Maersk Ship Loses 750 Containers Overboard in Pacific Ocean (Source The Wall Street Journal)

A cargo ship operated by A.P. Moller-Maersk as lost several hundred containers in the Pacific Ocean while sailing through heavy seas from China to Los Angeles, the latest in a spate of incidents in which boxes carrying millions of dollars’ worth of goods have gone overboard. The company said the Maersk Essen, which has capacity for more than 13,000 containers, lost an estimated 750 of them on January 16 about halfway through its trans-Pacific sailing from China’s Port of Xiamen. “All crew members are safe and a detailed cargo assessment is ongoing while the vessel continues on her journey,” Maersk said in a statement on Thursday. “The U.S. Coast Guard, flag state and relevant authorities have been notified. We view this as a very serious situation which will be investigated promptly and thoroughly.” A.P. Moller-Maersk is based in Copenhagen and the ship carries a Danish flag.

Data on COVID in Charleston County schools stuns doctor who crunched the numbers

(Source MUSC)

Despite widespread concern that a return to in-person public school would drive a surge in COVID-19 cases in Charleston County, South Carolina, the data tells a very different story. Allison Eckard, an infectious disease pediatrician at MUSC Children’s Health who is working with the school district on pandemic prevention measures, was shocked.

“I really was just not in favor of this initially. And now I am a believer. Kids need to be in school, and it’s safe.” Her research found that only about 1% of the students and staff in Charleston County Public Schools tested positive for COVID-19 between the start of in-person school on Sept. 8 and winter break, which began Dec. 18. That added up to about 500 total cases out of about 38,000 students and staff. The data does not include charter schools, which were not part of this assessment because they can have different rules than traditional public schools. Thanks to contact tracing by a team of school nurses trained by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Historic Mosquito Beach in Charleston, SC

(Source CHS Today) Recently, Charleston native Bill “Cubby” Wilder and his quest to renovate the Pine Tree Hotel have made headlines. Located on a small strip of land off of Sol Legare Road known as Mosquito Beach, his family’s hotel – which is no longer functioning – has been granted about $500,000 by the National Parks Service’s African American Civil Rights Program to be renovated and preserved. A couple hundred years before the Pine Tree Hotel was built on a street bustling with dancers, diners, shoppers and tourists from up and down the South Carolina coast, the plot of land now known as Mosquito Beach was home to Solomon Legare’s Savannah Plantation.  

After the Civil War, the plantation was sold to several Black farmers who divided the land to harvest produce such as okra, watermelon and green beans. As the years passed, interest in the location grew, and before too long, Sol Legare Road hosted several businesses including the Pine Tree Hotel. In the 1950s and 60s, the area was known as a safe haven from legal racial segregation also known as  Jim Crow Laws. Here, Black people from all over the Lowcountry could spend weekends or holidays boating and fishing, eating out, dancing to live music and simply enjoying the company of friends and family.

As segregation regulations became stricter in surrounding cities, this hidden gem on James Island continued to provide South Carolina’s Black residents with a respite from the injustice so common in other social settings. However, once the Civil Rights Act of 1964 went into effect, Mosquito Beach very quickly declined in popularity. With the spacious beaches on Sullivan’s and Folly now open to all, many began to forego their visits to Mosquito Beach and make trips to the more commercialized getaways instead. Slowly but surely, hurricanes, loss of revenue and widespread disinterest stripped the area of its once-beloved stores, restaurants and dance clubs. Today, not much remains of Mosquito Beach, but Bill Wilder plans to change that.

The Most Sought-After Places to Move to in the U.S.

(Source purewow.com) Baby Boomers are heading to South Carolina when they retire; according to a study. It has a lower cost of living than most states, and the state also boasts low property taxes and median home values that are much lower than the national average (as in, roughly $60,000 lower, Zillow reports). It doesn’t hurt that you’re never more than a few hours from the beach or the mountains either.

Trillions of Brood 10 Cicadas to Emerge in U.S. After 17 Years Underground (Source newsweek.com)

Trillions of cicadas are set to emerge across 15 U.S. states this spring, as a colony of insects known as Brood 10 awakens from a 17-year-long hibernation. Although often called locusts, they are not synonymous. Locusts are short-horned grasshoppers. Cicadas are an entirely different, plant-sucking creature. The Bugs are expected to appear for the first time since 2004 in Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Having spent almost two decades underground in their immature “nymph” state eating tree root sap, the bugs will crawl out in mid-May to late June when soil hits 64 degrees Fahrenheit—likely after a sprinkling of warm rain. Once above ground, the insects will set about mating, the noise of which can hit 100 decibels, and lay their eggs before dying.

Medical marijuana bill gains support from S.C. medical professionals(Source wistv.com)

For years, some state lawmakers have pushed to legalize medical marijuana in South Carolina.

Now medical professionals in our area and across the state are voicing their support for the legislation known as the Compassionate Care Act with hopes 2021 is the year the bill passes. “I think we’re going to have bipartisan support on this,” Representative Bill Herbkersman, one of the sponsors of the bill, said. The Compassion Care Act would allow physicians to prescribe medical marijuana to patients with debilitating medical conditions like diabetes, cancer and PTSD. Herbkersman hosted a virtual news conference on Tuesday put on by the SC Compassionate Care Alliance, which featured several medical professionals advocating for a treatment they say would help a lot of people live happier and healthier lives. One of the speakers was Surfside Beach pharmacist Daniel Bundrick. Bundrick, who’s a big proponent of the bill, shut down his Surfside Beach Pharmacy to open High Tide Dispensary selling CBD products. Bundrick said, at first, he wasn’t on board with legalizing medical marijuana until he tried CBD to help with constant, throbbing pain in his leg. Fifteen minutes after taking it, he said the pain he had endured for decades stopped.

Trump hires South Carolina lawyer Bowers for impeachment defense (Source Reuters)

Former President Donald Trump has hired South Carolina-based lawyer Butch Bowers to represent him in his Senate impeachment trial over a charge that he incited insurrection, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Bowers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While relatively unknown on the national stage, Bowers has represented former Republican governors in South Carolina and served in the U.S. Justice Department under Republican former President George W. Bush, according to his website. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Trump ally, recommended Bowers, the source said.

Russia’s Air Force Is Soaring Into the Future

(Source thetrumpet.com)

Seventy-five percent of the Russian Air Force’s fixed-wing combat aircraft are new or modernized. Gone are the days of poor communications and faulty iff systems. Now, the bulk of the forces support modern weapons, sophisticated digital flight computers and self-protection jammers. What’s more, while the single-role Soviet-era aircraft were predominantly one-trick ponies, individual modern fighters are suited to a wide range of operations. Thus, Russia has made a concerted effort to address the deficiencies from the past. But it is also preparing for the future. At the end of 2020, Russian news agency tass reported that the Southern Military District received the first batch of the multi-role, fifth generation Su-57 fighter jet. It is slated to received four more before this year is out. Uniquely suited to destroying air-to-surface targets, the Su-57 is equipped with supersonic cruising speed, intra-fuselage weapons and radar absorbing coating. These jets are faster and more maneuverable than the United States-made F-35 stealth jet. Russia is also resurrecting its three Cold War-era strategic bombers. Not only will the modernized versions possess nuclear capabilities, but they will also be able to fire stealthier, longer-range cruise missiles for distant targets, while being outfitted with more advanced electronics. 

Russia’s Air Force Is Soaring Into the Future

(Source thetrumpet.com)

Seventy-five percent of the Russian Air Force’s fixed-wing combat aircraft are new or modernized. Gone are the days of poor communications and faulty iff systems. Now, the bulk of the forces support modern weapons, sophisticated digital flight computers and self-protection jammers. What’s more, while the single-role Soviet-era aircraft were predominantly one-trick ponies, individual modern fighters are suited to a wide range of operations. Thus, Russia has made a concerted effort to address the deficiencies from the past. But it is also preparing for the future. At the end of 2020, Russian news agency tass reported that the Southern Military District received the first batch of the multi-role, fifth generation Su-57 fighter jet. It is slated to received four more before this year is out. Uniquely suited to destroying air-to-surface targets, the Su-57 is equipped with supersonic cruising speed, intra-fuselage weapons and radar absorbing coating. These jets are faster and more maneuverable than the United States-made F-35 stealth jet. Russia is also resurrecting its three Cold War-era strategic bombers. Not only will the modernized versions possess nuclear capabilities, but they will also be able to fire stealthier, longer-range cruise missiles for distant targets, while being outfitted with more advanced electronics. 

WHO team arrives in Wuhan as China reports first Covid-19 death since May (Source france24.com)

A team of experts from the World Health Organization arrived in Wuhan on Thursday to start a highly politicised probe into the origins of the coronavirus, as China reported its first death from Covid-19 in eight months. The 10 scientists, who must complete a two-week quarantine in Wuhan before starting their work, arrived for their much-delayed mission to examine the origins of the pandemic. The virus was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 and has since billowed out across the world killing nearly two million people so far, infecting tens of millions and eviscerating the global economy. State broadcaster CGTN showed the plane carrying the team arrive from Singapore to be met by Chinese officials in full hazmat suits. Their trip comes as more than 20 million people are under lockdown in the north of China and one province has declared an emergency, with Covid-19 numbers climbing after several months of being relatively static. China had largely brought the pandemic under control through strict lockdowns and mass testing, hailing its economic rebound as an indication of strong leadership by the Communist authorities. But another 138 infections were reported by the National Health Commission on Thursday—the highest single-day tally since March last year.