Gov. McMaster rolls back orders + Taxpayer dollars unaccounted for

Apr. 24--Happy Friday.

Congratulations if your team drafted Joe Burrow. If not, there's always next year. That is as far as my NFL knowledge goes.

Welcome to your weekly South Carolina politics briefing, a newsletter curated by The State's politics and government team.

This week, Gov. Henry McMaster rolled back a number of executive orders in South Carolina, splitting opinions for many South Carolinians over whether slowly opening the state's economy is the right thing to do or whether it's better for people to stay inside:

-- He allowed some retail stores, including clothing and book stores to reopen;

-- gave local authorities permission to reopen public access to state beaches;

-- and ordered the state's school districts to keep schools closed and go virtual for the rest of the year.

The new directives are all about helping to ensure the state's economy gets "humming" by the end of June, the governor said.

McMaster said this week he has not felt any pressure from President Donald Trump to reopen the state's economy, despite President Donald Trump siding with protesters in some of the country's blue states who are demanding governors there open up businesses.

But McMaster's decision to allow some businesses to reopen runs counter to what Trump's White House COVID-19 task force has recommended as the conditions that states should meet before reversing stay-at-home orders or lifting restrictions on businesses.

As of Thursday, the state had recorded nearly 5,000 positive coronavirus cases and 150 deaths.

"We have not yet seen a consistent decline in case reports," said Dr. Linda Bell, the state epidemiologist. "What we're seeing is a potential leveling off of the number of cases reported."

Nursing home outbreaks

Across the country, nursing homes and assisted living facilities have reported a high number of COVID-19 outbreaks.

But in South Carolina, the public was unaware what the numbers were until this week.

Up until this week, the state's public health agency would not release information about disease activity in long-term care facilities, resulting in numerous newspaper articles, including from The State, and eventually a lawsuit. The health department this week released names of nursing homes where residents and staff have tested positive for the virus -- at least 241 COVID-19 cases in 46 nursing homes.

But questions arose how those numbers were being recorded.

A Chapin nursing home confirmed to The State Thursday that 30 cases were confirmed, a number far higher than reported.

Rural area concerns

Advocates say the state needs to pay greater attention to rural communities during this pandemic.

That, however, can be a challenge.

Some rural communities in the state don't have hospitals, and a lack of adequate testing and poverty that discourages trips to the doctor make having an accurate picture of what's happening in the state's rural areas difficult.

There's also a lack of high-speed internet.

But achieving a longtime bipartisan priority for South Carolina elected officials is taking on new urgency amid the coronavirus crisis.

Now, pressure is building on members of the S.C. congressional delegation to fight for more money for rural broadband deployment as a part of that effort. Lou Kennedy, the CEO of Columbia's Nephron Pharmaceuticals and an active donor to Republicans statewide and nationally, is using her clout to urge delegation members to take this fight directly to Capitol Hill.

And in State House news

About $450,000 in public money -- provided through legislative earmarks to a Columbia nonprofit with ties to prominent state Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland -- cannot be definitively accounted for, while another $124,000 appears to have been misused.

It's a striking example of the lack of transparency, accountability and record-keeping surrounding a long-held practice in which state legislators secure money for projects in their districts, according to ethics experts.

Buzz Bites

-- Boeing's S.C. operations will remain suspended, the company announced last week. Its Washington plant will start to ramp up work.

-- The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control says most people who have COVID-19 are getting better. As of Tuesday, the recovery rate stood at 72%.

-- Doctors think people who have recovered from COVID-19 could help people in hospitals battling the disease. Prisma and other hospitals around the state are participating in an FDA trial coordinated by the Mayo Clinic to see how well donated plasma with antibodies can help other patients.

-- After nearly two months of combating the spread of coronavirus, South Carolina has plateaued and should see the number of cases begin to drop off -- but only if South Carolinians continue to keep their distance from one another.

-- Clemson University has frozen tuition and fees for the 2020-2021 school year, the university said Thursday.

-- In remarks on the House floor Thursday, U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy went after South Carolina's U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, calling him a savvy political operator while implying he also would undoubtedly politicize the process of overseeing taxpayer dollars in response to the pandemic.

-- McMaster convened the first meeting Thursday of AccelerateSC, a 29-member advisory group assembled in the last week to help slowly reopen the state's economy.

-- U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted prayers for Senate colleague Elizabeth Warren, after she confirmed her brother died after contracting COVID-19.

-- African Americans are dying from coronavirus at higher rates in states including South Carolina. But why? Liberals and conservative lawmakers disagree on the cause but agree that testing and outreach needs to increase.

-- After doling out $1 million, the City of Columbia is set to add another $400,000 to help 134 applications staff are still reviewing.

-- The DCCC is leading a lawsuit against the S.C. Election Commission to allow residents to vote by mail in elections through the end of the year amid fears that coronavirus-related social distancing mandates will still be in place in the coming months.

-- The incentive deal to bring the Carolina Panthers to York County is complete. York County Council narrowly voted to approve its end of a package that clears the way for the NFL team to move its headquarters and practice facilities from Charlotte to Rock Hill.

-- Ex-Gov. David Beasley tells PBS NewsHour how countries hit hard by climate change and war are hurting more under COVID-19.

Mark your calendar

Senate President Harvey Peeler says he will not call senators back to Columbia for session next week.

The General Assembly still has not passed emergency measures to ensure state government can continue operating at this year's spending levels past June 30. If the Legislature fails to return by May 14,the governor has told legislative leaders he'll call them back.

Before we adjourn...

State lawmakers to University of South Carolina students and alums said goodbye to Yesterdays, an icon of Five Points, that after 43 years of business posted on Twitter that it was closing permanently due to the financial hit of the coronavirus.

To be honest, I'd been there once, so I felt like it was only necessary to let my colleague Travis Bland, a Columbia native, say goodbye.

"With the closing of Yesterdays, the iconic Columbia restaurant in the heart of Five Points, residents of the city lost more than a restaurant. We lost a living part of Columbia's history.

Opened in 1978, Yesterdays catered to no certain crowd other than those looking for a fulfilling meal or a simple, satisfying drink. But beyond the goodness that could be consumed from its kitchen and tavern, Yesterdays provided an almost palpable feeling of being part of the fabric of Columbia.

Yesterdays felt like a place filled with happy ghosts that connected Columbia's past to present. Anyone who regularly broke bread or tilted a glass at Yesterdays, which was a lot of folks, will remember their times fondly with that cowboy in the bathtub for decades to come."

Who pulled together this week's newsletter?

This week it was Maayan Schechter, State House and politics reporter for The State. You can keep up with her reporting via Twitter Maayan Schechter or email her at [email protected].

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