WACH: Company launches new tool to help people with disabilities enter workforce. “Hire Me SC, powered by Able SC and the South Carolina Disability Employment Coalition, says they are committed to helping family members of people with disabilities looking to enter the workforce through educating them and fostering connections with other families in similar circumstances.”
New-to-me, and apparently revamped to all our benefit, from The Post and Courier: South Carolina nonprofit creates archive of Palmetto State landmarks. “Today, its website features entries on over 2,000 landmarks. Most are still standing, but the project also catalogues locations that have fallen to ruin or disappeared. In addition to photographs, entries include write-ups adding historical context to the sites, along with addresses, links to similar landmarks and information about any other notable places nearby.”
College of Charleston: New Digital Exhibits Explore Untold Facets of Black History in the Lowcountry. “Since its launch in 2014, the Lowcountry Digital History Initiative (LDHI) has worked with scholars and students to produce online exhibits, each dedicated to illuminating the Lowcountry’s forgotten histories. With topics spanning enslaved African Muslims to Charleston’s first Latino communities, LDHI’s team believes digital interpretation can play a major role in the preservation of diverse stories. This semester, LDHI, hosted by the Lowcountry Digital Library at the College of Charleston, has debuted two new exhibits, Hidden Voices and the Morris Street Business District.”
AP: A rapid COVID-19 vaccine rollout backfired in some US states. “A surprising new analysis found that states such as South Carolina and Florida that raced ahead of others to offer the vaccine to ever-larger groups of people have vaccinated smaller shares of their population than those that moved more slowly and methodically, such as Hawaii and Connecticut.”
The State: Hard to find now, SC senators want to show you how the Legislature spends your money. “The proposal would create a state website with a searchable database showing what the state is spending on and who is receiving money. The S.C. Comptroller General’s website currently has a searchable database for payments made to organizations but doesn’t differentiate from grants, state contracts or budgeted earmarks.”
Route Fifty: In Alabama, South Carolina and Louisiana, CVS Vaccine Appointments Go Unfilled. “In many counties across the three states — particularly in rural areas — retailers and outpatient clinics are among the few places offering covid-19 shots. CVS and other large pharmacies, including Walgreens and Walmart, are among the biggest providers of the vaccinations. South Carolina health officials said they noticed demand was waning at some vaccine sites — and, as a result, lowered the age eligibility for the shots from 65 to 55 starting Monday.”
Post & Courier: SC could punish social media sites for suspending accounts under new proposal. “In the two months since Twitter banned President Donald Trump from its platform, leading Republican voices have lambasted the company for what they called acts of censorship — including U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Now, a freshman Upstate state lawmaker wants to go even further, requiring social media companies to inform holders of suspended Palmetto State-based accounts why they’ve been booted within 10 days or face punishment under the state’s Unfair Trade Practices Act.”
ABC Columbia: UofSC creates project to document the experiences of residents during the Black Lives Matter movement. “The University of South Carolina is documenting the experiences of residents during the expansion of the Black Lives Matter movement that took place over the summer.”
Charleston City Paper: Over 40 years of Arnold Edmondson’s art cataloged in digital archive. “Art historian Naomi Edmondson, the daughter of late Lowcountry artist Arnold Edmondson, recently created an online archive of her father’s expansive body of visual art pieces. Through the archive, Naomi is attempting to digitize over 40 years of visual art from Arnold’s career.”
Charleston Post and Courier: SC Gov. Henry McMaster tests positive for COVID-19, will undergo antibody treatment. “The 73-year-old Republican governor is experiencing mild symptoms, including coughing and fatigue. The diagnosis comes five days after first lady Peggy McMaster, also 73, took a routine test that revealed she had the virus. She remains asymptomatic and both are in good spirits, said the governor’s spokesman, Brian Symmes.”
Palmetto Politics: Some SC cities cut police funding amid coronavirus budget crunch, lack of federal aid. “Rather than in response to instances of police brutality, the budget cuts for police departments in several cities across South Carolina have come because of the revenue shortfalls they are experiencing during the coronavirus pandemic and the lack of assistance they are getting from the federal government. The issue has even become part of South Carolina’s hotly contested Senate campaign.”
News Source 2 South Carolina: New website provides easy access for finding free and reduced-cost assistance resources in your community. “There is a new resource available to assist South Carolina families with their challenges, both big and small. A recently launched website… has a list of free and reduced-cost assistance resources in your community. Once you are on the website, enter your zip code into the search function and you’ll see options for services like medical care, food, job training, and more.”
AP: Emails show businesses held sway over state reopening plans. “As South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster prepared to announce the end of a coronavirus stay-at-home order, his top staff received an email from the state health department. The message, highlighted in bold, was clear: Wait longer before allowing customers back inside restaurants, hair salons and other businesses where people will be in close contact. Instead, McMaster pressed ahead with a plan written by the state restaurant association to resume inside dining on May 11. The guidelines made masks optional for employees and allowed more customers inside than the health agency had advised.”
I found out about this new site via a virtual event announcement. Apparently it opens in two days: the Black Craftspeople Digital Archive. From the front page: “The Black Craftspeople Digital Archive seeks to enhance what we know about black craftspeople by telling both a spatial story and a historically informed story that highlights the lives of black craftspeople and the objects they produced. The first phase of this project focuses on black craftspeople living and laboring in the eighteenth-century South Carolina Lowcountry.”
WCSC: Charleston to consider dropping warning for violating face covering ordinance. ” After Tuesday’s Charleston City Council meeting, anyone stopped on the street without a face covering could be hit with a fine without a warning. City Council will consider removing the warning, which would mean the first violation would result in a $100 fine.”
