Latest Updates

  • Property rights at center of battles over short-term rentals

    By RICK BRUNDRETT Editor’s note: The Nerve today is featuring the first of two initial stories on short-term rentals in South Carolina. With South Carolina’s tourism season in full swing, many summer visitors are looking for short-term rentals through popular sites such as Airbnb and Vrbo. As of May, there were...
    Rick Brundrett

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    July 26, 2022

  • Voters back school choice bill. Can lawmakers get it across the finish line?

    By RICK BRUNDRETT S.C. residents generally support using public money to allow children to attend private schools, a South Carolina Policy Council poll shows – and a key negotiator on a related school-choice bill says he’s pushing to get it passed. It remains to be seen whether the Republican-dominated, 46-member...
    Rick Brundrett

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    June 23, 2022

  • Compromise bill reflects SCPC poll results on tax relief

    By RICK BRUNDRETT Just days before a legislative conference committee approved a compromise tax-cut bill, South Carolinians expressed strong support for tax relief in a poll released by the South Carolina Policy Council – The Nerve’s parent organization. Contacted last week by The Nerve before the deal was announced, several senators who...
    Rick Brundrett

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    June 15, 2022

  • Feds pushing liberal investment schemes in local government, business sectors

    By RICK BRUNDRETT The Biden administration and Democratic-controlled U.S. House collectively have been focusing on local municipalities, publicly traded companies and private retirement plans to promote the environmental, social and governance movement that is popular among liberal groups, records show. Republican state and federal officials in South Carolina are opposing...
    Rick Brundrett

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    May 26, 2022

  • Critics fear ESG factors could diminish state pension investments

    By RICK BRUNDRETT Two major investment management firms that handle a large chunk of South Carolina’s pension plan for state retirees are big proponents of the controversial environmental, social and governance (ESG) movement, The Nerve found in a review of pension and other records. Of the approximately $39 billion market...
    Rick Brundrett

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    May 19, 2022

  • Serious business: How ESG mandates can hurt small SC firms

    By RICK BRUNDRETT In a letter last year to Cromer Food Services, one of the Anderson-based company’s hundreds of customers – a foreign-headquartered corporation – said it was drafting a “Business Partner Code of Conduct that expresses all our essential requirements for sustainable cooperation.” The letter asked the company to...
    Rick Brundrett

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    May 12, 2022

  • Officials warn ESG movement heading to SC amid ‘woke’ power play

    By RICK BRUNDRETT Imagine a small business applying for a bank loan and being rejected despite having an excellent credit rating and strong revenues. The reason? Its “ESG” score was too low. If you’ve never heard of ESG, you’re probably not alone. But the corporate and financial worlds are well-acquainted...
    Rick Brundrett

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    May 12, 2022

  • State law keeps judicial income hidden from public

    By RICK BRUNDRETT Under state court rules, judges must avoid even the “appearance of impropriety” in all of their activities, and “minimize the risk of conflict” with their official duties. Citizens, however, typically have no easy way of determining whether the income sources of many South Carolina judges or their...
    Rick Brundrett

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    March 10, 2022

  • Judicial department releases staff salaries after legal pressure

    By RICK BRUNDRETT More than three months after ignoring The Nerve’s written requests, the S.C. Judicial Department has released an updated salary list of state judges and other higher-paid court staff, which shows 141 employees making at least $100,000. The third branch of state government responded to The Nerve only...
    Rick Brundrett

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    March 04, 2022

  • Lawmakers secretly nominate ex-legislator for judge’s seat

    By RICK BRUNDRETT As expected, the Horry County legislative delegation last week nominated former House member Alan Clemmons as the county’s master-in-equity judge. But House and Senate members who make up the delegation didn’t  nominate Clemmons –  who had been a longtime delegation member – during a public meeting in...
    Rick Brundrett

    Written by
    February 09, 2022