Charleston Currents

Focus

FOCUS: Enjoy the season at the Charleston Gaillard Center

Staff reports | Take a break from the frenzy of the holiday “to do” list by enjoying an afternoon or evening at the Charleston Gaillard Center.

Two of the biggest names in big band jazz will be at the Gaillard on Friday, Dec., 7 and Saturday, Dec. On Friday, Harry Connick Jr. brings his big band and New Orleans influence to toast the holiday and perform a selection of holiday favorites. New Orleans native Wynton Marsalis brings back the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on Saturday for a big band holiday concert that is certain to swing in the holiday spirit. Both shows begin at 7:30 pm.

Fans of inspired holiday music can ring in the holidays with Chris Tomlin, an accomplished church singer whose worship-focused catalogue has made him TIME Magazine’s “most often sung artist anywhere.” Join Chris as he brings praise and worship to the meaning of holiday spirit. This performance is on Sunday, Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m.

by Charleston Currents · 12/03/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

FOCUS: MUSC approves a turkey of an idea

By Lynn Bailey, special to Statehouse Report | This week, I guess in honor of the turkey, the Medical University of South Carolina Board of Trustees approved a turkey of an idea: the acquisition of four poorly-performing hospitals from Community Health Systems (CHS), a for-profit health company that is rapidly selling off its underperforming assets.

The hospitals to be acquired are: Chester Hospital in Chester County, Springs Memorial Hospital in Lancaster County, Marion Hospital in Marion County and Carolinas Hospital in Florence. Except for Carolinas Hospital in Florence, all of the hospitals are located in rural counties and are in serious danger of bankruptcy and closing.

Bailey
Additionally, CHS is unloading some more loser hospitals in the Upstate to Spartanburg Regional Health Center: Mary Black Health System in Spartanburg and Mary Black Health System in Gaffney. Spartanburg Regional Health Center is also a public health system controlled by Spartanburg County.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 11/26/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news, My Turn

FOCUS: Looking back at Thanksgiving in early Charleston

By Dr. Nic Butler, reprinted with permission | It’s Thanksgiving season again, and for most people that means a day of rest, relaxation and feasting with close friends and family. As a historian working in an old city, I have learned that Thanksgiving also includes at least ten people asking me the same question: “When was the first Thanksgiving in Charleston?” I don’t mind the question at all, but the answer is generally more complex than most people care to hear.

The tradition of Thanksgiving existed long before the creation of the United States, and it wasn’t just celebrated by the “pilgrims” of early Massachusetts. Spanish explorers in the Americas, for example, celebrated an annual day of thanksgiving in the early 1500s. …

by Charleston Currents · 11/19/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

FOCUS, Wentworth: From Nuremberg to Pittsburgh

By Marjory Wentworth, contributing editor | In 2016, the lawyers from the International Criminal Court asked me to write a poem for the 70th Anniversary of the closing of the military tribunals at Nuremberg. At the time, I was finishing writing the book We Are Charleston, Tragedy and Triumph at Mother Emanuel, immersed in the unfathomable grief of the families and survivors. Charleston was still recovering from one of the worst hate crimes in American history

The links between racism and anti-Semitism are innumerable. In fact, the NAACP has Jewish roots. The organization was founded by both black and white civil rights activists, including a Jewish man named Henry Moskowitz. …

by Special to Charleston Currents · 11/12/2018 · 1 comment · Focus, Good news, My Turn

Newsome delivers a talk last week. SCPA photo.

FOCUS: Newsome pushes infrastructure investments for port’s growth

Staff reports | S.C. Ports Authority (SCPA) President and CEO Jim Newsome last week told 600 customers and leaders outlined the organization’s successes and strategic infrastructure investments to continue growth during the annual State of the Port address at the Charleston Area Convention Center.

“We had a really good year in fiscal year 2018,” Newsome said. “We saw record cargo come through the Port, and we completed the Wando Welch Terminal refurbishment project. We worked together as a team towards a vision of being the preferred port of the top 10 U.S. Ports.”

The SCPA’s volumes for the 2018 fiscal year, which ran July 2017 through June 2018, were record-breaking, according to a press release. The port handled 2.2 million 20-foot equivalent container units (TEUs), an increase of 3 percent over the previous fiscal year. March through June marked the highest months of container volume in the port’s history.

by Charleston Currents · 11/05/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

FOCUS: The October effect and the markets

By Kyra Morris, contributing editor | What is going on in the markets?

* The third quarter of 2018 ended as the best quarter on the S&P 500 since 2013 – around a 7.2 percent increase.

* From Sept. 30 through Oct. 26, the S&P lost around 8.6 percent, the worst beginning of a quarter since 2008.

Is this the October effect, or is there something substantial going on? What are the realities?

It’s difficult to come up with convincing fundamental explanations for this poor performance. As expected, the Feds did increase interest rates at the end of September. Investors can also purchase U.S. Treasuries yielding 3 percent.

by Andy Brack · 10/29/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news, Money

FOCUS: Magnolia Plantation to host Underground Railroad conference

By Herb Frazier | Scholars, living historians and enslaved descendants will gather Nov. 3 at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens to show that the Underground Railroad was more than a network of secret routes to northern states and Canada that enslaved Africans followed to freedom.

Through exhibits, performances and demonstrations, presenters will reveal that the Underground Railroad also included rebellion, maroon communities and people escaping south to Florida and beyond.

“We Are One”
“Uncovering the Underground Railroad: Perspectives in Freedom” will be held Nov. 3 at Magnolia. The Slave Dwelling Project, South Carolina Humanities and the National Park Service have joined with Magnolia to sponsor this event designed to dispel commonly-held beliefs about the Underground Railroad.

by Charleston Currents · 10/15/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

FOCUS: Two local harvest festivals set for coming weeks

Staff reports | You know that Halloween is around the corner with the approach of local harvest festivals. Two are on the way — North Charleston’s on Oct. 20, followed by a similar event Nov. 3 by Charleston County Parks at the Johns Island County Park.

North Charleston event set for Oct. 20

North Charleston’s 6th annual Harvest Festival will feature live musical performances, an artist market, costume contests, trick-or-treat on the street, a pop-up pumpkin patch, children’s activities, and more. The fall festivities will take place in the Olde Village of North Charleston, located on East Montague Avenue near Park Circle, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 20. Admission and parking are free. East Montague Avenue will close to vehicular traffic from Jenkins Avenue to Virginia Avenue at 2 p.m. and remain closed for the duration of the event.

by Charleston Currents · 10/08/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

Image courtesy of Adam Boozer. On Instagram here.

FOCUS: Paddlers surround Crab Bank rookery

Staff reports | U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., and conservationists on Sunday surrounded Crab Bank, an eroding spit at the mouth Shem Creek, to illustrate how it should be protected as a seabird sanctuary.

Renourishment of the rookery may be the only way to save it, according to this story. In March, Sanford and other congressmen sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requesting that the Crab Bank Seabird Sanctuary be included in as a pilot project for revitalization.

In a statement, he said, “At just 2 percent of its original size, the Crab Bank Seabird Sanctuary is in danger of disappearing altogether. Interestingly, however, restoring the Crab Bank may be as easy as looking to its formation. Indeed, in the 1950s, the Crab Bank was formed from sediment dredged from the Charleston harbor. With the Charleston Deepening Project well on its way, it seems like the perfect time to rebuild.

by Charleston Currents · 10/01/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

Image courtesy City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs

FOCUS: 35th annual MOJA Festival starts Thursday

Staff reports | Eleven days of fun, exciting events ranging from dance, music and theatre that celebrate African-American and Caribbean arts are about to take off.

The 35th annual MOJA Arts Festival launches Thursday and will run through Oct. 7 with a rich variety of traditional favorites that make the festival continue as one of the Southeast Tourism Society’s 20 top events of the year. Even better: Nearly half of MOJA’s events are admission-free, and the remainder are offered at modest ticket prices.

“Moja,” a Swahili word meaning “one,” is the appropriate name for this festival celebration of harmony among all people in our community, according to the festival’s website.

by Charleston Currents · 09/24/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news