Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Area Subscribed Articles

Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Area Subscribed Articles

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Over the past three decades, stagnant weekly wages of public school teachers have fallen further and further behind those of college graduates who chose other careers, resulting in an ever increasing teacher pay gap that hit a record high in 2024. Over the last decade, inflation-adjusted weekly wages for teachers declined by $46.39 but increased by $220.46 for other college graduates.

Censorship complaints to public libraries continue with state-wide impact. The freedom to read 23 books has been eliminated or restricted. An October 7 lawsuit asks a federal court to block enforcement of unconstitutional book banning.

The status of pseudo-vouchers (Education Scholarship Accounts) remains uncertain. Public schools remain under attack from various groups, often funded by dark money, whose ultimate goal is a privatized education system.

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Charleston City Paper/The Statehouse Report

As a state Senate subcommittee began debate Wednesday in Columbia over S.323 that would criminalize abortion, hundreds protested at the S.C. Statehouse. The nine-hour hearing ended without a vote, but the subcommittee’s leader said he hoped to have another hearing to refine the bill.

League of Women Voters of S.C. Vice President Lynn Teague worried about the narrow, sectarian impetus for the bill. "But under the Constitution, we’re not a Christian nation and we were never intended to be. We were intended to be a nation that respected all traditions. I respect the depth and sincerity of everyone’s beliefs, but no one has the right to impose their beliefs on everyone else in the state.”

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WIS 10 TV

The South Carolina Senate Medical Affairs Subcommittee is set to hold a public hearing Wednesday concerning Senate Bill 323, otherwise known as the Unborn Child Protection Act. Watch the interview with current state Sen. Tameika Isaac Devine and Lynn S. Teague from the League of Women Voters of South Carolina. WIS also airs comments from former state Sen. Katrina Shealy recorded earlier Monday. Watch the interview.
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WLTX News19 TV (Columbia)

The deputy executive director of the SC State Election Commission has been fired and the deputy director was terminated after suspension during an internal investigation. Lynn Teague, vice president for issues and action with the League of Women Voters of South Carolina, said the agency still has the staff and resources to conduct secure elections despite the departures.

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WIS 10 TV

The deputy executive director for the South Carolina Elections Commission has been fired amid an ongoing SLED investigation. Her termination comes after former Executive Director of the South Carolina Elections Commission, Howard Knapp, was also fired on Sept. 17. Lynn Teague, LWVSC VP, Issues & Action, emphasized that voters should not lose faith in the system. “There are experienced IT specialists, staff working with counties, and people who continue to do their jobs,” she said. “Absolutely no one should panic, and no one should think this will cast doubt on the integrity of our elections.”
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ABC 4 News

Voter rights groups across South Carolina are voicing their discontent after the state Supreme Court upheld the current congressional district lines, rejecting claims that the 1st Congressional District was gerrymandered. “The whole process is supposed to be about voters and how the public is represented,” said Lynn Teague of the League. “It is not a one-winner-take-all process properly defined.”

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The Post & Courier

State officials are largely remaining silent over the sudden firing of the state’s top election official less than two months before towns and cities across the state head to the polls Nov. 4. "Our impression has been that the state election commission has operated as it was intended to: as largely independent of political interest,” said Lynn Teague, LWVSC Vice President, Issues & Action..“That’s not without exception, but on the whole we believe that it has been managed well,” she added. “So we are especially puzzled by the sudden development of the firing of the director.”

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The Greenville News

The South Carolina Supreme Court has thrown out the legal case over claims that the 2022 congressional map was drawn to give Republicans an advantage in the 1st Congressional District. Lynn Teague, the vice president of the League of Women Voters of South Carolina,, said in a statement that the group is disappointed that the state judiciary has "held itself unable to protect the foundations of representative democracy in our state... If a constitutional amendment is needed to protect voters, the people of South Carolina must demand that amendment.”"

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SC Daily Gazette

The state Supreme Court upheld South Carolina’s congressional voting lines Wednesday by ruling there’s nothing unconstitutional about partisan gerrymandering. In response, the League of Women Voters said the ruling presents a contradiction: It indicates only the Legislature can address partisan gerrymandering, and that’s the same body responsible for the problem.

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The Post & Courier

South Carolina’s highest court ruled in favor of Statehouse Republicans, saying it is a legislative right to draw congressional maps even as critics say Charleston’s seat in Congress was unfairly drawn to gerrymander. “Partisan gerrymandering is an attack on our most fundamental right as citizens, the right to vote,” said Lynn Teague, vice president at the League of Women Voters of South Carolina. “The people of our state should demand a constitution that protects them and leadership that respects their voices.”

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