There were a pair of pretty big legislative items that happened this afternoon. First, the House tabled debate on the controversial school gun bill that would allow concealed weapons on academic campuses. The bill is scheduled to come up again for debate next Wednesday.

The lower chamber also unanimously passed S. 213 to aimed at cracking down on underage drinking. If signed into law, the bill will make it illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to consume or attempt to purchase alcohol. Until now, it was only illegal for minors to buy alcohol.

______________________

UPDATE: Make this a triumvirate. The Senate agreed to refuse federal Real ID cards.

With summer just around the corner and the weather near-perfect, the work day seems to get longer and longer. Fear not.

Even though we are already the bright spot in your day, every day, we have decided to step-up our coolness by bringing you a daily video that we believe reaches the status of “TPS-style awesome.” We accept your gratitude in advance.

As always, if you have a “TPS video of the day” nominee, tip it.

Today’s video is of a girl rocking out to the Black Eyed Peas… on a violin. And she’s really good. She even has some “unique” dance moves to boot.

They have gone and ruined all of Jim Clyburn’s fun… and he’s mad. He told the AP that Florida’s GOP-controlled legislature’s decision to move the state’s primary date to Jan. 29, the same day as South Carolina Democrats, was “devious.”

Florida’s primary move “was done by a Republican-controlled General Assembly and a Republican governor, and they did it intentionally just to mess up the Democratic process. I mean, that’s all they did it for,” said Clyburn

“I’m going to see what will be the Democratic National Committee’s response to what Florida did,” Clyburn said. “I think it’s kind of interesting how Florida continues to play into these things in a very devious way.” [AP]

He’s probably right, but it’s still reminiscent of the ending to a Scooby Doo episode when they unmask the bad guy. Only this is just the beginning.

Maybe Clyburn’s just grumpy because this means fewer romantic photo ops (above right) with the Democratic presidential nominees than in 2004.

(h/t Brian E. Crowley)

As our regular readers can attest, we’re pretty big fans of the Senate’s proposed comprehensive immigration reform bill. So it would come as a surprise to us that the bill’s strongest supporter would endorse limiting the number of people that can emigrate to the U.S. But that’s exactly what presidential candidate Sen. John McCain appeared to do last night on the O’Reilly Factor.

Here’s the exchange - which takes place with 1:10 left in the video below - as transcribed by (shiver) the DNC: (continues…)

Here are the headlines circulating their way around the Statehouse for Thursday, May 31:

• Private school option beaten [AUGUSTA CHRONICLE]
• SC taxpayers, not political parties would pay for early primaries [AP]
• Congress, state push immigration reforms [BEAUFORT GAZETTE]
• Former Opponents Team Up To Raise Cigarette Tax [WYFF 4]
• Wal-Mart really delivers in Palmetto State [CHARLESTON POST & COURIER]
• SC RTL Act delayed by House Republican leader for Ultrasound Bill in 2007 Session [PRESS RELEASE]

The Liberty Sphere is reporting that a group of University of South Carolina students were on-board the Atlanta to Europe flight taken by the 31-year-old man carrying a rare and dangerous strain of tuberculosis.

As of yet there is no reason to believe that any of the students are in any danger. Yet they state they prefer to err on the side of caution.

The Atlanta man who started it all is now in isolation at Grady Memorial Medical Center in Atlanta, awaiting to be transported to Denver for the remainder of his treatment. So far the man has had no symptoms whatsoever, and his level of infection appears at this point to be non-active, which is good news for those with whom he came into contact.

The man’s wife has tested negative for TB as well–another good sign. [D. MARTYN LLOYD-MORGAN, The Liberty Sphere]

We hope this turns out to be false or that tests come back negative.

Congressmen Joe Wilson and John Spratt were part of a four-member congressional “fact-finding mission” that visited members of Newberry-based National Guard unit in Afghanistan. We’re not sure if anyone knows for certain what a “fact-finding mission” is, but it’s a good enough excuse to visit some brave South Carolina soldiers. (continues…)

As we noted yesterday, a group of state lawmakers held a press conference this afternoon as part of the “Draft Thompson Movement,” encouraging former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) to run for president. The event was led by State Sen. Larry Grooms of Bonneau and State Rep. Michael Thompson of Anderson as well as U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett.

The timing of the event was noteworthy as the blogosphere today was rife with rumors regarding Thompson’s inevitable White House run following the news that he would be forming an exploratory committee.

As WIS reports, “Thompson, a star of the NBC drama Law and Order, made a conference call Tuesday afternoon with more than 100 donors.

“His advisors say he urged each of them to raise about $50,000.”

_________________________

UPDATE: jczacher at the SC 08 blog has a complete list of the state legislators in attendance at today’s press conference:

Attending the press conference were:
Rep. Michael Thompson, R-Anderson
Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-Laurens
Rep. Brian White, R-Anderson
Rep. Eric Bedingfield, R-Greenville
Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley
Sen. John Hawkins, R-Spartanburg
(I believe I’m leaving out one more Senator that I heard was there, but I did not see.)