Chamber’s new leader

Palmetto Health CEO Chuck Beaman took charge as board chairman of the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, October 1. Beaman plans to emphasize business retention and job growth as part of the continuing Good to Great campaign. He wants a more comprehensive approach to the homeless problem, which has become worse recently due to a fragmented approach.

Beer

The 2010 World Beer Festival, presented by Green’s Discount Beverages and All About Beer Magazine, is scheduled for Saturday, January 16 at the convention center on Lincoln Street. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, October 21. For more information and to purchase tickets, http://www.allaboutbeer.com/wbfcolumbia.

Milliken match

The state Republican Party has been offered matching gifts in $25,000 increments by Spartanburg’s Roger Milliken until early December. The immediate targeted debt is the $340,000 mortgage for the party’s 5,000 sq. ft. headquarters building in Columbia. The building needs about another $160,000 in upgraded environmental efficiencies. S. C. GOP chair Karen Floyd plans to have the party debt–free by 2010.

Movies

In the last week of September, the formation of Emergent Films was announced as a statewide job and industry development initiative to grow the movies business in South Carolina. There are two components: Emergent Foundation and Emergent Films. The foundation component is a non–profit raising funds for the educational process, and the films component chases investment for individual projects. Emergent Films expects to produce maybe two or three short genre films each year plus a full–length family–friendly feature film. Professionals will run the production while students will work as interns. Two short projects are already scheduled to be produced this fall, one in October and another in November.

More movies

Shooting will begin this month in Charleston on

Angel Camouflaged, an independent film starring Dilana Robichaux. Her character is a disillusioned singer who inherits a bar. While working to revive the run–down tavern, she rediscovers her passion for music. Michael Givens of Beaufort is the director/producer, and he says the project office will open in a week or two. For more information, check with the S.C. Film Commission, www.scfilmoffice.com/

Top 10

U.S. News & World Report announced last week Columbia was one of the country’s 10 best affordable places to retire. The other nine chosen cities are Ann Arbor, Mich.; Asheville, N.C.; Aurora, Colo.; Columbus, Ohio; Eugene, Ore.; Fort Worth, Texas; Jacksonville, Fla.; Kansas City, Mo.; and Tucson, Ariz.

Sanford’s summit on unemployment benefits

On Monday, October 19, Gov. Mark Sanford plans to discuss the growing debt the state owes the federal government for unemployment benefits. At the current rate, the debt is fast approaching $2 billion. The S.C. Commerce Department will be the co–host at the Columbia summit meeting.

Charlotte

Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis leaves the bank by the end of this year. What worries Charlotte is the possibility the headquarters for Bank of America could leave Charlotte for New York City under the next CEO. The bank occupies 13 buildings in Charlotte, and will add another when its uptown 32–story tower is occupied in 2010. By then, Bank of America will occupy a total of more than 7 million square feet in town.

Food Lion wants to buy Bi–Lo for $425 million

Delhaize Group, the Belgian food retailer and the parent of Food Lion, has signed a letter of intent to buy most of Mauldin–based Bi–Lo’s assets for $425 million. The proposed purchase must be approved by a bankruptcy judge. Bi–Lo filed for bankruptcy protection in March.

Jobless

The nation’s unemployment rate hit 9.8 percent in September, the highest since June 1983. The Labor Department reported a net loss of 263,000 jobs for the month, while Wall Street economists had predicted a jobs loss of 180,000. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (from Dillon, S.C.) said the unemployment rate was likely to stay above 9 percent through the end of 2010. In Columbia, the unemployment rate rose to 9.4 percent in August from 9.2 percent in July. For most of the year, Columbia has experienced the state’s lowest jobless rate for a major metropolitan area.