CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A group of North Charleston employees that includes several veteran first responders is suing the city over its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The lawsuit alleges that “the mayor’s COVID vaccine mandate violates the South Carolina constitution, South Carolina Common Law and The United States Constitution.”

The mandate in question was the executive order North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey issued Sept. 1. The suit says the order tried to impose a mandatory vaccine requirement on all city employees, volunteers, and interns, whether working on a full or part time schedule. They allege all employees are required to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 5.

The employees filing the lawsuit say they want a judge to prevent the enforcement of the Summey order. The suit alleges the mandate violates the employees’ rights and responsibilities to make medical decisions for themselves under the Constitution of the State of South Carolina, South Carolina common law, and the Constitution of the United States.

Specifically the lawsuit says the mandate conflicts with the South Carolina Constitution’s guarantee of free expression and violates the South Carolina’s Home Rule Act.

The suit also alleges the mandate violates DHEC’s General Supervision of Vaccination, Screening, and Immunization, and conflicts with the United States Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.

In the suit, the city employees say they want to exercise control over their own medical treatment and are being forced to choose between their rights, privileges, and liberties as citizens on the one hand and their employment, careers, and financial futures on the other.

Of the 14 employees suing the city, some include a 15-year veteran master patrol officer, a 21-year veteran undercover officer and an active shooter specialist with 13 years experience with the NCPD and four years experience with the fire department.

On Monday afternoon the city of North Charleston released the following statement in response to the lawsuit:

“Public safety and health are highest level concerns for the City just as they should be for us all. We appreciate how many of our citizens, employees, and sister governments are putting the well-being of the community first via vaccination. Because we realize that this view may not be universally held, we look forward to using this opportunity to resolve the debate quickly and with finality so that we may all benefit from getting the pandemic behind us sooner.”

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NORTH CHARLESTON — A large mixed-use development valued at more than $100 million will bring a slew of new construction projects to the Centre Pointe area near Tanger Outlets.

The area has been a magnet for retailers, hotels and dining establishments since it opened nearly 20 years ago, and plans presented to state environmental regulators show hundreds of thousands of square feet in new buildings along International and Tanger Outlet boulevards where land clearing is underway for a new Topgolf center that was announced earlier this year.

The Uptown North Charleston development includes plans for a 175-room hotel, a 100-room hotel, 300-unit apartment building, three-level parking deck with 483 spaces next to Topgolf and five-story office building of 110,000 square feet.

Also planned are a 2,400-square-foot coffee emporium, three restaurants and four small retail sites.

A proposed 32,000-square-foot bowling venue has been scrapped and a second parking garage with more than 500 spaces that would be owned by the city is being considered for the site along International Boulevard, according to Lenn Jewel of the development firm RealtyLink.

Two smaller parcels west of Centre Pointe Drive at International Boulevard are set aside for other developments. They include apartments for corporate clients called Waterwalk and a retail facility.

Jewel valued the entire project at more than $100 million with different venues taking shape over the next few years.

Nearly 30 acres of the proposed project includes wetlands between Tanger Outlets and McCall Center, a retail site at International and Tanger Outlet boulevards that abuts the planned Uptown project.

Developers received approval last year from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fill the site and offset the loss by acquiring 780 acres in Berkeley and Dorchester counties for remediation. A land-preservation easement with the Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust was finalized in May.

The Coastal Conservation League endorsed Uptown a few years ago as the project focused on an urban infill site rather than new “greenfield” development.

As part of the project, the city is poised to approve a special district for the site by the end of September that would direct half of the increased tax revenue from the completed development to help pay for roadwork, infrastructure and the planned garage. The rest of the money would go to Charleston County School District.

The city is not committed to the parking deck yet, but it is exploring the idea, Mayor Keith Summey said.

North Charleston also is exploring the idea of adding a second garage with 2,000 spaces near its coliseum and convention center complex by using Uptown’s tax revenues.

“It’s just too valuable a property to have asphalt on it,” Summey said.

At the Uptown site, vertical construction on the new Topgolf facility will begin in January, Jewel said. It’s scheduled to be completed in December 2022.

Work on restaurants, a hotel and apartments, some of which could open as early as 2023, will be underway next year as well.

“All of that stuff will be under construction, but it all won’t open at the same time,” Jewel said.

RealtyLink has been working on the Centre Pointe site for the better part of two decades. It includes Walmart, Sam’s Club, Tanger Outlets and numerous restaurants and retailers.

“We have a lot of retail out here,” Jewel said. “What we don’t have here is a lot of rooftops. We are creating this entertainment district tied to the coliseum and convention center.”

The developer’s aim is to create gathering places for people to attend before and after events at the two venues across International Boulevard and to offer amenities for the apartment renters.

“It would serve clientele that are here for happy hour and dinner after work or a place where you could tailgate before a hockey game or get a drink or a bite to eat later,” Jewel said.

Both Jewel and Summey expect the Topgolf attraction to be a major draw for the development. Summey said he was impressed when he visited the company’s existing facility in Myrtle Beach.

“It’s a very busy place,” he said. “It’s something that caters to all people.”

Jewel said the Uptown project is more vertical and dense than existing nearby development and some of it will be upscale.

“It will look more urban and more downtown,” he said.

Summey called the new development “a huge plus” for the city.

“It’s tax money for the future, and we are developing what we can and keeping it centralized by adding new life to what is already there,” the mayor said.

One part of the project that had been on the drawing boards for several years is no longer there.

A proposal to put a pedestrian bridge across International Boulevard has been axed because the ramps would have cut into the parking lot.

“It didn’t fit in a practical manner,” Jewel said. “It raised more concerns than it solved.”

In its place, a planned new intersection with traffic lights will be built.

A new street called Veras Way will intersect with International west of McCall Center while a second new street called Topgolf Way will begin off Centre Pointe Drive and end at Tanger Outlet Boulevard between McCall Center and a new parking deck next to Topgolf.

In late 2020, Ingevity Corp. found itself on the losing end of a legal ruling over one of its patents.

The immediate reaction from a senior executive was to battle on, saying in a statement that “put simply, we want our day in court.”

The North Charleston-based chemical manufacturer’s wish came true this month. And it lost again in a decision that could cost it almost $85 million.

Ingevity is one of the few major publicly traded companies left standing in South Carolina. It was hatched decades ago within the research labs of what is now the WestRock paper mill along the Cooper River to create chemicals from pine trees and other forest products.

The fast-growing business was spun off in 2016, when it listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. Ingevity now employs about 1,850 workers at 25 locations worldwide and pulled down $1.22 billion in sales last year.

This month’s legal showdown pitted the O’Hear Avenue company against German rival BASF Corp. The venue was a federal courtroom in Wilmington, Del., widely viewed as the nation’s business-litigation capital.

The dispute between the companies emerged several years ago, after BASF began encroaching on Ingevity’s turf. It centers on an arcane piece of automotive technology — small canisters that capture gasoline fumes as they evaporate and return them to the engine as fuel.

Ingevity fired the first legal salvo. In a 2018 lawsuit, it alleged BASF was infringing on a patent tied to the absorbent “honeycomb scrubbers” stuffed inside the vapor canisters.

BASF, which was developing a competing emissions-control product, shot back. In a 2019 counter-complaint, it argued that Ingevity’s patent was invalid and accused the U.S. company of amassing a monopoly by requiring canister makers to only buy its scrubbers.

BASF went on to say that demand for its “superior” and “less expensive” alternative had been “stymied” by anticompetitive practices, alleging that “fears of ... coercion” from the dominant global supplier had scared off prospective customers.

“Ingevity’s conduct has foreclosed BASF from selling its ... honeycomb scrubber, resulting in lost sales and profits,” according to the countersuit.

The litigation took a turn in November, when U.S. District Judge Richard Andrews ruled that the relevant elements of the Ingevity patent were invalid.

The trial that started Sept. 8 focused on BASF’s claims.

In arguing for a dismissal, Ingevity denied that it was trying to stifle competition. It said in a court filing that it “has acted lawfully and properly in enforcing its patent rights.”

Also, the company maintained that it’s allowed under U.S. patent law and a Supreme Court ruling to control the market because scrubbers are considered “nonstaple” goods essential only to a specific invention — the canisters in this instance.

The back and forth went on for a week.

In the end, the jurors didn’t buy what Ingevity was selling. They concluded the company had monopolized the market and delivered a nearly $28.3 million in financial damages to BASF on Wednesday.

Under federal antitrust law, the award will be tripled automatically to about $85 million.

In a statement to the news service Reuters, a BASF lawyer said the company was “pleased that the jury reached the correct result and recognized the wrongdoing by Ingevity.”

The North Charleston company said in a written statement it doesn’t expect the outcome of the case to have “an immediate impact” on its scrubber business and that it “is not aware of a competing certified or tested honeycomb that could replace” its product in the short term.

It also refused to send up the white flag. Ingevity said it plans to challenge the verdict, citing “the strength of its intellectual property,” and seek another day in court.

A North Charleston man will be competing on national television for the heart of elementary school teacher and former finalist of “The Bachelor” Michelle Young on the upcoming season of “The Bachelorette.”

Alec, 29, is an engineer from North Charleston who will join 29 other men on Season 18 of the ABC program. None of the bachelors are identified by their last names in a series of bios posted by the show on Sept. 27.

On fan site Bachelor Nation, he’s been identified as Alec Barrett Thompson. Thompson’s Instagram page confirms with a Sept. 27 photo of his bio picture with the caption “Hereeeee we go.”

According to ABC representatives, contestants aren’t available for press interviews until they have been eliminated from the show, or until the season ends if they are a finalist.

Alec’s bio reads:

“Alec lives to make the most out of every day. After his first marriage ended, Alec learned a lot about the value of commitment and what it takes to truly make love last, so he is not here to waste anyone’s time. He is dependable, emotionally intelligent and values integrity above all else. Alec is hoping to find a woman who appreciates how much his career means to him but will also make him want to be sentimental and bring out the fun side of him. He is true a believer in that old-school, head-over-heels unconditional type of love and is ready to find that with the beautiful Michelle.”

His fun facts include that he loves to read GQ Magazine, doesn’t think bowling makes for a romantic night out and his favorite thing to eat for breakfast is cottage cheese.

His Instagram page also mentions he was a former football player and model for Select Model Atlanta.

“The Bachelorette” was casting eligible bachelors in the Lowcountry in December 2018.

At that time, talent scout Alyx Anne Wilson told The Post and Courier she was eyeing Charleston for potential recruits.

“I’m looking in Charleston specifically just because (the show) hasn’t had a recruiter in this area,” Wilson says. “I pitched the idea since I think we have some great guys.”

The new season of “The Bachelorette” will premiere on Oct. 17.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCIV) — The South Carolina Department of Transportation Monday launched a public information meeting online for the I-526 Lowcountry Corridor (I-526 LCC) EAST Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL).

The meeting will be available through December 1 and can be found on the 526 Lowcountry Corridor website.

The corridor extends from Virginia Avenue in North Charleston to approximately U.S. Highway 17 in Mount Pleasant, which includes the Don Holt Bridge and James B. Edwards Bridge. It is one of South Carolina's most congested interstate corridors.

The study aims to improve travel time reliability and reduce congestion along the corridor.

“This public information meeting represents a valuable opportunity to receive public input on the potential solutions we are presenting” said SCDOT Project Manager Joy Riley. “With the amount of congestion along this corridor now, further compounded by the current trend of regional growth, it is now more important than ever to find effective solutions.”

Two in-person public information meetings are also planned, to give residents the chance to review study materials and discuss the project with staff. The in-person meetings will include the same materials in the online meeting, in both English and Spanish.

Project staff hope the meetings share how public input has been used to inform the concepts development and screening process, ask for input on the Reasonable Alternatives, outline the next steps in the project development process, and gather information on historic or cultural resources and any potential impacts.

Those open house meetings are scheduled for:

Temperature checks will be performed at all meetings and anyone with a temperature of over 100.4 will not be allowed to enter. The City of North Charleston currently requires masks inside their buildings. Masks are highly encouraged when not required, SCDOT said.

Comments may be submitted on the project website, by email to info@526LowcountryCorridor.com, by mail (Attn. Joy Riley, SC Department of Transportation, Post Office Box 191, 955 Park Street, Columbia, SC 29202-0191), or by calling the project hotline (843.258.1135). Comments must be postmarked or submitted electronically by December 1, 2021.

SCDOT said this study will be used as a vision for the corridor to guide future transportation improvement projects. Results of the PEL study will be carried forward into the next phase of the project development process, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process.