Prominent attorney Alex Murdaugh will likely remain in jail for many months while awaiting trial on charges of insurance fraud connected to the death of a housekeeper. But his attorneys are looking to the state’s Supreme Court to overturn the ruling that followed a psychiatric evaluation. Murdaugh’s wife and son were found shot to death at their family estate earlier this year, and Murdaugh is facing multiple cases claiming he stole from his law firm, stole insurance money from the heirs of a dead housekeeper and sought to defraud insurance by trying to have an acquaintance shoot and kill him. More: AP News, The State, The Post and Courier
In other headlines:
Task force does not say whether to breakup sprawling DHEC. A task force has met since June in an effort to determine whether South Carolina’s health and environmental agency should be broken into smaller agencies. The final report makes more than two dozen recommendations for helping to streamline the sprawling agency but offers no opinion on a legislative proposal to break it up. More: The State
House redistricting plan ruffles feathers. While the Senate’s redistricting plan advanced out of committee with ease, the House’s plan has drawn bipartisan criticism that it discouraged competition, divided communities of interest, and did not allow sufficient time for informed public comment. More: The Post and Courier, WLTX, AP News
Gubernatorial race grabs horns of culture war. Gov. Henry McMaster is joining fellow Republican governors facing reelection in 2022 to take shots at “inappropriate” materials in public schools, echoing the successful campaign in Virginia by a Republican. The governors are rattling sabers over Maia Kobabe’s book “Gender Queer.” In a letter to Superintendent Molly Spearman, McMaster claims to have been alerted to the issue by concerned parents, although the book in question has become a strategic GOP talking point over the course of the past year. More: AP News, The State, The Post and Courier
Veterans Day events happening in the Lowcountry. Today is Veterans Day and that means all around the state there will be events honoring veterans. Here is a list from the Lowcountry area. More: WCBD
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