Feds: S.C. Economy Limped Through 2013

South Carolina’s economy limped through 2013, despite its increasing job base, according to a report Wednesday from the federal government.

The state’s gross domestic product — the sum of the total production output of all its industries in a given year — grew at a mere 1.2 percent last year, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

That output, released Wednesday in an annual report, put the state in 35th place among other states for economic growth. However, South Carolina’s $184 billion economy last year was up from $178 billion in 2012.

The unrevised 2013 numbers were unimpressive enough to raise the suspicions of at least one economist who studies economic conditions across the Palmetto State year round.

South Carolina’s 2012 gross domestic product was revised upward by Commerce’s Board of Economic Analysis to a 1.5 percent growth rate in the report released Wednesday, down significantly still from the 3.1 percent annual output reported in 2011.

“I can’t help but question the numbers, even though I understand who it is that is putting the numbers out,” said Mark Vitner, Wells Fargo senior economist in Charlotte.

Job creation in South Carolina has been on a tear the past year, Vitner noted. The unemployment rate fell in April to 5.3 percent, its lowest level in 13 years, and many of the new jobs created have been in the state’s better manufacturing sectors, including automotive, aerospace and tire production.

South Carolina also improved production output nearly across the board, Vitner said, showing positive gains in all but four of the 21 contributing sectors Commerce uses to measure gross domestic product.

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Council Discusses Budget Changes in Special Meeting

In a called meeting on the Anderson County 2014-15 budget Wednesday night, Anderson County Council reviewed and compared budgeted costs and revisions on stormwater, wastewater, solid waste and airport expenses, and the budget for the Anderson County Sheriff's Department.

The sheriff's department is currently projecting a deficit, a total $1,444,005. The funds are projected to be generated by restoring millage to 2009 millage rate of 30.8, instead of the current 30.2, which would generate $355,000 and the rest, or $1.1 million, would come from the department's fund balance. The current fund balance for the sheriff's office is currently $1.4 million.

The deficit is the result of rising costs and a rising demand for services and the cancelation of the contract by the Town of Pendleton.

Anderson County Councilwoman Gracie Floyd said the sheriff's department employees should also receive a raise. Floyd said Anderson is losing good law enforcement people to other, smaller counties which pay higher salaries.

"Anyone in your deparment who carries a gun and is having to apply for food stamps should get a raise," Floyd said. "It bothers me."

"I am making a polite request to get these folks a raise. It would make me and my constituents a raise." 

Council also heard a proposal for a new in-house phone system for the county. The currenty system is based on older techonology and was installed by a company no longer in business. Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns said last week the Anderson County Economic Development lost all phone service because of the old system.

Currently, the county pays $15,000 per month for the old system. Wendesday night's proposal would cut the monthly costs for the phone system to around $7,000 per month and would include a far more capable and up-to-date system which will allow for growth.

Anderson County Finance Director Rita Davis also reviewed changes in the proposed budgets which include many of the items discussed earlier. The changes include fleet adjustments, demolition projects, a web consultant, paving money - both current and deferred, economic development, among other items.

County Council Chairman Tommy Dunn said the changes were based on changes proposed by council members and that any changes would have to be offset by other changes to keep the current budget balanced.

The budget changes will also be included on next Tuesday's county council meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the historic courthouse dowtown.

S.C. Voters OK with Online Gambling, Legal Marijuana

When South Carolina voters went to the polls Tuesday, besides voting for the candidates running for office they also got to vote on some non-binding referendum questions. Republicans had two questions while the Democrats had three.

Republican voters said they favor extending the right to life to unborn children starting at conception, which would ban abortions if it were to become law. The actual question asked, "Should Article I, Section 3 of the South Carolina Constitution be amended to include the following language?

The privileges and immunities of citizens of South Carolina and the United States shall not be abridged, so that no person shall be deprived of life without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws. These rights shall extend to both born and pre-born persons beginning at conception."

79 percent of Republican primary voters voted yes.

The second question for Republicans was whether the state income tax should be phased out completely. "Should South Carolina Law be amended to replace the state income tax imposed on individuals, estates, trusts, and others by reducing the rate of taxation by 1.4 percent each year until the state income tax rate for all brackets is zero percent?"

80 percent of Republican voters approved of that idea.

State Republican Party Chairman Matt Moore says the state would make up for the lost revenue in overall economic growth. "We would have huge growth in the state from businesses moving here. You look at Texas, you look at Florida, states without income taxes, and the huge growth they've had despite a tough economy the last ten years or so. We think the growth here would be huge," he says.

Sen. Katrina Shealy filed a bill this year that would have done that, and Gov. Nikki Haley supports it, but it didn't pass.

Democrats voted on whether states, not Congress, should decide whether to allow online gambling and how to regulate it. That passed with 72 percent of the vote.

Democratic voters also favored allowed the use of medical marijuana for people with chronic, severe illnesses documented by a doctor. That passed with 81 percent of the vote.

And 75 percent of voters in the Democratic primary said the state should legalize gambling as a way to raise new money to fix roads and bridges.

Rep. James Smith, D-Columbia, says House Democrats will come up with a bill next year to try to do that.

"Obviously overwhelmingly supported in the Democratic primary, but I hear a lot from independents and Republicans who see that as something we ought to think about," he says.

Since the referendum questions were non-binding, this was basically an opinion poll. But leaders of both parties say the numbers give them a much better idea of voters' feelings than an opinion poll because of the numbers involved.

Around 290,000 people voted on the Republican questions and more than 114,000 voted on the Democratic ones.

Haley Signs Law to Boost Reading in Schools

Gov. Nikki Haley has a signed into law a bill seeking to boost reading levels of South Carolina's students.

Haley was joined by Democratic and Republican lawmakers at the signing of the Read to Succeed Act on Wednesday at the Edventure Children's Museum.

The law seeks to increase students' chances of graduating from high school through an expansion of 4-year-old kindergarten. It includes an early intervention program to ensure students can read by fourth grade with the help of reading coaches, summer reading camps and trained teachers.

Beginning in 2017, students still struggling to read by the end of third grade will be held back for intensive help.

Haley says if a child cannot read by the third grade, they are four times less likely to graduate on time.

County Council Calls Special Meeting Tonight on Budget

A special meeting of Anderson County Council will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the historic courthouse downtown. 

The agenda will focus on the county's 2014-2015 budget. The public is invited.

Full S.C. Election Results

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Dunn, Allen Win Primary; Moore Defeated by Cole; Newton Holds Spot

Two incumbents and one newcomer emerged from Tuesday's S.C. Prmaries with victories Tuesday.

Anderson County Council Chairman Tommy Dunn of district 5 knocked off challenger Denny Floyd with 54 perent of the vote, while Tom Allen of district 4 defeated challenger Kirk Gibson with 58 percent of the vote. Meanwhile newcomer Mitchell Cole of Belton took 60 percent of the vote in his victory over incumbent Eddie Moore in district 3.

Anderson County Probate Judge Martha Newton also held onto her seat garnering 59 percent of the vote against challenger Dan Sharp. 

Jonathon Hill Defeats Incumbent Rep. Don Bowen

Anderson County Tea party founder Jonathon Hill will represnt the South Carolina House of Representatives District 8 seat after defeating long-term incumbent State Rep. Don Bowen.

Hill took 57 percent of the vote in the race, and faces no Democratic challenger in November.

Graham Wins Big; No Runoff

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, once thought to be among the Republican incumbents most vulnerable to a Tea Party challenge this year, easily dispatched six primary opponents on Tuesday, capturing well over 50 percent of the vote and avoiding a runoff.

Mr. Graham’s victory — on the same day the House majority leader, Eric Cantor, lost his primary in Virginia — illustrates the strategies that establishment-aligned Republican candidates can use to fend off hard-liners this year. Mr. Graham prepared for his seemingly inevitable primary challenge years in advance, recognizing that his frequent deviations from party orthodoxy would make him a prime target on the right.

He has been hammered by conservative hard-liners in South Carolina, and across the nation, for being an outspoken advocate for an immigration overhaul and for voting to confirm both of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominees. But he stockpiled $9.4 million for his re-election, and well before the campaign got underway, he worked to ensure that his biggest potential rivals stayed out of the primary race.

He has saturated the South Carolina airwaves with commercials highlighting his record. He also has gone to great lengths to highlight his hawkish views on national security issues.

It was the sort of aggressiveness mirrored by other Republican senators who turned back conservative primary challenges from the right this year, like Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and John Cornyn of Texas. And it was a notably different approach from the one used by Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi, who is now in a runoff with a hard-line conservative in a race that will be settled on June 24.

There is considerable unease with Mr. Graham among some of South Carolina’s most ideologically driven Republicans, but none of his underfinanced and little-known opponents were able to take advantage of that discomfort to mount a formidable challenge.

Tim Scott Runs Away with 90 Percent of Primary Votes

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott has easily won the Republican primary in South Carolina.
    
Early returns Tuesday showed the 48-year-old Scott with more than 90 percent of the vote over challenger Randall Young.
    
Scott, who was appointed by Gov. Nikki Haley after Jim DeMint resigned from the Senate, took office in 2013 and had yet to face a statewide election. He previously served one term in the U.S. House and gained instant attention as one of only two black U.S. senators and the only black Republican in that chamber.
    
Young did no campaigning after filing as a candidate.
    
Scott moves on to face the winner of Tuesday's Democratic primary, as well as American Party candidate Jill Bossi, in the November election.

Southern Baptists Challenge Leaders to "Do More"

More than 6,000 representatives of churches within the Southern Baptist Convention, known as messengers, are expected to address the major issues facing the nation's largest Protestant denomination, including reaching more people with the Gospel, during its two-day annual meeting in Baltimore beginning Tuesday.

SBC Executive Committee President Frank S. Page plans to issue a challenge to Southern Baptists to "do more" to reach the world with the Gospel, according to SBC Life, the executive committee's journal website. Page is scheduled to talk about the Great Commission Advance on the first day of the conference, C. Ashley Clayton, EC vice president for Cooperative Program and stewardship, told SBC Life.

"In its most condensed and basic form, Great Commission Advance calls for Southern Baptists to simply 'do more,'" Clayton said. Page is calling on members to participate more in missions at the local, state, national, and international levels.

Two years after electing the Rev. Fred Luter, the SBC's first African-American president, representatives of the denomination's 15.7 million members will choose its next leader. Luter gives his last message to the Convention as SBC president on Tuesday and turns over the gavel to the next SBC president at the close of business on Wednesday.

Also on Tuesday, Luter plans to lead a revival service during the evening session, according to SBC Life. The annual meeting theme this year is "Restoration and Revival through Prayer."

"Last year our theme was about revival, 'Revive Us . . . That We May Be One,'" Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, La., said. "The year I was elected, I got a report from LifeWay that all our numbers were down—our attendance was down, our giving was down, our young people were leaving the church . . . just across the board things were down. I had a personal conviction that we need to get back as a Convention to making the main thing the main thing.

"This Convention has always had a great emphasis and a reputation for evangelism and discipleship," he said. "When I came here [to Franklin Avenue] as a young, green pastor, the local association sent workers and VBS teams to help us in evangelism and discipleship here. . . . For whatever reason, [the Convention] has gotten away from this.

"I wanted to again stay with the theme 'Revival,' but let's undergird it with prayer," Luter said. He selected the theme from Psalm 80:18–19: "Then we will not turn away from You; revive us, and we will call on Your name. Restore us, Yahweh, the God of Hosts; look on us with favor, and we will be saved." (HCSB)

Leading into the two-day conference, the SBC Pastors' Conference began on Sunday and ended on Monday. Speakers at the pastor's conference included Rick Warren, David Platt, and Francis Chan.

SBC has grown into a network of more than 50,000 cooperating churches and church-type missions "banded together to make an impact of God's Kingdom," the denomination states on its website. "While no two Southern Baptist churches are alike, there are certain commonalities that bind Southern Baptists together, regardless of ethnicity, socio-economic status, language, or locale."

More than 100,000 Vets Denied, or Get Delayed Care

Approximately 121,000 American veterans have either been forced to wait months for a medical appointment or receive none at all, reported an audit of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Released Monday, the VA audit found that approximately 57,000 veterans have waited up to three months to have a medical appointment and an additional 64,000 veterans signed up for the VA's health care in the past 10 years have never been seen by a doctor.

The audit was noted by Matthew Daly of the Associated Press as being the "first nationwide look at the VA network in the uproar that began with reports two months ago of patients dying while awaiting appointments and of cover-ups at the Phoenix VA center."

"Examining 731 VA hospitals and large outpatient clinics, the audit found long wait times across the country for patients seeking their first appointments with both primary care doctors and specialists," reported Daly.

"The audit is the third in a series of reports in the past month into long wait times and falsified records at VA facilities nationwide."

Other findings of the audit included 13 percent of schedulers reporting that their superiors told them to falsify reports to make waiting times appear shorter than in reality.

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