Venezuelans are ready for change. Inflation is in triple digits. Basic staples and household goods are increasingly impossible to find. The murder rate is among the world’s very highest, with random killings and armed muggings commonplace.
When the city of Charleston wanted to impose a temporary moratorium on approving new hotels on the peninsula last year, City Council made it clear it would not support the proposal.
The old Chicora Elementary School building, an unassuming but not unattractive brick structure dating back to the 1930s in the heart of North Charleston’s southern end, has sat empty since 2011. One prominent local nonprofit has a plan to change that, and they ought to have the city’s blessing.
It’s a big idea, putting Charleston’s police and fire departments together under a single public safety director, and it’s prudent for members of the Public Safety Committee to give Mayor John Tecklenburg’s initiative their careful review.
Major regional infrastructure projects with federal, state and municipal involvement like the planned bus rapid transit system connecting Summerville to downtown Charleston take a lot of time to get built. It’s just a bureaucratic reality.
A long-term plan to buoy the state’s vastly underfunded pension system would do so largely on the backs of taxpayers, while reducing oversight and omitting a needed exit strategy.
It’s always dangerous for police officers to fire guns at moving vehicles. It’s especially dangerous for them to do so in an urban setting just a few feet from the Charleston Visitor Center in a part of the peninsula often filled with tourists.
The U.S. missile strike on a Syrian airfield ordered by President Donald Trump on Thursday was a measured response to the gas attack that killed as many as 100 Syrian civilians Tuesday in the Idlib province, one of the last rebel strongholds, filled with refugees from Aleppo. Syrian Presiden…
The main critic of a Columbia consultant for the State Ports Authority may be leaving the SPA’s board, but the questions he raised still need better answers. It is some measure of vindication for outgoing SPA board chairman Pat McKinney that one of the new appointees declared his support for…
In the tug-of-war between Charleston residents and hotel developers, developers have been winning. So it’s fitting to acknowledge two small victories for residents.
It’s good news that Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed today by the U.S. Senate to become a member of the Supreme Court. He promises to be a capable and thoughtful justice.
The poison gas attack in Syria on Tuesday crossed a lot of red lines for President Donald Trump, and it should have the same galvanizing effect on the international community. The outrage shouldn’t end with the usual Russian vetoes of United Nations resolutions against Syria.
For employees in pretty much any industry, a surprise performance review with the boss might cause at least a fair amount of stress — especially if a job might be at stake. On the other hand, good employees ought to be open to the occasional constructive feedback on how to improve their perf…
Gov. Henry McMaster was thumping his veto drum again Tuesday in opposition to a state gas tax hike, which again faces an uncertain future despite the evident need for more highway funding. The Legislature should simply advance a veto-proof plan this session.
Elections have consequences, as Barack Obama liked to point out. Nowhere is this more obvious than at the Department of Veterans Affairs, where the new secretary has made it clear that a disciplined and focused work force is a top priority. Finally.
Give the ladies a hand. The national championship-winning South Carolina women’s basketball team has come home from Dallas, bringing with it a big trophy and something more intangible as they bask in the afterglow of victory.
The failure last month of the House Republican leadership’s bill to replace Obamacare carries some important lessons for Congress and American politics.
A bipartisan bill aimed at making it easier for people convicted of minor, non-violent crimes to get jobs by having their records expunged deserves legislative and public support.
Senate Republican leaders plan to press forward with the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court this week, hoping to confirm him by April 10. Senate Democrats should give up any idea of using Senate procedure to prevent the confirmation of this well-qualified judge and should join R…
Some local officials have led people to believe that only a tiny minority of the public likes the idea of converting one lane of the T. Allen Legare Bridge over the Ashley River for bicycle and pedestrian use. So elected officials who have opposed it insist that they’re doing the will of the…
Charleston residents trying to protect their quality of life have lost another battle to property owners and developers.
Dylann Roof is headed to federal prison and most likely his execution. If he isn’t put to death, he will spend the rest of his life in prison. Even the most ardent advocates for his execution should be satisfied.
It should go without saying that Charleston was a very different city in 1978, the first year a few hundred intrepid runners managed to “get over it.” Since then, the Cooper River Bridge Run has boomed in a way that mirrors its host community.
Some well-intentioned people, most likely including former President Barack Obama, might be dismayed by the statement Monday by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley that a worldwide nuclear weapons ban is “not realistic.”
Things have gone from bad to worse for Berkeley County School District’s building fund. An alleged “shell game” in fund-shifting to cover cost overruns has left the district $7.2 million short for its building program, and the county school board shocked and embarrassed.
President Donald Trump has not really doomed the world to a future of climate change-related rising seas, increasingly chaotic weather, famine, drought and mass population displacement.
Partisan infighting on the House Intelligence Committee makes it clear that an independent investigation is the only way the American public will learn the facts about alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government or the equally disturbing charge that someone in the…
We’ll take two. On Monday, the University of South Carolina women’s basketball team topped the Florida State Seminoles 71-64 to land a spot in the Final Four.
The Carolina Gamecocks gave South Carolina an exhilarating reason to celebrate Sunday and gave the basketball world a reason to take note.
Charles D. “Pug” Ravenel is credited with changing the political balance of South Carolina when he ran for governor in 1974.
The Lowcountry is proud to be home to Google’s Berkeley County server farm and happy to see it growing, but the tech giant needs to restrain its plans to consume pristine water from a deep aquifer that needs to be managed responsibly.
You can learn a lot from reading the big, bold headlines in the weekly National Enquirer on display at the grocery store checkout. You get the latest on celebrity breakups, celebrity diets, pregnant celebrities and celebrities on the skids. (Only occasionally do UFOs now get tabloid space.)
Charleston area residents wary of the steady influx of new residents to the region may be surprised to know that the fastest growing portion of the metro area doesn’t have the word Charleston in the name. Well, mostly.
The five best jobs in America, chosen by the national recruiting site Glassdoor because of salaries, job satisfaction and availability, are jobs that most of the Lowcountry’s eighth graders will not qualify for after graduation.
House Speaker Paul Ryan did the right thing by calling off the House vote on a bill to replace Obamacare Friday when it became clear it would not pass. The delay was requested by President Donald Trump, who sought to make the best of a bad situation by announcing a change of priorities for h…
Every new session of the state Legislature brings new plans to expand the ability of gun owners to pack iron whenever and wherever they want. And this year is no exception, including a proposal to eliminate the need for a permit to carry a weapon.
When U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos described historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) as pioneers of school choice to an audience of HBCU presidents at the White House in February, it didn’t go over well.
There’s no such thing as too much transparency when it comes to the public knowing how its money is being spent. That’s why the S.C. House should shelve a bill that would reduce such public review.
The Veterans Administration health care scandal was a defining event of the Obama administration, and Carolyn Lerner was instrumental in making sure that it wasn’t even worse. As head of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), Ms. Lerner earned high repute for her vigorous support of whistleblo…
Maybe it’s wishful thinking to imagine that students will use free Wi-Fi on school buses to do homework instead of pretty much anything else on the way to and from school. But if Berkeley County students take advantage of a recently announced initiative to turn some buses into “rolling study…
Senate opponents of a gas tax increase to help pay for road and bridge improvements are once again threatening to undermine a bill to raise money for the long-overdue work. A replay of last year’s filibuster is expected, and while a majority of the Senate would likely vote for a plan to rais…
During his first two days of testimony in Senate hearings on his nomination to the Supreme Court by President Trump, Judge Neil Gorsuch displayed high intelligence, independence, impartiality, modesty and firmness, qualities that will serve the nation well if he is approved as the ninth justice.
Mount Pleasant has a problem with apartments but has come up with the wrong solution. Last week, Town Council approved a misguided two-year moratorium on new apartment projects.
The top news coming from Monday’s public hearing by the House Intelligence Committee in its investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election was the declaration by FBI Director James Comey that he had “no information” to support President Donald Trump’s charge that he had b…
Psst. Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon is headed to the front lines in the spy-vs.-spy battle for access to digital data. He's been named to the advisory board of the National Domestic Communications Assistance Center, a FBI-created agency that acts as clearing house for law enforcement o…
Huger Street today is a lot busier than it was when the Ravenel Bridge opened in 2005. It’s going to get a lot busier in the future.
All those residents who have been saying that Charleston has enough, or more than enough, hotel rooms on the peninsula aren’t just being peevish.
Maintaining discipline in the classroom can be a challenge for any teacher. And few things can harm other students’ ability to focus and learn more than a particularly disruptive classmate. That much is clear.
Ethics reform wasn’t on the short list of legislative priorities this year, but 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe has put it front and center with the release of a grand jury indictment of Sen. John Courson, R-Richland, on Thursday.