United States and South Carolina flags at state facilities are flying at half-staff in S.C. in honor of Memorial Day.

Gov. Henry McMaster ordered the lowering of flags in observance of Memorial Day.

Why are the flags at half-staff in South Carolina?

McMaster ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff on Memorial Day to honor armed services personnel who lost their lives defending the U.S. Memorial Day is observed yearly on the last Monday in May.

How long will flags be at half-staff?

U.S. and S.C. flags will be flown at half-staff from sunrise to noon on Memorial Day, May 27.

Why do flags fly at half-staff?

Usa.gov states that the American flag flies at half-staff when the country or a state is in mourning. The president, a state governor or the mayor of the District of Columbia can order flags to fly at half-staff.

An American flag flying at half-staff generally indicates one of these three things:

1. The death of a government official, military member or emergency first responder.
2. A national tragedy.
3. Memorial Day and other national days of remembrance.

Where will flags be flown at half-staff?

McMaster ordered that flags be flown at half-staff at the S.C. State Capitol.

The governor requests that the flags over state buildings and buildings of the political subdivisions of this state similarly be flown at half-staff.

Is it half-mast or half-staff?

Previous reporting from Memphis Commercial Appeal explained that on ships and at naval stations ashore, flags are flown at half-mast. Elsewhere ashore, flags are flown at half-staff.

Iris Seaton is the trending news reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at iseaton@citizentimes.com.

Updated May 26, 2024 at 18:41 PM ET

Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms ripped through parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas late Saturday evening and Sunday morning, leaving at least 15 people dead and causing widespread damage.

Around midday Sunday, some rescue crews in those states were still searching for missing people and digging out from the rubble, while residents in other states such as Kentucky and Tennessee were facing severe weather from the eastward-moving storms.

More than 400,000 residents throughout the region had lost power as of Sunday afternoon, according to the website poweroutage.us.

In north central Texas, Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington told the Associated Press that at least seven people were killed there, including two children ages 5 and 2.

In Arkansas, at least five people were reportedly killed in the storm. Benton County Judge Barry Moehring said one person had died there and multiple others were injured. “It’s been a difficult night for Benton County,” Moehring said.

Two people were killed in Marion County, one person died in Baxter County, and one person was killed in Boone County, local officials said.

“Bryan and I are praying for the communities impacted by last night’s storm and the families of the Arkansans we lost,” said Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said two fatalities had been confirmed in the town of Pryor in Mayes County.

In Louisville, Ky., Mayor Craig Greenberg confirmed one death.

Severe thunderstorms spawned destructive tornadoes in several states

The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas throughout the Memorial Day weekend. The NWS office in Fort Worth said one of the storms was expected to contain “golf ball sized hail!”

Multiple tweets from the meteorological agency Saturday night urged residents to seek shelter immediately to protect themselves from the imminent threat of tornadoes.

By Sunday morning, images of the destruction were beginning to emerge, and public officials were sharing assessments of the casualties and damage.

Denton County, Texas, said in a Facebook post that a tornado there overturned vehicles, damaged homes, felled trees and downed power lines, and that a “number of individuals with injuries” were taken to local hospitals.

Photos from Benton County, Ark., showed heaps of rubble strewn across a road and battered buildings, including a Dollar Tree.

The Cooke County Office of Emergency Management said the storm “caused significant damage to numerous homes and businesses, including the Gateway AP Travel Center, which received major damage.” The office added that there were “numerous injuries of varying degrees.”

Other states are preparing for more bad weather

On Sunday afternoon, a major swath of the U.S was facing an “enhanced risk” of severe weather, including large parts of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, according to the National Weather Service.

Severe thunderstorm watches were in effect Sunday for parts of Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia — with tornadoes and hail also possible.

“Additionally, heavy rain may lead to scattered instances of flash flooding with this initial burst of thunderstorms,” the weather service added. “By the afternoon hours another round of showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop along a cold front and impact similar regions, with the severe threat shifting further east across the Ohio Valley overnight.”

Copyright 2024 NPR

If you are one of the lucky people in the most hotly contested presidential states, you are seeing a lot of advertising.

And with just over five months to go until Election Day and only about three-and-a-half months until people start early voting, the deluge is just beginning.

The election is being fought most acutely in seven states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Don’t take our word for it. Look at the actions of the campaigns since March 6, a day after Super Tuesday, the unofficial start to the general election this year:

Overall, $72.1 million has been spent on ads (TV, radio, satellite and digital) in that time in the presidential election, according to an NPR analysis of data from AdImpact, which tracks ad spending.

Almost 70% of that has been spent in the seven key states, especially in Pennsylvania, where $21.2 million has been spent. That means that almost $3 out of every $10 spent is going to one state.

Clearly, the campaigns see the Keystone state as, well, a keystone to this election.

Democrats are outspending Republicans by more than double — $49.2 million to $22.1 million.

Take a look at the spending state by state. In every state, President Biden and his allies are outspending former President Donald Trump and the groups boosting him. In some places, Trump hasn’t been on the air at all.

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Biden’s campaign is the biggest spender of the election so far at $34.2 million and counting. MAGA Inc., an outside group supporting Trump, is second, putting up almost $12 million. Trump’s campaign has spent nearly zilch on ads, just $70,521, as of Friday afternoon. 

Four dollars out of every $5 MAGA Inc. has spent has gone to Pennsylvania. The other $1 is mostly going to Georgia, where it’s spending $1.2 million. Trump and allies have not been on the air at all in four of the Lucky Seven: Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada or Wisconsin.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent and is getting double-digits in most national polls, has spent a little over $800,000 total on ads.

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The most-run ad of the campaign so far is this pro-Biden one about protecting the Affordable Care Act. It’s run 7,700 times in 17 days in all seven states.

It’s quite the turn, considering that Obamacare was the reason for Democrats getting “shellacked,” as former President Barack Obama put it, in the 2010 midterm elections.

But that reflects the change in public opinion. Back in January 2014, the ACA’s popularity hit its nadir — 53% unfavorable; just 37% had a favorable opinion of it, according to KFF’s tracking poll. But as of April, 62% have a favorable opinion of the law — the highest ever.

MAGA’s Inc.’s most-run ad is focused on immigration, but it has started to run this one most in the past week, which is focused on the economy (and makes unfounded claims about Biden’s mental faculties).

On the issues, abortion has by far been the focus of the most spending and total number of ads. Some $19 million has been spent on abortion messaging, with 50 different ads.

Next on the list (some ads reference more than one of these) are:

• immigration: $8.7 million
• crime: $8.4 million
• economy: $6.8 million
• inflation: $5.4 million
• Obamacare/Affordable Care Act: $5.2 million
• jobs: $1.8 million

Copyright 2024 NPR