The Friday 5

You’ve been waiting all week! Time for the Friday 5 — our picks of the top political articles you may have missed this week. No eclipse stories for you, but was it just us, or was traffic much worse for the first day of school Tuesday than it was on Monday?

(As more and more legitimate news sites charge for their content, we apologize if many of these articles are behind paywalls. You have to pay for good journalism.)

1. Could off-shore drilling hurt tourism? Tourism drives our state’s economy, so a study committee is looking at whether off-shore oil and gas drilling should go ahead in our state. (The State)
2. Racketeering Environmentalists? The company behind the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline sued Greenpeace and other pipeline opponents under RICO — claiming they are essentially a criminal enterprise. (Wall Street Journal)
3. Another week, another Twitter fight. This time, some good-natured banter from Congressman Gowdy and OMB Director Mick Mulvaney was grossly misunderstood by a general public without a sense of humor. (The State)
4. Nuclear fallout. Not from North Korea this time, but the shuttered nuclear plant in Jenkinsville. Thankfully, it’s not actual radiation, but we’ll see how fast Santee Cooper becomes a radioactive political issue.
5. Worst state for equality? We’ve known for years that there are too few women in public office in South Carolina. Now, we’re getting dinged for it.

Bonus:  While the National Champion coach enjoyed it in-person, the always dispassionate Alabama football coach Nick Saban (ahem, runner-up) said he knew what the eclipse would look like from watching The Weather Channel. He would watch the eclipse on TV. No word on Urban Meyer and Ohio State.

Lastly, keep the folks in Corpus Christi, Galveston, Houston, and all of Coastal Texas in your thoughts and prayers this weekend. They’re about to get slammed by Hurricane Harvey.