A look at what went down at the State House:

DAUGHTER’S NAME COULD BE ADDED TO THURMOND STATUE

The name of Strom Thurmond’s biracial daughter would be added to a monument honoring the nation’s longest-serving senator under a bill approved Thursday by a House subcommittee.

Essie Mae Washington-Williams, 78, announced last year that she is the daughter of the late senator and former governor who died last summer at 100. Washington-Williams’ mother was a black 16-year-old housekeeper who worked in the Thurmond family home in Edgefield. Thurmond was 22 years old when Washington-Williams was born.

Thurmond, who ran for president in 1948 as a Dixiecrat on the platform of maintaining separate schools for blacks and whites, never publicly acknowledged her and went on to have four children with his second wife, Nancy. Their names are etched in stone on Thurmond’s monument on the State House grounds.

The bill has already passed the Senate, and legislators are confident it will pass this House this session.

LAWMAKERS OVERRIDE BACKGROUND CHECK VETO

The House and Senate have overridden Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto of legislation that would strengthen background checks for prospective teachers.

Under the bill, applicants for initial education certification must undergo a state fingerprint review. It also requires colleges and universities with education programs to instruct students that a criminal background could keep them from being certified.

Sanford last month vetoed the legislation, saying he objected to an amendment to the bill that deletes a section requiring the reporting of statistics from schools to the superintendent, governor and General Assembly.

However, Sanford did not object to lawmakers overriding the veto because he later received additional information on the bill from the state Education Department, spokesman Will Folks said Thursday.

FORMER HODGES AIDE TO CHALLENGE BAILEY

Democrats have tapped a member of former Gov. Jim Hodges’ administration to challenge party-switcher Rep. George Bailey, R-Dorchester. Lachlan McIntosh filed Thursday to run in House District 97.

Bailey’s last-minute switch to the Republican Party on filing day had left the Democrats without a candidate. But a circuit court judge had given Democrats more time to find a candidate after the party sued to have Bailey thrown off the ballot altogether.

Democrats were angered by Bailey’s switch after he had already filed to run for his longtime seat as a Democrat.

McIntosh served as a legislative liaison for Hodges, who was defeated by Republican Gov. Mark Sanford in 2002. McIntosh also has served as an aide to U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C.