SC News

This episode of the South Carolina Lede for August 1, 2020, features: details on the economic outlook of our country amidst the worst quaterly GDP rate in the post-war era; insight on DHEC's pandemic response; the latest South Carolina forecast for Hurricane Isaias; and more.

In this final episode of Spoleto Backstage for 2020, cohosts Geoff Nuttall and Bradley Fuller mark the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth by taking a tour through the German composer’s three stylistic periods — early, middle, and late — with commentary and a listen to representative performances from the past twelve years of the Spoleto Festival chamber music series. After discussing Beethoven’s musical beginnings, Geoff and Bradley hear his Piano Trio Op. 1, No. 3, followed by the second and third movements of his Septet in E-flat major, Op. 20.  The conversation then moves to Beethoven’s middle or “heroic” period, with performances of the haunting second movement of the composer’s “Ghost” Trio and the passionate opening movement of his “Kreutzer” sonata to illustrate this stylistic phase at the start of the Romantic era. A discussion of late-period Beethoven serves to introduce two pieces for string quartet by the composer, both from the final years of his life: the achingly beautiful fifth-movement Cavatina from his String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat major, op. 130, and the monumental Grosse Fuge, Op. 133.

Admittedly, we don’t often profile residents of Arizona here at South Carolina Public Radio.

But we’ve never gotten a visitor quite like Jessica Cox.

On this episode of the South Carolina Lede for July 30, 2020, we bring you the latest on Gov. Henry McMaster's new orders regarding masks in restaurants and the reopening of movie theaters, sports stadiums, and other businesses. Also in this episode: The struggles facing the state when it comes to COVID-19 testing and medical staffing needs at hospitals; Boeing's announcement that it will cut the production rates at its facility in North Charleston; and more.

The walk out to the dam at Lake Conestee is a short downhill/uphill, past the remains of an old mill that died decades ago. That mill is the reason this dam – 585 feet across, 28 feet tall, and up to 10 feet thick – exists in the first place. It was a power generation system for an Industrial Age business that, like thousands of other dams in the United States, still stands, far beyond its intended lifespan.

What worries Dave Hargett, a retired engineer and co-founder of the Conestee Foundation, is not just that this 128-year-old dam sitting six miles south of Downtown Greenville might break and send a lot of water rushing down the Reedy River. What bothers him most is what is piled up on the north side of the dam’s wall.

Eulalie was born in Georgia on December 11, 1883. She grew up on a plantation near Augusta, was privately educated and attended both, Virginia's Mary Baldwin College and Converse College in Spartanburg, SC. In 1906, she married attorney Julian Salley (later mayor of Aiken) and together they had two children. But it was the court case of another woman's fight to regain custody of her own children that prompted Salley to join the fight for suffrage.

On this episode of the South Carolina Lede for July 28, 2020, we bring you the latest data from DHEC about COVID-19 infection rates in the Palmetto State, look at encouraging numbers for the state, hear what one South Carolina hospital is doing to combat the coronavirus surge it's facing, and more.

On this episode of the South Carolina Lede for July 25, 2020, we bring you an in-depth look at the politics surrounding the reopening of schools, including Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman's thoughts on how different in-person and online learning will look this fall. Plus, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) speaks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin about the state of the federal coronavirus relief bill, State Epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell voices support for a statewide mask ordinance, and more.

This episode of Spoleto Backstage highlights the music of Johann Sebastian Bach with Spoleto chamber music series performances of two works representative of the German baroque composer’s prolific and wide-ranging output: his Concerto in C minor for violin and oboe, BWV 1060, and his cantata Ich habe genug, BWV 82. Before listening to these works as performed in the festival’s 2017 and 2011 seasons, hosts Geoff Nuttall and Bradley Fuller talk about Bach’s career and legacy, considering what his music means to them and the qualities that have ensured its appeal across centuries and cultures.

Like some other aspects of the ongoing pandemic, how public schools in South Carolina should open is now fully embroiled in politics.

Despite the continuing spread of the coronavirus, President Trump is urging the nation’s schools to open this fall, and to provide full-time face-to-face instruction. Last week GOP Gov. Henry McMaster, an ardent supporter of the President, adopted the same position, and called for the state schools to provide in-class instruction for five days each week if parents make that choice.

As an essential business, automobile service has continued to operate relatively normally even as other facets of the car business have been changed by the COVID-19 pandemic.    Like other businesses, auto dealers have made numerous adjustments to keep their employees and clients safe and retain the confidence of their customers.   Some of these adjustments were outlined by Sims Floyd, executive vice president of the South Carolina Automobile Dealers Association:

On this episode of the South Carolina Lede for July 23, 2020, we take a look at Vice President Mike Pence's recent visit to the Palmetto State, find out the latest on the federal COVID-19 relief bill, speak with SC Ports Authority CEO Jim Newsome, and more.

On this episode of the South Carolina Lede for July 21, 2020, we bring you COVID-19 warnings from medical professionals in the Upstate, recent comments from Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) on his police reform bill and the state of play on it in Congress, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) remembrance of the late civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, and more.

On this episode of the South Carolina Lede for July 18, 2020, we bring you the latest on Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) attempts to reshore medical manufacturing jobs to the US, recent polling on how South Carolinians feel about masks and working from home, and updates on what parents can do about the COVID-linked MIS-C syndrome affecting children. 

Education Superintendent Spearman, District Superintendents, and Democrats Criticize as Premature and Unsafe

While there appears to be overwhelming support to re-open South Carolina’s public schools this fall, the question of how to open them safely has become a contentious and highly political issue. Republican Gov. Henry McMaster this week said despite the growing pandemic in the state, schools must open, and that parents must be given the option of sending their children to school five days a week.