And just like that the debate is over. The S.C. House Ways and Means Committee has approved a 50-cent tax increase on all packs of cigarettes sold in the state. That’s 2 1/2 cents per individual cigarette – a small price to pay to avoid the shakes of nicotine withdrawal, right? And [...]

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll start off by saying I smoked for many years when I was younger. I quit twelve years ago when my husband-to-be told me he refused to marry a smoker.
News came out today that a bill is going to the S.C. House that would raise taxes on cigarettes [...]

I had no idea that at-home poker games were illegal in South Carolina. Why on earth is it illegal to offer a $30 buy-in so you can have fun playing Texas Hold’em while spending a few hours enjoying good company AND have the side benefit of possibly taking home more money than you came [...]

Maybe I’m just being obtuse, but I don’t see how widening 1/2 a mile of road is supposed to stimulate our local economy. And yet supposedly, that very project to widen a small stretch of Rte 160 East may be getting some of the much coveted stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Money from the Act is being given State Infrastructure Bank, which has been tagged as the probable source of funding not only for the Rte 160 East project, but also for the expansion of Dave Lyle Boulevard in Rock Hill.

As you all know, the House passed an $819 billion stimulus bill last Wednesday evening by a 244-188 margin – not a single Republican lawmaker voted for the measure to jolt the economy and create new jobs, and 11 Democrats refused to vote in favor of it either. Why?
Could it be because of the [...]