The Friday 5

Here are this week’s Friday 5, our picks of five stories you may have missed this week that will make you (marginally) smarter at Sunday’s church coffee hour. A lot happened this week, but we’ll pass on giving you more articles about the healthcare debate, since you’ve probably read 100 of them by now…

1. Lt. Gov. Kevin Bryant joins race: A fourth Republican has jumped into the 2018 Governor’s race. So far, no Democrats have announced. Think being fourth is being late? Remember Google was like the 12th Web search engine.
2. FBI Involved? GOP gubernatorial hopeful Catherine Templeton dropped a bomb in the Charleston Post & Courier last Sunday when she told them the FBI had interviewed her about the ongoing Statehouse corruption probe. That’s going to change some things. Meanwhile, House members are asking for more opinions from their ethics committee.
3. Supreme Court Rules on Same-Sex Domestic Violence: The State Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples should have the same domestic violence protections in state law. Bakari Sellers, former State House representative, CNN commentator, and friend of the Upstate Chamber Coalition, was the attorney who won the case. Attorney General Alan Wilson said that questions remain after the court’s order. Looks like the General Assembly could be debating the issue again
4. South Carolina’s Stephen Colbert is getting animated with Trump: Colbert will serve as executive producer of a new Showtime cartoon that spoofs Trump’s White House.
5. Football and futbol: Football returned to Spartanburg with the opening of Panther’s Training Camp — a major economic boom to the city (we hope our friends in Spartanburg repeat whatever they did in 2015 to get the Panthers on the Super Bowl track). And the USL is excited about expanding pro futbol (ok, soccer) to Greenville.

Bonus: Recently-resigned White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer might be on “Dancing With The Stars”?

We’re just going to leave that last one right there.