SC News

Fresh off an appearance with Fox News, Republican Congresswoman-elect Nancy Mace talks to us by phone as she heads to Washington, D.C. for orientation to serve South Carolina's first congressional district.

"It still feels a little surreal," says Mace.  "We made possible what so many said was going to be impossible to do."

This episode of the South Carolina Lede for November 21, 2020, features recommendations from state leaders on how to have a safe Thanksgiving, plans for rapid testing in schools, the latest South Carolina unemployment and jobs numbers, and much more.

Picture the stereotypical army drill sergeant we've seen on television and movies for decades:  screaming, ranting, cruel, hounding recruits until they're ready to break.   These abusive images once reflected most drill sergeants, but in the 21st century, that image and behavior is rapidly fading.  

When Kati Durkee got a sore throat, she went to the pharmacy.

A week later, she found out that it wasn't a cold. Or allergies. And that food poisoning that settled in, that wasn't food poisoning either. 

A week later still, Durkee's son (Durkee has a son in 11th grade and a daughter in 10th, but did not want their names in this story) got what she had -- COVID-19. 

"We were not the two-week people," she says. 

There were bouts of dizziness, migraines, tachycardia, and extreme fatigue. 

This episode of the South Carolina Lede for November 17, 2020 features: a continued look into the 2020 election with two of South Carolina's top political science professors; insight from one of the country’s most outspoken voices on anti-racism, Prof. Ibram X. Kendi, director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University; a profile of one restaurant chain growing amid the pandemic; and more.

This episode of the South Carolina Lede for November 14, 2020, features: a look at the exponential growth of COVID-19 cases across the country; an update on election security, including comments from South Carolina lawmakers regarding the presidential race; how the likelihood of mental illness increases with a COVID-19 diagnosis; and more.

Lindsey Graham won the most watched (and expensive) U.S. Senate race of the year. By a lot. He wasn’t supposed to. Not by a lot, anyway. Not if you paid attention to public opinion polls leading up to the election. Most polls gave him the odds, but not big odds.

Some polls even gave his challenger, Democrat Jamie Harrison, a slight chance to unseat him.

When Gov. Henry McMaster suspended Chester County Sheriff Alex Underwood due to federal corruption charges last year, he appointed Max Dorsey in his place. That touched off a long and complicated story that involved, among other things, Underwood vying to keep his seat on the 2020 ballot.

Eighteen months after assuming the office by appointment, Dorsey got his election victory. He won the sheriff's race by a nearly two-to-one margin and in the process became the county's first elected Republican sheriff since about the time Abraham Lincoln was the party's main face.

On this episode of the South Carolina Lede for November 10, 2020, features: the latest on presidential election, including comments from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Majority Whip Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC); a look at Pfizer's promising COVID-19 vaccine; an update from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on the health of the US economy; and more.

On this episode of the South Carolina Lede for November 7, 2020, we hear from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) about how he won the most expensive Senate race in history, his thoughts on the current presidential election count, and how he plans to work with Joe Biden, should the Democratic candidate become president. Also on this episode: an update on the First Congressional District race; warnings from DHEC about a potential COVID wave; suicide prevention efforts during the pandemic; and much more.  

As the COVID pandemic continues, it also continues to alter virtually every aspect of life and work in South Carolina as well as the nation.  For some, working at home or wearing a mask to the store is a minor inconvenience.  For others, however, the isolation of working from home, or sometimes the worry of unemployment or other stressors can be major traumas and have catastrophic results, including suicide.  

Throughout the 2020 election, the South Carolina Lede has kept you up to speed on what's happening the on the campaign trail in the Palmetto State with these "Trail Bites" mini-episodes.

On this edition for the week of November 5, 2020, host Gavin Jackson is joined by The Post and Courier's Jaime Lovegrove and The Associated Press' Meg Kinnard to discuss the results of the South Carolina US Senate race, congressional district races, and more.

In the final hours of this year’s presidential campaign, Donald Trump and Joe Biden have been flying in and out of the so-called battleground states, states with sizeable electoral votes and with a recent history of being able to be carried by the candidate of either party.  So it’s no surprise that again this year South Carolina received almost no attention  from the campaigns … with one brief exception: