Columns

Citizens who want to watch meetings of their local city or county council ought to be able to do so from the comfort of their own homes.
Now, many people are able to, thanks to a growing movement to broadcast city and county council meetings.
There are a couple of ways local governments can give citizens at home access to these important discussions. Some counties, such as Charleston, broadcast their meetings on cable television. Others, such as Horry, live-stream them on the Internet.

National Volunteer Week (April 10-16), is a great time to celebrate volunteers in our community.
This year’s theme, “Celebrating People in Action,” aptly describes the Upper Palmetto Chapter volunteers. Red Cross volunteers are doers. Red Cross volunteers are people in action.
The Upper Palmetto Chapter serves York, Chester and Lancaster counties in South Carolina, with more than 500 active volunteers.

What is Washington doing with our money? This is one of the most basic – and important – questions that folks have asked me since I have been in Congress. It’s also one of the most difficult to answer.
Of course, we always hear a lot of quick answers: “They’re wasting it!” or “They’re throwing it away on earmarks!” or “They’re giving it away to other countries.” And to a certain extent, every one of those statements is true.  

I recently had the privilege of giving testimony in Columbia on the merits of an education tax credit bill being considered by state lawmakers.
I was honored to join parents, local educators and education officials from other states to discuss education tax credit policies across the country and what makes for successful choice reform.