By winning re-election Tuesday, Republican Gov. Nikki Haley became just the fourth S.C. governor elected to a second term in office.

But as the 42-year-old Bamberg native prepares to push workforce training and road-repair plans when the General Assembly reconvenes in January, political observers and allies wonder if Haley will finish her final four-year go-around.

A handful of 2016 GOP White House hopefuls already are courting Haley, whose endorsement could help them in South Carolina’s first in the South presidential primary.

Read it all.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham easily won a third term to the Senate Tuesday ”“ adding three more vanquished challengers to the half-dozen Republicans he defeated in the June GOP primary.

“I return to the Senate not to seek revenge, but with a burning desire to right the ship of state before it’s too late,” Graham said in a statement from his campaign. “I’m seeking willing partners on both sides of the aisle.

“Tonight, the American people are choosing divided government and rejecting President Obama’s policies, which ”“ he rightly indicated ”“ were on the ballot. The question for the country is ”“ can a conservative Republican Congress work with a liberal Democratic president to move our nation forward? The answer should be yes. I believe it must be yes.”

Read it all.

Going unnoticed tonight: SC's Tim Scott becomes 1st black Republican to win election to the Senate from the deep South since Reconstruction.

— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) November 5, 2014

In 1999, Desert Storm veteran Dale Sutcliffe asked his father-in-law, a Korean War veteran, if he would attend a hypothetical reunion with his old Army unit.

“I’d be on the next plane to Korea to see those guys,” Sutcliffe remembers his father-in-law, David Mozingo, saying.

That led Sutcliffe, now of Mount Pleasant but living in Boston at the time, to think about developing an online registry for veterans to reconnect with one another.

Read it all.

Check it out.

The Rev. Spike Coleman wasn’t sure how to respond when a member of his St. Andrew’s Presbyterian decided to leave the West Ashley church – because Coleman preached too much about the Bible.

The man wanted something a bit more Joel Olsteen, more practical and uplifting.

“When he goes to church, he wants to leave feeling good,” Coleman said. “You can leave feeling good and somehow affirmed. But is that going to sustain you in the dark nights of the soul?”

Read it all.

“..the Christian life is a team sport…” A timely reminder.

Listen to it all.

South Carolina ranks 37th in the country in terms of its tax structure being friendly to business.

The state’s biggest problems, according to an annual analysis by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Tax Foundation, are its high individual income tax and its unemployment insurance rates.

The issue of tax reform has been touched on during this year’s gubernatorial campaign, but it hasn’t played a central role.

Read it all.

At the turn of the 20th century in rural South Carolina, a domineering father, still bitter over the loss of the Civil War, drives his son to uphold the family name by relentless personal achievement. The farm boy complies by setting unequaled athletic and academic standards at the state college and by winning a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University. He seeks a life of his own, forming unacceptable friendships with a brilliant Negro farm hand and a politically progressive girl friend. When a shocking accident fragments the young man’s world, the patient friendship of a country pastor and the bold witness of Christian athletes challenge his priorities. The human hunger for accomplishment and the universal longing for grace collide in a midnight raid and high-stakes court battle.

Read ordering information here.

The Rt. Rev. Ken Clarke, retired bishop of the Diocese of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh and now President of SAMS””Ireland will be the speaker at this fall’s annual Clergy Conference at St. Christopher. He is the author of Going for Growth: Learning from Peter (IVP). A contagious teacher, he led the Daily Bible Studies at last year’s New Wineskins Conference.

You may read the agenda there.

Q: Can you give us a sneak preview of your lecture here?

A: I’ll be talking about the history and current ministry and mission and significance of Westminster Abbey, so I have quite a lot of images and I can give people, I hope, something like a tour by proxy as it were of Westminster Abbey.

I’ll also talk about some of the great events that I’ve been privileged to be involved in over the past couple of years at Westminster Abbey that I know many, many people in the United States were aware of.

Read it all.

When the Rev. Gary Beson was ordained recently, he took all of the pomp, prayer and robes out of the usual church sanctuary – and into a barn instead.

He held his big moment Oct. 17 in the Big Green Barn in Summerville’s Carnes Crossing subdivision and kept the event a public affair. After all, every moment is an evangelical possibility for a new priest planting a new church.

Read it all.

The Rev. Don Flowers was at breakfast with a group of minister friends in New York City when he heard news of the U.S. Supreme Court decision not to review a case overturning Virginia’s gay marriage ban.

The pastors sat stunned, unsure what it meant, shocked at the speed things could start moving. Talk swiftly turned to ramifications ahead.

Flowers, pastor of Providence Baptist Church on Daniel Island, realized what it could mean back home: Gay marriage could become legal – and soon.

“A grenade has just been thrown down our aisles,” Flowers said.

Read it all.

During the Parish Family Weekend, it was announced at home at St. Michael’s and to those at Kanuga that I will be leaving in October to enter an approximately four- to six-month season of ministry serving a parish in Bermuda. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve already heard “Well, it’s a tough gig, but somebody’s got to do it.” So I thought I’d tell you a bit of the story….

Read it all.

Check it out.

Read it all.

Two major international companies put a huge stamp on the Lowcountry’s economy last week.

French high-voltage cablemaker Nexans officially opened an $85 million facility on the Cooper River in Berkeley County in Bushy Park Industrial Complex on Wednesday, while Japan-based Showa Denko Carbon on Friday celebrated a $300 million expansion of its 31-year-old factory near Ridgeville in Dorchester County.

Read it all.

No same sex weddings are on the immediate horizon in South Carolina, as the state’s top court ruled Thursday that its 46 probate court judges may not issue marriage licenses to such couples until a federal case is settled.

The S.C. Supreme Court’s ruling came one day after Charleston County Probate Judge Irvin Condon said he would issue licenses to same sex couples in the wake of Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision not to review a case overturning Virginia’s gay marriage ban.

Condon indicated Thursday he would abide by the top state court’s ruling.

Read it all.

In essence, [Justin] Welby’s comments have re-stirred a critical question: Is being Anglican about being in communion with Caterbury, or is it about holding certain shared theological views?

Wood noted that Welby also said in the interview, “There is no Anglican Pope,” and that “decisions are made collectively and collegially.”

“The status of the ACNA within the Anglican Communion would, by extension of the same logic, be dependent upon the decisions of the primates and not solely upon the personal opinion Archbishop Justin,” [Steve] Wood said.

Read it all.

Billy DuBose blew into his bagpipe as he prepared to play Amazing Grace in honor of all of those killed in domestic violence in South Carolina last year.

Just before he walked in front of 46 people holding up human silhouettes in memory of the 46 who died, he thought about how many times he’s played for the ceremony and whispered:

“Too many.”

Read it all.

When Shamon Smith witnessed her mother being abused, she never dreamed it would spark within her a passion to address domestic violence all these years later.

A woman of deep faith, Smith realized many victims seek help from their pastors, who often didn’t know how to help abused congregants facing very real dangers within violent relationships.

As a result, her North Charleston church is hosting a free three-day domestic violence conference Oct. 17-19 titled “Uniting the Pastors, Equipping the Clergy and Gathering God’s People.”

“Pastors have sent victims back to their abusers,” Smith said. “They felt they were doing the right thing.”

Read it all.

Joe Craig got a second chance after his first fight with a woman at Clemson. It didn’t last a year.

The speedy wide receiver was kicked off the football team by head coach Dabo Swinney in February of 2012 after he was arrested at 3:30 a.m. for criminal domestic violence stemming from an altercation with Whitney Fountain, a fellow track athlete and the mother of Craig’s son. Five months earlier, Craig missed the first three games of the 2011 season – suspended for a May fight with another track team member, Marlena Wesh.

Surprisingly, the first incident didn’t involve charges, though both Craig and Wesh were under 21 and a police report said alcohol was involved. But Clemson might not have given Craig another chance in the shadow of domestic violence concern brought on by the NFL’s mishandling of the Ray Rice case, scrutiny that has encouraged college coaches to stress “zero tolerance” rules.

Read it all.

In his spare time, he likes to hunt, fish, hike or camp. And some Sundays might find Cartwright in the pulpit. He occasionally serves as a fill-in pastor at Bonneau’s First Baptist Church, where he attends.

[Dwayne] Cartwright has not only a degree in history, but also religion. His father, Norman, is a pastor, and the younger Cartwright followed a calling to become ordained as well at age 22. In addition to a full-time job, he served as minister at Corinth Baptist Church in Salem, Mo., for 25 years.

“I enjoy helping people very much,” he said. “I am an encourager. It gets back to my gratification from seeing people succeed.”

Bonneau First Baptist Church Pastor Ken Owens called Cartwright a model citizen.

“He is a man of integrity with Christian principles,” Owens said. “On many occasions when I’m out of town on vacation or at conferences, he preaches for us and does a tremendous job. If he’s available, he will be there.”

Read it all.

Boeing Co. projects the Asia Pacific region’s demand for new commercial pilots and maintenance technicians over the next 20 years will be 39 percent of the global need for new airline personnel.

The Chicago-based airplane manufacturer’s Pilot and Technician Outlook, an industry forecast of aviation personnel demand, projects a requirement for 216,000 new commercial airline pilots and 224,000 new technicians in the Asia Pacific region through 2033, more demand than North America and Europe combined.

“The Asia Pacific region is seeing tremendous economic growth and is set to become the largest air travel market in the world,” said Bob Bellitto, a director at Boeing Flight Services. “That growth rate means booming career opportunities for those interested in becoming commercial airline pilots and maintenance technicians over the next two decades. These are strong, stable and challenging jobs in one of the most technologically advanced industries in the world.”

Read it all.

Tommy Montgomery was 9 years old when he watched his hard-drinking, abusive father stab his mother to death in their Charleston home, plunging a knife into her body 38 times. Her screams and the blood-soaked images from that day haunted him for years, stealing his sleep, filling him with anxiety and fueling hallucinations that churned in his brain.

Montgomery dropped out of school, cycled through low-paying jobs and turned to drugs and drink to chase away his demons. In the end, he unleashed his bottled-up rage on others, just like his father had done.

Nine months after he was accused of choking his wife in March 2009, Montgomery killed a church music director in North Charleston, stabbing him 92 times. Then, DNA testing revealed he was responsible for slitting the throat of a woman in a Charleston park three years earlier, police said.

Read it all.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is heading to New York this weekend to meet with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Haley’s office said Friday the governor will be joined by her husband and her parents, who were born in India. Haley will also spend some time in private discussions with Modi on Sunday.

Read it all.

Read it all.

Former Charleston Police Chief Reuben M. Greenberg, a charismatic and combative leader who drove down crime and drew national attention to the Holy City during his 23 years as its top cop, died Wednesday after a long period of declining health. He was 71.

Mayor Joe Riley said Greenberg – the city’s first and only black police chief – will long be remembered as a pioneer and innovative pace-setter who led the force at a time when Charleston was growing again in terms of national prominence.

“He is an historic figure in this historic city,” Riley said shortly after news of Greenberg’s passing began to spread. “The quality and the credibility of his police leadership made him a national figure.”

Read it all.

Listen to it all (starts about 7:15 in). Also note there is a download option.

You may find the audio link here if you wish to listen to it.