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Bringing home the bacon, or not?

  “Bringing home the bacon, or not?”   In a previous edition, we noted its election season with a primary scheduled for June 11th.  Filing closed on April 1stat noon.  The SC House adopted its initial recommended budget for July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025 on 3-14-24 and forwarded to the SC Senate.  Note that this was adopted before filing closed. For reference, the past 2 years the state budget has had unprecedent surpluses in annual recurring revenues, one-time non-recurring funds and capital reserve which is the same as this year for a combined amount of $1.6 billion.  Last year’s budget was riddled with local special investment projects (which some refer to as that dirty word earmarks or pork) scattered throughout the state totaling $2 billion.  House and Senate members went home after the session promoting these local special investment projects reminding the voters they brought “home the bacon”.  In the initial budget passed by the SC House, no local special projects, i.e., earmarks
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Green Energy

  Malfeasance - Green Energy As I sit here sipping my lukewarm coffee, staring at the flickering LED bulb above me, I can't help but chuckle bitterly at the irony of it all. Green energy, they call it. More like a slapstick comedy starring Mother Nature and a bunch of hapless humans trying to outsmart her. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for saving the planet and whatnot, but sometimes it feels like we're trying to power our homes with good intentions and unicorn farts. Take wind turbines, for example. One minute they're gracefully spinning in the breeze like elegant dancers, and the next, they're throwing a tantrum, flinging bits and bobs in every direction like a toddler with a slingshot. And don't even get me started on solar panels. We've got our own giant solar farm here in Horry County.   Sure, it's great when the sun's out, but the moment a cloud decides to photobomb our renewable energy dreams, it's lights out, quite literally.   By the w
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SC Senate Proposed Budget Effectively Bypasses Horry County

SC Senate Proposed Budget Effectively Bypasses Horry County By Dennis Mitchell The SC Senate Finance Committee budget for next fiscal year follows a similar pattern with many years past – Horry County gets crumbs while other counties around the state get the cake. The county will receive some funding from the Department of Transportation budget and some money will come from the Department of Education for teacher salary increases. However, in the special project appropriations area, the area where earmarks for specific projects are included to help counties with capital projects, the county will receive approximately $15 million while other counties receive considerably more for their projects. Most of the special projects money comes to Horry County from the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. The two biggest are $5 million for the Myrtle Beach Downtown revitalization project and $2 million for a multi-purpose pathway between Conway and Myrtle Beach along the rail line owned
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Who....

 
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The Solar Eclipse

  The Solar Eclipse Well, color me unimpressed. The recent solar eclipse had all the hype of a heavyweight title fight but ended up feeling more like a middleweight sparring match. As a guy who appreciates a good spectacle, I can't help but feel a tad disappointed by the lackluster performance of this celestial event. I mean, if I wanted to squint at a slightly dimmer sky, I could just wait for a cloudy day. Let's talk about expectations versus reality, shall we? I was promised a once-in-a-lifetime cosmic showdown, but what I got was more like a cosmic shrug. Sure, the sun got a temporary dimming, but where was the dramatic showdown between the sun and the moon? Where were the fireworks, the special effects, the sense of awe-inspiring wonder? Instead, I was left feeling like I'd been sold a ticket to the wrong show. And let's not even get started on having the proper eye wear to witness this so-called event. Eclipse glasses sold out faster than concert tickets to a reun
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Total Eclipse of the Heart

  Total Eclipse of the Heart   A  solar eclipse  occurs when the  Moon  passes between the Earth and the  Sun , thereby obscuring the Sun. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's  apparent diameter  is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight.  Totality  occurs only in a limited path across the Earth's surface, with the  partial solar eclipse  visible over a larger surrounding region.  Very little of the eclipse on April 8th was viewable in Horry County given this limited path of totality started in Texas heading in a Northeastern direction crossing over other states and out to the Atlantic Ocean through parts of Canada.     Amazingly it was projected the eclipse could be a $6 billion boosts to the US economy.  People were flocking to communities in the path of the total eclipse.  Restaurants and hotels were full, parties were thrown, and the news even reported hundreds if not thousands of couples became engaged and there were mass marriages, and you could s
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General Assembly Update on Bills of Interest

  General Assembly Update on Bills of Interest By Dennis Mitchell Every two years voters go to the polls in South Carolina to elect politicians to represent them in the General Assembly in Columbia. Much of the time, once they get to Columbia, many of those elected forget exactly who they are supposed to be representing. That would seem to be a difficult state of affairs for the elected politician. However, once they get in office, incumbent politicians who seek reelection in South Carolina are rarely defeated. So, it becomes – tell the voters what they want to hear then do what I want to do once elected. Two issues which were considered significant enough for citizens across the state were polled in advisory questions on the ballot of February’s 2024 Republican Presidential Primary. One question asked whether the manner in which judges are appointed to office should be changed to take more of the process out of the hands of lawyer/legislators who appear in court before the same judges
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