A depressing distinction

FBI statistics released recently listed South Carolina as the state with the highest rate of violent crime in 2007, the second straight year that depressing distinction has fallen to us. At least we're still ahead of the District of Columbia.

There is no single or easy solution to this persisting problem. The efforts of lawenforcement officials and political leaders to lower that rate, and that ranking, can't succeed without the public's cooperation.

Our state's rate of violent crimes (788 per 100,000 people) last year was nearly 69 percent higher than the U.S. rate (467 per 100,000 people), according to those FBI figures. Experts caution against using such numbers for comparison purposes, citing the differing methods in how they're compiled in each community. ...

The extraordinary level of violence that is reflected in the statistics should be an affront to every South Carolinian. It's not only a crime problem but a challenge to the state's quality of life, and to the expectation of residents to live securely within their homes and communities.

The (Charleston) Post and Courier

A long time coming

Students, teachers, parents, school administrators: Take a moment to applaud your accomplishments on this year's PACT — across-the-board gains, a remarkable thing for what is actually 24 separate tests, as well as a slight improvement on that nagging achievement gap that reflects public education's greatest black eye.

It's been a long time coming — an unequivocally positive showing, with improvements in every grade, in every subject — after years of mixed results and even occasional downward blips, on this important test as well as other meaningful and some not-so-meaningful (but more closely watched) measures. ...

But one year's results do not a trend make. ...

Largely because of our poverty, but also because of our state's historic aversion to educating all children and the resultant low value that too many parents still place on education, we've got a lot more work to do than most states. That's not fair, but that's true of much of life. Successful people don't let that stop them, and we mustn't let the steeper climb become an excuse to give up. Instead, let's use these encouraging PACT scores as that shot of motivation we've been needing to press ahead. Our kids can learn. Our schools can teach them. As long as we don't give up trying.

The (Columbia) State

No smoking

A recent state Supreme Court ruling snuffed out a second attempt to get rid of local indoor smoking bans.

Just as it did in March, the state's high court ruled that local governments could enact ordinances limiting workplace smoking. ...

Everyone needs to move now on the housekeeping necessary to get these ordinances in compliance with the Supreme Court rulings. We don't need laws on the books that are legally vulnerable.

And no one should get too complacent that these local laws are secure despite two Supreme Court rulings. State lawmakers are perfectly capable of pre-empting local ordinances with an explicit prohibition in state law.

In response to local smoking bans enacted over the past two years, lawmakers have introduced bills that put some restrictions on smoking in some public places. But they included the proviso that local governments couldn't pass laws more restrictive than the state's. That was a preemptive move pushed by the tobacco and hospitality industries, who say they need uniformity.

Our local ordinances are wider in scope, protecting people in most workplaces, and should remain in place. We should make sure lawmakers understand that.

The (Hilton Head) Island Packet