SC Senate Votes to Remove Confederate Flag from State House

Source: New York Times

South Carolina Senate Casts First Vote to Remove Confederate Flag

TRAVIS DOVE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
By ALAN BLINDER
JULY 6, 2015

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Senate voted Monday to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the State House. The bipartisan proposal, which emerged after last month’s massacre at a historic black church in Charleston, was approved by a 37-to-3 vote in the Republican-controlled Senate.

The Senate has one remaining ratification vote, now virtually assured of success.

The debate will shift to the House of Representatives, which Republicans also dominate, where the timeline for — and tenor of — the debate remains less clear.

The Senate’s vote on Monday marked a resounding shift in South Carolina, where less than three weeks ago removing the Confederate battle flag from a memorial near the State House was viewed as politically impossible.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/07/us/south-carolina-capitol-confederate-battle-flag.html