TAX INCREASES: A Tuesday rally against tax increases in the Senate Finance Committee's $5.2 billion state budget led lawmakers to reconsider those plans. Sen. Hugh Leatherman, the Senate's Republican Majority Leader and chairman of the Finance Committee, backed away from a plan he pushed to raise the sales tax cap on cars, eliminating a small sales tax break for people 85 and older and eliminating a tax break on manufacturing equipment. Republican Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer pulled together Tuesday's rally, packing the Statehouse with more than 300 tax increase opponents. Wasteful programs need to be cut before taxes are increased, Bauer said.

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LOTTERY FUNDS: State Sen. John Matthews, D-Bowman, says he's almost ready to try to repeal the South Carolina lottery because money raised is not benefiting those who spend the most on tickets. Matthews backed the lottery, but says merit-based college scholarships are funded at higher levels than need-based awards and tuition grants for low-income students in the budget approved by the Senate Finance Committee.

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REDISTRICTING: Senate Democrats successfully delayed passage of a redistricting bill making it less likely the plan will gain House approval this year. After two days of delays and filibustering, the Senate redistricting bill received approval on second reading Wednesday with final passage set for Friday. That's after a deadline for Senate bills to reach the House, meaning it takes a two-thirds vote before representatives can debate it this year. Five Senate Democrats voted against the bill. House Minority Leader James Smith says the bill doesn't have the support to be considered, so it may have to wait until January when the Legislature returns.

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THURMOND: Black lawmakers said Thursday they're upset by old photos of retired U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond on the newest edition of the state's Legislative Manual. The front cover of the 2003 manual features a recent portrait of Thurmond. The back cover has photos of Thurmond as a baby and as a soldier in World War II. Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, said the photos of Thurmond from the era when he supported segregation are an insult to black South Carolinians. Sen. John Courson, R-Columbia and a longtime Thurmond friend, said the photos simply represent a man who has long served his state and country.

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BAUER: Bauer wants schools, prisons and health care agencies to make cuts, but his own office stands to get 17 percent more money next year. The Senate Finance Committee budget calls for Bauer's office to get $50,000 more in the fiscal year beginning July 1, That gives Bauer, a part-time state officer, $340,000 for his operations. Randall Page, Bauer's chief of staff said the money is needed for constituent services.

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SECURITIES FRAUD: The State Grand Jury gets expanded powers to investigate securities fraud under a bill a House subcommittee approved Thursday. State Attorney General Henry McMaster pushed for the bill as he launched an investigation of Carolina Investors Inc., which closed its doors in March and filed for protection from creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court last month. The bill changes the statute of limitations for cases involving deception of an investor to three years after discovery of the untrue statement or omission. But committee members removed a section that would punish people who knowingly help others commit fraud.

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GUIDE DOGS: Injuring or killing a guide dog or other service animal would be a crime under a bill a House subcommittee approved Tuesday. The bill includes exemptions for injuring a service animal in self-defense or by humane euthanasia for a terminally ill guide dog. A person convicted of killing a guide dog would face up to three years in prison and a minimum fine of $2,000. Interfering with a guide dog would carry up to 30 days in jail and a minimum fine of $500 on first offense. A similar bill has passed the Senate.

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DRINKING STRAWS: Restaurants would have to used wrapped drinking straws under a bill the House Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee approved Tuesday. The bill came about after its sponsor, Rep. Leon Howard, D-Columbia, saw a waiter leave the restroom, remove uncovered straws from his pocket and hand them out to customers, committee Chairman Joe Brown, D-Columbia, said.

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DEADLINE: The deadline for bills to cross between the House and Senate makes it less likely that several key pieces of Legislation will reach Gov. Mark Sanford's desk this year. Bills that miss the May 1 deadline can be considered when the Legislature reconvenes next year. Among the bills that were not considered:

- Sanford's proposal to cap enrollment at public schools: no more than 500 children in elementary schools, 700 in middle schools and 900 in high schools. The bill got stuck in a House committee.

- Sanford's government restructuring plans, including those that eliminate several statewide elected offices, which had a hearing Thursday in a Senate subcommittee.

- Sanford's education initiative to include "conduct" grades on student report cards. The bill got stuck in a House committee.

- A minibottle bill, which would allow bars to use free-pour liquor. The bill got stuck in the Senate behind the reapportionment and budget bills.

- A bill that would require all of South Carolina's 46 counties to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a county holiday. The House adjourned debate on it Wednesday.

- A bill calling for the construction of a monument outside the Statehouse memorializing "unborn children who have given their lives because of legal abortion." The bill got stuck in a House subcommittee.