The Charleston Jazz Orchestra (CJO) will present When Swing Was King on Feb. 20 at the Charleston Music Hall as the first concert of its eighth season. Special guest will be pianist and new Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg. Also in Good News: Valentine’s stuff at Southern Season; SCE&G warns of scams; CRDA’s new website; poll managers needed; free admission to county parks.
New at CofC: An MFA in creative writing — “The two-year, full-residency program, which begins in the fall of 2016 pending approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Schools, is designed to sharpen the writing skills of graduate students interested in fiction and poetry. ” Also: Singing Valentine’s, she-crab celebration and a new Charleston County park.
By Caroline Satchell | When you are a nonprofit nature museum that wants to build a name for itself with limited resources, what do you do? Have one of your animals beg a celebrity to come meet you, of course.
That’s what the Virginia Living Museum (VLM) in Newport News, Va., has done with its groundhog, Chesapeake Chuck. Chuck claims to be the Number One fan of one of Charleston’s celebrity residents – comedian and actor Bill Murray. Chuck has launched a national social media campaign to have Murray join him for Groundhog Day on Feb. 2. To date, the museum’s Bill Murray Facebook posts have reached almost 150,000 people, generated over 4,000 likes and almost 2,000 shares. Comments have come from as far away as Australia. Media have picked up on the story and the Newport News Visitor Center is even helping promote the cause.
Staff reports | With a new mayor comes new staff members who will guide the city. We thought you’d want to learn more about five new senior staff members who will work for Mayor John Tecklenburg to manage the city of Charleston.
Planner Josh Martin and longtime arts executive Rick Jerue will serve as top advisers for Tecklenburg, who reportedly will delegate more projects to them to allow him to keep on top of the big picture and major projects. Martin and Jerue essentially fill roles formerly held in the administration of former Mayor Joe Riley by Lawrence Thompson, who will work through spring in the transition, and Mary Ann Sullivan, who has retired. Rounding out Tecklenburg’s senior team are Jack O’Toole, Mike Whack and Robin Griffith.
The Charleston Parks Conservancy’s Magnolia Community Garden, Elliotborough Community Garden and Medway Community Garden generated 2,039 pounds of produce in 2015 for donation to local food pantries, such as Lowcountry Food Bank, One80 Place and James Island Outreach.
Staff reports | Gov. Nikki Haley earned a lot of accolades last week for moderate comments, particularly on immigration, during the nationally-televised GOP response which she gave following President Obama’s final State of the Union address.
Haley said the country needed to head in a “new direction,” but added that Democrats like Obama weren’t totally to blame for the nation’s problems.
Three nationally-known speakers are scheduled to present in a new Race and Social justice Initiative 2016 Event Series at the College of Charleston.
Speakers include education activist Marion Wright Edelman, social justice advocate Bryan Stevenson and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates. The program series will feature several nationally known thought leaders discussing issues surrounding race and social justice in the Charleston area and throughout the nation.
“First, I want to personally thank the citizens of Charleston for this incredible opportunity to serve. It’s a great honor to become Mayor of my hometown — and at the same time humbling and exciting.
“Never before in our city’s history has a mayor taken office at a moment so rich with the promise of a better, brighter future for all our citizens – we must only have the will, and the wisdom, to work together to claim that promise.
Everywhere we look — from West Ashley to James and Johns Islands, from Daniel Island to the Peninsula — we see that promise …
Staff reports | For the first time in 40 years, Charleston will get a new mayor today when businessman John Tecklenburg takes the oath of office at noon. He’ll be replacing 10-term Mayor Joe Riley, who retires today.
The swearing-in ceremony is set for noon today at City Hall, 80 Broad Street, in Charleston. Nearby roads will be blocked to traffic as hundreds are expected to fill streets to watch the transfer of power. After a reception in Washington Square, Tecklenburg is expected to sign an ethics pledge he made during his campaign, meet with senior city department heads and get to work to build efforts to push completion of Interstate 526.
Staff reports | Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will deliver a keynote address 3 p.m. Sunday during the 44th annual Martin Luther King Tri-County Ecumenical Service, which will be at Morris Street Baptist Church, 25 Morris Street, in Charleston. It’s one of several events scheduled through Jan. 19 in South Carolina’s largest annual tribute to King, an event coordinated by the YWCA of Charleston. Also in Good News: Legislature to convene; Discounts at Magnolia; Festival of Lights is nation’s third-best.
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