SC Court Orders Gov to Take Stimulus Cash

(NEWSER) - South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is officially accepting federal stimulus funds, beating tonight’s deadline, the Washington Post reports. The state is expected to receive around $8 billion, though Sanford has continued to reject $700 million earmarked for law enforcement and education. Sanford had wanted to use that money to pay down the state’s debt. More»

As fiscal situation worsens, SC governor's stimulus refusal draws ire

(NEWSER) - South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has until Friday to choose between the philosophical and the fiscal as the deadline to accept $700 million in federal stimulus money approaches, the Wall Street Journal reports. Sanford wants authority over the funds, earmarked for education and public safety, and has pledged to refuse them unless the legislature agrees to pay down debt—an action it says it can’t afford. More»

South Carolina teen becomes face of stimulus with plea for education funding

(NEWSER) - South Carolina eighth-grader Ty'Sheoma Bethea became the symbol of the stimulus package in President Obama's speech to Congress last night, WSAV reports. The president has repeatedly referred to Bethea's dilapidated school in his calls for spending on education infrastructure, and during his speech he quoted from a letter the 14-year-old wrote to Congress urging lawmakers not to neglect education. More»

Tight with prez, Duncan holds keys to $5B in stimulus funds

(NEWSER) - Tight with President Obama and with $5 billion at his disposal, Arne Duncan may become the strongest education secretary in history, writes Nia-Malika Henderson for Politico. “Never ever have they had $5 billion to decide what to do in the education system,” says an education advocate. And it’s up to Duncan—a big believer in merit pay for teachers, data systems to track performance, and charter schools to try new strategies—to choose how to dispense that cash to states. More»

Commerce secretary didn't know where to reach guv

(NEWSER) - Mark Sanford’s recent Argentine excursion wasn’t the first time he had gone missing: His commerce secretary didn’t know where to reach him in June 2008, either, emails reveal. “Need contact number for (Sanford) ASAP,” the secretary wrote to a Sanford staffer on the 28th—a day the South Carolina governor saw his lover, he has since admitted. The email was part of 3,300 pages of communications released to the State. More»