Latest news with #McMaster
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Business
- Yahoo
South Carolina's Republican governor keeps veto pen mostly capped for budget
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The invitation from South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said he was bringing reporters together Wednesday to talk about his vetoes in the state budget. But instead, it was a victory lap for both the Republican governor and the Republican-dominated General Assembly as McMaster spent his time talking about all his priorities that the legislature kept in the spending plan — not the 10 things worth $10,000 he took out of the 2025-26 fiscal year budget. It was a stark reminder after nine years in office how much different McMaster is than his previous Republican predecessors, governors who relished in fighting the General Assembly, then often ripped into them or ignored their ideas on how to spend the state's billions of dollars. 'Back in the old days, nobody was talking to anybody,' McMaster said, repeating his favorite tagline of 'communication, collaboration and cooperation.' McMaster issued 10 vetoes from the state's $14.5 billion spending plan that starts July 1. Just one struck money from the budget — $10,000 for what McMaster said was a duplicative effort to review a state agency. Ten years ago, Gov. Nikki Haley struck 87 items from the $7 billion budget totaling more than $18 million. And in 2005, Gov. Mark Sanford vetoed 163 items worth $96 million from the $5.8 billion spending plan. A year later, an exasperated Sanford vetoed the entire budget and lawmakers quickly overrode him by wide margins. Instead of spending, McMaster's handful of vetoes were on rules like getting rid of a requirement that visitors to the new Pine Island State Park make reservations or striking out of the budget a provision allowing some school districts to use private companies for security. There are so few vetoes that lawmakers don't expect to return to the Statehouse to try to override them. McMaster kept what is effectively an $18,000 per year raise for the General Assembly in the budget. Lawmakers will see their 'in-district compensation' — money set aside for legislative duties that has few limits on how it can be spent — increase from $1,000 a month to $2,500 a month for all 46 senators and 124 House members. The monthly stipend for lawmakers has not been increased in about 30 years. Their in-district compensation would increase from $12,000 a year to $30,000. Lawmakers also get an annual salary of $10,400 that has not changed since 1990. In addition, they get money for meals, mileage to drive to Columbia and hotel rooms while in session. The rest of the spending plan was much less controversial. There are pay raises for teachers, and the state's highest income tax rate will be cut from 6.2% to 6%. There is $200 million to fix bridges, $35 million to pay for cleanup from Hurricane Helene last year and $50 million for a program to let parents use tax money to pay private school tuition that will undergo court scrutiny. About 80% of the more than $14 billion the state will spend next year is what the governor asked for back in January when he suggested a spending plan to lawmakers, a relationship he has carefully cultivated since 2017. "Many of us are like a family. We go back a long way," McMaster said. 'You try to understand the other fellow's point of view. sometimes he's right and I'm wrong. sometimes it's the other way. Sometimes we're talking about the same things but using different words.'
Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Business
- Toronto Star
South Carolina's Republican governor keeps veto pen mostly capped for budget
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The invitation from South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said he was bringing reporters together Wednesday to talk about his vetoes in the state budget. But instead, it was a victory lap for both the Republican governor and the Republican-dominated General Assembly as McMaster spent his time talking about all his priorities that the legislature kept in the spending plan — not the 10 things worth $10,000 he took out of the 2025-26 fiscal year budget.
Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
South Carolina's Republican governor keeps veto pen mostly capped for budget
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The invitation from South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said he was bringing reporters together Wednesday to talk about his vetoes in the state budget. But instead, it was a victory lap for both the Republican governor and the Republican-dominated General Assembly as McMaster spent his time talking about all his priorities that the legislature kept in the spending plan — not the 10 things worth $10,000 he took out of the 2025-26 fiscal year budget. It was a stark reminder after nine years in office how much different McMaster is than his previous Republican predecessors, governors who relished in fighting the General Assembly, then often ripped into them or ignored their ideas on how to spend the state's billions of dollars. 'Back in the old days, nobody was talking to anybody,' McMaster said, repeating his favorite tagline of 'communication, collaboration and cooperation.' McMaster issued 10 vetoes from the state's $14.5 billion spending plan that starts July 1. Just one struck money from the budget — $10,000 for what McMaster said was a duplicative effort to review a state agency. Ten years ago, Gov. Nikki Haley struck 87 items from the $7 billion budget totaling more than $18 million. And in 2005, Gov. Mark Sanford vetoed 163 items worth $96 million from the $5.8 billion spending plan. A year later, an exasperated Sanford vetoed the entire budget and lawmakers quickly overrode him by wide margins. Instead of spending, McMaster's handful of vetoes were on rules like getting rid of a requirement that visitors to the new Pine Island State Park make reservations or striking out of the budget a provision allowing some school districts to use private companies for security. There are so few vetoes that lawmakers don't expect to return to the Statehouse to try to override them. McMaster kept what is effectively an $18,000 per year raise for the General Assembly in the budget. Lawmakers will see their 'in-district compensation' — money set aside for legislative duties that has few limits on how it can be spent — increase from $1,000 a month to $2,500 a month for all 46 senators and 124 House members. The monthly stipend for lawmakers has not been increased in about 30 years. Their in-district compensation would increase from $12,000 a year to $30,000. Lawmakers also get an annual salary of $10,400 that has not changed since 1990. In addition, they get money for meals, mileage to drive to Columbia and hotel rooms while in session. The rest of the spending plan was much less controversial. There are pay raises for teachers, and the state's highest income tax rate will be cut from 6.2% to 6%. There is $200 million to fix bridges, $35 million to pay for cleanup from Hurricane Helene last year and $50 million for a program to let parents use tax money to pay private school tuition that will undergo court scrutiny. About 80% of the more than $14 billion the state will spend next year is what the governor asked for back in January when he suggested a spending plan to lawmakers, a relationship he has carefully cultivated since 2017. 'Many of us are like a family. We go back a long way,' McMaster said. 'You try to understand the other fellow's point of view. sometimes he's right and I'm wrong. sometimes it's the other way. Sometimes we're talking about the same things but using different words.' Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
South Carolina's Republican governor keeps veto pen mostly capped for budget
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The invitation from South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said he was bringing reporters together Wednesday to talk about his vetoes in the state budget. But instead, it was a victory lap for both the Republican governor and the Republican-dominated General Assembly as McMaster spent his time talking about all his priorities that the legislature kept in the spending plan — not the 10 things worth $10,000 he took out of the 2025-26 fiscal year budget. It was a stark reminder after nine years in office how much different McMaster is than his previous Republican predecessors, governors who relished in fighting the General Assembly, then often ripped into them or ignored their ideas on how to spend the state's billions of dollars. 'Back in the old days, nobody was talking to anybody,' McMaster said, repeating his favorite tagline of 'communication, collaboration and cooperation.' McMaster issued 10 vetoes from the state's $14.5 billion spending plan that starts July 1. Just one struck money from the budget — $10,000 for what McMaster said was a duplicative effort to review a state agency. Ten years ago, Gov. Nikki Haley struck 87 items from the $7 billion budget totaling more than $18 million. And in 2005, Gov. Mark Sanford vetoed 163 items worth $96 million from the $5.8 billion spending plan. A year later, an exasperated Sanford vetoed the entire budget and lawmakers quickly overrode him by wide margins. Instead of spending, McMaster's handful of vetoes were on rules like getting rid of a requirement that visitors to the new Pine Island State Park make reservations or striking out of the budget a provision allowing some school districts to use private companies for security. There are so few vetoes that lawmakers don't expect to return to the Statehouse to try to override them. McMaster kept what is effectively an $18,000 per year raise for the General Assembly in the budget. Lawmakers will see their 'in-district compensation' — money set aside for legislative duties that has few limits on how it can be spent — increase from $1,000 a month to $2,500 a month for all 46 senators and 124 House members. The monthly stipend for lawmakers has not been increased in about 30 years. Their in-district compensation would increase from $12,000 a year to $30,000. Lawmakers also get an annual salary of $10,400 that has not changed since 1990. In addition, they get money for meals, mileage to drive to Columbia and hotel rooms while in session. The rest of the spending plan was much less controversial. There are pay raises for teachers, and the state's highest income tax rate will be cut from 6.2% to 6%. There is $200 million to fix bridges, $35 million to pay for cleanup from Hurricane Helene last year and $50 million for a program to let parents use tax money to pay private school tuition that will undergo court scrutiny. About 80% of the more than $14 billion the state will spend next year is what the governor asked for back in January when he suggested a spending plan to lawmakers, a relationship he has carefully cultivated since 2017. 'Many of us are like a family. We go back a long way,' McMaster said. 'You try to understand the other fellow's point of view. sometimes he's right and I'm wrong. sometimes it's the other way. Sometimes we're talking about the same things but using different words.'
Hamilton Spectator
2 days ago
- General
- Hamilton Spectator
Richard Preston was a pioneer researcher in cultural anthropology
Richard Preston was a researcher, chronicler, collaborator and friend of the James Bay Cree. As an anthropologist, Preston — who died Jan. 7 at age 93 — spent six decades, starting in 1963, researching the cultural ways of the Cree people, meeting with Cree elderly, community leaders and youth. A member of the McMaster anthropology department, he wrote more than 100 articles on the Cree and came out with a book in 2002 called 'Cree Narrative.' He was honoured with the Cree name Preston 'She'yuu (Preston Elder). The Ancaster resident was recognized as a pioneer in cultural anthropology by the courts, and his research helped the Cree in negotiations culminating in the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA) in 1975. The agreement, considered the first modern Indigenous treaty in Canada, permitted Quebec to develop the James Bay region with hydroelectric dams but protected the traditional way of life of the Indigenous people. Preston participated in the Cree Way Project that introduced Cree language and cultural traditions into the school curriculum. From 1974-76, he headed up a McMaster project to record history, lore and skills from Cree hunters, develop it into a teaching plan and then co-ordinate it with the standard course of study. There are now more than 500 textbooks printed in Cree syllabics. Preston also advised the Cree during the community consultation in 1977 to relocate the village of Nemaska in northern Quebec, due to flooding from a hydroelectric project. His research wasn't all serious. In 1977, he was the keynote speaker at a Victoria conference on monsters and talked about Witigo, the Sasquatch-like creature that supposedly tramped around the eastern subarctic. 'He's very large, very strong, dirty, hairy and ugly,' he told The Spectator. 'He lives a solitary kind of life in the bush surviving on a diet of warm-blooded creatures, preferably humans.' He got into his vocation by chance. Richard Preston in 1974 when it was announced he would lead a three-year McMaster research project to compile Cree history, folklore and skills and incorporate it all into the Cree school curriculum. 'As an adult, after several brief careers and adventures, I wound up making about 30 trips to James Bay in northwestern Quebec and northeastern Ontario,' he said on his website. 'There, I and (often) my family sojourned in Cree coastal communities where it became my vocation to try and understand what it had been like living the traditional seasonal round in the bush — how life looked like from inside of other people's homes.' Richard Joseph Preston was born May 5, 1931, in the United States to Richard and Alice Preston. His father was a forester who became dean of the School of Forestry at North Carolina State University. He studied at the University of Chicago and the University of North Carolina. He obtained a PhD in cultural anthropology from the latter. He was assistant professor of anthropology at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., between 1965 and 1971. Preston came to McMaster in 1971 to work in its new department of anthropology. He retired in 1996 and served as a professor emeritus. He got his Canadian citizenship in the 1970s. Between 1982 and 1996, Preston headed up a McMaster research project to study the impact of northern Ontario resource development on the subarctic. It focused on hydroelectric projects on five major rivers, which drain into the James and Hudson bays. It also included mining activity and gas pipelines. Preston was active in the local peace community. A Quaker, he was chair of the local Canadian Department of Peace Initiative and a member of Culture of Peace Hamilton. He spoke at the 2012 Hiroshima-Nagasaki Never Again event. He received numerous awards. In 2006, he received the Weaver-Tremblay Award for his contribution to applied anthropology from the Canadian Anthropology Society. He received a World Citizenship Award in 2011 from the city's mundialization committee. Preston is survived by his wife Betty, children Sarah, Alice, Susan, David and Richard, two stepchildren, Dan and Tim, and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his first wife, Sarah, in 1991. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
