5/17 NEWSBREAK: Manufacturing flexes muscle in Lowcountry

Hundreds of people joined an immersive Volvo career fair Tuesday afternoon as the Ridgeville plant looks to hire 1,300 new staff members to help build its fully electric EX90 SUV line. The event marked the first time that potential candidates were invited to the facility for a chance to see firsthand where they might be working.

Attendees were able to speak directly with Volvo car ambassadors, practice manufacturing skills with interactive games, learn about the products manufactured on-site and more.

Volvo plans to begin hiring new employees this summer. Officials said production of the Volvo EX90 will begin in the first half of 2024. Multi-craft maintenance technicians would start at $30 an hour with a $25,000 sign on bonus. Team members start at $18.50 per hour and training is free.

Meanwhile, Boeing is moving all 787 Dreamliners that require maintenance or repair to the West Coast to free up space at the North Charleston plant to build more new wide-body jets. Planes being repaired were found to have paper-thin gaps in their fuselage sections two years ago, halting deliveries for about 15 months while the manufacturing company worked with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to clear a backlog of 592 unfilled orders for Dreamliners.

Half of the North Charleston factory floor was devoted to repairs, but the plant in Everett, Washington, is set to take over all of the work in the next few months to let assembly campuses like the one in North Charleston to focus on raising production of new Dreamliners to five per month. Boeing expects to finish the joint verification work with the FAA sometime in 2024.

In other headlines:

CP NEWS: Preserving the history of a changing community. College of Charleston graduate Riley Conover doubted whether she had the skills to conduct oral histories of longtime residents of the Cainhoy Peninsula and Daniel Island where ongoing residential and commercial development is rapidly changing the communities.

Murdaugh looking to rescind confession on housekeeper’s death. Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh is looking to rescind his admission that he lied about the circumstances surrounding his housekeeper’s fatal fall.

S.C. House passes bill to eliminate admissions tax on golf dues. South Carolina golfers could begin to see less of a charge on their monthly or annual dues to their local golf course.

S.C. abortion debate halted in early morning by broken computer resumes today. After nearly 13 hours on the so-called “fetal heartbeat bill,” the House reading clerk’s computer stopped working, paralyzing the chamber. The debate is set to resume later in the morning. S.C. Democrats have filed roughly 1,000 amendments on the bill.

Summerville development to get new restaurants, businesses. A large housing development on the edge of Summerville is set to get several new commercial tenants, including a pizza kitchen, a frose cafe, a yoga studio and more.

Lowcountry is a ‘wild west’ on blue crab fishing. Crabbers want change. South Carolina has precious few regulations when it comes to crab fishing, making it a ‘wild west’ where anything goes, and crabbers are tired of it.

North Charleston mayoral candidates speak on goals for city during forum. North Charleston mayoral hopefuls John Singletary and Reggie Burgess were the only two candidates out of nearly a dozen to address the community directly at a forum at New Hope Baptist Church.

Charleston Moves holding Ride of Silence for traffic violence victims. Charleston Moves is honoring those who have been killed while biking or walking on roadways due to traffic violence with a silent ride on Wednesday night.

What happens to confiscated guns in Charleston County? Some states require law enforcement departments to sell guns recovered at crime scenes or confiscated elsewhere. Charleston and North Charleston departments say the goal is to get them off the streets, whoever, not add to them.