Latest Updates

Plenty of SC school districts don't livestream official meetings

Editor's note: This is the first story in a planned series of stories on livestreaming and other transparency issues affecting local or state government in South Carolina. By RICK BRUNDRETT Nearly 30% of South Carolina’s regular school districts don’t livestream official meetings, though nearly all of them have websites and...

  • Plenty of SC school districts don't livestream official meetings

    Editor's note: This is the first story in a planned series of stories on livestreaming and other transparency issues affecting local or state government in South Carolina. By RICK BRUNDRETT Nearly 30% of South Carolina’s regular school districts don’t livestream official meetings, though nearly all of them have websites and...
  • Ethics Commission order reveals new details about Scout Motors project

    By RICK BRUNDRETT The $1 billion subsidy to Scout Motors is about $300 million to $500 million more than what states normally would have to offer in grants for comparable projects, The Nerve found in a review of a newly released State Ethics Commission order. After learning in late January...
  • Low bidders bypassed for state contract to probe mystery $1.8B

    By RICK BRUNDRETT A global consulting firm hired by the state to investigate the mystery $1.8 billion and related financial questions was not the low bidder for the “potential” $3 million contract, records obtained by The Nerve show. But under state law, procurement officials don’t have to accept the lowest...
  • Senators won't let go of magistrate control

    By RICK BRUNDRETT S.C. senators this year apparently had no interest in legislation to end the longstanding practice of allowing county magistrates to serve months or even years after their terms expired. There's probably good reason for their lack of enthusiasm: Senators largely control who becomes a magistrate and how...
  • True reform? S.C. justices say they won't investigate each other

    By RICK BRUNDRETT South Carolina’s top court has decided to remove itself from investigations of ethics complaints against sitting justices. But for now, members of the Supreme Court – whose six-figure salaries are paid by S.C. taxpayers – can still discipline a wayward fellow justice even with the creation of...
  • $1.8B mystery could cost SC taxpayers millions to solve

    By RICK BRUNDRETT The S.C. taxpayer tab for outside attorneys and accountants hired in connection with investigations into the mystery $1.8 billion could run up to more than $5 million, records show. And so far, no state agencies are claiming their share of the $1.8 billion, while a state task...
  • Mystery $1.8B task force advised by firm with Trump ties

    By RICK BRUNDRETT Update 7/3/24: Four days after we published this story on a global law firm with experience in federal securities investigations that has advised a state task force on the mystery $1.8 billion, the state issued a formal request for proposals – due by July 9 – to...
  • Governor's secret task force still mum on mystery $1.8B

    By RICK BRUNDRETT A task force created by Gov. Henry McMaster to investigate a mysterious $1.8 billion that reportedly is in a state account has met secretly at least six times in less than two months but hasn’t yet publicly released any specific findings. As The Nerve revealed last month,...
  • The multibillion-dollar state surplus that keeps growing

    Editor’s note: This is the first investigative story in a two-part package on massive state financial accounts. The other story can be found here. By RICK BRUNDRETT S.C. lawmakers don’t talk much publicly about this part of the state’s coffers, though it’s a huge chunk of money. Known as “other”...
  • Secret meetings of governor's task force end run around state law?

    Editor’s note: This is the second investigative story in a two-part package on massive state financial accounts. The other story can be found here. By RICK BRUNDRETT A task force created last month by Gov. Henry McMaster to investigate a reportedly unclaimed $1.8 billion in a state account has met...