Nepotism alert: Strom Jr. wants to be 2nd Judicial Circuit Solicitor. (WCBD TV-2)

ABC News 4 has a report on a bill from the Upstate’s Rep. Fletcher Smith that would lower the drinking age for enlisted men and women down to 18. Hurray and all that. I can always use another drinking buddy. However, two things are particularly interesting about the report: One, Smith is not mentioned by name in it, and two, the report, featuring Sarah Demarco, shows how TV news orgs routinely report on the scene when there is no scene to report from. In this case, Demarco delivers her report in front of the Charleston Air Force Base sign. No one is interviewed live on the air; it’s just Demarco and the sign and the darkening sky. Good to see those news vans — what with their fancy satellite capabilities — being put to good use. Much like this AP style book beside my desk, but that’s neither here nor there.

Kids spread germs? Who knew? Apparently anyone who regularly watches Live 5.

I’ve been accused of having a taste for the macabre by at least one visitor to this site, but apparently so does the webmaster for ABC News 4. Check out the tags for the story on the car accident that took the life of beloved Sangaree Middle School teacher Rebecca Newman. You’ll find them under the headline. They read “fatal,” “deaths,” “killed,” and “accidents.”

Dave Mustaine can finally breath a sigh of relief now that the FBI has determined that the explosives found in the Megahed tour bus were in fact … fireworks.

Ken Burger might get all the love, but Gene Sapakoff ain’t bad either. Check out Sapakoff’s column on why the college football bowl system works.

In other sports news, an Orlando Sentinel columnist writes on steroid use in the NFL and the complete lack of congressional outrage.

It sounds like we have a little school girl schoolyard scrap going on in Berkeley County, as two county GOP leaders tussle over breakfast. Names are called, hair is pulled, fingernails scratch, nasty text messages are sent.

George Romero warned us about the dangers of a teacher-and-student-sex plague. Once an outbreak starts there’s simply no stopping it. Not that some state lawmakers aren’t going try. A new bill will outlaw sex between a high school teacher or staffer (full or part time) with students ages 18-21. Seriously, next you’re going to pass a law making it illegal for adults 18-20 to buy alcohol.

As always, I welcome your comments, the good, the bad, the downright nasty, and the unbelievely silly. (Major props if you can do it in haiku or bust out a Zen koan.) So tell me what you think: Should Mustaine still be sweating it? Should the BCS be 86-ed? Should we head to the hills and ride out the plague of sex-craved teachers? Should we order the Strom Jr. special?

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