Business

Miami flights to double up

Personal trainer Lois Newberry's four-day visit to Miami for a fitness competition got off on the right foot. The South Windermere resident felt she scored a great deal on the airfare, paying $215 for the round-trip ticket within a week of her departure. Read More

Ullman: Why the recession is good

Chief says chain will appeal to now frugal consumers

NEW YORK -- This holiday season, J.C. Penney chairman and chief executive officer Myron E. Ullman III is armed with a lineup of exclusive fashion brands he helped bring to the department store chain, and he's ready to battle key rivals such as Macy's. Read More

Foreclosures: Lost jobs adding to tally

Even people with good credit starting to default

WASHINGTON -- The foreclosure crisis likely will persist well into next year as high unemployment pushes more people out of homes, pulls down housing prices and raises concerns about the broader economic recovery. Read More

Foul weather rains on Nestle's pumpkin harvest this year

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The holidays might not be so sweet this year. Nestle, which sells nearly all of the canned pumpkin in the United States, says poor weather hurt its harvest, creating a potential shortage of its Libby's pumpkin pie products through the holidays. Read More

Business Briefs

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A Few Minutes With ... Billy Conyers

Car veteran heads new Hoover Pre-Owned Supercenter west of the Ashley

Customers this Halloween didn’t spirit away vehicles from the used car outlet at 2250 Savannah Highway, but they came close. Try autos for $5. A marketing move, Hoover Pre-Owned Supercenter attracted large crowds to the Oct. 31 event, where four motorists got the deals of a lifetime. Yet the dealership had another reason for the promotion: it’s a tough economy in the Charleston area and elsewhere, and this was a way for an established family-run business to lend a hand. Read More

Car Talk

How to avoid major auto offense – clutch homicide

Q. A friend of mine at work and I have a disagreement regarding using the clutch on a standard-shift car. He says that keeping the clutch pressed in will wear out the throw-out bearing, and I say it won’t. Read More

SC jobless rate eclipses 12 percent

South Carolina's jobless rate climbed nearly half a point in October to a record-tying 12.1 percent, as the number of out-of-work residents rose by more than 9,700, the state Employment Security Commission said today. Read More

Boeing 787 could take test flight Dec. 22

A news service is reporting that Boeing Co. is planning to take its long-delayed 787 Dreamliner passenger jet on its inaugural test flight around Dec. 22. Read More

Boeing a last-minute council topic

Lawyer says agenda update violated Freedom of Information Act

Eager elected officials statewide have acted with lightning speed to please Boeing Co., but Charleston County Council may have breached a threshold of transparency when it took up the company's economic incentive package this week. Read More

SPA hires firm to sell tract

Daniel Island property had been eyed for 'Global Gateway' terminal

The State Ports Authority has hired a Columbia real estate firm to help it sell nearly 500 acres on Daniel Island that the agency once planned to develop into a major shipping terminal. Read More

Former chairman Stern regains post

The S.C. State Ports Authority board has unanimously elected Bill Stern to succeed outgoing chairman David Posek of Greenville for a two-year term that begins in January. Stern has been with the SPA board since 2002. He is owner and president of Columbia-based Stern & Stern and Associ... Read More

Home-building industry holding back recovery

It will take a while'

WASHINGTON -- The budding economic recovery isn't getting much help from the home-building industry, which normally creates jobs and drives growth when a recession ends. Read More

Clothing store hanging around for a while

Goga women's clothing store at 377 King St., which was slated to close last weekend, will be open a bit longer. The shop, owned by former "Project Runway" reality show contestant Gordana Gehlhausen, received a late shipment of clothing on Monday. Read More

Business Briefs