CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The Charleston County School District voted Monday night to move forward with its new policy plans after the abolishment of the county’s constituent boards.

Last month, Charleston County School District leaders announced that they were establishing a path forward after Gov. Henry McMaster signed a decision into law effectively ending constituent boards in Charleston County. The law goes into effect July 1.

A topic of concern from a few of the board members was surrounding how disciplinary hearings will be handled. Instead of a constituent board, there’s an Office of Investigations and Compliance that will help manage those.

Disciplinary hearings would first go to a hearing panel made up of three members. One of them would be a community member. After this step, if a parent is unhappy with the decision, they can appeal to the CCSD Office of Investigations and Compliance. This is in place of the former constituent board. Huggins says they will do a review of the student’s record and render their decision. If there is still parental concern, a parent can then appeal to the board of trustees.

“We are hopeful that this new process will be responsive to the needs of our community and our parents and students,” Superintendent Anita Huggins said.

Board member Dr. Carol Tempel expressed concern over the new format. She said during the meeting that having an appeal go to the Office of Investigations and Compliance makes the process too long.

“Having experience working with parents and students, it can be traumatic,” Tempel said. “What I’m concerned about is if there’s a reason why a parent wants to appeal it, now they have to go through this office of investigations and compliance, which is another layer of appeal, can be traumatic.”

She called to remove the office of investigations and compliance.

Board Chair Keith Grybowski acknowledged her concerns but reiterated that these were structural rewrites to show a lawful functioning frame for when the law changes. He said the goal was to adopt the new policies and that they can take concerns into consideration later.

Other board members called for these changes to be detailed out for parents for increased transparency.

Huggins said she agreed with that idea.

She said they plan to recognize the former CCSD constituent board members at their June 23 meeting.

“We really honor and value the years of dedication many of our constituent members have given and we hope to celebrate that at our next board meeting and we hope the community will be there to celebrate with us,” Huggins said.

At that June 23 meeting, the new policies will also move to first reading by the board of trustees.

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. —

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has charged two men after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at a "cartel-run" nightclub resulted in the arrests of more than 70 people.

In the early morning hours of June 1, ICE raided a nightclub run by a suspected member of the Los Zetas cartel during an operation in Summerville, South Carolina.

Los Zetas, now formally recognized as Cártel del Noreste (CDN) was formally designated a terrorist organization by the Trump administration in February 2025.

Before the operation, ICE received a tip that "El Alamo VIP", an underground illegal nightclub, was the location of weapons, narcotics, and human trafficking.

The operation led to the arrests of 72 people, including some with serious prior offenses, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Authorities said six juveniles were also recovered and turned over to state social services for protection and care.

One of the most high-profile arrests during the raid was Sergio Joel Galo-Baca. HSI said Galo-Baca is a foreign fugitive with an active Interpol Red Notice for homicide in Honduras.

During the raid, authorities encountered 44-year-old Terone Lavince Lawson, who was a security guard for the nightclub.

SLED said Lawson was observed selling drugs while he was under surveillance.

Authorities found the following inside Lawson's vehicle:

According to SLED, Lawson had been previously convicted of second-degree burglary (violent) in 2008 and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature in 2003, which bars him from owning a firearm.

On June 5, SLED charged Lawson with the following:

Lawson was booked into the Charleston County Detention Center under a $110,000 bond.

On June 1, SLED charged 59-year-old Benjamin Reyna Flores-Rosales with the following:

Authorities did not state what Flores' role was at the nightclub.

Flores is being held in the Charleston County Detention Center under an ICE detainer.

According to SLED, both arrests are part of an active investigation involving allegations of human trafficking, narcotics, and other crimes at El Alamo VIP.

SLED worked in partnership with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office.

The case will be prosecuted by the 9th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.

Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, "Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, fugitives and law breakers are on notice: Leave now or ICE will find you and deport you."

CHARLESTON — A transformative plan to replace most low-income public housing on the peninsula with thousands of mixed-income apartments has grown to include the Gadsden Green complex.

It's the largest Charleston Housing Authority site on the peninsula. Along with two other complexes, the buildings slated for demolition cover 39.9 downtown acres.

That's nearly two-thirds the size of the Union Pier site on the Charleston Harbor, a property the State Ports Authority is selling for $250 million to launch as a private redevelopment.

The value of CHA's land and the demand for rental housing are key aspects of the plan. A single acre of land on the peninsula can sell for millions of dollars, so the authority's ownership of nearly 40 acres helps make the finances work.

The goal is to replace about 500 low-income apartments — some built nearly a century ago — with much more rental housing for people of all incomes. There would be at least as many low-income apartments, and possibly 2,000 additional rentals at "workforce" or market-rate rents, along with retail space.

The housing authority has been assuring tenants they will not be displaced but will become residents of far superior housing in the same location when it's all done.

The developer's strategy calls for constructing new apartment buildings near the existing public housing, so that tenants could live in the same neighborhood while the housing is being redeveloped.

"There is all that fear in Charleston that you’re going to tear down affordable housing and give (the property) to the rich," said Arthur Milligan, Jr., president and CEO of the authority. “After a while people see how it’s going to happen, that no one is going to be put out.”

Part of a national trend

The CHA plan is a type of public housing redevelopment the federal government has encouraged for years under the Rental Assistance Demonstration initiative. It's aimed at reducing the clustering of low-income tenants in government-owned buildings.

Instead, low-income tenants with federal housing vouchers would share buildings with unsubsidized renters living in similar apartments. Those vouchers would be tied to the buildings, so apartments for low-income renters would remain as tenants change.

The housing authority would provide the land by leasing it to the developer, but would continue to own it.

Redevelopment plans were previously reported for the Cooper River Courts and Meeting Street Manor housing projects on the East Side of the upper peninsula. Together they would become a $401 million redevelopment dubbed Morrison Station, financed by developer Integral Properties.

Gadsden Green has as many low-income apartments as Cooper River Courts and Meeting Street Manor combined, and it is located near the Ashley River and the city-affiliated WestEdge development. The housing authority sought redevelopment partners for Gadsden Green about two years after the other two complexes.

The developer's track record

Integral was a pioneer in early public housing redevelopments of the kind that's envisioned, as one of the developers that in the 1990s turned two public housing projects in Atlanta into what is now Centennial Place. It was the first such development under the federal housing agency's Hope VI program, which preceded the RAD program.

"Centennial Place is much more than a rental housing development: It is a new neighborhood, including play lots, a pool, recreational facilities and a new school that grew from a master planning process based on elements needed in a healthy, competitive neighborhood," the Brookings Institution wrote in a 2016 report. "Centennial Place Elementary School is one of the most desirable in Atlanta."

Crime rates "plummeted by 93 percent" over 10 years and private investment poured into the surrounding area, the report said.

Atlanta-based Integral employed Milligan in the 2000s when he ran property management for the company. Integral won the CHA contracts for redeveloping the authority's Cooper River Courts and Meeting Street Manor properties, and is negotiating a contract for Gadsden Green.

The redevelopment of Cooper River Courts and most of Meeting Street Manor would be financed by Integral, and CHA would make millions by leasing the land, which the authority would continue to own. The Gadsden Green redevelopment is in the planning stages.

"Eventually, the transformation will replace all existing public housing units one-for–one and add new, affordable and attainable housing options for working families, seniors, and individuals," an Integral description of the Gadsden Green plan said. "The redevelopment will also improve public spaces, address flooding concerns, and bring new services that support residents’ well-being and economic opportunities."

"I hope I live to see it"

At an April meeting for Cooper River Courts and Meeting Street Manor residents held at Greater Middleton AME Church on the East Side, Integral's senior development executive Jordan Jones mentioned several times that one of his ancestors was involved in developing those housing projects nearly 100 years ago.

The new housing that's planned will be far better, he said.

“Hopefully you all agree these will be nice, nice units — nicer than the ones my great-great-grandfather built in the 1930s," Jones told the mostly-female audience of public housing residents. “We’re talking about granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and 9-foot ceilings."

It was the eighth meeting held with residents about the redevelopment. Some of their questions at the church illustrated the current housing conditions.

One asked if the new apartments would have more than one electric outlet in each room. Another asked if there would be washers and dryers because current residents use courtyard clothes lines. And another asked if the kitchens would have full-sized appliances, unlike the undersized stoves they have now.

Yes, yes, and yes, said Jones.

"I hope I live to see it," said Betty Scott, a 73-year-old Meeting Street Manor resident.

Jones said the earliest construction work could get under way would be late 2027, and he called that an ambitious goal.

The plan calls for replacing the existing 286 public housing apartments at those two complexes with 1,116 apartments, some of them in high-rises along Morrison Drive and others in neighborhood-scale buildings.

For decades, the United States has funneled more money into research and development than any other country in the world. In 2023, this accounted for 37% of the world's scientific funding, creating a promising outlook for those pursuing a science-based career. In February 2025, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected an impressive 12.8% growth in science-related jobs by 2033.

However, that may have been overly optimistic: The Trump administration made significant cuts to staffing and grant funding in early 2025, which have created an enormous amount of job uncertainty in the sciences. And 2026 may not be any better, as the White House-proposed budget aims to cut funding for the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation by 40% and 55%, respectively.

These cuts have shut down numerous research programs, creating more competition for the scientific jobs that do remain. That's a big part of the reason that new openings are drying up—in the first part of 2025, job postings were down 18%. Some researchers are even leaving the U.S., drawn to promises of academic freedom in places like Canada, Australia, and Europe.

The situation may seem dire, but it's important to note that recent events don't mean the end of scientific careers in the U.S. Many good jobs still exist, both in the public and private sectors. Of course, jobs in the sciences do require advanced education. While physicists, biochemists, and other medical scientists need to have a doctorate, other popular career fields don't require quite as much. An associate's degree is suitable for many technician roles. Other sectors, like food science, meteorology, environmental science, geology, and zoology, look for bachelor's degrees, and epidemiologists typically need a master's degree.

Think you have what it takes for a challenging and lucrative career in the sciences? Stacker used BLS data to find the highest-paying science jobs in Charleston. Jobs are ranked by their median annual pay as of May 2024, so any jobs without annual compensation figures available were excluded from this analysis.

For the second time in a matter of months, Saga Communications Charleston SC is mourning the sudden loss of a morning personality as “Kickin Country 92.5” WCKN morning host TJ Phillips passed away on Sunday at the age of 66.

Phillips had co-hosted mornings at WCKN with Jessica Chandler since November 2016 marking a return to the market after he previously served as Program Director and morning host at iHeartMedia’s 103.5 WEZL over a pair of stints from 1991 to 1998 before returning from 2001 to 2016. During his earlier tenure he also served as Operations Manager for the cluster that at the time included 100.5 WALC, 102.5 WXLY, and 104.5 WRFQ. Phillips also was OM/PD/morning host for Rock WQUT Johnson City TN and General Manager for Roberts Radio in Colorado and New Mexico.

The company notes, “While the word “legend” may be overused today, it does describe TJ Phillips. In addition to being inducted into the Lowcountry Music Hall of Fame for his support of the local music community, Phillips was voted Best Radio Personality by The Charleston City Paper and Mount Pleasant Magazine, Best Local Radio Show, and South Carolina Broadcasters Radio Show of the Year. Plus, he was a 16-time Addy Award winner in the area of Audio/Feature/Commercial production & Copywriting.”

Saga’s Charleston Media Solutions President Paul O’Malley said, “TJ Phillips was more than a morning DJ. He was an immensely talented broadcaster, but also a veteran who proudly served his country, a man who constantly tried to make the lives of others better, and a friend who will be greatly missed.”

Saga Charleston lost Hot AC “Mix 95.9” WMXZ PD/morning host Mike Edwards in December.