The Agenda: Judge blocks McMaster’s attempt to exclude Planned Parenthood from Medicaid; Whole Foods opens today in West Ashley

Planned Parenthood will be able to argue its case in court after a federal judge issued an order temporarily blocking an executive order Gov. Henry McMaster issued to attempt to stop Medicaid money from going to abortion providers. Planned Parenthood argued that the order singles out the group unconstitutionally. (Federal law already bars Medicaid from funding abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or where the mother’s life is in jeopardy.) District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis wrote that the law does not give the states “unlimited authority to exclude providers for any reason whatsoever.” Previous budgets show that the state paid Planned Parenthood up to $13,000 each year for family planning services, which includes birth control and sexually-transmitted disease testing. Source: South Carolina Radio Network, P&C

Meteorologists warn that hurricane season hasn’t yet hit its peak, but will on Sept. 10. It has been a quiet so far with no real threats to Charleston, but Weather Underground meteorologist Jeff Masters warned that “over the next six weeks, we will see a steady parade of strong tropical waves emerging from the coast of Africa, and some of these waves will be capable of acting as the seeds for the most dangerous type of Atlantic hurricanes — the Cape Verde storms.” Source: P&C

Two men have sued the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, alleging in separate suits that they were sexually abused when they were students and altar boys in the ’50s and ’60s, and that repressed memories have surfaced after recent news reports and litigation. Source: P&C

Whole Foods in West Ashley opens today. Source: P&C

Charleston police have changed their tune after initially saying that a woman’s gender identity was not a factor in her assault. Source: City Paper

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