Beaufort County advances $780M roads tax referendum

David Stumbo, a solicitor running for South Carolina attorney general, said Wednesday he would push for legislation to expand the office’s authority to investigate Medicaid fraud.

Stumbo, who faces Sen. Stephen Goldfinch and Solicitor David Pascoe in the June 9 Republican primary, said at a Statehouse news conference that South Carolina should strengthen oversight before becoming “the next national scandal when it comes to abuse of Medicaid dollars.”

South Carolina was part of a national investigation that led last year to charges against 11 people accused of defrauding taxpayer-funded health care programs in the state by more than $23 million.

The attorney general’s office already has two Medicaid fraud units, one for recipients and one for providers. The recipient unit has five investigators and two attorneys and works with the state Department of Health and Human Services, according to agency spokesman Robert Kittle. Kittle said the office recovered more than $535,000 in improper payments in 2025 and had 254 investigations pending at year’s end.

He backed a bill the Senate passed unanimously April 15 that would have expanded the office’s power to request information and increased penalties based on the amount improperly received. The House did not take up the bill before the session ended. Sen. Billy Garrett, the bill’s sponsor and a Stumbo supporter, said he plans to reintroduce it for the 2027 session.

Stumbo also cited LexisNexis data he said suggested thousands of ineligible people may have received Medicaid benefits. But the state Medicaid agency said that conclusion overstated the problem.

LexisNexis reported that 9,316 people in a Medicaid program for older adults or people with disabilities appeared to have assets above eligibility limits. Stumbo estimated that meant at least $147 million was improperly paid.

“This is not accurate,” Medicaid agency Director Eunice Medina wrote in a June letter to Garrett. Agency spokeswoman Jackson Wilkens Burnaugh said most flagged applicants were denied, about 1,700 were later found eligible, and nearly 600 were removed from the rolls. Medina said LexisNexis did not know whether cases were new applications or periodic reviews, or whether applicants filed individually or as couples.

The Greenhouse, a new restaurant at 1260 May River Road in Old Town Bluffton, has opened with breakfast, lunch, and dinner service, along with a second-floor speakeasy with separate bar and food menus.

The restaurant was co-founded by sisters Jennifer and Melissa Perri. On its website, they describe The Greenhouse as their “love letter to Bluffton.”

The Greenhouse describes its cuisine as new American, with Lowcountry-inspired dishes. Menus include items such as trout, crab, steak, burgers, salads, a clam dish, Korean-style fried chicken, crab dip, cake, cheesecake, chocolate mousse, and ice cream.

Brunch options include chicken and waffles, French toast, steak and eggs, and a burger topped with egg, bacon, and glazed onion. The speakeasy menu overlaps with the dinner menu but includes some items not served downstairs, such as lobster toast.

The first-floor bar and upstairs speakeasy each offer cocktails. The speakeasy’s cocktails are not available at the downstairs bar.

On OpenTable, The Greenhouse has a 4.1-star average rating. Reviewers gave ambience its highest score, 4.5, and value its lowest, 3.9.

Reviews were generally positive, with customers frequently praising the decor and service. Some said the restaurant could become noisy at dinner, and several suggested adding more menu options. Speakeasy visitors also responded positively to the cocktail selection.

The restaurant and downstairs bar accept walk-ins. The speakeasy requires a reservation.

The Greenhouse is open every day except Tuesday and Wednesday. Hours vary by day and are listed on the restaurant’s website. Additional updates are available on its Facebook page.

Two men died after a fatal shooting in Cayce and a later vehicle chase in Lexington County, according to the Lexington County Coroner’s Office and sheriff’s department.

At about 4:30 a.m. May 23, Zaquan Payden Glover, 21, of West Columbia, was shot several times in the upper body at a home in the 1500 block of Granby Road, Coroner Margaret Fisher said in a Wednesday news release. He died at the scene.

Lexington County deputies became involved Saturday after they saw a vehicle reported to be associated with the Cayce homicide, the sheriff’s department said.

Deputies tried to stop the vehicle, but the driver, later identified as Aaron Franklin Aycock, 26, of Lexington, did not pull over and led deputies on a pursuit along U.S. 321, according to the sheriff’s department.

A deputy used a precision immobilization technique, or PIT maneuver, near the State Farmers Market, the sheriff’s department said. After the vehicle stopped, Aycock fired shots, and one caused a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the sheriff’s department.

Aycock was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound to the head and died May 24, the coroner’s office said. An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

No other injuries were reported.

The sheriff’s department did not say whether any deputies fired their weapons.

The South Carolina Highway Patrol is investigating the pursuit, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating the shooting that followed, the sheriff’s department said.

Beaufort County Council gave preliminary, unanimous approval Tuesday to a November referendum that would ask voters to approve a 1% sales tax for transportation projects.

Council must vote two more times to finalize the question. If approved, residents will vote Nov. 3 on whether to raise $780 million for road and intersection improvements across the county.

The tax would be collected for nine years. Council rejected an earlier eight-year proposal because it would have applied to unprepared food, including grocery items, and raised the money more quickly.

Councilman Logan Cunningham of Bluffton said excluding unprepared food would shift more of the tax burden to visitors who dine out. “We should be letting our tourists fund as much as possible,” Cunningham said. He said tourists would pay 45% to 50% of the cost under the current plan, up from about 30% if unprepared food were taxed.

A committee with representatives from north and south of the Broad River recommended funding for 66 projects, including highway widening, roundabouts, resurfacing, dirt road paving, and intersection safety work.

Examples include $39.7 million for safety improvements at Spanish Wells Road and William Hilton Parkway on Hilton Head Island, $42.1 million for resurfacing and dirt road paving along Robert Smalls Parkway in Beaufort and Port Royal, $59.3 million for Trask Parkway in Beaufort, $27.1 million for Fording Island Road on Hilton Head Island, and $21.3 million for William Hilton Parkway on Hilton Head Island.

The ordinance would also allow the county to issue bonds, but bond proceeds would count toward, not add to, the $780 million total. Passiment said that point would need to be clear to voters.

Assistant County Administrator Jared Fralix said issuing bonds would give the county upfront money for larger projects before sales tax revenue accumulated. He said the county would likely need to issue about half of the $780 million in bonds.

The proposal drew criticism tied to the county’s 2018 transportation referendum, which raised $120 million. Ann Ubelis, chairwoman of the Beaufort Tea Party, told council that about 20 projects from that referendum were still unfinished. She said carrying those projects into a new referendum would be “double-dipping.”

Ubelis said she supported the tax but not the $780 million amount, and said the program needed stronger controls.

In 2022, voters approved a separate $100 million, 1% sales tax referendum for land preservation. Retailers stopped collecting that tax in 2025.