The thousands of travelers passing through Charleston International Airport every day can now see and hear the sacrifices of the nation’s veterans in a special art exhibit taking place during Labor Day.

The airport partners with CreatiVetsa non-profit organization with offices in Nashville and Chicago, for the exhibition, “From War to Words – A series of Visual Voices portraits by Jason Myers.”

The organization said its mission is to empower injured veterans to heal through the arts and music.

The condensed exhibit is in the baggage claim area and includes both audio and visual elements. The 22-piece collection consists of 11 portraits of injured veterans accompanied by 11 graphic representations of the songs they wrote.

“I hope this portrait project reflects the enormous gratitude I have for these patriots and the countless others who have served our country,” Myers said.

After Labor Day, posting will be given nearby Joint Base Charlestonowner of the Charleston International tracks, to continue to educate and support veterans.

Summer savings

It’s a gentle reminder to kids that summer fun doesn’t last forever, that back to school is just around the corner.

As notebooks and school supplies begin to hit store shelves, the SC Department of Revenue announced last week that its annual report Tax free weekend is in a month. This year, it takes place from August 5 to 7.

For more than two decades, the state set aside the first weekend in August to allow shoppers to save at least 6% on classroom items such as computers, clothing and school supplies during relief. 72 hour sales tax.

Qualifying items can be purchased online and in-store, and local sales taxes are also exempt. For more information, go to dor.sc.gov/taxfreeweekend.

Break dollars

Some elected politicians in northern Alabama really want to keep a direct air link to coastal South Carolina, and they’re willing to dip into public coffers to make that possible.

Huntville City Council recently voted unanimously to pay $10,000 a month to Breeze Airways whether the entry-level low-cost carrier will maintain round-trip flights between its home airport and Charleston International.

The carrier said last month it would end the route on July 31, among other cuts, blaming the move on supply chain issues and crew shortages.

Now Huntsville is trying to convince Breeze to stick to the schedule.

“Huntsville hasn’t had a low-cost airline since 2011, when South West Airlines bought AirTran and canceled its flights to Huntsville, and the city wants a new one,” said the Huntsville Hours The newspaper reported July 1. According to the article, local leaders agreed to monthly payments to Breeze in the hope “the money would keep the fledgling airline long enough to grow and provide better, permanent choices for Huntsville travelers.”

The report says Breeze is to provide two weekly round trips to Charleston and one other destination — a total of 16 flights per month — in exchange for payment. If the airline adds a third destination, it receives an additional $10,000 per month. The deal would be for one year, with an option for a one-year extension.

Breeze didn’t say if he would take Huntsville up on his offer.

Paying for air service is not a new phenomenon, and such agreements have not always been good investments.

About ten years ago, Horry County Council agreed to cover up to $1 million from Canadian airlines WestJetthe expenses of for an ephemeral trip between Toronto and Myrtle Beach International. The county ended up having to pay over $551,000. Before that, Myrtle Beach executives loaned $790,000 to a startup Jet Expresswho ultimately only repaid $20,000 before going bankrupt.

More recently, Charleston County Council committed $500,000 to the market British Airways flights between Charleston and London that ran for parts of 2019 and 2020. Additionally, the CS Commerce Department threw over $1 million to subsidize flights and Charleston International built a $7.6 million kitchen to provide meals for the overseas route.

And Breeze receives financial assistance from an “Air Services Development Fund” that the Charleston County Aviation Authority created last year by charging a new fee to its car rental companies.

EV expansion

The Volvo cars factory near Ridgeville gets subsidized sibling, about 5,000 miles away.

As part of its shift to electrification, the Swedish automaker plans to build a $1.25 billion factory in the eastern Slovakian city of Kosice, the minister for energy said last week. ‘Economy of the Central European country.

This will be Volvo’s third plant on the continent. According to the Associated Press, the automaker will receive around 20% of the capital investment, or about $250 million, “as support from the Slovak government.”

The plant is expected to produce around 250,000 electric cars a year and require 3,300 workers when it opens in 2026. Construction is expected to start next year.

Volvo has set itself the goal of manufacturing only electric vehicles by 2030.

The first electric vehicles are expected to roll off the company’s only U.S. assembly line in South Carolina in 2024, but they won’t carry the distinctive nameplate. Instead, corporate brother The North Star will do battery power Polestar 3 SUV. Volvo and its Chinese parent company, the five-year-old electric car maker, which went public last month.

Take stock

South Carolina-based public companies stood out at the end of the second quarter for a dubious reason: none of them had a gain over the previous three months or over the start of the year.

All 17 stocks were in the red as of June 30, some deeper than others.

For the April-June period, when the S&P500 slipped into bearish territory, the biggest loser was Global Acceptance Society., a Greenville-based short-term consumer loan provider through its Global Finance Its shares, which jumped 141% to $245 in 2021, fell 42% to around $112.

Investors in 3D Systems Corp.. saw the biggest decline since trading began on Jan. 3. The Rock Hill three-dimensional printing technology maker was down 56% year-to-date when the closing bell rang on Thursday.

The first six months of 2022 marked the worst stock market start since 1970.