National jobless and inflation numbers

For the week ending April 17, initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 24,000 to 456,000. In March, core consumer prices increased at an annual rate of 1.1 percent, the lowest level since 1966.

National manufacturing numbers

American manufacturing increased 0.9 percent in March from the previous month. Industrial production increased overall 0.1 percent, according to the Federal Reserve. The country’s industries operated at 73.2 percent of capacity last month, up 3.7 percentage points more than a year ago.

The Atlanta Journal–Constitution leaves Atlanta

The Journal–Constitution moved in the past month to a former Macy’s distribution center in Dunwoody, Ga. The newspaper left its 1972 building at 72 Marietta Street next to courthouses and City Hall in a downtown setting where it had been for more than 100 years. In Dunwoody, it’s neighbor is Perimeter Mall.

SCANA misses the mark

The latest Fortune 500 ranking of SCANA fell 44 places to 489. Higher energy costs were blamed for SCANA’s 20 percent drop in annual revenue. SCANA is the only S.C.–based company to make the list.

SCANA/SCE&G public meeting

Area residents who want to speak to the SCE&G request for a 9.5 percent rate increase have an opportunity at 6 pm on Monday, May 24 at the S.C. Public Service Commission, 101 Executive Center Drive in Columbia. Also, a formal hearing is scheduled at the same address for May 24–27.

Myrtle Beach did it and Columbia, fortunately, did not

When the City of Columbia was trying to develop its own city–financed convention center headquarters hotel in the early 2000s, the local guide was Myrtle Beach, where the headquarters hotel was built about 2001. At first it was a Radisson, and for the past five years it has been a Sheraton. The Myrtle Beach Sun News reports the hotel cannot pay its debt to the city. The hotel owes the city $2.4 million a year in lease payments. Two years ago the hotel couldn’t pay any more than $1.8 million; last year, $1.1 million.

Straw poll at the Silver Elephant Banquet

About 750 S.C. Republicans at the party’s 43rd Annual Silver Elephant Banquet inside the convention center on Lincoln Street were polled for their preferences for governor and lieutenant governor. The top two for governor were Gresham Barrett, 37 percent, and Henry McMaster, 34 percent. For lieutenant governor, the top two were Ken Ard, 51 percent, and Bill Connor, 38 percent. And for attorney general, Alan Wilson led with 48 percent; and Leighton Lord came in second with 41 percent.

School dropouts could lose drivers’ licenses

S.C. Rep. Tom Young (R–Aiken) has authored a bill that would take away the driver’s license from any S.C. teenager who drops out of school or habitually skips classes. Parents could appeal for an exception if the teen needs to get to work or must drive a sick family member to medical treatments.

Boeing bonds

S.C. taxpayers will pay about $362 million in bond costs over the next 15 years for Boeing’s assembly plant in North Charleston, according to The Nerve at the S.C. Policy Council. The full amount of $270 million in bond principal is expected to be paid to Boeing by the end of August.

Boeing wetlands

The S.C. Department of Commerce and Vought Aircraft Industries announced Thursday, April 22 that the Ashley–Cooper Rivers Environmental Trust has protected six tracts of wetlands in the Charleston area, according to the Charleston Regional Business Journal. More than 7,500 acres will be added to the state’s conservation footprint. Vought was required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to produce a mitigation plan before it began clearing land for its new facilities next to the airport. Boeing now owns the Vought facilities.

Architecture for architects

Clemson University has broken ground on the $31 million renovation and 55,000 sq. ft. expansion of Rudolph E. Lee Hall, home of the architecture school. The structure is being designed as a zero–net energy compound.