Latest news with #SCDailyGazette
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
SC representative arrested, booked in Lexington County jail
Rep. RJ May, R-West Columbia, pictured talking with Rep. Jay Kilmartin during the House's organizational session Dec. 4, 2024, was arrested Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (Mary Ann Chastain/Special to the SC Daily Gazette) COLUMBIA — A state legislator and founding member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus was booked in the Lexington County jail Wednesday, according to jail records. No charges were listed for 38-year-old Rep. RJ May, a West Columbia Republican. Instead, a jail booking with his name and age indicated he was being held 'pre-trial' for the U.S. Marshals Service, suggesting potential federal charges. Federal investigators seized electronic devices from May's house last August, confirming that he was under investigation. Among the items seized were a Lenovo laptop, an Amazon tablet, four cellphones, four hard drives, four SD cards, two DVD-Rs and 19 thumb drives, according to a legal filing. Court filings at the time indicated May could face criminal charges, though the filings did not say what the charges might be. No court date has been set, according to the jail booking, which quickly disappeared. The booking did not include a mugshot. SC Freedom Caucus leader could soon face federal charges, court filing confirms The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment on the arrest. May, first elected to the House in 2020, helped launch the state affiliate of the U.S. House Freedom Caucus in 2022 and was the de facto spokesman of the hardline caucus feuding with the chamber's majority GOP until news of the federal investigation. May was asked to leave the caucus ahead of the 2025 legislative session, said Rep. Jordan Pace, R-Goose Creek. He attended the session but stayed quiet, not getting involved in the floor debates. While not involved this year in the caucus he helped start, he continued to vote with them. May, originally from Virginia, is married and has two children.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Online students lose thousands of dollars following closure of SC's Limestone University
The Curtis Building pictured Tuesday, June 10,2025, on the Limestone University campus in Gaffney, South Carolina, served as the college's administration building until the school's closure at the end of April 2025. (Photo by Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette) GAFFNEY — Limestone University required students to pre-pay for summer classes. Now that the college has closed for good, some say they're out thousands of dollars. The school's initial announcement that the 179-year-old, private college in South Carolina's Upstate needed to raise $6 million to stay open came as online students faced a deadline. On April 13, school officials told virtual students, including Mike Thielen, to submit their payments for summer classes within five days, according to emails reviewed by the SC Daily Gazette. The April 16 announcement of potential closure said online classes would continue, suggesting online students need not worry. But after two weeks of frantic fundraising fell short, the school's governing board ultimately voted for total closure. Online offerings ended too. 'That blindsided everybody,' Thielen said. It's been six weeks since the board vote. Thielen and half a dozen others say the school has still not refunded their money. Limestone personnel designated as a point of contact after closure have not responded to emails sent by the SC Daily Gazette. SC's Limestone University to close after nearly 2 centuries At first, Thielen received email replies from staff saying they were working on returning the $4,000 he paid for two classes. He followed up several times and received the same response until layoffs became official and people stopped returning messages altogether. 'I don't know if I'll ever see my money again,' Thielen said. 'Everyone is passing the buck. It's just really shameful.' Thielen enrolled in Limestone's online program while working for a Spartanburg software company, which had a partnership agreement with the school. When he took a new job, he continued studying with Limestone, hoping to become the first person in his family with a master's degree. The online Master of Business Administration student, who lives near Fort Worth, Texas, and works as a healthcare recruiter, was just three classes away from finishing his degree. Now he's left finding a new school — one that may not accept all of his transfer credits. And he'll have to come up with more money to pay for it, on top of what he lost. 'It was just a total failure of leadership,' he said. 'They rushed to shut it down and now they're hiding.' SC governor calls for study to consider consolidating colleges ahead of 'enrollment cliff' The story is similar for South Carolina Army National Guard member Thomas Martin. The master sergeant from Charleston has worked for the Guard full time for two decades and was pursuing a bachelor's degree in business on the side. Martin said Limestone's online program was a popular choice among his fellow guardsmen because they could use federal and state benefits offered to military members to pay for it. When Limestone's final spring semester ended, Martin still had about $1,000 in state aid available, which he had hoped to put toward summer classes or textbook costs. The school, which received students' allotment directly from the state Commission on Higher Education, has yet to credit him for those unused state dollars. 'I had a great experience with Limestone up until this,' he said. 'Now they're not even acknowledging my emails. It's disappointing.' Martin said he was repeatedly referred to South Carolina's higher education agency for help. The commission's staff told him they would research the matter but weren't hopeful that the aid dollars would be returned. Commission spokesman Mark Swart said the agency has not received any official, written complaints against Limestone at this time. He said the agency referred several students to Limestone's former chief of staff, who the school designated as a point of contact. Martin told the Gazette he didn't realize the complaint process existed. When Limestone announced the final decision to close, laying off 478 people employed by the college, leadership cited enrollment declines impacting colleges nationwide and rising costs as the drivers behind the school's financial straits. Limestone's enrollment fell by half over the past decade, from 3,214 students in fall 2014, according to state higher education data, to 1,600 this semester, including both online and in-person students, according to the university's announcement. Auditors reported the school had a $7.6 million operating loss as of June 2024. To make up for losses, the school had borrowed some $22 million from its small endowment, which had a balance of just $9.2 million last June. The school also faced an additional $30 million in debt, largely from a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development loan, which Limestone took out in 2018 to construct a new library and student center, purchase a residence hall and refinance previous debt. The school offered campus land and buildings as collateral. So far, USDA is not calling in that loan. In a statement, a USDA spokesperson said it 'takes its stewardship of taxpayer funds seriously' and 'continues to actively engage with the university's board and leadership to explore all available options to protect the federal investment and ensure the best possible outcome for the community and taxpayers.' The school also has not filed for federal bankruptcy protections. No liens have been filed against the school in South Carolina district court. Nor are there any small claims filings from students at this time. $500M for colleges, a bigger share for traditional public schools: How SC budget funds education Not only does Limestone's closure impact the college's students, it also affected college employees and 13 K-12 public charter schools that relied on the college's associated charter school management operations: Limestone Charter Association. A former employee has filed suit in federal court alleging the school violated national labor laws when it only gave two weeks' notice to workers. Federal law requires companies with 100 or more employees to give at least 60 days' notice for layoffs, though there are some exceptions. In its notice letter filed with the state employment agency, Limestone claimed the exemption allowed for employers actively seeking funding that an earlier notice could have jeopardized. The school has yet to respond in court filings. Meanwhile, the state Department of Education is allowing the Limestone Charter Association, which operates as a separate nonprofit with its own staff, to continue operations through the coming school year as the charter schools it serves search for a new authorizer. According to staff at the K-12 agency, the charter association will continue to receive state funding and act as an authorizer until July 1, 2026. It cannot accept any new schools starting July 1, 2025, and the state Education Department is recommending charter schools apply to a new authorizer by December. The Limestone Charter Association schools: South Carolina Preparatory Academy, Anderson South Carolina Preparatory Leadership School, Anderso East Link Academy, Greenville Global Academy of South Carolina, Spartanburg Mountain View Preparatory, Spartanburg Goucher Charter Academy, Gaffney Legion Collegiate Academy, Rock Hill Horse Creek Academy, Aiken OCSD High School for Health Professions, Orangeburg Summerville Prep, Summerville Oceanside Collegiate Academy, Mount Pleasant Atlantic Collegiate Academy, Myrtle Beach Coastal High School, Myrtle Beach
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Senator sues over his own raise, arguing it violates SC constitution
Sen. Wes Climer, R-Rock Hill, in Senate chambers on opening day of the 2024 session, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, at the Statehouse in Columbia. Climer is a plaintiff in a lawsuit claiming a pay raise for legislators is unconstitutional. (Mary Ann Chastain/Special to the SC Daily Gazette) COLUMBIA — A state senator is asking the state's highest court to halt a $2,500-monthly raise that legislators voted for themselves. Sen. Wes Climer, a Rock Hill Republican, filed the request Monday. He and his attorney, former Sen. Dick Harpootlian, a Columbia Democrat, contend the $18,000 annual raise approved as part of the state budget violates the state constitution. Climer and fellow plaintiff Carol Herring, who is identified in the lawsuit as a taxpayer, are asking the state's highest court to stop the payments before the July 1 start of the fiscal year. The state Supreme Court agreed Monday with their request to take the case directly, allowing a quick resolution. 'For a General Assembly to vote to give its own members public money is akin to a judge presiding over his own trial, or to a police officer investigating his own alleged conduct,' the legal filing reads. The central question could become whether the state constitution's ban on legislators increasing their own per diems actually applies to the raises. SC legislators pass $14.7B spending plan despite concerns over legislators' pay raise Generally, a per diem is considered a daily allowance. Legislators do receive a specifically designated $230 subsistence payment for each day of session. That's meant to cover the cost of food and lodging while they're in Columbia, though they don't have to spend it on that. Each legislator gets the same amount, no matter where they live. That's in addition to legislators' annual salary of $10,400, which hasn't changed since 1990. The state's chief accountant says the in-district compensation, which is set to increase from $1,000 to $2,500 per month, is not a per diem. Rather, it's considered personal income and taxed accordingly, unlike the designated per diem, said Kim McLeod, spokeswoman for the Comptroller General's Office. In their lawsuit, Climer and Harpootlian argue the combined $22,400 legislators receive currently for their annual salary and in-district compensation counts as a per diem. The money pays legislators for their services on a daily basis while in session, making it a daily funding allotment, the lawsuit argues. The 1868 version of the state constitution was the first to use the term 'per diem' in addressing legislators' pay. According to the lawsuit, the term was meant to differentiate between legislators' salary, then $6 a day, and mileage reimbursements. Similar language carried over to the 1890 constitution that still governs the state. Along with prohibiting legislators from increasing their own per diems, the state constitution also requires they receive an allowance for mileage in order to travel to the Statehouse and that they get the same amount of pay for meeting outside of normal session as they do during it. Columbia attorney and government transparency advocate John Crangle had initially offered to join the lawsuit but changed his mind after learning the comptroller general didn't consider the money to be a per diem, he said. Crangle still disagreed with the raise conceptually, he said. But in his understanding, considering the raise to be personal income would mean the state constitution doesn't cover it, he said. 'I don't think you can use that as the basis,' he said of the argument that the money counts as a per diem. The in-district compensation is meant to pay for legislative expenses outside the Statehouse, though they can spend it however they want. The money comes in a lump sum, not a reimbursement, so legislators don't have to report how they spend it. If the raise were a reimbursement, that might change things, the lawsuit argued. As is, the money is clearly meant to compensate legislators for their day-to-day work at the Statehouse, the lawsuit argues. 'Most importantly, there are no restrictions on how members may use this money — they may use it entirely for any personal purposes,' the lawsuit reads. 'Periodic payments of money, reported and taxed as personal income, with no restrictions on use for personal purposes, to which the recipient is entitled because of services provided to the entity paying the money, are compensation.' Climer and Herring also criticized legislators for putting a pay raise in place without going through the public hearing process typical of a piece of legislation. 'For shame,' the lawsuit reads. 'The people of South Carolina cannot look over the shoulder of every member of the General Assembly every minute of every day.' Legislators don't have to take the raise. Some, including GOP Reps. Kathy Landing of Mount Pleasant and Sarita Edgerton of Spartanburg, have publicly said they plan to refuse the raise. Others, such as GOP Reps. Brandon Guffey of Rock Hill and James Teeple of Johns Island, said they planned to donate the money to charities. Asking the state Supreme Court to let the lawsuit skip the lower courts, Climer and Harpootlian noted the normal appeals process could take years — longer than the budget is in effect. And the case would eventually reach the justices anyway. Technically, the raise is only for the 2025-26 budget, which is a one-year law. But it would stay in effect indefinitely. That's because spending directives in the budget, called provisos, generally roll over from one budget year to the next, unless legislators take action to remove them. The justices need to rule before the raises take effect, the lawsuit reads, because it could be impossible to force legislators to pay the money back if the payments are later found unconstitutional. 'It is unclear whether those payments could be clawed back months or years after legislators spent the money on their personal affairs,' it reads. This is a developing story. Check back for details.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Yahoo
Charleston immigrant community decries police, ICE raid of SC nightclub
Alejandra De La Vega, pictured on Friday, June 6, 2025, outside the Lonnie Hamilton Public Services Building in North Charleston. De La Vega was among those present but not arrested during a June 1 law enforcement raid of Alamo nightclub in Charleston County. (Photo by Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette) NORTH CHARLESTON — After law enforcement arrested 80 people during a weekend sting operation at a nightclub in Charleston County, federal immigration officials claimed 'the community at large knew that there was nothing good going on at that establishment.' But for some people present during the 3 a.m. June 1 raid at the Alamo, that simply was not the case. For Alejandra De La Vega, the venue located just outside the town of Summerville, right along the Charleston and Dorchester county line, was a place to dance with friends. 'I went to Alamo to enjoy the night, just like many others,' she told reporters Friday. 'But instead of fun, it turned into fear and humiliation.' De La Vega had just stepped out of the restroom when she said police stormed in, guns drawn. Patrons were running and screaming, she said, as more officers streamed in and ordered people to the ground. 'It was chaos,' she said at the news conference outside the Lonnie Hamilton Public Services Building in North Charleston. County, state and federal law enforcement held and questioned the more than 200 people present at the club during the raid, dubbed 'Operation Last Stand,' for two hours, De La Vega said. The S.C. State Law Enforcement Division began investigating Alamo in November 2024 after receiving a tip about potential human trafficking at the venue, agency spokeswoman Renée Wunderlich told the SC Daily Gazette Friday. The Department of Homeland Security also got involved in the investigation at that time, she said. Later Friday, SLED announced criminal charges against two people, the club's 59-year-old owner, Benjamin Reyna-Flores of Hanahan, and a 44-year-old security guard at the club, Terone Lavince Lawson of North Charleston. Reyna-Flores faces multiple charges related to unlawful sale of alcohol. The club had no alcohol license. Lawson faces illegal gun and drug possession charges. According to warrants from SLED, Lawson had 2 grams of meth, an eight ball of cocaine, and less than a gram of psychedelic mushrooms in his van. Police also found a pair of handguns in the van, which Lawson cannot legally possess due to past convictions for burglary in 2008 and assault in 2003. Those arrested include two unidentified 'high-level cartel members' associated with the Mexico-based Los Zetas cartel and the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua gang and one person wanted by Interpol for murder in Honduras, said U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent Cardell Morant. Ten juveniles as young as 13 — including one reported as missing — as well as an unidentified number of potential human trafficking victims were at the club at the time of the raid. Law enforcement also reported seizing guns, cocaine and cash. In her retelling of events, De La Vega said police separated anyone with visible tattoos and photographed them. De La Vega, a transgender Latina woman who has lived in the United States since 2001, said officers questioned the validity of her state-issued I.D. card, as well as that of the transgender woman she was there with. De La Vega has legal residency status in the U.S. She was not arrested. But 80% of those arrested Sunday did not have legal status to be in the country. The vast majority were arrested on civil immigration charges, not criminal violations. Five people were arrested for criminal offenses, Morant said. Homeland Security confirmed to The Post & Courier that Sergio Joel Galo-Baca is the Honduran man wanted for international homicide. Beyond SLED's announcement Friday, no other names or list of charges have been released. Homeland Security officials have not responded to emails sent by the SC Daily Gazette. 'The narrative that's been put out by the sheriff, by the governor, by the attorney general, is that they are just trying to stop violent criminals, stop trafficking,' said Will McCorkle, a member of the Charleston Immigrant Coalition. 'But what they quickly overlook are the many innocent people that were detained and are now in the process of deportation for no real purpose.' Now, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina, several families do not know where their family members are. They have searched their names online using Immigration and Customs Enforcement's database that people can use to locate the state and center where detainees are being held. But their family members' names have not shown up in the search, said Dulce Lopez, immigrant rights advocacy strategist for the ACLU. They can only assume, based on news reports, that their family members are at an ICE holding facility in Folkston, Georgia. 'That made me realize, how easily everything can be taken away,' De La Vega said. 'I keep thinking, what if I didn't have a legal status? What if I were detained and ripped away from my family?' 'My mom is my hero,' De La Vega continued. 'She came to this country and gave me and my siblings a better life. She raised us with love and sacrifice and with so much strength. We're really close, and I don't know what I would do if I was taken from her. No one should have lived with that fear.' Charleston County Sheriff Carl Ritchie, during a news conference Monday, cited noise complaints at the club and reports of assaults in the parking lot. Outside of Sunday's raid, the sheriff's department responded to the club 13 other times since 2020 for calls including 'suspicious circumstances,' vandalism and one armed robbery, according to a call log provided by the department. Area business owners said their biggest issue in the last several months had been club goers parking on the side of the highway and in their parking lots after the club's lot filled up, leaving behind excessive trash and beer bottles after nearly every weekend. The nightclub did not have a license to sell alcohol. A group of faith and immigrant community leaders stressed that they do not condone criminal activity. 'But no one deserves to be treated as guilty by association,' said Lopez, of the ACLU. People have reason to be afraid, McCorckle said, citing the recent case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported in March to a notorious prison in El Salvador. Living in Maryland, Garcia had been protected from deportation by a 2019 judge's ruling that he likely faced gang persecution in his home country. The Trump administration has insisted Garcia is an MS-13 gang member, which Garcia denied. On Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Garcia was back in U.S. custody to face criminal charges in Tennessee related to human smuggling.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Popular' bobbleheads of Gov. McMaster benefit SC parks. They're a Statehouse exclusive.
Bobbleheads of Gov. Henry McMaster in the Statehouse gift shop on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (Photo by Skylar Laird/SC Daily Gazette) COLUMBIA — If Gov. Henry McMaster isn't in his Statehouse office, try a few doors down the hall. Sitting among the snow globes, notebooks and T-shirts in the Statehouse gift shop is a bobblehead version of McMaster, wearing a dark blue suit and red tie, with his arms crossed over his chest and a big plastic smile beaming out at gift shop visitors. The base reads, 'Henry McMaster, 117th Governor of South Carolina.' This is the first time staff of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, which runs the gift shop, are aware of a novelty item featuring the likeness of a governor being sold at the Statehouse, said agency spokeswoman Sam Queen. And they're exclusive to that store. The idea for the bobblehead came from a conversation between the agency's director, Duane Parrish, and the governor's chief of staff, Trey Walker. The two got to talking about how people collect coins, Beanie Babies and baseball cards, and Walker wondered out loud whether a bobblehead of the governor might turn into a collectible of its own, he said. 'It seemed like a neat, novel thing they didn't have in the gift shop,' Walker said. Parrish agreed to the idea, thinking the bobblehead 'would be a unique item to offer,' Queen said. The figurine officially hit shelves May 20, about two weeks after the 2025 legislative session officially ended. As of Thursday, the gift shop had sold 28 of the 150 bobbleheads it ordered, despite less foot traffic from lobbyists and legislators, Queen said. 'It's been a popular item in the short time it's been available,' she said. The design was approved by the governor's office. When McMaster first saw the finished product, he liked it so much he brought one back to the Governor's Mansion and showed it off during a gathering that night, Walker said. On Thursday, McMaster told reporters he found the take on himself 'interesting,' adding he might buy a couple for his grandchildren. His only concern is the $50 price tag, which the Republican governor said seems a bit steep. 'Fifty dollars for those things — that was a surprise to me,' McMaster said. None of the money goes to him or his office. The price is a matter of limited supply, Queen said. About 12% of the bobblehead's cost will support the gift store's operations. The novelty and scarcity of it will hopefully drive more people into the store to shop, she added. All proceeds from Statehouse gift shop sales support operations for the parks department. More than 40% of the agency's budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 comes from self-generated revenue, including store sales, park entry fees and camping fees. 'It brings a smile and brings in a little bit of money for the state, so that's a good thing,' Walker said. McMaster is the longest-serving elected governor in South Carolina's history. The former lieutenant governor ascended to the job in January 2017, when Nikki Haley became President Donald Trump's first United Nations ambassador. That gave McMaster two years in office before his first inauguration. He can't seek another term.
