Palmetto Report

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- Rock Hill offers a number of resources to encourage entrepreneurship in technology, as many people are interested in launching their own startup and becoming their own boss. For example, there is the Technology Incubator at Knowledge Park and the York County Regional Chamber of Commerce, which are both available to help entrepreneurs successfully launch their ideas. “Tech entrepreneurship has definitely grown in our community, being that there are a number of resources we have available for entrepreneurs," said Bernice Huskins, associate vice president of the York County Regional Chamber.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- Winthrop University President Dan Mahony will leave his position, effective March 1, to become president of the Southern Illinois University system, the school announced Dec. 3. There had been speculation about Mahony’s future at Winthrop, after he told faculty during a meeting Nov. 22 that his contract expired in 2020, but he was unable to discuss his negotiations with the Board of Trustees. Anna Sharpe, editor in chief of the Johnsonian student newspaper, was a guest on the Palmetto Report to discuss her reporting on the situation. "Initially I was surprised, but I don't want to say that I didn't see this coming, because I've looked into (his contract status)," said Sharpe.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- Earlier this year, Rock Hill hosted the annual state convention and civil rights conference for the S.C. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for the first time in 25 years. The four day event, Oct. 10-13, was highlighted by a visit from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was given the Flame of Freedom Award in recognition of his 50 years of service and leadership. Dorene Boular, president of the Rock Hill branch of the NAACP, was a guest on the Palmetto Report to discuss the convention. Boular said the event focused on the 2020 election and census and included workshops on election protection, gerrymandering and voter registration.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) — STEM career fields — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — have long had difficulty attracting women, especially women of color. For example, Forbes reported that women held just a quarter of the 5 million tech jobs in 2015 and women of color, especially African-Americans and Hispanics, represented less than 10 percent of those positions, according to the nonprofit Computing Technology Industry Association. Additionally, only 2.9 percent of black women, 3.6 percent of Latinas and 4.8 of Asian women earn STEM degrees in the U.S. This is also an issue at Winthrop University, despite the school’s efforts to promote diversity among its faculty, where there are only two African-American women among the faculty in Arts and Sciences. We spoke with Dr. Takita Sumter, dean of the college and professor of chemistry, about the issue.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) — Students at Winthrop University, and across the country, are beginning to prepare final exams as the fall semester is quickly coming to an end. At Winthrop, exams are scheduled from Dec. 4-10 and the school’s Academic Success Center is available to offer students academic guidance and tutoring as they prepare for finals. “Throughout the semester, as a student you’re doing what you can to make sure you’re understanding the material, asking questions when you aren’t (understanding it), then as it comes closer to exam week it’s more about refreshing the information, than learning it for the first time,” said Jasmine Howze, an academic coach with the Academic Success Center. Howze, who was a guest on the Palmetto Report, said students should study for an hour at a time, rather than trying to cram a semester’s worth of information into a few hours, and take breaks.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- Childhood obesity is a "serious problem" in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including among very young children. According to research published in the journal Pediatrics in 2018, 26 percent of children ages 2 to 5 are overweight and more than 15 percent are obese. Researchers, looking at data from 1999-2016, also found more than 40 percent of 16 to 19-year-olds are obese. “Children born in the year 2000 and since...will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents”, said Elizabeth Weikle, a licensed registered dietitian and adjunct professor of human nutrition at Winthrop University.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- Former elite runner Mary Cain, who trained with Nike’s now disbanded Oregon project from 2013 to 2017, recently made allegations in an op-ed for The New York Times of mental and physical abuse that she experienced during her time at the training group. Cain, 23, said coaches, lead by head coach Alberto Salazar, convinced her that she had to keep losing weight, ridiculed her body and weight in front of her teammates and other athletes at competition and ignored her when she expressed feelings of depression and self-harm. Dr. David Schary, sports psychology professor at Winthrop University and consultant for Winthrop Athletics, appeared on the Palmetto Report to discuss the topic. He said the double standards for men's and women’s bodies in sports are a reflection of the double standards placed on bodies in society.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- Winthrop University is launching a new degree program, which is geared toward adults, including military veterans, who are at least 25 years old and have attained an associate degree or have at least 60 transferable credits. The new bachelor of professional studies program will launch in spring 2020 after it was given the final approval by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). Dr. Scott Amundsen, associate professor and director of the professional studies program, said the program is flexible and affordable, because it includes a special tuition rate that is 30 percent lower than the regular rate.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- Renew Our Community (known as the ROC), a nonprofit homeless shelter in Rock Hill, shut down its operations last month due to a lack of funding. The ROC, which was founded by Dale Dove, opened its doors in 2011 as a center that assisted the homeless and others in York County gain access to shelter, clothing, food, training and spiritual support. Over the years, the number of clients has grown tremendously from 10 a day to 125 a day, according to Iris Smalls-Hubbard, executive director of the ROC. She said the number of homeless living in York County is estimated to be around 500 people.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) — In the last three years, the resale market for clothing has grown at 21 times the pace of the mainstream apparel market, according to research collected by the online thrift store thredUP. This growing market is predicted to reach $51 billion by 2023, in part because of millennials and Generation Z, who have really turned thrifting, which has been around for a long time, into a fashion trend. According to Dr. Jane Thomas, a professor of marketing at Winthrop University, thrifting has become much more socially acceptable than it was 30 years ago. “Today it’s something people, a consumer, would brag about and say ‘I got this at a thrift store and let me tell you about the great bargain I got,’” said Thomas, who was a guest on the Palmetto Report to discuss the trend.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) — Winthrop University provides many opportunities for its students, including the chance to get published in the school’s literary magazine. The Anthology, housed in Winthrop’s office of student publications, is published once per year and focuses on literature, photography, design, art and poetry. The publication has been the university’s literary magazine for about 100 years, according to its website, and since the 1990s, The Anthology has also featured visual art. The Palmetto Report's Matt Thrift spoke with the people behind the magazine, including editor-in-chief Téa Franco and faculty adviser Jason Tselentis, to get a look at how the publication is put together.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- South Carolina will soon play a key role in the 2020 presidential election, as the state will host the "first in the South" primary Feb. 29. As a result, a number of Democratic candidates have been traveling to the state to campaign and reach out to voters. Most recently, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren made stops in Rock Hill. Additionally, Sanders, in September, and California Sen. Kamala Harris, earlier this year, visited the Winthrop University campus for campaign events. "Nationally, I think the 20-some candidate Democratic field is going to narrow. Not everybody is going to be able to raise enough money to get to stay in the race, to run the advertising and the things they need to do," said Dr. John Holder, an adjunct professor of political science at Winthrop. Holder, who is teaching a class this semester on the presidency, was a guest on the Palmetto Report to discuss South Carolina's role in the presidential race.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- Academic advising for the spring 2020 semester has begun at Winthrop University and with that comes many questions and concerns for students at every level of the school. Dr. Adria Belk, director of student services for the College of Arts and Sciences, spoke with the Palmetto Report to discuss advising and preparation for graduation. Belk says students should be prepared when going into an advising session. “Advisors are definitely there for guidance, but I always recommend students look up course offerings and see what they can take and try to put a schedule together themselves," said Belk. "Also look at Degree Works and see what requirements they need to meet.”

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- A South Carolina lawmaker plans to file a bill later this year that would ban discrimination based on wearing hair in a natural style, which could included curls, dreadlocks, twists or braids. Rep. Kambrell Garvin (D-Richland) will file the "CROWN Act" (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair) to ban discrimination of facial features, hair textures, hair types, hairstyles and protective hairstyles. The bill is similar to laws that were passed earlier this year in California and New York, which prohibit race-based hair discrimination, and a number of other states have proposed similar legislation. “My definition of natural hair is hair that has not been altered, it operates in its natural state in a sense that hasn’t had any chemical sort of application,” said Jennifer Dixon-McKnight, an assistant professor at Winthrop University. Dixon-McKnight, who teaches a course called Black Women in America, was a guest on the Palmetto Report to discuss the topic.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- The Charlotte Area Paranormal Society (CAPS) has been investigating unexplained activity across the Carolinas since 2005. The non-profit group’s goal, according to its website, is to document and prove the validity of haunted places through research and investigations. In the spirit of Halloween, the Palmetto Report spoke with Tina McSwain, founder and executive director of CAPS, about hauntings, some the group's investigations and her favorite ghost stories. "I wanted a more scientific approach to the study of paranormal activity, so I formed CAPS," said McSwain. The group uses digital voice recorders, thermal imaging cameras and electromagnetic field detectors to document and search for evidence of the paranormal. "We believe ghosts are actually energy, so if you're looking for energy, then you would see that," she said, of the thermal images the cameras can produce.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- The Charlotte Area Paranormal Society (CAPS) has been investigating unexplained activity across the Carolinas since 2005. The non-profit group’s goal, according to its website, is to document and prove the validity of haunted places through research and investigations. In the spirit of Halloween, the Palmetto Report spoke with Tina McSwain, founder and executive director of CAPS, about hauntings, some the group's investigations and her favorite ghost stories. "I wanted a more scientific approach to the study of paranormal activity, so I formed CAPS," said McSwain. The group uses digital voice recorders, thermal imaging cameras and electromagnetic field detectors to document and search for evidence of the paranormal. "We believe ghosts are actually energy, so if you're looking for energy, then you would see that," she said, of the thermal images the cameras can produce.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and South Carolina is now ranked the fifth deadliest state in the nation for women who are killed by men. According to the Washington, D.C. based Violence Policy Center, there were 52 women killed by men in the state in 2017, which was a rate of 2.01 women per 100,000 thousand men, based on an analysis of homicide data. South Carolina has been in the top ten for women murdered by men for the past 20 years. Myesha Belcher, volunteer coordinator for Safe Passage in Rock Hill, was a guest on the Palmetto Report to discuss the issue. “The causes for domestic violence are power and control; that’s the two main things that people want when they are abusers,” said Belcher. Safe passage offers support to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse in York, Chester, Lancaster and Union Counties.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- Democrats in Washington are calling for President Donald Trump's impeachment after a whistleblower’s complaint that Trump pressured the president of the Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a potential rival in the 2020 election. Considering this is such a rare occurrence the Palmetto Report explored the topic of impeachment with Dr. John Holder, an adjunct professor of political science at Winthrop University who is teaching a class this semester on the presidency. Holder spent 10 years in Washington working for three members of the South Carolina congressional delegation and he is the former secretary of the York County Democratic Party. Only two American presidents, Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, have been impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives, but both were acquitted in the Senate, which requires a two-thirds vote for removal from office. Richard Nixon resigned before a vote on impeachment was taken, thus, no president has been removed from office by impe

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- Student loan debt, at about $1.5 trillion, is now the second-largest debt market in the U.S. behind home mortgages, with the average student carrying more than $33,000 in student loans upon graduation. Additionally, a national survey of more than 18,000 undergraduate students at 52 colleges and universities, conducted by Ohio State University, found 70 percent reported feeling stressed about their personal finances. Earlier this year, the U.S. Financial Literacy and Education Commission, part of the U.S. Department of Treasury, issued a report that recommended that colleges and universities start to require financial literacy courses. Dr. Jimmy Cheng, an assistant professor of finance at Winthrop University who who specializes in financial planning, was a guest on the Palmetto Report to discuss the struggles students face managing money.

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- The use of big data -- including information from maps, spreadsheets and large databases -- is becoming more important in the field of journalism. That was the message Gavin Off, data reporter at the Charlotte Observer, gave to students during a presentation last month at Winthrop University. "We're still journalists, we're still reporters, but we want to ask the data questions, to pull out information, to write better stories," said Off, who was a guest on the Palmetto Report. The Guardian's reporting on NSA files leaked by Edward Snowdon, Bloomberg's story on the deadliest jobs in America and the San Francisco Chronicle's examination of the effect of Airbnb on the city's housing market are often cited as some of the best examples of data journalism.