NEWS BRIEFS: Hollings terminal now welcomes airport visitors

Photo by Sam Spence.

Staff reports  |  Charleston International Airport’s main passenger terminal now has signage that designates it as the Ernest F. Hollings Terminal.

Hollings, a South Carolina Democrat who served in the United States Senate for 38 years and was the state’s governor from 1959-63, was a key overseer of aviation policy and funding while a powerful member of two committees, the Senate Commerce Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee.  He died April 6, 2019 at age 97.  

Soon afterward, the Charleston County airport board voted to name the airport’s recently expanded passenger terminal to honor Hollings.  The coronavirus pandemic interrupted a planned unveiling earlier this year.  Signage went up on Aug. 28, according to airport officials.

Helen Hill, chair of the Charleston International Airport Charleston County Aviation Authority, told the Charleston City Paper that  it was “So wonderful to hear, ‘Welcome to the Ernest F. Hollings Terminal at the Charleston International Airport’!”

In other recent news:

School start affects families differently.  With public schools set to open this week in person or online for tens of thousands of Charleston students, families have been impacted differently by the coronavirus.  In this story, the Charleston City Paper starts a series that follows how children and families have been impacted at home, work and play in their everyday lives. 

State revenues down for coming year.  South Carolina state revenue forecasters predicted Aug. 31 that the state’s income for the current fiscal year will shrink by 3 percent from 2019-2020 levels. The Board of Economic Advisers met last week to report the state’s gross general fund revenue was $9.793 billion for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. They say 2020-2021 could see gross general fund revenue at $9.5 billion — a 3 percent decrease in the budget, or $293 million. That puts spending potential at about the 2018-2019 spending levels. Lawmakers recently started drafting a later-than-usual budget amid the coronavirus pandemic in the Senate Finance Committee. See the revenue forecast here. 

Statehouse Report’s Lindsay Street and the Charleston City Paper’s Sam Spence contributed to this section. Have a comment?  Send to:  editor@charlestoncurrents.com