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Front Row (L to R): Dennis Fassuliotis, Kay Self, Les Brown, John McElligott, and Abdallah Haddad.

Back Row: Brandon Smith, Charles Angel and Matt Wiggins.

VisionGreenwood, an established community partner dedicated to making Greenwood the best place in which to live, work and raise a family, announced the establishment of the Lakelands Emerging Technology Council (LETC).

Comprised of a group of local leaders, officials said the LETC will provide guidance and expertise for addressing the emerging, evolving, and exponential technologies that will bring opportunities to the Lakelands region. 

The mission of the LETC, the officials said, is to drive technological initiatives that will allow the Lakelands region to thrive in an uncertain and rapidly changing future.

Additionally, the LETC believes that every industry must embrace new and emerging technologies to support a prosperous Lakelands community.

The officials said the LETC unites the region's leaders and empowers businesses, stakeholders, entrepreneurs and community members to achieve the future vision and strategic goals of the region. 

"Recognizing that technology is ever-changing, the newly established Lakelands Emerging Technology Council will help connect, advise and advocate for technological advancements in the Lakelands region. This will be especially beneficial to our rural communities as we lay the framework for future success,” said Kay Self, executive director for VisionGreenwood. 

The Lakelands Emerging Technology Council, which has met twice, will continue to collaborate on a regular basis.

LETC members include: 

Brandon Smith, Mayor of Greenwood and Chairman, VisionGreenwood 

Kay Self, Executive Director, VisionGreenwood 

Charles Angel, President, Due West Robotics & Software Developer for Greenwood Genetic Center

Les Brown, M.Ed., Director of Information Technology, Self Regional Healthcare 

Dennis Fassuliotis, South Carolina Blockchain, Inc. 

Abdallah Haddad, Chief Information & Technology Officer, Lander University 

John R. McElligott, CEO, York Exponential 

Matt Wiggins, Dean – Workforce Innovation Division, Piedmont Technical College. 

VisionGreenwood is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with deep roots in the Greenwood community.

Throughout the past 20 years, VisionGreenwood (formerly known as the Foundation for a Greater Greenwood County, Inc.) has invested over $2.9 million into the community by supporting collaborative community development initiatives that provide economic prosperity and enhance the growth and success of Greenwood.

The foundation originally was created to support the former Greenwood Partnership Alliance's charitable operations with a focus on community and workforce development.

The foundation became a stand-alone organization in 2020 and was rebranded as VisionGreenwood in 2021.

Learn more at www.visiongreenwood.org.

Customers looking to get an early start to their summer 2023 vacation planning will find that Delta is expanding its service across the trans-Atlantic, with 8 percent more available seats than summer 2022.

The airline will offer new or resumed flights to destinations including London-Heathrow, Paris, Geneva, Stuttgart and Berlin.

To bolster Delta’s No. 1 domestic position in New York City, the airline will deliver its largest trans-Atlantic schedule ever from JFK next summer by offering more than 220 weekly departures to 26 destinations, including new daily service to:  

Geneva beginning on April 10 (flying for the first time since 1993).  

London-Gatwick beginning on April 10.  

Resumption of daily service to Berlin on May 25. 

Additionally, Delta will add a third seasonal flight to Rome beginning May 25, operating daily. 

JFK is undergoing a $1.5 billion transformation as part of Delta’s decade-long $12 billion investment in U.S. airport infrastructure.

The expansion will include a new Delta Sky Club on the A Concourse of Terminal 4 as well as a Delta One Club featuring a dedicated level of service that further elevates the lounge experience.

Once complete in early 2024, all Delta operations will be consolidated into one terminal.  

Atlanta 

With approximately 800 peak-day flights, Delta is the largest international carrier in Atlanta, where the hub also serves as the largest global connector.

Next summer, the airline will add 11 weekly flights to three trans-Atlantic destinations including: 

Three-times-weekly service to Dusseldorf beginning on May 9 (restarting the route post-pandemic). 

Five-times-weekly seasonal service to Edinburgh beginning on May 25 (a route not operated since 2007).  

Resumption of three-times weekly service to Stuttgart beginning on March 26. 

Los Angeles 

As LAX’s largest global airline, Delta prides itself on providing Angelenos with global access by flying to places like Tahiti.

Summer 2023 will build on that by relaunching service to cities that haven't been serviced in years including adding daily service to:   

Paris beginning on May 8 (restarting the route post-pandemic). 

London-Heathrow beginning on March 25 (a route not operated since 2015). 

Most Americans, especially those with more income and education, are more concerned about mental health than challenges over the economy, the political environment or Covid-19.

A surprising percentage of employees are ready to quit their jobs and start a business, and budget cutting due to the economy is reducing financial support for charity, friends and family only half as much as household spending.

Those are some of the findings of the recently released 2022 Aflac Risk Survey of 1,644 American adults.

A leading provider of supplemental health insurance in the U.S., the $22 billion supplemental insurance company annually surveys Americans on matters of topical importance. 

Other findings from this year's survey include:

Nearly 90 percent of Americans list proactively managing risks to mental health as a priority compared to 80 percent who are concerned about the state of the U.S. economy, 61 percent who are concerned about the effects of politics on their household, and 54 percent who are concerned about the impact of Covid-19.

About 57 percent of Americans with incomes over $150,000 reported that "proactively managing risks to your and your family's mental health" has grown in importance over the last couple of years versus only 40 percent with incomes of $35,000 and under, pointing to a potential mental health equity gap.

Nearly 1 in 6 Americans are somewhat or very likely to quit their jobs and start a business, including more than half of self-reported "absolute risk-takers."

For those whose likelihood of starting their own business has changed in the past couple of years, more than 4 in 10 are more likely to do so, meaning that while people want to work, they don't necessarily want to work for another company.

While 9 out of 10 of those making changes in household budgets are cutting their own spending, less than half are reducing the support they provide to friends, families and charitable causes they care most about.

In 2022, Aflac added mental health components to several products in response to a growing need for access to emotional and mental stress mitigation tools.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, 21 percent, or nearly 53 million U.S. adults, experienced mental illness in 2020, and 46 percent of adults with mental illness received treatment.

Serious mental illness causes $193.2 billion in lost earnings each year, according to the alliance.

The 2022 Aflac Risk Survey was conducted online July 8-9, 2022, among 1,644 American adults age 18 and older.

Completed interviews were weighted by age, sex and geographic region to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the total U.S. adult population.

Complete survey results are available at https://surveyresults.aflac.com/.

Service sector activity in the Fifth District, which includes South Carolina, improved modestly in September, according to the most recent survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

The revenues and demand indexes increased notably after being negative in July and August.

Furthermore, optimism that revenues and demand will improve over the next six months continued to increase in September, with both expectations indexes moving further into positive territory.

The indexes for capital and equipment and software expenditures edged up slightly, while the index for services expenditures decreased mildly.

Firms' assessments of local business conditions continued to improve from August and firms were less pessimistic about future business conditions.

A slightly larger share of firms reported increased hiring in September, but their ability to find workers with the necessary skills deteriorated.

Firms were split on the issue of labor availability over the next six months and expect elevated wages to persist. On the other hand, growth in prices paid and prices received decreased in September.