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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC) - South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster is unveiling his executive budget recommendations for the state’s 2024-2025 fiscal year.

“South Carolina’s booming economy has once again created a record budget surplus, this year totaling over $1.64 billion in unexpected revenue,” McMaster said at Friday’s news conference. He is calling for tax relief and making bold, targeted investments in education, economic development, and public safety.

Several of his recommendations target education in the state. He wants to see the starting salary for teachers in the state rise from $42,500 to $45,000. His goal by the year 2026 is a minimum starting pay of at least $50,000.

“Two years ago, South Carolina’s system for funding K-12 education was archaic and confusing, a piecemeal system consisting of 29 separate line-item appropriations. Now, a consolidated formula makes sure that funding follows the child. It keeps pace with student enrollment and provides financial resources to support a state average student-teacher ratio of 11.4 students per teacher with an average teacher salary including fringe benefits of $79,536. This Executive Budget also increases state aid to classrooms by $250 million,” he said.

He called for $115 million for instructional materials, $21.1 million for funding for the full-day four-year-old kindergarten program to cover an additional 2,500 children from low-income households expected to enroll in the program in the 2024-2025 school year.

His budget also includes $13.4 million for school resource officers.

“Placing an armed, certified school resource officer in every school, in every county, all day, every day, has been one of my top priorities as governor,” he said. “At my request, the General Assembly began funding a grant program administered by the Department of Public Safety, to provide school districts with funds to hire more resource officers for our state’s 1,284 public schools. The grant program has been very successful and has more than doubled the number of officers assigned to a school, going from 406 in 2018 to 1,109 in 2023.”

The additional $13.4 million, he said, would add an officer in 175 existing and new schools the currently do not have an assigned SRO.

For infrastructure, he wants the General Assembly to set aside at least $500 million in surplus funds from the Homestead Exemption Fund for the state’s Department of Transportation to be used for emergency bridge replacement and repairs.

“There is no infrastructure more in need of investment than our state’s roads, bridges, highways, and interstates,” he said. “Because our booming economy and rapid population growth have outpaced the state’s ability to keep up with improvements to our transportation infrastructure, we must continue to make big, bold, and transformative investments.”

McMaster’s recommendations also include a $99 million allocation to cover a further income tax cut.

“Until a few years ago, South Carolina had the highest personal income tax rate in the southeast and the 12th-highest in the nation. No more,” he said. “Two years ago, I signed into law the largest income tax cut in state history. Accordingly, my executive budget recognizes this year’s $99 million scheduled cut to the income tax rate, dropping it to 6.3%.”

While the governor said the state is in “superior fiscal shape,” he called for state lawmakers to set aside $54.3 million for the state’s rainy day fund, which he said would make sure the fund maintains a balance equal to 10% of the 2024-2025 General Appropriations Act.

Additional highlights include:

“By thinking big, by being bold, and by making transformative investments, I believe we will set our state on a course that will provide the opportunity for prosperity, success, and happiness for generations of South Carolinians. Let us continue working together. I believe in South Carolina, I believe in America, and I believe the best is yet to come,” he said.

McMaster released details of his recommendations at a news conference at the State House Friday afternoon.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - President Joe Biden will visit the Palmetto State ahead of the Democratic Primary.

According to White House officials, the 46th President of the United States and Vice President Kamala Harris will travel across the country to speak and engage with voters and core constituencies.

On Saturday, Jan. 6, Biden will deliver a speech near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania during the third anniversary of the Jan. 6th capitol insurrection.

The Revolutionary War site location is meant to highlight a central argument of Biden’s re-election bid, which is protecting democracy and personal freedoms.

“Every generation of Americans will face a moment when they have to defend democracy, stand up for our personal freedom, and stand up for the right to vote and our civil rights. This is our moment, and President Biden knows that it’s more important than ever that we win,” said Biden-Harris 2024 Communications Director Michael Tyler.

On Monday, Jan. 8, Biden will deliver remarks at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, a venue his campaign says “embodies the stakes for the nation at the moment.”

Mother Emanuel is the site of a mass shooting where nine people were killed.

The mass shooting happened on June 18, 2015, and impacted not only the people of South Carolina but the country as a whole.

The victims in the shooting were Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41, Cynthia Graham Hurd, 54, Ethel Lance, 70, Rev. DePayne Middleton, 49, Tywanza Sanders, 26, Rev. Daniel Simmons, 74, Rev. Sharonda Singleton, 45, Myra Thompson, 59, and Susie Jackson, 87.

“Whether it is white supremacists descending on the historic American city of Charlottesville, the assault on our nation’s capital on January 6 or a white supremacist murdering churchgoers at Mother Emanuel nearly nine years ago, America is worried about the rise in political violence and determined to stand against it,” Biden-Harris 2024 Principal Deputy Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks said. “The president’s return to the Palmetto State marks the fourth time as president to talk directly to voters who propelled him to the highest office in the land four years ago.”

Saturday, Jan. 6., Harris will deliver the keynote address at the 7th Episcopal District AME Church Women’s Missionary Society Annual Retreat in Myrtle Beach.

Harris will be in the Midlands on Monday, Jan. 15. She and US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will be speaking at the 2024 King Day at the Dome at the Zion Baptist Church in Columbia.

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When Greg Slattery and Sandra Moscato, the husband-wife duo behind Curiosity Coffee Bar, traveled from Columbia to Oaxaca, Mexico, they left with their backpacks and an empty suitcase.

They returned with the suitcase filled with around 50 pounds of coffee, to offer at their indie coffee shop on North Main Street for a few weeks in an attempt to bring new flavors from smaller coffee producers to South Carolina.

“When you get to connect with people that are growing and producing it... there’s more of a story behind it,” Moscato said. “It’s just more meaningful.”

Slattery and Moscato’s scattered journeys to places like Mexico, Panama and, soon, Costa Rica, are part of a smaller trend for Columbia-area restaurateurs who put an emphasis on traveling for inspiration at their eateries.

Taking every opportunity to explore beer culture

What started as an exchange program for 22-year-old Scott Burgess in the early ’90s became a lifelong passion project that’s now rooted in Columbia. Burgess, who owns German-style brewery and taproom Bierkeller Columbia, diverted from his initial love of writing and editing and took up a knack for brewing beer while working at a university in Bamberg, Germany.

“I took every opportunity I could to explore that beer culture,” Burgess said. “That interest never went away, it never left me and it always seems to eclipse any other thing I’ve found myself doing ... it was always a dream to replicate what I saw over there.”

Once he moved back to the United States, Burgess held on to his memories of pilsners and lagers from the rural biergartens in Germany as he tried to recreate what he tasted there. And as he started selling beer, brewing in what then held Swamp Cabbage Brewing in 2016, Burgess began making trips back to Germany to refresh himself on the flavors and styles.

On Bierkeller’s menu you won’t find beers popular in modern American culture like IPAs and Sours. Burgess prides himself on using beer recipes and techniques that are hundreds of years old and follow the German Purity Law of 1516 — a series of regulations that limited what ingredients Germans and states under the Holy Roman could use to brew beer.

COLUMBIA — Hey, it’s Zoe Nicholson. Normally I am Hannah Wade’s boss, working behind the scenes to bring you food content. But Hannah is taking a much-deserved week off, so I am stepping up for this week’s Table Crumbs.

Last weekend, I spent an evening at “the new New,” as opening show frontman Justin Osborne called it. That’s New Brookland Tavern’s new Five Points location, at the former Cotton Gin space on Harden Street.

The concert — Sequoyah Prep School rounded out a night that featured Palmetto natives Som’Bout and Asheville’s Holler Choir — marked a sea change for live music in Columbia. By moving to Five Points, NBT will be able to pull in bigger crowds, which leads to bigger acts. And local acts will benefit from a larger stage and the venue’s continued focus on spotlighting local and regional talent.

That’s all well and good, but what about the bathrooms? Parking? What are the drink prices like? Well, do not fear. Here is my official, unofficial logistical review of the new New Brookland Tavern.

Music Features

Parking at New Brookland Tavern? Not bad, but call an Uber.

One of the main concerns folks had when NBT announced it was moving to Five Points was parking. The neighborhood is infamous for spotty parking luck, but I had no trouble at all finding a spot just in front of Drip Coffee on Dec. 30 — a Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. Now, I did drive, but I would caution y’all to try and Uber when you can. Safety, first!

I waited in line to get inside the bar for about 15 minutes. They had one guy scanning tickets and another scanning IDs. Since the top floor/concert space is an all-ages venue, those who wanted to drink had to get their licenses scanned on once of those fancy tablets and wear a wristband. I don’t mind the wait since it means beefed up drinking protocols. And, the crowd Saturday night was pretty tame just before 8 p.m., so I got to meet some folks and reminisce on times spent in Five Points as college students.

South Carolina’s state Senate will now have six women.

On Tuesday, voters in state Senate District 19 elected Columbia Democrat Tameika Isaac Devine to complete the final year of the late John Scott’s term in the overwhelmingly Democratic district.

According to Tuesday’s unofficial results with all 39 precincts reporting, Devine carried 85.96% of the vote for the district that covers northwest Richland County. Republican Kizzie Smalls carried 9.65% of the vote.

Independent Michael A. Addison, of Columbia, received 2.71% of the vote. United Citizens Party candidate Chris Nelums received 1.6% of the vote.

To hold on to the seat for a full term, Devine will have to run again this year when the entire state Senate is up for election. Legislative primary elections are scheduled for June, with the general election in November.

Devine, a lawyer and former longtime Columbia City Council member, ran for mayor of the capital city in 2021 before losing to Daniel Rickenmann. She now becomes the sixth female senator in the State House’s upper chamber, joining state Sens. Penry Gustafson, R-Kershaw; Margie Bright Matthews, D-Colleton; Mia McLeod, I-Richland; Sandy Senn, R-Charleston; and Katrina Shealy, R-Lexington.

“Part of who I am is a Black woman, unapologetically Black woman,” Devine said. “That experience I’m bringing there I think is critically important to have that kind of diversity and that kind of experience where we’re making policy decisions on the things that matter to South Carolinians.”

Devine now joins a chamber that operates on seniority. She will rank 46th out of 46 senators. She said she has already spoken to leadership in the chamber to begin to build relationships with other lawmakers.

“I’m going to go in wanting to work with everybody and understanding the role that I play and what these voters are sending me there to do. And so, yes, I’m going to work across the aisle. So I’m going to work with the delegation, and in the caucus on making sure that we have priorities and that I am the voice in the Senate to help elevate those priorities,” Devine said. “It’s going to be about relationships. I’ve done that my entire career, building relationships and getting things done.”

The final stretch of the District 19 special election came during the holiday season, a time when many people were not paying attention to electoral politics or were traveling, making campaigning a challenge.

Devine said her advertisements were more targeted on social media ahead of the election to people who live in the district. She added her campaign was knocking on doors and sending out mailers and making phone calls to voters.

This story was originally published January 2, 2024, 8:37 PM.

The fireworks show will run for about 15 minutes and be set off near the State House. Munnerlyn Pyrotechnics says the setup takes four to five hours.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — People all over the world are getting ready to ring in the New Year. The Capital City Fireworks show will start at midnight in Columbia with a 15-minute display. Despite lasting minutes, this show takes hours to set up.

"At New Year's, this is, like, the perfect time for fireworks," Columbia resident Peter Kelly said.

Standing beside Naomi Stienstra, Kelly said they hope to see the city's fireworks show kick off 2024 with a bang.

"I love it because fireworks is, for me at least, a New Year's thing because we don't, back home where I'm from, we don't have Fourth of July," said Stienstra, who's from Australia. "New Year's is the only time we do fireworks."

"They're just exciting," Donna Adams, who's visiting Columbia from Georgia, said, smiling. "I love all the pretty colors, and you get to pick your favorite one, but they're all great."

Adams said her mom told her about Capital City Fireworks.

"I'm excited to see everything for New Year's," Adams said. "We have a wedding to go to and it's going to top it off after we come back from the wedding with a firework."

Irmo resident Reina Floyd said she's considering taking her kids to the fireworks after her evening church service.

"For the most part, you're watching things on TV of what's happening around the world, around the country. And everybody looks, you know, for New Year's at New York City and the Ball Drop," Floyd said. "So, it's kind of cool that they were like, 'We have stuff going on too in Columbia.' That's kind of cool."

It's a show that residents can expect to have "lots of different colors, lots of different effects," according to Guy Bouknight, the show's lead shooter.

"Timing is definitely the hardest part of a great firework show," Bouknight, a commercial outdoor pyrotechnic operator for Munnerlyn Pyrotechnics, said. "So, just getting everything timed and synced in and layering."

Bouknight said a lot of time and thought goes into preparing for the show, from the colors to the heights of the explosions to the timing.

"We have these mortar tubes that are in racks, all of the racks get stabilized, make sure there's no debris in any of the tubes. And then once everything is stabilized together, then we start dropping the pyro," Bouknight said regarding the four to five-hour set-up process. "And then, once the pyro is dropped, then we electronically match everything to a module. And then, once everything's plugged into that module, then we Bluetooth or radio frequency everything together, sync everything up, and then it's ready to go."

Bouknight said his company does shows in different states across the region in all different locations. When it comes to urban areas like downtown Columbia, he said there are a few other considerations.

"In an urban environment, of course, we try not to angle any of the effects and having them going different directions," Bouknight said. "We kind of shoot everything straight up in the air. And, of course, just make sure that there's no overhead power lines or anything like that."

Bouknight said his favorite part of the show is seeing reactions from people like Floyd, who said this might be the perfect start to 2024.

"I don't think I've looked forward to a New Year like this in a really long time," Floyd said, smiling. "I'm looking forward to like lightness and joy and contentment and, given the state of things all around the world, I'm just really looking forward to peace and calm."

The city said the best place to see the fireworks will be on the north side of the State House at Gervais and Main Streets.