The news has been pretty dull of late. But if you’re thinking about hurricanes, that’s good news.
The Atlantic coast apparently has reached a new record: No hurricanes so far this season. That’s the longest time without a first big storm since the modern satellite era started in the mid-1960s. As of Sept. 18, the coast has gone 110 days without an active storm that became a hurricane. There have been five minor storms since the hurricane season started June 1, but there haven’t been any with winds of 74 mph or more.
According to a story on S.C. Public Radio, it’s tough to turn to history before satellites to confirm whether a storm became a hurricane because something might have formed at sea and remained there without anyone knowing. Nevertheless, pre-satellite records suggest the latest time that a season’s first Atlantic hurricane formed was Oct. 5, 1905. And there appear to be two years without hurricanes – 1907 and 1914. Let’s hope the El Nino wind patterns do whatever they do to make 2026 a year without hurricanes.
While this good news on storms might have caught your eye, other stories are worth noting.
The Darline effect. You know that something might be going awry with a Republican candidate’s campaign when an old-school conservative like Washington Post columnist George Will throws a big bone to the Democratic nominee.
“This year, South Carolinians can demonstrate political independence by electing Democrat Annie Andrews,” wrote Will. “She is a 45-year-old mother of three and a pediatrician who likes children and wants to be in the U.S. Senate.”
It’s pretty clear in the commentary that he’s frustrated by the appointment of Darline Graham, sister of the late GOP U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham who died unexpectedly in July, to take her brother’s seat. She won a late, packed GOP primary, but it had to go to a runoff and was messy.
Will seems to be most irked that Graham seems to be nothing but an automatic yes vote for whatever President Donald Trump wants. He said the framers of the country wanted senators to be independent – “mature and insulated from transitory gusts of public opinion.”
Gray area. Looks like voters will see the stuff that Andrews and Graham are made of in an Oct. 11 debate to be broadcast statewide on SCETV. What’s not clear is whether they’ll debate on Gray media stations owned in the state. Why? Because Gray Media is doing something that sounds just plain weird – requiring candidates to sign exclusivity agreements to take part in debates they televise.
That is, quite frankly, anti-democratic – in the sense that one outlet wants to control the process for its financial benefit which would, in fact, chill political discussion in a socially irresponsible way. The framers wanted more debate, not less. Let’s hope all candidates refuse to accept Gray Media’s terms for debates as long as the company is motivated by something other than allowing voters to see candidates for what they are. (Shout out to SCETV: Thank goodness you’re there to fill the gap as you long have.)
It’s the people, stupid. A special state Senate committee is finally at work to try to figure out South Carolina’s part of what to do to keep artificial intelligence from taking over.
It’s about time, as highlighted in a new editorial in the Charleston City Paper that says state and federal lawmakers need to step in and regulate AI: “AI is moving at such a frightening pace that regular people are smart to be worried. It’s also time for people to insist that the government step away from its laissez-faire treatment of the industry.
“Federal and state lawmakers should regulate it, slow down its development and make sure applications are for the common good, not something that can metastasize into an untamed digital beast to make humans unnecessary.”
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
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