Haley gives education plans in emotional State of State

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley outlined her plans to improve education and fight domestic violence at her State of the State address Wednesday.

[...] there was plenty of emotion in her speech, too, as she recalled a series of tragedies and crises her state faced in 2015, from the police shooting of an unarmed black man to the killing of nine black churchgoers during Bible study to October's historic floods.

Haley left her prepared remarks to call out senators who have not passed her ethics reform proposals.

Haley began and closed her speech with a call for continued unity from a state that agreed to bring down the Confederate flag — an event she did not mention in the address.

The rebel banner came down less than a month after the nine people were killed at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston in June.

[...] in a speech that called for unity several times, calling out senators was a sour note for some.

The money would also go for scholarships for teachers already in those districts who want to get advanced degrees.

Many of them would help with domestic violence cases.

"No survivor deserves to show up in court and see a legally untrained police officer arguing his or her side, while a highly paid defense lawyer argues on behalf of the abuser," Haley said.

Haley also hasn't made education funding a priority in her five years in office and made South Carolina a much less healthy state because she and Republicans have refused to take federal money to expand Medicaid, Powers Norrell said.