One of the things that attracts many to small towns is that citizens answer the call to action when there is a challenge.

More than two dozen volunteers answered that call Saturday morning in the Town of Pelzer to help restore and expand beautification efforts following the destruction of vandals early in the week.

In 2024, over 2,600 megawatts of solar energy capacity came online in South Carolina, equating to enough power to supply 325,640 homes.

Over the next five years, South Carolina is projected to add over 2,500 megawatts of solar capacity.

But higher electric bills are not the only adverse consequences for repealing the credits.

If the “big, beautiful bill” eliminates all federal tax credits for renewable energy, South Carolina’s residents and small businesses will not only suffer from increased electricity bills but would lose 4,860 jobs and suffer a $620 million decrease in our state’s gross domestic product, according to the NERA study.

The Greenville Area Development Corporation points out that South Carolina as a whole frequently ranks as the No. 1 state for attracting jobs through foreign direct investment per capita.

More than 250 international firms from 28 countries have a major presence in the Upstate. (Anderson County has 50 international companies representing 18 countries). Photo: BobKingPhotography.net

Meanwhile, in the Anderson children’s library section, which has more than 35,000 volumes, over the past 12 months not one selection has been challenged. Not one.

The reason for this is the Anderson County Library does not offer any books or materials that appeal to the prurient interest of children under the age of seventeen in the juvenile or teen sections of the library. These juvenile and teen collections do not contain materials that influence or promote action by a minor that is contrary to South Carolina Law. Period.

Public lands play an outsized role in South Carolina’s economy. The outdoor recreation industry contributes billions of dollars annually, supporting thousands of jobs in sectors ranging from tourism and hospitality to equipment manufacturing and conservation services. These lands fuel local economies throughout the state and provide consistent income to rural communities that rely on natural resources for their livelihoods – from the woodlands of Sumter and Francis Marion National Forest to the corridors of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail.

Americans are told they may need to sacrifice due to Trump’s dumb economic policies like his tariffs that he, unlike most economists, doesn’t seem to understand represent a tax to consumers.

His back and forth on the tariffs, rambling statements and general incoherence means the dollar may no longer be viewed as the most stable currency. He’s squandering the full faith in our credit markets for overseas investors that we’ve long enjoyed. That means our national debt will become more expensive to finance, further squeezing out other funding priorities like healthcare.

“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.