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BMW supplier Astra/CFX opens new facility in Greer

July 26, 2010 By

ASTRA/CFX held the grand opening of its new $9 million facility located in Greer Monday. The company specializes in wheel assemblies for BMW.

Tom Przybojewski, Vice-President of CFX, says, “South Carolina has done a better job than any state we’ve opened a factory in, in providing resources, and just feeling that you’re a part of a community.

The company currently has around 50 employees at its Greer site. The Governor’s office says the company will create 100 new jobs.

At the ceremony, Governor Mark Sanford said:

I think it’s a celebration of a neat small business that has a remarkable legacy in regard to quality of what they produce. But it’s also a celebration of BMW’s considerable presence in the world of automotive.

 

 

Filed Under: Business, News

New benefits for jobless workers pumping $41 million into SC economy

July 26, 2010 By

Department of Employment and Workforce officials say the new unemployment benefits are coming like Christmas in July to retailers and consumers, as well as jobless workers.

Officials say the Congressional extension of unemployment benefits will pump $41 million into the South Carolina economy very quickly.

The Department of Employment and Workforce released 50,000 checks and made 20,000 direct deposit and debit card transactions. An agency spokesman says while the extension of benefits was delayed, staff members continued to take claims and plan for eventual passage of the bill, so when it was passed, getting the checks out only took a few days.

For those who did not file claims all along, each of the 36 Workforce Centers around the state were open on Saturday. Approximately 1400 claimants showed up to re-file. Checks were mailed Monday.

Filed Under: Business, News

Sen. Graham requests hearing on voter intimidation

July 26, 2010 By

Last week U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wrote to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) requesting a hearing on the investigation into voter intimidation by the New Black Panther Party.

The New Black Panther Party recently held a protest rally in Newberry calling for the charging of Gregory Collins, 19, with a hate crime. Collins, a white man, is charged with the murder of Anthony Hill, a 30 year-old black man, after Hill was shot then dragged 10 miles from the back of a truck in early June.

The New Black Panthers made several demands on the courthouse steps, but the inclusion of the phrase “by any means necessary” and the allusion to violence if Collins is not charged with a hate crime worried some authorities.

Now, Sen. Graham, who serves on the Senate Judiciary committee, is questioning the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division’s investigation into the November 4, 2008 incident of two New Black Panther Party members intimidating voters and workers with racial slurs and taunts at a Philadelphia polling station.

Graham says that despite having won a default judgment, the DOJ voluntarily dismissed several of the defendants. For the defendant who was brandishing a nightstick, “DOJ sought only an injunction, which bars him from displaying a weapon within 100 feet of a Philadelphia polling place for the [next] three years.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, News, Politics & Government

Wilson: Jobless benefits extension is admission of failure

July 26, 2010 By

Jobless benefits were extended by 99 weeks last week, but Congressman Joe Wilson says he’s concerned about how they will be paid for. Wilson says the Democrat’s call it emergency spending and approved the help, but that raises a red flag for him.

They said just borrow another $34 billion and just add that to the debt. Actually, the extension of unemployment is an admission of the failure of the spending stimulus program of this administration. We should be working together, Democrats, Republicans, to do what John F. Kennedy did, what Ronald Reagan did: cut taxes, that’s what grows jobs, not just more spending.

Wilson says Republicans were not against the unemployment benefits, just how they would be paid for.

There’s always the concern the longer we extend unemployment, we’re promoting unemployment. But, there are people, legitimately, who need our assistance, so that’s why I would savor extension of unemployment because of the record unemployment that we have. But, we should use the money that’s already at hand. There’s stimulus money that has not been spent.

Instead of the extension of unemployment benefits, Wilson says they could start by focusing on growing small businesses, which would create more jobs.

Filed Under: Economy, News, Politics & Government

Horry fire contained, SC Forestry says resources “stretched”

July 26, 2010 By

On June 14, a lighting strike ignited a forest fire that still lingers in Horry County. Six weeks later, SC Forestry Commission spokesman Scott Hawkins says the fire is contained, but just won’t go out.

From about July 6 on we’ve been out there on a daily basis. You’ve got heavily organic soil, and they just continue to burn and burn and burn, and then they compromise the root system of the trees, and this is a forested area. Then, the trees fall, and that’s fresh fuel, or the needles die and they fall onto the ground, and that’s fresh fuel. So, this is a persistent fire, it’s the kind that you just fight by just constantly turning the earth and putting whatever water you can put on it.

The fire, known as the “Hardwick Road” Fire, is closer to Conway, which doesn’t seem to affect tourist traffic heading to Myrtle Beach, says Hawkins. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Accidents & Disasters, Environment & Conservation, News
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