South Carolina teen pregnancy/births numbers drop. Progress threatened by Gov. Haley's budget cuts

By Brandi Cummings TVWIS-TV


STATEWIDE (WIS) - New statistics show teen birth rates in South Carolina have dropped. While this may seem like good news, experts say the accomplishment should be approached with caution.

The numbers are down, but with looming cuts to programs preventing teen pregnancy, there is a fear that the number may go back up and fast.


Read the rest of the article from WIS-TV

Read more about how Governor Nikki Haley's budget cuts may threaten pregnancy and birth progress in South Carolina


Read about how South Carolina compares to the rest of the US with regard to teen pregnancie, AIDS and HIV rates. 


Read about how South Carolina women at high risk of death from cervical cancer


Read about how Nikki Haley and South Carolina legislature failed to address HPV vaccinations for teens

Take a tour of Allendale, South Carolina where half of all residents live below the US poverty line

With little industry other than the US nuclear facility on the Savannah River, run down infrastructure, dilapidated rail lines, some marginal cotton and timber farming and no Interstate highway to bring in traffic, Allendale County, South Carolina is the poorest and most neglected county in South Carolina and the 10th poorest county in the United States. 

The rapidly diminishing population is overwhelmingly African-American and majority female. When I visited the City of Allendale in January 2011, I saw no operating businesses on either of the two main drags. Likewise the streets were striking in their absence of both cars and people. The single operating restaurant was a warm and friendly place that was not prepared to serve more than coffee and iced tea.

Here are some pictures and links that illustrate the long term effects of conservative politics on a community.

---J.A.M.

This boarded up filling station on the virtually abandoned main road into Allendale, SC is typical of the state of businesses in Allendale, SC.


Half of all Allendale, SC residents live below the US poverty line and a quarter exist on incomes half that amount.

Cotton, the mainstay of the Allendale, SC economy since slavery, continues to be the basis of a local economy where industry and business are almost completely absent. This photo was taken just south of the Allendale city limits.


Allendale County, South Carolina: America's 10th poorest county

Palmetto and cedar swamps like this one found within the city limits, restrain agricultural and other economic development in the Allendale, South Carolina region.


Allendale, SC residents more than half as poor as other South Carolinians

Rusted railroad track and businesses like this dilapidated grain operation in neighboring Hampton County, SC explain much about why the economy has been sidelined and unemployment continues to soar not just in south west South Carolina but throughout the State.

With a population with little to pawn and no money to "rent to own" even businesses like this Spartanburg, SC pawnshop that dot the landscape in the rest of the State are virtually invisible in Allendale County.

Where there's poverty there's crime; where there's crime there's fear and unfortunately, rural Allendale, South Carolina has more violent crime than the average American city and as we've documented, the State of South Carolina boasts the most violent crime in the U.S.

So in somewhat more prosperous neighboring Hampton, County, concealed weapons training is available under the water tower.


Learn more about Allendale, South Carolina from the town itself.

Shared sacrifice in South Carolina? Not while Nikki Haley is there to cut the State budget and reward her friends with big salary increases

With high unemployment, violent crime and some of the Nation's worst poverty bound to get worse under her draconian budget cuts, South Carolina's Governor Nikki Haley rewards GOP elites, campaign supporters and staffers with big salary increases. This in a state where the median household income is a meager $39,316 (2005) 41st in the United States.

By Jody Barr, WIS

Haley's highest-paid staffer is her chief of staff, Tim Pearson, who rakes in $125,000 a year. Pearson also ran Haley's gubernatorial campaign.

Pearson isn't not the only Haley campaign worker to follow her into the governor's office. Haley's campaign consultant, Trey Walker, is also now on the state payroll as Haley's deputy chief of staff, earning $122,000 a year.

Haley and her spokesman, Rob Godfrey, have denied several requests for interviews to defend the increases our investigation uncovered. Late Thursday, however, Walker agreed to explain the governor's salary increases on camera.


Read more about Govenor Haley's Good Old Boy system.


South Carolina pays for Gov. Haley's European vacation, "vague" results on jobs and trade
Legislators rig South Carolina pension-salary deals in their favor

Demint out to kill Medicare while South Carolina ranks high for seniors living in poverty

Hear Senator Demint endorse the Ryan Plan which would eliminate Medicare in its present form to replace it with a coupon program.

With 14% of South Carolinians over 65 years of age living in poverty, the State ranks 38th in the country in that category according to the Kaiser Family founding.

This should come as no surprise, he higher rate of poverty for older South Carolinians is the logical outcome of a lifetime of high unemployment, lower wages, less unionization and fewer opportunities to accumulate savings or establish private pension or retirement plans.

Despite the high rate of elder poverty in his state, Senator Demint supports Paul Ryan's budget plan which would end Medicare as we know it and replace it with a health insurance coupon (voucher).

With nearly $1 Million from the health care industry going to his campaign committee and PAC between 2010, Demint shows loyalty to one of his key constituencies while turning his back on South Carolina's senior citizens.

Massive budget cuts threaten South Carolina's elderly and impoverished youth

Massive state budget cuts, the result in large part of federal austerity policies forced by the Republican dominated House of Representatives and supported by tea party Senators like South Carolina's Jim Demint and Governor Niki Haley threaten to further impoverish South Carolina seniors and poor children.

Here's who will pay for a Jim Demint Presidential campaign

With one of highest jobless rates in the US legalized loan sharking businesses like this one in Spartanburg are as easy to find as fast food on roads and highways throughout Jim Demint's South Carolina. 

Tea Party Senator Jim Demint claims "grassroots conservatives," unsatisfied with the lackluster field of Republican contenders either committed to or considering running for President are pushing him to run in 2012. While Demint may claim support from regular folks, let's take a look at where his money has come from in the past and what he's done with the PAC that is affiliated with him.

Senator Demint's campaign donations by industry

Senator Demints top campaign contributors

$10 million Demint affiliated Pac information

Boeing gives major contributions to Jim Demint and South Carolina Congressional delegation

CNN Report: Jim Demint mulls presidential run

Politico writer agrees: Jim Demint's Race to the Bottom is bad for South Carolina and the rest of the country

by Gordon Lafer

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has a new study touting his state’s “right to work” environment as a model of economic development. But the truth is DeMint is promoting policies that force hard-working Americans to compete against each other for low-wage jobs with scant benefits and no hope for a secure retirement.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55654.html#ixzz1NMoEQYjh

And here's what the Senator himself has to say: Jim Demint believes right to work states like South Carolina mean jobs. Who's he kidding?