roofer in Charleston, SC

Breeze Airway‘s newest flight out of Charleston will land in Manchester, N.H., two months from now, but those unfamiliar might be wondering: Why fly to the Granite State?

The land of “Live Free or Die” is known for its abundance of outdoor recreational parks, ski hills and historic mill towns that are remnants of the massive industries that its communities were once built around.

The city of Manchester is about a 20-minute drive from the capitol of Concord. It’s also 40 minutes from the coastal city of Portsmouth, an hour from Boston, two hours from the White Mountains of New Hampshire, two hours from neighboring Vermont and four hours to the Canadian border.

Manchester is the state’s largest city by population, with 115,037 residents, according to U.S. Census data.

Manchester, like other cities and towns in New England, has a storied industrial past. Many buildings along the Merrimack River are old mills that have been converted into mixed-use commercial and residential spaces.

The area is home to attractions like the 115-store Mall of New Hampshire, the Currier Museum of Art, the Zimmerman House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Manchester Millyard Museum, and others.

It’s not just about what the destination can offer, though. Tom Doxey, the Utah-based carrier’s president, said during a recent visit to Charleston that the Holy City is key to opening up other underserved markets as connection points. Many of the new areas serviced are also where some Lowcountry newcomers previously resided, he said.

Elliott Summey, executive director and CEO of Charleston International, said these destinations not only bring in new visitors but give locals a new escape and offer the region’s newest residents with ties to these areas a route back to their former hometowns to visit family and friends.

More broadly, recent expansion announcements from carriers serving CHS will connect the region with more major hub airports, especially those with international terminals.

“Having access to airports like Los Angeles or Toronto means that it’s easier to make a trip to Asia or Europe,” Summey said. “That’s why we’ve been so bullish about bringing British Airways back one day because Heathrow is a gateway airport to anywhere. Being connected to other airports connects us to the world.”

Summey called the upcoming Air Canada flight to Toronto that begins March 28 a “game changer,” and the airport sees an opportunity to hopefully one day expand to Montreal. Charleston International is also eyeing more potential flights to Boston and Philadelphia, he said.

With roughly 40 percent of tourists flying in by plane, they stay longer and tend to spend more on their trip.

Summey also noted that Breeze’s expanded flight schedule and presence in Charleston with a locally based crew has been a “huge deal for us.”

“The other air carriers are sitting up and paying attention to us,” Summey said. “That’s why you see bigger airplanes, increased route frequency and new destinations.”

Back at the BAR

The proposed Kimpton hotel in the upper peninsula’s Morrison Yard is up for another look by the city’s Board of Architectural Review this week.

A decision on the lodging, slated for 860 Morrison Drive, was previously deferred to allow the developer time to refine some of the design elements, especially the side of the building facing the Septima P. Clark Expressway that can be seen in full view coming off of the Ravenel Bridge.

DSM Real Estate Partners wants to build a 12-floor, 250-key hotel beside a four-story mixed-use office space, which is a significant change from its previously approved plans for a hotel and residences.

Plans filed with the city show 16,000 square feet of meeting and banquet areas, a lobby-level market bar and two rooftop restaurants and bars with a pool.

The BAR meets on March 13 at 4:30 p.m. at 2 George St.

Our twice-weekly newsletter features all the business stories shaping Charleston and South Carolina. Get ahead with us - it's free.

Charleston-based musician Noah Jones is perhaps best known for his soulful contributions to Psycodelics, the Lowcountry’s well-loved blues/jazz/disco/funk/rock group. But he has actually been here his whole life, gathering the influences and ideas which spill over into not only the music he plays in three different local bands, but also the projects he makes solo, like, High! All by Myself, Jones’ brand-new album-in-progress slated for release later this year.

Jones told the Charleston City Paper that his early education helped to place him firmly on the musical path, especially his time at Charleston County School of the Arts, where Jones studied from 6th through 12th grade.

“My parents and the music they played for me was a huge influence when I was growing up, particularly Stevie Wonder,” he said. “His music inspired me to start trying to learn piano.”For a while, Jones’ only options for tinkering were the upright piano that he had access to whenever he was visiting his grandparents’ house in Franklinton, N.C. and the low-budget Radio Shack keyboard that he had rescued from his own parents’ attic.

Once he mastered the instrument, however, Jones became an integral member of the scene here in Charleston. Besides his notable role in Psycodelics, Jones is also a driving force in several other popular area acts, including Stop Light Observations and Little Bird.

Jones said that making the rounds and exploring new sounds is just part of the process that keeps him motivated to keep moving forward in the professional sphere. “I’m all about the song,” Jones said. “The genre doesn’t really define the quality to me. What I care about is if, through and through, the songs can speak to someone and mean something to them.”

Now that the in-demand piano man has taken a moment to do his own thing, Jones playfully warns that “people can expect a bit of jumping around stylistically,” with the solo stuff, too.Jones does come clean by disclosing that he’s not really alone in all of this, but rather he is the one leading the charge for his longtime musical allies.

“The funny thing is that the people who are involved are, for the most part, from those other projects of mine,” he said. “So it’s kind of an oxymoron to call this a solo endeavor because I definitely couldn’t accomplish something like this without them.

“Being in South Carolina, I’m truly inspired by my fellow creatives, and I love getting to work with them in a variety of ways,” Jones added. “The premise for High! All by Myself comes from me writing music all the time for other outlets and simply wanting to create a body of work that reflects who I am as an individual.”

Although the new single “Taxes,” which is available on all of the standard streaming services, is currently getting a lot of attention, Jones confirmed that no official live shows are on the books yet to showcase the High! All By Myself material.

“I definitely want to put these songs out into the world and let them exist first, but folks can certainly expect a couple more singles to drop throughout the spring,” Jones said.At this juncture, Jones couldn’t be happier about the state of affairs in his decidedly funky world.

“When you stop trying to compare yourself to others then you start to see how far you’ve actually come. With social media, it’s really easy to get lost in the sauce. Everyone’s doing everything out there. But nobody else can be or do you. So, as long as I’m able to support myself financially by being genuinely me and creating music that is as well, that is success.”

To stay tuned for upcoming releases and concerts, friends and fans can give Jones a follow on Instagram @not_norah_jones_.

Voting is now open in Best of Charleston!

Best of Charleston is back in 2024 with all your favorite categories plus some new options including Best Bar Food, Best Locally Based Cannabis Product, Best Drag Queen, Best Surf Lessons and more.

Help us continue to bring you Best of Charleston every year by donating today.

DANIEL ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - Charleston-based software company Blackbaud remains under fire for a security breach that affected about a third of their clients and opened up more than a million files with sensitive data to hackers.

Nearly four years after the breach, a legal team at least 12 people deep represents clients of Blackbaud who want to file a class action lawsuit against the company for what it calls lax security and handling of the breach.

For days, lawyers hashed out the details in federal court. Certain requirements must be met before filing a class action, and that’s what each side made their case for. Blackbaud hopes to avoid a large lawsuit, and lawyers for the businesses with lost data, made their case that this is too big to ignore with lasting impacts.

Blackbaud is a company that sells software to other companies, which can use it to store information about customers. Blackbaud sells mostly to companies with a focus on social change, including non-profits, animal shelters, health clinics and schools.

Customers at those companies share information with the site. Everything from addresses, emails, credit card information, social security numbers and health information with the promise their data is being protected by Blackbaud software.

But, in May of 2020, Blackbaud said a hacker entered Blackbaud’s server, accessing information for 13,000 companies for three months undetected. Lawyers on behalf of the companies who paid to store this sensitive data with Blackbaud claim Blackbaud is playing down the situation.

Blackbaud discovered the breach in May of 2020 and alerted their customers in July of 2020. Blackbaud’s own investigation showed the breach allowed access to over a million files concerning over 13,000 of Blackbaud’s customer companies.

Lawyers for the victims say Blackbaud had security issues and knew it, making them negligent and responsible for the hack. They point out that Blackbaud had “sticky keys” on since, had no policy for encryption, did not use multi-factor authentication to get into their servers, and no policy for scanning for issues or a plan to fix those holes in the software.

Most of those issues were acknowledged by Blackbaud’s own chief information security officer in 2019. The officer has sent correspondence across the company noting these issues needed to get addressed and said the company was eight to 10 years behind in terms of security.

The company has already settled a lawsuit with attorneys-general for 49 US states for $49.5 million, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson included. Blackbaud has been fined by the FTC and SEC for their lax security as well. Blackbaud faces ongoing litigation from the attorney general of California.

Blackbaud argues that while this breach happened, they appropriately communicated with their business clients about the breach and offered templates to those businesses for how to tell their customers about the breach as well.

Blackbaud does not argue that the breach did not happen but is opposing a class action. They say their services are too diverse and customizable so the companies affected had immensely different impacts that under the law should not be lumped into a class action.

Blackbaud says their software services range from accounting and fundraising to marketing. In that vein, each client company had the opportunity to pick and choose what software they used and what information to input into the software. Some people input names and email addresses only, while others entered social security numbers and health testing data.

Federal Judge Joseph Anderson has the task of deciding whether the victims of the hack should be able to sue the company in one event.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

AUBURN, Ala. – The No. 6 Auburn equestrian team kicked off the final regular season weekend of the year with an 8-0 victory over College of Charleston Friday at the Auburn University Equestrian Center in a jumping seat-only contest.

Two Auburn freshmen secured Most Outstanding Performer honors on the day in Sofia Cady and Molly Segars. Cady won MOP in Flat, while Segars was awarded MOP in Fences.

"Great win today to start the weekend," head coach Jessica Braswell said. "I'm very happy for Sofia (Cady) and Molly (Segars), earning the first MOP of their careers. Even though it was just jumping seat competing, the whole team was in it and are ready for tomorrow."

The Tigers opened the meet with a 4-0 victory in Flat, starting with a 74-66 win from freshman Avery Glynn. Cady, who earned the first start of her career today, followed with a 90 on her ride to beat her opponent by 20 for MOP.

Juniors Sophee Steckbeck and Mary-Grace Segars were each awarded 84s on their rides, winning their points.

Fences followed with another 4-0 showing for the squad. Senior Grace Pearson bested her opponent, 82-77, and Glynn scored an 80 in her win.

In her first career start, the younger Segars scored an 86 to lead all riders on the day and bested her opponent's 79 to win MOP. Her older sister, Mary-Grace, capped the day with an 83-70 win.

Auburn returns to action Saturday, hosting No. 2 Texas A&M in the regular season finale. The meet has been moved to 4 p.m. CT because of weather in the area and will be held at the Auburn University Equestrian Center. The program will recognize its 12 seniors prior to the meet.

#6 AUBURN 8, COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 0 FENCES Grace Pearson (AU) def. Olivia Lonnerman (CC), 82-77 Avery Glynn (AU) def. Cate Hernandez (CC), 80-56 Molly Segars (AU)* def. Carolien Berg (CC), 86-79 Mary-Grace Segars (AU) def. Hailey Pendl (CC), 83-70

FLAT Avery Glynn (AU) def. Hailey Pendl (CC), 74-66 Sofia Cady (AU)* def. Cate Hernandez (CC), 90-70 Sophee Steckbeck (AU) def. Sydney Callagy (CC), 84-58 Mary-Grace Segars (AU) def. Caroline Berg (CC), 84-75

Parades, parties, good luck charms, and all things green can only mean one thing — St. Patrick’s Day. We’ve rounded up 15 events for you to choose from, so you can sham-rock St. Paddy’s Day in the Holy City.

St. Patrick’s Day block party + parade | Saturday, March 9 | 12 p.m. | E. Montague to Virginia Avenue, North CharlestonCharleston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade | Saturday, March 16 | 10 a.m. | King Street, Charleston

St. Patrick’s Day Family Fun Event | Sunday, March 17 | 1-3 p.m. | The Charleston Museum, 360 Meeting St., CharlestonCelebrate St. Paddy’s weekend with the Stingrays | Friday, March 15 + Saturday, March 16 | Times vary | North Charleston Coliseum, 5001 Coliseum Dr., North Charleston

Block Party | Saturday, March 16 | Dunleavy’s Pub, 2213 Middle St., Ste. B, Sullivan’s IslandSt. Patrick’s Day at Bumpa’s | Saturday, March 16 + Sunday, March 17 | Times vary | Bumpa’s, 5 Cumberland St., Charleston St. Patrick’s Day block party | Sunday, March 17 | 3:30 p.m. | Music Farm, 32 Ann St., CharlestonSt. Patrick’s Day at New Realm | Saturday, March 16 | 12 p.m. | New Realm Brewing Co., 880 Island Park Dr., CharlestonTriangle’s Annual St. Patrick’s Day Party | Sunday, March 17 | 2 p.m. | Triangle Char and Bar, 828 Savannah Hwy., CharlestonThe Washout’s Annual St. Patrick’s Day Party | Saturday, March 16 | 8 p.m. | The Washout, 41 Center St., Folly BeachSt Patrick’s Day Street Fair | Saturday, March 16 | 1 p.m. | Share House, 23 Ann St., Charleston

Kiss Me, I’m Irish | Friday, March 15 -Sunday, March 17 | Times vary | $15-$60 | John King Grill & Dueling Piano Bar, 428 King St., CharlestonCharleston Shamrock Stroll | Saturday, March 16 | 4 -11:30 p.m. | $19.99 | Burns Alley Tavern, 354B King St., Charleston

Lowlife Bar

Élevé