Nondenominational Church in North Charleston, SC

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs is set to hold webinars and shred events to encourage cybersecurity, and one will be in North Charleston.

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month and SCDCA will hold three free webinars to help improve cyber safety and online scams.

There are three free events for all consumers to shred sensitive documents.

The shred event is set up as a drive-through if consumers want to shred documents quickly.

They will also hold two webinars to help educate businesses to protect private and confidential information.

Several topics will covered during the months including multi-factor authentication, strong passwords and [asswors managers, updating software and phishing.

Webinars for National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Click the title links below to register for a webinar:

Free Shred Events

SCDCA is partnering with Shred360 to offer the following free events:

People who are attending are encouraged to stay in their vehicles and will be limited to (3) three boxes or (3) three kitchen/trash bags per vehicle.

SCDCA says all webinars and shred events are free to attend. Attendees are encouraged to download the SCDCA’s “Cybersecurity Basics” flyer or request physical copies by filling out the Brochure Order Form.

Follow SCDCA’s Facebook and X accounts for cybersecurity tips throughout October.

Sign up with the link in the Big Red Box for the first cybersecurity webinar Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 10:30 a.m. or click here.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Published: Oct. 2, 2024 at 3:57 AM PDT|

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - City of North Charleston leaders are asking for the public’s voice on more affordable housing in the area.

North Charleston’s 2020 Comprehensive Plan states over 17,000 households spent more than 30% of their income on housing costs in 2017. This means 44% of the city households were cost-burdened.

City leaders will look at a Unified Development Ordinance to combat the need for more affordable housing. This means leaders are reviewing different city codes such as zoning, subdivision regulations and design standards all at once. While codes have been amended over the years, this will be the first time codes are reviewed across the board since their adoption back in 1976.

Adam MacConnell, the project manager for the city, says the plan is to streamline the process for more development for current and future residents. The ordinance finds barriers to affordable housing by looking at topics such as housing cost policies, increasing the supply of homes and transportation locations. MacConnell says this work is just one part of the region’s efforts to get over housing barriers for many.

“A lot of our challenges that we face are regional in nature, housing, transportation, flooding and it’s going to take an all hands on deck approach,” MacConnell says. “That means the city of North Charleston, our neighboring jurisdictions, the counties, the nonprofits sector and the private sector to help solve some of these issues going forward.”

City leaders are looking at the federal Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing grant to get the initiative started. The grant supports communities that have higher demands for accessible housing than what is available. Leaders are applying for one million dollars in funding towards consulting to get the initiative started. That funding requires the input of residents in the area.

Residents are invited to share their comments on where housing is needed. MacConnell says there will be boards, surveys and documents that guests can take part in.

Anyone interested in commenting in person can visit the public hearing at City Hall before the committee of the whole meeting beginning at 5 p.m.

“We’ll be generating those public comments about what they think affordable housing should look like,” MacConnel says. “What we think a zoning code rewrite should incorporate…that looks like not just housing but it looks like transportation, it looks like conservation, it looks like flooding, it looks like safe roadways and so forth.”

Residents can email lalston@northcharleston.org or send mail to Attn: Linda Alston, City of North Charleston, P.O. Box 190016, North Charleston, SC 29416-9016.

Emails will be due by 5 p.m. on Oct. 10. Mailed comments have until Oct. 7 to be considered.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Published: Oct. 1, 2024 at 1:34 PM PDT|

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Roughly 6,000 port workers in the Lowcountry are almost a day through the first strike of its kind since the 1970s, demanding better pay and protections for the job.

Some are describing the roads near Charleston, North Charleston and Mount Pleasant terminals a ghost town for cargo, but the sidewalks are crowded. Port workers are taking shifts of 50 or more to sit on the picket line, waving signs that demand wages and protection against automated industries.

“Whether it’s two days, two weeks, two months. However long it takes we’re in it for the long haul. We’re long overdue,” International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1422 member Marquette Mapp says.

The demands come after negotiations over a Master Contract stalled between the association and the U-S Maritime Alliance. The group was discussing a deal meant to go into effect on October 1, but when the time came, no decision was made.

The union was offering a 77% pay raise over the contract’s six-year life. The alliance had responded by offering 50% and limits of automation from the previous contract.

Many on Columbus Street, Remount Road and Long Point Road are describing this as a generational fight, striking alongside parents and children. Some have under 10 years of experience, others have decades, but all have the same goal.

“If we give in now, in the future, it’ll just snowball,” ILA Local 1771 President Lance McLaughlin says. “We have the majority of containers in the Southeast. Everyone at some point or another, some fashion, relies on the ports.”

When asked about their day-to-day, workers say it’s impossible to compare to any other field.

“You’re on call 24/7, you could wake up as early as five in the morning, and not go to bed until five the next morning. When a shipment calls into the port, we’re duty bound to do what it is to get containers out,” Mapp says.

Throughout the day, the group heard honks, and some rebukes, from passersby. In solidarity, the group plans to stay put until a final decision is made.

The president of the South Carolina Ports Authority released a statement on a strike involving thousands of port workers from Boston to Houston, including Charleston.

Barbara Melvin released this statement Tuesday:

In South Carolina alone, port operations generate an $87 billion economic impact each year and support more than 260,000 jobs, meaning every 1 in 9 SC jobs is tied to port operations. These jobs account for those that work on the ports every day, as well as for thousands of jobs at port-dependent businesses throughout the state. Our port system is critical to thousands of businesses throughout the Southeast and beyond. Manufacturers, automakers, retailers, grocery stores, health care providers, farmers and small businesses all greatly benefit from the skilled services that we jointly provide with our maritime partners. When we move cargo in support of companies and communities, the positive benefits ripple out across our state and region.

The strike began at midnight Tuesday morning after negotiations between the U.S. Maritime Alliance and the International Longshoremen’s Association stalled.

But the union wants a complete ban on automation.

“We just want the community to know that we’ve done our part,” Mapp said. “Just this past weekend, we had over 30 ships to come in the Port of Charleston Thursday night up to Sunday morning. None of them was delayed. All of them was turned back around and headed in their destination in a timely fashion, professionally. People that we call longshoremen did the work and made sure that it was done and in the proper time.”

It wasn’t clear just how far apart both sides are.

Gov. Henry McMaster held a briefing Tuesday afternoon on the state’s efforts to respond and rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

When asked about the strike about 15 hours after it began, he said he anticipates there will be an impact to be felt. But the extent of that impact, he said, would depend on how long the strike lasts.

McMaster said that preparing for a strike or trying to work around it to minimize effects to supply chains involved in storm response is hard to do, especially since this strike extends up and down the east coast.

“It’s been in the news, and people were aware that it was coming—suppliers, shippers,” he said. “We have a lot of logistics that flow from that port, and I’m confident that everyone that is involved with it on either end are aware of it and did whatever they could. But we cannot settle the strike between the carriers and the union.

Experts say immediate needs in the wake of Helene should still be met – but the impact on longer-term necessities is unclear.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.