Friday, February 29, 2008

Judge: Trunk Explosives Search Legal

Posted by Greg Hambrick on Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 1:20 PM

The trials of Mohamed and Megahed, charged with carrying explosive devices across state lines, have been put off a few weeks, but a judge ruled today that the search fo the cars was legal. Defense lawyers had suggested the Goose Creek officers who arrested the two Egyptian-born men didn't have enough suspicion based on the evidence alone to search the vehicle and showed offensive comments made by the officers during the traffic stop, including "Taliban" and "terrorist."

Pizzo wrote that despite the remarks, "the officer had probable cause to stop the defendants for speeding, the brief questioning of the defendants was not unreasonable in scope nor duration, and the driver consented to the search."

Tags: , , ,

What Fills The Dreams of Reporters

Posted by Greg Hambrick on Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 10:44 AM

I'm driving down the street when I notice that the county line shifts a few feet depending on what day of the week it is. I think to myself, "That'd make a good story."

Then I wake up.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Ease In Grading, State's Ranking Focus of PACT Reform

Posted by Greg Hambrick on Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 11:02 AM

PACT reforms changing the way South Carolina’s students are evaluated should win final approval today from the House before moving to the Senate for consideration.

The new test is expected to be easier to grade, with scores accessible to teachers within days.

“When teachers get the test back, they’ll know exactly where the student is,” the Landrum Republican said.

The proposed law calls for the state to pay for students to take practice tests at least twice annually. Most school districts already give such tests, usually done on computers, to give teachers immediate feedback, but the state covers only part of the cost.

More importantly, it sounds like new standards would put South Carolina in line with other states. Since the creation of No Child Left Behind, South Carolina educators have claimed the state’s test is one of the most challenging, putting us at a disadvantage compared with other states.

The legislation would change the scoring labels. Students today are judged as either “below basic,” “basic,” “proficient” and “advanced,” terms derived from a national testing system.

The state considers “basic” — defined as minimally prepared for the next grade — a passing score. The U.S. Education Department judges schools solely on students scoring “proficient” and “advanced.”

…

Under the proposal, grading terms would change to “exemplary,” “met” and “not met.” “Met” would be equivalent to doing work at grade level for federal proficiency standards.

A few other changes we found interesting:

• A reading assessment and readiness test for first and second graders will be replaced with language arts and math tests.

• Achievement awards for improving schools will factor in graduation rates, instead of dropout rates.

• Teacher specialists who are currently required at failing schools as mentors for teachers will now be an option that an external review team can recommend.

Tags: , ,

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The (Alleged) Scarborough Affair: It's Baaack!!!

Posted by Greg Hambrick on Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 4:20 PM

Will Folks, the former Sanford spokesman turned consultant, says someone is looking to unseal documents relating to Rep. Wallace Scarborough's (R-James Island) divorce and an (alleged) affair, questioning whether Scarborough used his influence to seal the documents from public view.

Charleston City Paper columnist Will Moredock first noted the (alleged) affair between Scarborough and Beaufort Rep. Catherine Ceips (who had just lost her husband) in August '06, based on documents used against Scarborough in his divorce, including cell-phone bills, private investigator reports, and a message from a posh North Carolina B&B canceling the couples weekend getaway.

Once the story broke, the response from Columbia was: "What's the news?" One reporter embedded in the Statehouse told us that several people knew, but nobody was reporting on it.

By the time we'd gotten Scarborough on the phone for a story about the Nov. '06 election, everything was mostly under the bridge (including his reference to us as a "rag'). Scarborough refused to speak to us because we couldn't promise him that his divorce wouldn't come up in our election piece. His opponent, Eugene Platt, had already told us he was going to bring up Scarborough's initial denials of the affair and his subsequent "no comment" as an indication of questionable character.

But the weird thing is that Platt's comments in our story may have been one of the last reports of the (alleged) affair — EVER. The State had ran a story and the Post and Courier made a handful of mentions of the scandal, but that was it.

So why, oh why, go to all the trouble of sealing the case, when the worst was behind you? It was our sense that, considering voters were certainly aware of the affair and yet still voted him back in, the story was over. But now Scarborough, the affair, and the alleged cover-up face another round of criticism (and, yet again, in an election year).

Missing Your Smoking Buddies at the Bar

Posted by Greg Hambrick on Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 3:07 PM

click to enlarge unknown.jpg

In the dead-tree paper this week, we've got a piece checking in with a couple of bar owners and updating the news on Charleston's smoking ban. There's not much news, but it's interesting to note that the city has not had one citation in the first six months in regards to bar owners or patrons ignoring the ban.

Then theres the mixed bag for bar owners.

David Clark, director of operations at Wild Wing Café, says the restaurant/bar is obeying the ban at its Market Street location, but that doesn't mean he has to like it. The chain has the space at other locations for outdoor seating or separate indoor seating to accommodate smoking and nonsmoking sections. But the limited space downtown meant smoking was allowed in the entire restaurant before the ban, and they didn't have any problems filling the booths.

"If enough people told us with their feet, we would have changed it," Clark says.

But the ban hasn't seemed to impact business either, other than leading to more noise and trash on the front steps.

…

While food slightly outweighs the bar at King Street Grille, owner Eric Frank says he's still seen a 20 percent drop in revenue. While some of it may be due to the changing economy, he also pins blame on lost traffic because of the smoking ban. Like Wild Wings, Frank doesn't have a patio to offer smoking patrons and, instead, has to push them out the front door.

"I have to ask guests to stand out in the pouring rain to smoke," he says. And that's only if they decide to hang around. "They could see a friend down the street and go to some other bar."

Topics: City Hall
Older Entries »

Greg Hambrick
News Editor

Press Time Tweets

City Paper Blogs

RSS Links

Classified Listings
{ more } Recent Comments
{ more } Reader Reviews
Most Viewed

Powered by Foundation   © Copyright 2012, Charleston City Paper   RSS