Understand SC

In the couple weeks leading up to the primary runoff for South Carolina state Sen. Luke Rankin's seat, televisions in the Myrtle Beach area were flooded with political ads — at least $785,000 worth of them, to be exact.
The ads were paid for by three different groups but, beyond those groups' names, not much else is known about them. That's because they're so-called "dark money" organizations that pour huge sums of money into political ads but don't disclose their donors.
For this particular race, which pitted Rankin against a conservative challenger, those groups combined were able to spend more than three times what Rankin raised for his own campaign.
This kind of political spending is becoming increasingly common in the U.S., but the system is particularly bad here in South Carolina because of the state's campaign finance laws.
South Carolina is one of just three states that does not track or police this type of political advertising in any way.
For this week's podcast, we talked with political reporter Jamie Lovegrove and business reporter Andrew Brown who followed the money with the race for Rankin's seat.
They also discussed why this race in particular was targeted, which other S.C. elections have been influenced by dark money and how likely it may be to see legislation that reins in these groups in the near future.

Variations of the same announcement have been coming out a steady clip this month: Restaurants that recently reopened after coronavirus restrictions were lifted said they were closing up shop again.
The reason? Their employees tested positive for COVID-19.
While some Charleston restaurant owners have adopted the unofficial course of action for businesses with a coronavirus case — post a message on social media, close for deep cleaning and reopen — many have said the state should be giving guidance on what to do.
Recently, the state health department did, and Post and Courier food editor Hanna Raskin predicts that guidance will bring the stream of closings to a halt, or at least slow them down dramatically.
In this week's podcast, Raskin discusses what that guidance is and why she thinks local restaurants that identify COVID-19 cases on their staff will likely choose, from now on, to keep operating.
We also discussed an announcement from Charleston's Wine + Food festival that got slammed by activists as being the "easiest stance" possible, how Raskin felt when she dined inside at a restaurant and why she thinks diners should assume while they're eating out that someone could have coronavirus.

Last Saturday, South Carolinians took the streets, joining protesters across the U.S. and world who are — again — calling for the killings to stop.
The protests were sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed at the hands of police in Minneapolis. But they're also the product of a gross lack of change.
That frustration came through over the weekend when thousands gathered for protests in Charleston and Columbia. Every day since, protesters have marched in both cities and in other parts of the state.
We talked with reporters Greg Yee and Sara Coello who cover breaking news and photographer Gavin McIntrye. All three of them have been reporting from these protests.
We asked them what they saw, what protesters have said about why they're in the streets and how the community has reacted to the police's tactics.
McIntyre, who photographed protests in the state's capital over the weekend, described the images of protesters that stuck in his mind. Coello spoke about what she saw during Saturday's march in downtown Charleston, which ended in a very different way than how it began.
And Yee recalled the story of another African American man whose name has been chanted by protesters: Walter Scott, who was shot and killed by a North Charleston police officer in 2015.
We also spoke with 23-year-old Givionne “Gee” Jordan Jr., who was the subject of a now-viral video on social media that showed him being arrested by police in Marion Square during a peaceful act of protest. We've shared the full interview with Jordan, which can be found here.

When rain pummeled Charleston last Wednesday, a team of reporters and photographers fanned out across the region, assessing damage and talking to people as they waded through the floodwaters.
Streets were closed, cars stranded and parking lots turned into ponds.
The next day, The Post and Courier published the first package of Rising Waters, a new effort to cover the serious effects of sea level rise and flooding on people's lives and the region's economy.
To accomplish the project's goals — which include creating a larger public dialogue about actionable solutions — the reporting will be a mix of breaking news coverage and investigative reporting that gets at the immediacy of the issue while delving in the science that explains why it's happening.
The city has a front row view to the real-time impacts of climate change, and those impacts are just coming faster.
Storms are not only more frequent but stronger and harder to predict. Sea level rise in Charleston has gone from rising at a rate of an inch every decade to an inch every two years.
We talked with projects editor Glenn Smith and senior projects reporter Tony Bartelme about this new approach to covering flooding and sea level rise, what readers can expect in the future from Rising Waters and how they can contribute. Listen to find out.

Why did The Post and Courier just send two journalists 5,000 miles away to Africa? For a story about where our worst hurricanes are born. West Africa is a hurricane nursery, the place where Hugo in 1989 was born. And dust blowing off the Sahara often determines whether a hurricane lives or dies.

This bonus episode of Understand SC is a recording of the Post and Courier's latest Beyond the Headlines event. Senior projects reporter Tony Bartelme and photojournalist Andrew Whitaker discuss their trip and interviews with leading West African scientists and more. Moderated by Watchdog & Public Service Editor Glenn Smith.

Read the story at postandcourier.com/SaharaStory

This story was made possible with generous support from the Pulitzer Center.