- BIG STORY: Washington vaccine fight creates ripples through S.C.
- MORE NEWS: McMaster declares victory in school resource officer push
- LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: Nullified
- BRACK: Use critical thinking skills to cut nimrodic blather
- MY TURN, Todd: Hopeful for return to hands-free driving
- MYSTERY PHOTO: Big shoes
- FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
Washington vaccine fight creates ripples in S.C.
By Jack O’Toole, Capitol bureau | A fight over vaccines is causing shockwaves in Washington and concern among medical professionals in South Carolina.
It all began on Aug. 27 when U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic, announced this fall’s Covid shot would be approved only for Americans 65 and older or those with underlying medical risks. Up to now, the vaccine has been available to all Americans six months and older.
The following day, the White House fired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez, a Trump appointee from just a month ago. But she reportedly resisted Kennedy’s push to purge career health officials and further restrict vaccine access.
Monarez’s ouster set off a wave of turmoil, with at least three top CDC leaders resigning and dozens of staff staging a walkout in protest. By late Thursday, Kennedy deputy Jim O’Neill had been installed as acting director of the agency.
South Carolina’s reaction
Medical University of South Carolina professor and one-time CDC scientist Michael Sweat said in an Aug. 28 interview that the upheaval at the agency was troubling.
“It’s concerning that some of the most respected leaders in our premier public health institution have resigned over this issue,” he said. “Which raises questions about whether we’re following the science as closely as we could.”
In an Aug. 28 statement to Statehouse Report, Democratic U.S. Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina called the situation a threat to “Americans’ freedom to protect themselves” from disease.
“RFK Jr. and his team of hacks and quacks are dangerously out of control,” Clyburn said. “I urge the President and congressional Republicans to put a stop to this unscientific foolishness before people start dying.”
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, who in Feb. 2023 announced that she had been “vaccine injured” by the Covid shot, did not respond to an Aug. 28 request for comment.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers split sharply over the new policy.
Conservative S.C. Rep. Jordan Pace, R-Berkeley — who’s called for mRNA-based Covid vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna to be pulled off the market until long-term safety data is available — called the decision to restrict access “eminently reasonable,” pointing to similar policies in Denmark and Sweden.
“I’d rather get rid of them entirely,” Pace said on Aug. 28. “But this [recommendation] essentially brings us in line with what most of Northern Europe has been doing for the last four years.”
But S.C. Sen. Minority Leader Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said the new policy would violate South Carolinians’ medical freedom, and could impose high costs on patients if insurance companies refuse to cover shots for people outside of high-risk groups.
“It should be available to any adult who wants it, with parents deciding what’s best for their children,” he said. “Restricting the vaccine is going to cause some people to become severely ill and potentially die.”
‘Talk to your doctor’
With Covid cases again on the rise in the Palmetto State, the S.C. Department of Public Health (DPH) is advising residents to talk with their medical provider about vaccine eligibility.
“The Covid vaccine remains a safe and effective way to prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death from Covid,” DPH spokesperson Casey White said in a statement. “DPH also urges people to continue using other practical proven prevention measures such as hand washing, staying home when ill, and covering your cough.”
Dr. Robert Oliverio, chief medical officer at Roper St. Francis in Charleston, reiterated the importance of talking to a doctor, particularly with so many details — including precisely what will count as a “high risk” preexisting condition — still unclear.
“We don’t know where people are going to be able to get the vaccine or who’s going to pay for it,” Oliverio said, noting that vaccines can cost hundreds of dollars when they’re not covered by insurance. “It’s a tough situation.”
A federal government panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), is tentatively scheduled to meet in mid-September to iron out the eligibility details. In June, Kennedy removed all 17 members of the panel and replaced them with his own appointees.
Like Oliverio, MUSC’s Sweat is waiting for details, but said he’s particularly concerned about pregnant women’s eligibility after Kennedy announced in May that the CDC would no longer recommend that they get vaccinated. Nevertheless, major American medical societies, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, continue to recommend vaccination.
“The science has shown the vaccine is beneficial and safe for pregnant women,” Sweat said. “So, like many other people in public health, I have concerns that they’re not following the evidence in that regard.”
In the end, Sweat, too, advises patients to rely on their doctor to help guide them through the intricacies of the new vaccine environment, though he worries some patients will fall through the cracks.
“It’s a complicated system,” he said. “And I do think some people who want it are going to run into trouble.”
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McMaster declares victory in school resource officer push
By Jack O’Toole, Capitol bureau | Gov. Henry McMaster traveled to Tyger River Elementary School in Spartanburg County on Aug. 27 to declare victory in his years-long effort to put a trained police officer in every S.C. public school.
McMaster’s push to fund SROs began in 2018 when only about 400 of the state’s 1,283 public schools had at least one full-time officer on-site. His Wednesday event celebrated an additional $29 million in this year’s state budget to fully fund the final 177 trained officers needed.
But there’s still a little way to go. At this point, 119 of the 177 recently-funded positions are reportedly still waiting to be filled.
“For years, we have made it our mission to ensure that every student, teacher, and staff member is protected by an armed, certified, full-time school resource officer (SRO) in every school, in every county, all day, every day,” McMaster said. “And now we have finished the job.”
S.C. Department of Public Safety Deputy Director Mike Oliver pledged to begin hiring qualified officers without delay.
“The funding is now in place to put an SRO in every remaining school across the state, and that is exactly what we are going to do,” he said.
But even as he counted a win in the SRO effort, the term-limited McMaster plugged another goal that’s almost within reach as his final term winds up next year — raising the minimum teacher’s salary to $50,000.
“We’ve got to have the very best teachers and they can’t work for free,” McMaster said. “We need to pay ’em and we need to pay ’em well.”
In May, state lawmakers raised the state’s minimum teacher’s salary by $1,500 to $48,500. McMaster said he was “confident” they’d finish the job when they return for next year’s session in January.
In other recent news
Supreme Court’s Jackson set for talk on Sept. 2 in Charleston. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a fresh voice that has emerged and is maturing, will be in Charleston for a talk Sept. 2.
Former S.C. House Speaker Lucas seeks Few’s seat on state Supreme Court bench. Incumbent S.C. Supreme Court Justice John Cannon Few will go up against three other candidates, including former state House Speaker Jay Lucas, as he seeks re-election to another 10-year term on the state’s highest court.
S.C. hands-free driving law goes into effect next week. Under the new law, drivers will be prohibited from holding or supporting a cellphone with any part of their body. Similar devices, including portable computers, GPS receivers and electronic games, are also covered under the ban.
Education agency oversight hearing gets tense. During a state Legislative Oversight Committee meeting to review the S.C. Department of Education, things got tense when a lawmaker brought up book bans.
Taxpayer tab to investigate state accounting errors now over $11M. That total is up by more than $3 million since March, a records search finds.
Former S.C. Ports CEO to get nearly $1M severance package. The S.C. State Ports Authority will pay nearly $1 million in a severance package for Barbara Melvin, the maritime agency’s former president and CEO who abruptly resigned last week.
S.C.-1: Last pilot out of Afghanistan enters S.C. congressional race. Alex Pelbath, the Air Force pilot who flew the last U.S. aircraft out of Kabul, is now running for Congress in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, calling himself a “Trump conservative” and pledging to be the political reinforcement the president needs.
Trump administration orders S.C. to remove ‘gender ideology’ from sex-ed material. South Carolina could lose more than a million dollars in federal funding if it does not comply with a new order from the Trump administration.
High chemical pollution in S.C. river sparks call for cleanup.. Environmentalists are demanding action to clean up contaminants from Sumter’s wastewater plant which discharges toxic forever chemicals into the Pocotaligo River, threatening public health. Levels are among the highest in the nation, according to this report.
‘Swatting’ hoax led to active shooter alert at USC. A quickly revoked University of South Carolina active shooter warning was the result of a so-called ‘swatting’ hoax, campus police said.
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Nullified
Award-winning cartoonist Robert Ariail has a special knack for poking a little fun in just the right way. This week, he pokes fun a
- Love this week’s cartoon or hate it? Did he go too far, or not far enough? Send your thoughts to feedback@statehousereport.com.
Use critical thinking skills to cut nimrodic blather
By Andy Brack | For the last two decades, there’s been a steady drumbeat of conservative messaging about how bad government is. But there’s not been much of a concerted effort to counteract the negativity.
Part of it’s human nature because it’s way easier to believe something bad about a person, program or effort than it is to use critical thinking skills to dispel what doesn’t make sense. And with everybody and his brother thinking they know how to really research something when most of them just pass along the latest social media trash, faith in government institutions has waned.
It hasn’t helped that the people now in charge from the president through the GOP in Congress and many state legislatures seem to simply hate government – or disrespect enough of what our founding fathers did to be the world’s biggest hypocrites.
And to top all of that off, the loyal opposition – the Democratic Party – does such a poor, milquetoast job of messaging that it’s no wonder the nation is in a fix.
So try to step back and think about what government – local, state and national – does to make your life better everyday:
Internet: Yep, government created it to free the flow of information. It also has made everyone a publisher and led to dark channels of rhetoric, misinformation and lies that hurt freedom. Yes, the internet works, thanks to government, but its unfettered openness helped to erode the foundations of democracy.
Military: America invests more in military spending ($997 billion) than the other nine countries in the top 10 of military spending ($985 billion). That means our defense spending tops the combined coffers of China, Russia, Germany, India, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, France and Japan.
Interstates: The nation’s Interstate highway system allows for comparatively quick travel between major metropolitan areas and is buttressed by the system of federal roads in between. All are paid for by the government. These roads connect people and markets, just as government-funded airports and ports do.
Satellites: Enjoy the Weather Channel, cable TV or Google Maps? Remember a government program launched satellites for weather, communications and mapping. And President Trump is threatening these – which makes no sense.
Our government makes a daily difference in our lives, from protecting our food and water supplies to educating our children and to keeping our communities safe.
Today, those functions are commonplace. We assume they’ll be there and too often forget how hard it was to build their infrastructure.
A dozen years ago in a book titled “Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government,” now-Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom described how people often are oblivious about how enriched their lives are by government because “government doesn’t have an official PR department to help burnish its image.”
Well before Trump was a candidate, Newsom wrote, “When ordinary people feel politics is irrelevant, the whole Jeffersonian model of democracy is in peril. We’re becoming a government of the elites, the opposite of what our forefathers intended, and the opposite of what has historically made America strong.”
So here’s a challenge: Think seriously about how government positively impacts you and then start thinking more critically about the blather being shifted from one channel to one post in the media. Question that information. Maybe then, you’ll start appreciating how government is a civilizing force – and that’s why it scares so many who are trying to destroy it.
“Government is us,” Newsom wrote in 2013. “It’s the police officer, soldier, educator, IT worker, secretary, lawyer or engineer who lives next door. Helping people realize that would be a great first step in cutting through the disdain and mistrust people have for government today.”
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of the Charleston City Paper and Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Hopeful for return to hands-free driving
By Rick Todd | After years of advocacy and countless preventable tragedies, South Carolina has joined the ranks of civilized states with a comprehensive hands-free driving law. The S.C. Hands-Free and Distracted Driving Act takes effect Sept. 1, a monumental step forward for driver safety.
Too many drivers today treat their vehicles like mobile entertainment centers and offices – texting, scrolling social media, serving up movies and videos, or holding animated phone conversations – confident that their multitasking abilities will keep them from hitting something. But the statistics are sobering and inarguable, and the trucking industry knows better.
It seems everybody struggles with the compulsion, even professional drivers. But many of them have witnessed firsthand the devastating consequences of distracted driving, and federal safety rules have prohibited their use of handheld devices since 2012.
Professional drivers and owners face severe penalties if they violate the rules, including immediate out-of-service orders and career-threatening violations on their commercial driving records. These aren’t arbitrary rules. They’re born from decades of safety research and real-world experience.
Truck drivers understand they are responsible for a large vehicle. Every second of inattention can mean the difference between safe arrival and tragedy. The double standard ends with this new state law leveling the field and extending similar prohibitions and protections to all of us.
The beauty of South Carolina’s new law lies in its clarity and enforceability. Unlike vague “texting while driving” statutes that require officers to prove specific phone activities, this law is straightforward: you cannot hold or support a mobile device with any part of your body while driving. Period. This removes the guesswork for both drivers and law enforcement.
The 180-day warning period starting on September 1 shows wisdom on the legislature’s part. Change takes time, and allowing drivers to adjust their habits before full enforcement begins on February 28, 2026 is reasonable. Ample DOT signage, which you may have already seen popping up, will serve as constant reminders.
Some argue that hands-free technology isn’t foolproof, that voice-activated systems can still cause distraction. They’re right that hands-free isn’t risk-free. But eliminating the physical manipulation of devices while driving removes the most dangerous component: taking your eyes off the road, your hands off the wheel, and your mind elsewhere. This rule is about harm reduction, not perfection. The highway presents too many variables and requires full attention and vigilance.
For the most earnest professional drivers, this law provides additional backing for the safety culture we strive to instill in all motorists. Real consequences for senseless violations will create a more consistent and safer environment for everyone.
Government has many roles, but none more fundamental than establishing rules that protect public safety on shared public infrastructure. This new legislation represents the government fulfilling its proper role: creating clear, enforceable standards that protect road users. The highway system belongs to all of us, and with that privilege comes responsibility.
We thank law enforcement in advance for the diligent enforcement to come. And we thank the General Assembly for the political will to give our citizens a hands-free law to meet the increasing challenges we face with faster and more crowded traffic.
No text, call, or social media post is worth the risk.
The road ahead will be safer.
Rick Todd is president and CEO of the S.C. Trucking Association. Have a comment? Send to feedback@charlestoncitypaper.com.
Big shoes
These look like some pretty big shoes to fill. Where was this picture taken and what does it show? Send your best guess to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Last week’s mystery photo, “Interesting desk,” was part of a display in an officer’s quarters on the USS Yorktown in Mount Pleasant.
Writes veteran sleuth Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas, “The mystery photo shows berthing quarters typically used by officers aboard the USS Yorktown, and includes wardrobes, a sink, a desk and more comfortable beds than the standard enlisted bunks. The men would personalize their bunks with pictures from home, artwork and memorabilia from their journey. That said, something tells me that the photos hanging on the locker door to the right of the photo are not pictures of the officer’s wife or girlfriend!”
Others who correctly identified the photo were: David Lupo of Mount Pleasant; Steve Willis of Lancaster; Jay Altman and Dwight Cauthen, both of Columbia; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Will Bradley of Las Vegas, Nevada; Charlie Davis of Aiken; Amelia Clark of James Island; Shelley Carter of Spartanburg; and Michael Webb and Macy Adams .
- SHARE: If you have a Mystery Photo to share, please send it to us – and make sure you tell us what it is!
Send us your thoughts
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Statehouse Report, founded in 2001 as a weekly legislative forecast that informs readers about what is going to happen in South Carolina politics and policy, is provided by email to you at no charge every Friday.
- Editor and publisher: Andy Brack, 843.670.3996
- Statehouse bureau chief: Jack O’Toole
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