Gavin Jackson speaks with Russ McKinney (l) and Andy Brown (r) in the South Carolina Public Radio studios on Monday, February 11, 2019.

Credit A.T. Shire/SC Public Radio

On this episode of South Carolina Lede, host Gavin Jackson is joined by Post and Courier Statehouse Reporter Andy Brown and South Carolina Public Radio's own Statehouse Reporter Russ McKinney to discuss the past and potential future of Santee Cooper, the state-owned utility which partnered with SCE&G on the failed $9 billion V.C. Summer nuclear project.

Once a booming bean-farming community whose fields eventually went bare, Lake City has a new story to tell. In 2013, ArtFields started with a simple goal in mind…to honor the artists of the Southeast with a week’s worth of celebration and competition in the heart of a traditional Southern small town.

January and February gave us the State of the Union address and the State of the State address – important stuff. But, for a Southerner, there are specific, important areas of life in these United States that these addresses didn't cover – areas that we need to check on once in a while. So, in early 2019, what is the State of Southern Cuisine?

Is it still making inroads in the food ways of other sections of the country? Are chain restaurants affecting what people in the South call ‘Southern Food?’ Who is innovating Southern Cuisine while staying true to traditions?

This plant is found throughout South Carolina.

Four-Hour Film Explores the United States’ Emergence from the Civil War and Slavery, and the Era’s Thwarted Vision for an Interracial Democracy That Haunts the Country More Than 150 Years Later 

Made Here is a digital series that explores small businesses in South Carolina.

Shavon's Creations is a craft business based in Sumter, South Carolina. When discussing the products she sells, Shavon Turner, owner of Shavon's Creations, says "Pretty much, if you bring me an idea, I can do it." Her mission for her business is "just to create something someone loves...I just want to create something beautiful for someone."

In his book, Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila (2018, W. W. Norton), Charleston historian and author James M. Scott recounts one of the most heartbreaking chapters of World War II. When Gen. Douglas MacArthur prepared to liberate the capital city of the Phillipines in 1945, he believed that the occupying Japanese forces would retreat. Instead, determined to fight to the death, Japanese marines barricaded intersections, converted buildings into fortresses, and booby-trapped stores, graveyards, and even dead bodies.

Black History Month*

GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET “Marnie” (Friday, February 1, 9:00-11:30 p.m. ET)

Watch composer Nico Muhly’s reimagining of Winston Graham’s novel about a beautiful, mysterious woman who assumes multiple identities. Starring Isabel Leonard in the title role alongside Christopher Maltman as Mark Rutland. Robert Spano conducts.

*INDEPENDENT LENS  “Black Memorabilia” (Monday, February 4, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET)

Dear Viewers and Listeners:

In February, SC Public Radio holds the “No Pledge Drive” Pledge Drive, designed specifically to NOT interrupt your favorite programs. The membership campaign begins February 1, and we are asking our listeners to help us “make it happen” by supporting the programs you depend on and love.

On the corner of Marion and Richland streets in downtown Columbia stands the Mann-Simons site. The Mann-Simons Site was a collection of commercial and domestic spaces owned and operated by the same African American family from at least 1843 until 1970. Only one house stands today, however many ghost structures represent the former buildings that made the site a unique treasure to downtown Columbia.