges that were up to standard we could avoid these tragic things from happening.  No bridge in South Carolina should ever collapse,” said Sheheen.

Sheheen said infrastructure in the state is embarrassing and a lack of attention is to blame.

“Governor Haley has unfortunately done nothing to rebuild the roads and bridges in this state,” said Sheheen.

Sheheen said he wants money for crumbling roads to come from the state budget and not state tax dollars.

Governor Nikki Haley said he's got the right idea, one she said she had first. 

In a statement to News Four she said in part, “I have long advocated using revenue we already have coming into Columbia on core functions of government, rather than raising taxes on our families and businesses. Just last year, our businesses hailed the long overdue billion-dollar investment we made in strengthening our state's infrastructure without raising taxes,” said Haley.

Candidate Tom Ervin said both Haley and Sheheen are wrong.

“It's unrealistic quite honestly,” said Ervin.

He said it's been 25 years since the gas tax has been raised, and it may be time to revisit it.

“As much as I hate raising taxes, it may be the only way that we can fix this problem,” said Ervin.

When people cast their ballots for governor in November, those in Greenville County will get the chance to vote on a penny sales tax hike.

AIM: Anderson Student Wins Food Network Tournament

Wren High School student Tommi Rae Fowler will be able to become the first in her family to attend college, after she won Food Network’s “Chopped” teen tournament.

She will receive $25,000 and a $40,000 scholarship to culinary school.

“I really do put love in my food, and I hope it helps me win,” Tommi Rae told the show’s judges.

Sixteen teens competed over five episodes to win the “Chopped” teen tournament.

Tommi Rae, 16, takes culinary classes at the Anderson Districts 1 and 2 Career and Technology Center in Williamston. Tuesday night, she gathered at the career center with family members, her culinary arts teacher, and staff at her high school and the career center to watch the show. About 50 people were expected to be at the watch party.

Full Story at Anderson Independent-Mail

Christian Leader: U.S. Help in Iraq "Too Late and Not Enough"

The United States is sending weapons to the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan that is battling the forces of the Islamic State militants. A Christian leader in the Middle East says that although Christians there welcome the move they believe it is "too late and not enough."

"[President Barack] Obama needs to do more to slow down Islamic State and to stop [them] completely," Dr. Munir S. Kakish, chairman of the Council of Local Evangelical Churches in the Holy Land, told The Christian Post in an email on Tuesday.

"Yes, they need to send more aid and stop IS both in Syria and Iraq. Stop them to the point of never again [carrying out] barbaric slayings of human beings. If they stop all those foreign groups, this means all the refugees that left can return to their homes. I feel very strongly that the West must move fast and with great power. Yet I feel it is late, but never too late to do the right thing."

The Islamic extremist group has captured significant territory in both Iraq and Syria, targeting Christians and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

Militants have also reportedly carried out shocking acts, such as beheading children, prompting other Christian leaders in the region to also ask for more help from the U.S.

"They are systematically beheading children, and mothers and fathers. The world hasn't seen an evil like this for a generation. There's actually a park in Mosul that they've actually beheaded children and put their heads on a stick," National spokesman for Iraqi Christians and Chaldean-American businessman Mark Arabo told CNN last week.

"And they have them in the park. This is crimes against humanity. The whole world should come together. This is much broader than a community or faith. This is crimes against humanity and they are doing the most horrendous, the most heartbreaking things you can think of."

Full Story Here

AnMed Reconized as One of "Most Wired" Hospitals

AnMed Health has been recognized as one of the nation’s Most Wired hospitals and health systems, according to the 2014 Most Wired Survey. The survey results were released in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks magazine.
 
The Most Wired hospitals are better positioned to improve patient care and safety, according to the American Hospital Association.
 
“The Most Wired data show that shared health information allows clinicians and patients to have the information they need to promote health and make the most informed decisions about treatments,” says Rich Umbdenstock, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association. “Hospitals, their clinicians and their communities are doing tremendous work to enhance their IT systems in ways that support care and delivery improvement, and patient engagement goals.”
 
At AnMed Health, information technology is an integral part of providing care. Patient medical records have been electronic since 2000, and AnMed Health was the first in the state to implement PACS, a picture archiving and communication system that gives doctors and clinicians instant and remote access to radiology images.
 
AnMed Health has also introduced speech recognition software that transforms dictated reports into electronic text, allowing radiologists to produce more accurate reports quickly and easily. Today, physicians routinely use a computer-based portal to view clinical data such as laboratory results, medications, vitals, radiology and cardiology results and images, and nursing documentation.
 
The H&HN cover story detailing results is available at www.hhnmag.com.

Ron Wilson Wife, Brother Indicted for Conspiracy

U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles announced Tuesday that a grand jury has indicted former Anderson County Councilman Ron Wilson his wife and brother after gold and silver coins and hidden cash was discovered.

Wilson is currently in federal prison after pleading guilty in the Ponzi scheme.

Secret Service agents said nearly 800 victims lost more than $57 million after investing in Wilson's company, Atlantic Bullion and Coin.

Wilson was sentenced to 19 and a half years.

Wilson's wife, Cassie, and brother, Tim, were indicted along with him on a charge of conspiring to obstruct justice.  Ronnie Wilson was also charged with lying to federal agents.

A Secret Service agent and an official in charge of receiving assets from Wilson that were to be used to reimburse victims discovered $400,000 in cash, gold and silver hidden in an ammunition canister, according to U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles.

Nettles said that Ronnie Wilson gave the cash and coins to his brother and wife after his arrest in an effort to hide it from investigators.

Full Story Here

Plan Your Labor Day Weekend Around Celebrate Anderson

The 2014 Celebrate Anderson Weekend will take place Labor Day weekedn August 30-31 at the Civic Center of Anderson.

Saturday’s events include the 6th annual Tour de La France, US Handcycling and USA Cycling sanctioned races and the brand new Tour de La Cure, a ride created to raise funds for the Cancer Association of Anderson. At 11 a.m. SafeKids of Anderson County will be on hand to do helmet fittings, teach children bike safety and Share The Road bike etiquette, Fun enthusiasts will also enjoy local ‘celebrities’ competing for their chosen non-profit in the Charity Pedal Race.  

On Sunday, August 31st, residents and visitors will be treated to the 16th CELEBRATE ANDERSON, Anderson’s local Labor Day extravaganza. This annual event takes place on the day before Labor Day at the William A. Floyd Amphitheater inside the Anderson Sports and Entertainment Center. This event is FREE and open to the public. Gates will open at 5:00 p.m. and performances will begin at 6:00 p.m.

“If you are looking for something to do this Labor Day Weekend, look no further than Anderson County,” said Anderson County Council Chairman Tommy Dunn, “The Civic Center of Anderson will once again be the headquarters for festivities including the 6th annual Tour de La France and the Celebrate Anderson Championship Criterium on Saturday. We are excited to welcome special guest performers Adkins & Loudermilk and Darryl Worley to our County for the Celebrate Anderson Concert on Sunday evening. Invite your friends and neighbors to grab their chairs, blankets and coolers and prepare for a night to remember on Sunday evening at the 16th annual Celebrate Anderson.”
    
SCHEDULE
*Times are subject to change

Saturday, August 30
 9:00 am - 6 pm     USA Cycling and the US Handcycling Pro Races – Celebrate Anderson Criterium
 9:00 am                Tour de La Cure – a new ride to raise funds for the Cancer Association of Anderson
 9:05 am                Tour de LaFrance
 9:10 am                66 mile Distance Ride
11:00 am               SafeKids of Anderson County Bike Rodeo
12:00 pm noon      Charity Pedal Race

Sunday, August 31 - Celebrate Anderson Tribute to Our All-American Heroes
 9:00 am                 US Handcycling & USA Cycling - Celebrate Anderson Circuit Race
 5:00 pm                Amphitheater Gates Open
 6:00 pm                Local personality Ben Phillips will emcee the 2014 event
                              All American Pie Bake Off Contest Awards
                              Crowning of 2014 Best All American Mom
                              Special Tribute to John Mann
                              Special Forces Parachute Team
                              T L Hanna Jazz Band conducted by Richard ‘Bas’ Baskins
 7:00 pm                Adkins & Loudermilk
 8:00 pm                Darryl Worley
 9:30 pm                Fireworks Finale

Picnic baskets are welcome. Guests are encouraged to bring their blankets and lawn chairs. Concessions, featuring food and beverages, will also be available for purchase. No glass containers, tents, or pets, please. 

To sign up for cycling events, visit http://swagger.gobike1.com/site/events/labordayomnium.
 
Visit www.Facebook.com/CelebrateAndersonWeekend  or email astringer@andersoncountysc.org for information regarding the Apple Pie Bake Off, Best All American Mom Pageant and updates as they become available.

Ervin Spending $2 Million on TV Ads Through Labor Day

Escaping petition gubernatorial candidate Tom Ervin on television will be difficult over the next three weeks.

The former state lawmaker and judge is spending $2 million to air three TV ads statewide through Labor Day, according to a source close to his campaign. The latest spot starts Tuesday.

“That’s a lot of money in a short window,” veteran S.C. GOP political consultant Chip Felkel said. “You won’t be able to avoid him.”

The ad buy means Ervin, a Greenville attorney and radio-station owner, will have laid out as much money — $3.5 million — as Republican incumbent Gov. Nikki Haley and Democratic challenger Vincent Sheheen had spent together through June 30.

“This introduces South Carolinians to Tom Ervin and his common-sense solutions for a more inclusive economy, tough ethics reform and a quality education for every child,” Ervin campaign spokesman Christian Hertenstein said.

Ervin, a self-proclaimed “independent Republican” who is considered a long shot after entering the race in March, has self-financed much of his campaign so far.

All but $62,000 of the $1.5 million collected by Ervin’s campaign through June has come from personal loans. His wife, Kathryn Williams, runs a successful personal injury and worker’s compensation law practice.

But Ervin is far from the major-party candidates, according to a poll last month conducted for four S.C. media outlets. Ervin received 3 percent support from those polled, just ahead of Libertarian candidate Steve French, who has spent $2,500 so far.

Ervin’s August ad blitz could help bolster those numbers, Felkel said.

Full Story Here

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/08/11/3613901/petition-candidate-for-sc-governor.html?#storylink=cpy

Robin Williams Battled Depression, Drugs for Years

Robin Williams seemed to have it all: fame, wealth, an Oscar, an adoring and passionate fan following — but he also had a history of battling demons.

Throughout Williams' 40-year career, his personal life was marked by extreme swings from cocaine-induced hallucinations — vividly and profanely detailed in a famous 1986 one-man show — to severe depression, which his publicist said he was battling when he was found dead Monday at his California home at age 63. While many psychologists and pop culture analysts speculated that Williams had bipolar disorder, Williams is not known to have ever said so in public himself.

Success came early to Williams. He was one of only two students admitted to the advanced acting program at The Juilliard School in 1973, and the next year, he was playing the role that would make him famous: the zany alien Mork in an episode of "Happy Days," which led to his own sitcom, "Mork & Mindy."

He never seemed to have full control of his fame, however. Williams talked of having become addicted to cocaine while he was appearing on "Mork & Mindy." By 1982, he was doing coke with John Belushi, whom he visited the night Belushi died of an overdose, according to testimony before the grand jury that investigated Belushi's death.

Cocaine, Williams told People magazine in 1988, "was a place to hide. Most people get hyper on coke. It slowed me down."

In his 1986 one-man show at New York's Metropolitan Opera, Williams revealed that he'd managed to get clean. But it was a crushing realization that the change wasn't a miraculous one. "I realized when I became a former alcoholic, I was the same a**hole," he said.

But he was clean and successful for two decades — the longest stretch of his career. All of his Academy Award nominations came during that period: He won the 1997 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Dr. Sean Maguire in "Good Will Hunting," and picked up Best Actor nominations for "Good Morning, Vietnam," in 1987, for "Dead Poets Society" in 1989, and for "The Fisher King" in 1991.

"I had 20 years sober before I relapsed," Williams told fellow comedian Marc Maron in a 2010 interview.

That was in 2006, when Williams entered rehab for the first time publicly. "It's trying to fill the hole. It's fear," he told Maron. "You're kind of going, 'What am I doing in my career? ... Where do you go next?'"

Full Story Here

2 Amendments Explanations Approved for Nov. Ballot

A group has agreed to the explanations voters will see to the two proposed amendments to South Carolina’s Constitution.

The Constitutional Ballot Commission met last week in the state Attorney General’s Office.

They approved language that explains an amendment that if passed would allow some charitable nonprofit groups to run raffles. A second amendment would change the state Constitution to change the adjutant general from being elected by voters to being appointed by the governor.

The amendments will be on the ballot in November.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/08/11/3613949/sc-politics-commission-approves.html#storylink=cpy

Education Key Issue In Governor's Race

As the new school year is about to start in South Carolina, what happens in those schools in the future will be a big issue in the governor's race.

Democrat Vincent Sheheen has released a detailed plan to improve South Carolina schools, while Republican Nikki Haley is meeting with teachers, principals, and superintendents to get their input as she formulates her plan.

Sheheen calls his plan the "Back to School, Back to Basics" education initiative.

His plan would:

--Provide voluntary kindergarten for any four-year-old in the state

--Offer public school choice

--Raise teacher pay to the national average in five years

--Lower class sizes

--Give more state money to rural districts that don't have the tax base of larger districts

--Give more state money to colleges and universities so they can reduce tuition

The money would come from annual growth in the state economy. "Some of these things will take time," he says. "People shouldn't expect that it'll happen in a year or even two years. But if we don't begin to do it today, it'll never happen."

You can see his entire plan at: http://vincentsheheen.com/press-release/sheheen-launches-back-to-school-back-to-basics-education-initiative/

Meanwhile, Gov. Nikki Haley says she's focusing on making sure the education plan that she got passed this year goes into effect. That plan includes more emphasis on reading, with a reading coach in every elementary school and holding students back and giving them extra help if they're not reading at grade level at the end of third grade. It also includes more technology in classrooms and more help for rural districts.

"And now we'll move on to our next step in education," she says. "That was not a one-year fix. That was a continuation of what we're going to continue to do to improve education in South Carolina."

She has already met with teachers, principals, teachers' associations, and college education deans to get their input. She'll also be meeting with district superintendents.

Independent candidate Tom Ervin supports more school choice for kids in failing school districts. He also wants statewide four-year-old kindergarten, and to cap college tuition increase for four years.

Libertarian Steve French proposes changing how schools are paid for, with the amount of money the state provides for each student following the child instead of being sent to a particular school. That would provide more school choice. He would also opt out of all federal education money.

S.C. Medicaid Applications Backlogged

South Carolina Medicaid officials are working to process thousands of applications backlogged through the federal online marketplace.

As of Aug. 1, the state Department of Health and Human Services had reviewed 60 percent of the 38,000 applications the federal government began transferring in mid-February. Of those, 13,000 await more information from the applicant.

Deputy director John Supra says the agency should be caught up within a couple of weeks. Six temporary employees hired since July 1 are helping determine applicants' eligibility. Of the decisions made so far, 56 percent are approvals. Many others who applied were already enrolled.

The applications date to Oct. 1, when the problem-riddled federal website went live. The state agency has yet to receive an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 applications filled out through the federal site.

Clemson Crops and Livestock Day Set for Aug. 23

For South Carolina farmers, a new semester’s education starts even before classes begin.

Clemson University’s annual Livestock, Forage and Crops Field Day at the Simpson Experiment Station on Aug. 23, will provide visitors an update on issues affecting agriculture in the Palmetto State as well as a firsthand look at Clemson research and Extension programs.

“We try to cover the breadth of work Clemson is doing at the Simpson Station and at the university to support the state’s agriculture industry,” said Matt Burns, an Extension beef specialist and among the organizers of the event.

“We’ll have information on a wide variety of crops and the weeds, insects and diseases that affect them, as well as beef, horses, small ruminants and the pastures that sustain them,” Burns said. “It’s a great opportunity for producers to meet and talk with the Clemson specialists and agents who are working on issues that specifically affect their businesses.”

Starting with an 8:30 a.m. registration, the free event begins at the Simpson Experiment Station at 2013 Lebanon Road near Pendleton and includes visits to nearby fields, pastures and research facilities.

Separate tracks allow farmers to get in-depth information on one of four areas: livestock, crops, apiculture or youth programs.

Livestock producers can choose from sessions on beef, horses or sheep and goats; a joint livestock session covers forage production, fencing and new technology in the livestock industry.

Crop producers will hear from specialists on weeds, plant diseases and insects, including an update on the kudzu bug that has swept across South Carolina soybean fields. Additional programs are tailored specifically for beekeepers and for 4-H and FFA youth projects.

Following lunch, joint programs include equipment demonstrations and farm pond management instruction until the event wraps up at 2:30 p.m.

“It’s a lot to pack into a single day, but there’s plenty of work to cover,” Burns said. “We tried to make it easy for a producer to get exactly the information he needs directly from the people who are working on it.”

A schedule of events and and registration for the free event are available online at www.clemson.edu/extension/livestock/beef.