Mortgage Broker in North Charleston, SC

A large employer in North Charleston will close this summer.

WestRock Co. will permanently cease operating its paper mill in North Charleston on Aug. 31, according to a news release from the company.

The North Charleston mill produces containerboard, uncoated kraft paper (KraftPak), and unbleached saturating kraft paper (DuraSorb), with a combined annual capacity of 550,000 tons, according to the news release.

WestRock is committed to improving its return on invested capital as well as maximizing the performance of its assets, the release stated. The combination of high operating costs and the need for significant capital investment were the determining factors in the decision to cease operations at the mill.

“WestRock and its predecessor companies have had a long history in the region operating the North Charleston mill, and the contributions of the team members over the years have been greatly appreciated,” said WestRock CEO David B. Sewell in the release. “The decision to close a facility and impact the lives of our team members is never easy, and we are committed to assisting our North Charleston team with exploring roles at other WestRock locations and outplacement assistance.”

Containerboard and uncoated kraft currently produced at the mill will be manufactured at other WestRock facilities, the release stated. The company intends to exit the unbleached saturating kraft paper business when the mill shutdown is completed.

WestRock has other South Carolina facilities in Greer, Spartanburg and Florence.

The North Charleston mill employs approximately 500 people, according to the release. Employees will receive severance and outplacement assistance in accordance with WestRock policy and labor union agreements, the release stated.

In a separate release, Ingevity Corp. said that operations at the company’s North Charleston plant will continue as normal with the closure of WestRock.

The two companies will work together to transition limited shared services ahead of closure of the WestRock facility, according to the release. The companies share a common history, but Ingevity has operated as a stand-alone public company since May 2016.

“While we anticipate some cost with the transition of shared services, we expect minimal disruption to our operations,” said Ingevity president and CEO John Fortson in the release. “Our primary focus as WestRock exits their plant site is to ensure safe operations and continue to meet the needs of our customers.”

WestRock’s plant closure does not impact Ingevity’s recently announced long-term supply agreement for crude tall oil with WestRock, according to the release.

WestRock has more than 58,000 employees in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Reach Jason at 864-568-7570.

A limited number of tickets will be available at $25 each.

THE BOOK OF MORMON, winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical has announced a lottery ticket policy in North Charleston playing at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center May 5-7. A limited number of tickets will be available at $25 each.

The wildly popular lottery for the Broadway production has attracted as many as 800 entries at some performances. The producers of THE BOOK OF MORMON are pleased to offer low-priced lottery seats for every city on the National Tour.

HOW TO ENTER THE DIGITAL LOTTERY

Between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. the day before your desired performance, visit https://lottery.broadwaydirect.com/show/bom-nc/

Fans who have been selected will be notified daily via email and can then purchase up to two (2) tickets at $25 each. The ticket lottery will continue on a rolling basis for every performance in the engagement.

THE BOOK OF MORMON features book, music and lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone. The Broadway production is directed by Parker and Casey Nicholaw, and choreographed by Nicholaw. The tour is directed and choreographed by Jennifer Werner based on the original Broadway direction and choreography. Set design is by three-time Tony Award winner Scott Pask, costume design is by Tony Award winner Ann Roth, lighting design is by five-time Tony Award winner Brian MacDevitt, sound design is by two-time Tony Award winner Brian Ronan, and hair design is by Josh Marquette. Orchestrations are by Tony Award winner Larry Hochman and two-time Tony Award winner Stephen Oremus. Music supervision and vocal arrangements are by Stephen Oremus. Casting is by Carrie Gardner.

THE BOOK OF MORMON is the winner of nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score (Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, Matt Stone), Best Book (Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, Matt Stone), Best Direction (Casey Nicholaw, Trey Parker), Best Featured Actress (Nikki M. James), Best Scenic Design (Scott Pask), Best Lighting Design (Brian MacDevitt), Best Sound Design (Brian Ronan) and Best Orchestrations (Larry Hochman, Stephen Oremus); the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical; five Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical; the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album; four Outer Critics Circle Awards, including Best Musical; and the Drama League Award for Best Musical.

The Original Broadway Cast Recording for THE BOOK OF MORMON, winner of the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, is available on Ghostlight Records.

NETworks Presentations (Producer) is an industry-leading producer of touring theatrical productions, committed to delivering quality entertainment to audiences worldwide for more than 25 years. www.networkstours.com

South Carolina ranks high on a new report from a national site selection firm for areas poised to attract new manufacturing investment and jobs in the growing electric vehicle supply equipment industry.

The report, from Boca Raton-based The Boyd Co., compares annual operating costs for a typical EVSE manufacturing plant in 30 cities across the country, with North Charleston ranking No. 1 in the U.S. East.

North Charleston costs are a low $45.7 million per year in a hot industrial real estate market, according to the report, which cited the recent $3.5 billion investment from Nevada-based Redwood Materials for its plant in Ridgeville, which will bring 1,500 jobs, and Volvo rolling out production later this year of its all-electric SUV, the EX90, which will create 1,300 jobs at its Ridgeville plant.

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But John Boyd, principal at The Boyd Co., said “it’s not just Charleston and the Lowcountry with the compelling labor and infrastructure assets so attractive to the EV industry,” noting BMW’s $1.3 billion investment in the Upstate and Clemson University creating the nation’s first undergraduate degree in automotive engineering, calling it “a statewide phenomenon.”

That momentum is expected to carry forward — and not just in the automotive sector.

“Looking ahead, we fully expect South Carolina to widen its EV industry footprint into the aviation sector which is now beginning to take off given major advancements in battery technology and FAA endorsements,” Boyd said in an email.

Related content: Japanese 'flying car' manufacturer to enter US market with South Carolina HQ

The report divides the 30 cities into three regions: East, South Central and West. Chattanooga, Tenn., ranked No. 1 in the South Central region, while Minden, Nevada, ranked No. 1 in the West.

The Boyd Co. has a long history of site selection work in the state of South Carolina, going back to some of the major economic development wins for the Palmetto State during the governorship of Carole Campbell in the 1980s

Federal incentives fueling EV growth

The report cites federal government incentives for fueling electric vehicle industry growth.

The Biden Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has earmarked $7.5 billion for EV charging and the build out of a national electric vehicle charging network along designated Alternative Fuel Corridors, mostly along the Interstate Highway System, according to the report. Also, the Biden administration has established the NEVI program which provides $5 billion in funding over five years to help states build a coast-to-coast network of qualifying fast chargers.

Currently, many critical electric vehicle components are sourced in Asia and U.S. manufacturers have to import them via a costly and geopolitically risky 50,000-plus mile global supply chain, the report stated. U.S. battery manufacturers alone are estimated to spend more than $150 billion overseas on key inputs by 2030.

NEVI funding is designed to mitigate these EV supply chain risks and cost penalties and be sync with the Federal Highway Administration’s Build America, Buy America Act, which is encouraging the reshoring of manufacturing investment from China and elsewhere, the report stated.

South Carolina could be a key player in the years ahead.

“With the phasing out of internal combustion vehicles, union leaders are convinced that they must gain a foothold in the EV industry so that workers making engines and transmissions have a place to go,” Boyd said. “This transition in the labor sector makes Right-to-Work Legislation in states housing our top three EV sector cities — South Carolina, Tennessee and Nevada — that much more important and relevant.”

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD)- Hundreds of people are expected to lose their jobs due to North Charleston’s WestRock paper mill closing down.

“We always hate to see businesses go under,” North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey said.

Summey says it’s especially difficult for businesses like WestRock, which have been around since 1937.

“The location has been part of this community before we were a city,” Summey said.

WestRock employed thousands of people over the years, making paper products for DuraSorb and Kraft Pak.

The company said in a statement the reason for closing is “the combination of high operating costs and the need for significant capital investment.”

Summey said, “It’s changed hands a couple times in the last 7-8 years, so we knew the industry was changing.”

WestRock says they’re giving out severance packages to the 500 people losing their jobs, and employees will have an opportunity to relocate within the company.

Summey says the city is also stepping in to help.

“We just want those folks to know that we will be doing everything we can, working with the chamber, people with the county, looking to see what kind of jobs we can find that’s in the market for them,” Summey said.

Summey says the plant will officially close in three to four months, but they want to make sure everyone has another job before then and it’s going to take all hands on deck.

“It’s an opportunity for the local government, especially for the county and city to come together. We see it as a challenge and we’re going to come up to that challenge to make it work for the people of North Charleston and surrounding communities,” Summey said.

The environmental impact has also been a concern over the years, with pollution being emitted into the air from the paper plant.

Summey says the next company that takes over that location could be a different story.

“Whoever comes in there will be met, I think with more strenuous restrictions than were there when the mill was built over 80 years ago,” Summey said.

There is no word yet on what could take over the location and at this point, he says anything is a possibility.

North Charleston officials have threatened to pull out of Charleston County’s school district and start their own.

That may be a tad extreme, but it’s hard to blame them.

Because, fact is, these days the real extremists are the people in charge of schools — locally and statewide — and it often seems they have absolutely no interest in improving education.

Consider last week’s Charleston County School Board meeting: Faced with a new report that thousands of their students aren’t reading at grade level, and the prospects of losing a city that provides a sizeable chunk of the district’s local revenue, what did board members do?

Debated the urgent need to start their meetings with a prayer. Which, just weeks earlier, parents and local religious leaders had urged them not to do.

Maybe because of Matthew 6:5-6.

North Charleston state Rep. Marvin Pendarvis, who introduced legislation Tuesday to form a separate city school district, says Charleston County’s school board is more focused on culture wars than test scores.

“It’s a dysfunctional board,” Pendarvis says. “There are good people on there, but they are in the minority. Injecting unnecessary politics is affecting the way we educate children. It’s distracting. This new board came in, and the first thing they’re talking about is banning books.”

A fair assessment.

Now, North Charleston isn’t talking about withdrawing from the county school district because the board is obsessed with dog whistles. But when folks inevitably argue schools shouldn’t be run by politicians (and they shouldn’t), there’s Exhibit A that they already are.

North Charleston officials are rightfully upset the city has eight schools on the state’s Orwellian-named “improvement designation” list, and three others that only recently dropped off — and there seems to be no consistent urgency to remedy that.

“It’s no secret that the quality of schools in North Charleston has not been good — the state report card shows that,” Pendarvis says. “Why is there such concentrated under-performance? We don’t see where the district has made North Charleston a priority. If they have, it has not manifested itself. People want to see change, and yes, that takes time. But if your child is of school age now, you don’t have time.”

North Charleston is booming, but city officials fear failing schools could hinder its economic outlook and hamstring its children. As Pendarvis notes, many families choose where they live based on the quality of the schools.

And, as Mayor Keith Summey notes, it doesn’t help that the district showers Mount Pleasant with amenities while the city that finances much of the district has one football stadium for four high schools. Which looks downright discriminatory.

Of course, even if North Charleston could run a better school district, it would still have to deal with radicals at the Statehouse. Republican lawmakers are so determined to unconstitutionally funnel public education money to private and religious schools, they want voters to change the state constitution.

Think about that. Officials charged with educating South Carolina students basically say the schools they control stink … so let’s give the money to private organizations we don’t regulate.

Which is the endgame of decades of talk about vouchers and school “choice.” They claim their motive is to give families of modest means the power to send their kids to the “best” schools. Yeah, right.

Giving $6,000 tuition vouchers to families that earn the state median income, or a little more, is no fix. Because the average private school tuition is close to twice as much, and many of those families likely can’t afford the difference.

So when much of that money goes unused, the Legislature will simply raise the income limits so their wealthy constituents who already send their kids to private schools get a tuition break. Watch.

Neither money nor (especially) the government can cure all of what ails education. Some of it is tied to outside factors, including poverty and family support ... or a lack thereof.

Those are serious problems that even well-meaning public officials struggle to address. Unfortunately, too many of the people controlling education policy today are decidedly unserious people playing Facebook politics with schools.

None of this bodes well for struggling schools. But if state lawmakers get their way, schools that are failing now will end up with even less attention and fewer resources. No wonder North Charleston officials are worried.

“My fear is what we see happen so often — the better students leave, and the ones left behind suffer, and those schools don’t get fixed,” Pendarvis says. “What are we saying to those kids?”

Well, at last week’s meeting, school board members seemed to suggest the best option for those kids is to pray.

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