Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin rides one of city’s new bikes, launches Bike Share Initiativ

Cola Daily Columbia’s Mayor Steve Benjamin officially launched the city’s new bike share program Monday afternoon.  Benjamin rode under the Lincoln Street tunnel, and through the Vista Greenway on one of the new Blue Bikes to address the crowd. He introduced BlueCross Blue Shield of South Carolina division president Scott Graves.  BlueCross is the title sponsor for the Bike Share…

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Nation’s Mayors Ask HHS Secretary Azar for Clarity Regarding Treatment of Migrant Children

Cision PR Newswire United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) President Columbia (SC) Mayor Steve Benjamin has sent a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar asking for clarity regarding the treatment of the approximately 13,000 migrant children being held in detention centers across the country. Recent reporting has raised several issues of concern about the children’s welfare, the duration of their…

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Nation’s Mayors Ask HHS Secretary Azar for Clarity Regarding Treatment of Migrant Children

Vision PR Newsire United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) President Columbia (SC) Mayor Steve Benjamin has sent a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar asking for clarity regarding the treatment of the approximately 13,000 migrant children being held in detention centers across the country. Recent reporting has raised several issues of concern about the children’s welfare, the duration of their…

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Statement by U.S. Conference of Mayors President Columbia (SC) Mayor Steve Benjamin on Trump Administration’s Proposed Changes to Public Charge Rule

The United States Conference of Mayors Below is a statement by U.S. Conference of Mayors President Columbia (SC) Mayor Steve Benjamin on the Trump Administration’s proposed changes to the Public Charge rule and its impact on the country’s immigrant communities: “The U.S. Conference of Mayors in June unanimously adopted policy opposing the Trump administration’s proposal to penalize lower income immigrant…

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Amplify Columbia Wants to Create a Cultural Plan for the City.

Back in January, at the public unveiling of Amplify Columbia, the effort to create a unified cultural plan spearheaded by the city and the city-backed arts nonprofit One Columbia for Arts and History, Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin opened his address by reading a poem: William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus.” Translated from Latin, invictus means “unconquered,” and its most famous couplet —…

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Nation’s Mayors: Reunite Families Now & Pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Today, 136 bipartisan mayors from 34 states and the District of Columbia led by United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) President and Columbia (SC) Mayor Steve Benjamin issued a letter to the Trump Administration and Congress calling for the immediate reunification of families who were separated at the border and a permanent solution to the nation’s broken immigration system. The…

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Mayor Steve Benjamin on the Border, the National Spotlight, and Staying Focused on Columbia

When Steve Benjamin ascended in May to the presidency of the U.S. Conference of Mayors — a nonpartisan group comprised of leaders from cities of 30,000 or larger that advocates on issues that affect municipalities — we all knew the yearlong post would likely lead to an enhanced national spotlight for the third-term Columbia mayor. That spotlight came quickly, and…

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Columbia SC Mayor Steve Benjamin leads U.S. mayors to Texas, calls to end separations

Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin will lead a bipartisan delegation of mayors to the Mexican border to call for an end of what he termed the federal government’s “inhumane” and “shameful” separation of migrant children from their families. “It’s a tragedy that’s happening here,” he said. “If it were happening anywhere else in the world, we’d be determining here in the…

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