Does the IRS owe you money? For some, yes

The Internal Revenue Service said it is looking to find more than 1,000 residents in the Charleston region whose 2007 federal income tax refunds or economic stimulus checks, or both, were returned by the U.S. Postal Service as undeliverable.

The average amount of the stimulus checks statewide is $562, for a total of about $2.5 million. The average amount of unclaimed tax refunds is $879, or $1.3 million in total.

Names of the nearly 6,000 state taxpayers can be searched at www.charleston.net/irsrefunds.

SCE&G gas break

Rates are going down almost 15 percent for natural gas customers of South Carolina Electric and Gas. A home that burns 31 therms of the fuel, the average for November, would pay $48.99 under the new rate, for a savings of $8.48, the company said. Rates are dropping because the price for natural gas has been sliding. Customers who heat their homes with electricity aren't so fortunate: Their rates are poised to rise about 6 percent this winter.

Jobless rate in flux

Statewide unemployment dropped slightly between August and September, but only because discouraged workers gave up looking for jobs, according to the agency that tallies the figures. The unemployment rate fell to 7.3 percent in September from 7.6 percent in August.

Progress in Jasper

An effort between South Carolina and Georgia to build a bi-state container port in Jasper County advanced Wednesday with the hiring of the project management firm of Moffat & Nichol. The joint project office will pay $3.7 million the first year and another $1.66 million if it exercises an option for the second year.

Housing pain spreads

The fallout from the local housing downturn and the global financial crisis is spilling over into areas of the once-thriving commercial real estate market in Charleston, industry experts said. As a result, vacancies have increased at area office buildings, shopping centers, apartments and warehouses, say speakers at a Charleston Trident Association of Realtors conference at Trident Technical College.

Port ruling upheld

The Coastal Conservation League had every right to question the permitting process for the port terminal under construction at the former Navy base, but the group didn't follow the law in exercising that right, an appeals court ruled Thursday.