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Business

Berkeley County’s Unemployment Rate Lower than a Year Ago, State Unchanged

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.–South Carolina’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in January remained unchanged at 5.5 percent from December 2015, the Department of Employment and Workforce reports. Meanwhile, Berkeley County’s unemployment rate was slightly lower than the state average at 5.1 percent for the same time period. This is actually a decrease of more than two percent compared to a year ago when the unemployment […]

Business

Berkeley County Housing Market Struggles to Keep Up with Demand

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.–When Kimo Esarey moved to Berkeley County 35 years ago, traffic was light and most residents traveled to Charleston every day for work. Berkeley County was known as a “bedroom community” of Charleston, he said. Esarey, broker in charge at Coldwell Banker’s Goose Creek office, said the influx of industry and jobs within the county over the past […]

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Average S.C. Consumer Debt Increased by 11% in 2014

The South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs (SCDCA) is releasing its annual report on consumer credit counseling organizations, outlining the state of consumer debt in South Carolina. During calendar year 2014, credit counseling organizations distributed $35,182,461 to creditors on behalf of 10,233 South Carolinians seeking debt relief assistance. Although the total number of consumers with credit counseling contracts decreased by […]

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S.C. Fast-Food Workers Walk off the Job Ahead of Primary

South Carolina fast-food cooks and cashiers walked off the job  on Saturday, calling for $15 an hour and union rights, and were joined for the first time by fast-food workers in Greenville. The strike kicks off a daylong series of protests that will culminate in a massive march on the GOP debate, with underpaid workers from across the state challenging candidates […]

Business

BCSD Accepting Applications for School Bus Drivers; February Training Scheduled

WHO & WHAT: Berkeley County School District is currently accepting applications for school bus drivers and will host a training for drivers who apply. WHEN & WHERE: Apply online at www.bcsdschools.net. Training, for drivers who apply, is February 8 – 11, 2016 from 8:30am-2:30pm at 231 East Main St. Moncks Corner, SC 29461. MORE INFORMATION: BCSD is currently accepting applications […]

Business

Santee Cooper Scores Higher than National Average in Customer Satisfaction

MONCKS CORNER, S.C.–Nearly perfect marks in power reliability and outage restoration kept Santee Cooper’s latest residential customer satisfaction score well above the national average, with an overall satisfaction score of 97%, according to an independent study conducted in October by Market Search. Beyond overall satisfaction, the study looks at ten other factors including power quality, customer care, service, rates, environmental […]

Business

Berkeley Electric Coop Crews Headed Upstate to Assist with Snow Storm

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.–On Friday afternoon, Berkeley Electric Cooperative sent crews to assist Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative in Pickens with over 4,000 outages caused by Winter Storm Jonas. According to a spokesperson for BEC, the co-op sent two line crews, three service crews, a right-of-way crews and mechanic for a total of nineteen employees and ten vehicles. Crews will assist Blue […]

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South Carolinians Face 42nd Highest State-Local Tax Burden in U.S.

8.4 percent of all income in South Carolina went toward state and local taxes (in FY 2012), according to the annual State-Local Tax Burden Rankings released recently by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. The report highlights the state-local tax burden on taxpayers in each of the 50 states, details how much residents pay to their state and other states, and illustrates tax […]

Business

Dairy Queen Stays Busy on Opening Day, Line Stretches Out the Door

GOOSE CREEK, S.C.–To say people were excited to check out the new Dairy Queen in Goose Creek Wednesday was an understatement. On opening day, lines inside the restaurant stretched out the door. “The restaurant was full the entire day. It was kind of crazy–but a good kind of crazy,” stated DQ owner, Brad Walker. “It went extremely well. Everybody is a […]

Business

East Shore Athletic Club Officially Becomes O2 Fitness

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.–New starts are popular this time of year and that holds true at O2 Fitness Clubs, which recently rolled out a name changes and fresh branding at its 12 Lowcountry locations. But the striking outward changes – gone are the familiar East Shore Athletic Club signs – are simply the latest step in an ongoing and bold transformation […]