“No one ever died from sleeping in an unmade bed. I have known mothers who remake the bed after their children do it because there is wrinkle in the spread or the blanket is on crooked. This is sick.” – Erma Bombeck

It’s Mother’s Day, a time to honor our mothers who are still with us or remember the ones who have gone on before us. For some of us, this is good, but not so much for others.

Mother’s Day is one of those strange holidays where many folks set aside a few hours to have lunch with their mom, or devote an hour on the phone if miles between are too great.

“Last Night at the Telegraph Club” is a historical coming-of-age novel about a 17-year-old Chinese American girl discovering her identity as a lesbian in 1950s San Francisco.

In addition to the National Book Award, it won the Stonewall Book Award, the Asian Pacific American Literature Award, a Printz Honor, a Walter Dean Myers Honor, and dozens more accolades.

And yet South Carolina’s Board of Education has reduced it to a few paragraphs about sex. This is a fundamental misreading of the novel and a gross misunderstanding of the purpose of fiction.

A new partnership between Tri-County Technical College and Clemson University is trying to change that. The TCTC Dual Enrollment Academy will give high school students in Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens counties a direct path to Clemson if neither of their parents completed a four-year degree.

Let’s talk about the East-West Parkway, or as many of us know it, The Connector. This beautifully planned road connects Clemson Boulevard (Highway 76) to S.C. 81 North, giving residents a direct route between two major arteries while preserving the charm of nearby neighborhoods. It wasn’t an easy sell—many homeowners were initially opposed. But after countless community meetings, including many led by my predecessor Frances Crowder, consensus was reached. The project included an Overlay District to protect the area from high-density development and commercial creep.

While there are still far too many empty storefronts, we have a nice downtown, and the streetscapes with trees and wide sidewalks are inviting. I was telling a friend about it, and we both noted the lack of one of the biggest complaints by some concerning downtown – the presence of homeless individuals.
It was a damp and cool morning, and if this were 2019 or before, there would have been homeless men and women sleeping under awnings and in doorways downtown. If you were around Anderson then, you remember it well. This morning, there were zero homeless individuals downtown, much less anyone sleeping in doorways, and I was there for well over an hour.

Every time a natural gas pipeline is damaged, it’s an emergency. Our Piedmont Natural Gas crews will arrive on scene, assess the damage, and get right to work to help keep our communities safe. This typically requires digging through grass, concrete, or asphalt while pressurized natural gas pours from the cut line. Precise technique is required to fix the damage and safely restore service for our customers.

I don’t hear too many who were so vociferous about protecting their 2nd Amendment Rights issuing a single peep for our rights under the 14th Amendment.

I was asked recently why I am so passionate about local journalism.

The simple answer is because I care about this community and believe all of our citizens deserve to know about their home county and towns, the good, the bad and the challenging.

A Defense Department page mentioning South Carolina hero Freddie Stowers has been restored after it had been removed amid the department’s efforts to eliminate content singling out contributions by women and minority groups.

Cpl. Stowers, who died in battle, was the first Black American to be awarded the Medal of Honor for “extraordinary heroism” in World War I.

Residential and small businesses would not only be paying more than their fair share but subsidizing the actual cost of producing and delivering electricity for some industrial customers.

The concept of all classes of customers paying electricity rates based on their utilization is completely thrown out by these proposed industrial incentive rates in H.3309.

I’m proud to say that our employees’ commitment to quality customer service has not gone unnoticed by our customers – in December, Piedmont was named No. 1 in customer satisfaction with residential natural gas service in the South among large utilities for the third year in a row, according to the J.D. Power 2024 Gas Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study.

It’s not hard to imagine why so many people don’t trust their government. Our population is growing, we don’t have enough housing to meet their needs, and we have an affordable housing problem as a result. Some in our government say our schools are overcrowded, but the number of students has barely grown countywide. They have been very busy adding new regulations, but some members of Anderson County Council say they need to stop issuing permits while they plan more regulations.

The latest statistics show South Carolina’s labor force participation rate at only 57.1% — much lower than the national rate of 62.4%. One big reason for this is the lack of child care.

Washington is in utter chaos, monopolizing the public’s attention, but that should not distract us from the nightmare in South Carolina.

On Friday, unless the courts or Gov. Henry McMaster intervene, South Carolina for the first time will execute a prisoner by firing squad.

The details are sickening, but South Carolinians should understand that this barbaric act is being carried out in our name.

It would force the state to cut services like prescription drugs for adults or rates paid to physicians, hospitals, and nursing homes. Health care services would be reduced for vulnerable populations including older adults, people with disabilities, pregnant people, and low-income children.

Medicaid covers about 60% of all births and 63% of all nursing-home patients in South Carolina.

By our count, my colleagues and I believe the Senate has the votes right now to pass this terrible legislation that benefits ONLY insurance companies and corporate defendants and is HORRIBLE for the citizens of South Carolina and their families. 

In a time of crisis, she has done much more than “keep the lights on.” It has become abundantly clear: if anyone is made to lead her organization into the future, it’s Brandie. When others might be tempted to celebrate themselves, Brandie instead focuses on the job at hand.

It can take effort in the holiday rush is our sense of gratitude - a gift that needs no wrapping paper, ribbon or space under the Christmas tree. Research is conclusive that those who approach life with a sense of gratitude have fewer mental and physical problems, live longer, exhibit less stress, have a stronger immune system, and even handle loss far better than those who live without the recognition that they do indeed have a lot for which to be grateful.

With NOAA data showing that 2024 is our country’s second-highest year of billion-dollar disasters — like Hurricane Helene — many people won’t be able to spend the holidays at home. For thousands, this year’s disasters reduced their homes to rubble, leaving them to seek refuge at an emergency shelter, in temporary housing or with loved ones.

But there’s hope, thanks to volunteers and donors whose support through the American Red Cross is helping people to rebuild their lives with aid such as a safe place to stay, food, emotional support and recovery assistance.