Moving Company in Columbia

earlier this year shows despite a shaky economy, small business employers have made it a top priority to provide financial protection and health benefits to their employees. The report is based on the findings of a survey conducted by Colonial Life's parent company, Unum.

Experience the interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8691556-unum-colonial-life-small-business/

"While there remains some uncertainty and financial strain for many small employers, benefits, benefits education and worker attraction and engagement remain major priorities," said Richard Shaffer , Senior Vice President of Field and Market Development.

The Small Business Benefits Trend report also found:

And employees agree – the need for these benefits and the financial protection they provide have never been more important. According to a 2020 Workplace Wellness Survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Greenwald & Associates:

Yet, the financial health of a business will invariably affect its ability to offer benefits. And while federal funding provided some relief, 75% of the small employers surveyed said their overall financial health significantly or somewhat impacted the benefits they planned to offer this year.

This data point, coupled with employees' elevated interest and need for financial protection options, has led to the steadily increasing interest in leveraging voluntary benefits as a solution.

Voluntary benefits offer a customizable solution for the specific needs of businesses and their employees. They can provide flexibility to employees – catering to certain stages of life and lifestyles.

These benefits can also provide flexibility to employers by offering various funding options like 100% employee-paid or employer-employee shared funding.

Contact your local benefits representative to learn more about offering voluntary benefits to your employees.

*Unum, parent company to Colonial Life , Employer Survey, 2020. 321 U.S. employers with 250 or fewer employees responded to the survey from November 30 – December 11, 2020 .

ABOUT COLONIAL LIFE

Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company is a market leader in providing financial protection benefits through the workplace, including disability, life, accident, dental, cancer, critical illness and hospital confinement indemnity insurance. The company's benefit services and education, innovative enrollment technology and personal service support more than 90,000 businesses and organizations, representing more than 3.8 million of America's workers and their families. For more information visit www.coloniallife.com or connect with us on Facebook , Twitter and LinkedIn .

View original content: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/small-business-employers-remain-committed-to-employees-through-benefits-301287667.html

SOURCE Colonial Life

After a ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline Co. halted all operations at the Georgia-based pipeline, South Carolina and 16 other states were placed under a “regional emergency declaration” calling for an immediate transport of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to mitigate an impending shortage.

“Such emergency is in response to the unanticipated shutdown of the Colonial pipeline system due to network issues that affect the supply of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined petroleum products throughout the affected states,” the May 9 declaration from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said.

States and territories impacted by Colonial Pipeline’s decision to go offline include Alabama, Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, according to the declaration.

The declaration grants commercial transport fleets bringing fossil fuels to impacted states an exemption from hours-of-service requirements under the Parts 390 through 399 of Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations until June 8 or the “end of the emergency,” according to a news release. The declaration waives a mandated 10-hour break after truck drivers have reached driving limits.

“We continue to evaluate product inventory in storage tanks at our facilities and others along our system and are working with our shippers to move this product to terminals for local delivery,” Colonial Pipeline said in a noon statement today. “Actions taken by the federal government to issue a temporary hours of service exemption for motor carriers and drivers transporting refined products across Colonial’s footprint should help alleviate local supply disruptions.”

The company said that segments of the pipeline have returned online with aid but added that “restoring our network to normal operations is a process that requires the diligent remediation of our systems, and this takes time.”

A few minutes after noon, the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed the ransomware group Darkside was responsible for the attack.

The groups could be linked to a former Soviet republic as it seems to spare Russian, Kazakh and Ukrainian-speaking companies from attacks, according to a report from Reuters. DarkSide’s site on the dark web proports to have cashed in millions from extortion and features a “Hall of Shame” gallery of stolen documents from 80 companies across the U.S. and Europe.

Following the May 7 attack, Colonial Pipeline hired a third-party cybersecurity firm and contacted several federal agencies including the U.S. Department of Energy, which is leading the response, according to the release. As of Sunday at 5 p.m., all four main lines remained offline.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) released their latest information Monday. The numbers reflect data that ended a 24-hour period at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, May 8, 2021.

DHEC has begun releasing the daily COVID-19 case numbers and deaths as totals of confirmed and probable cases. The reasoning behind this decision is the probable COVID cases are positive results from the rapid antigen tests.

We will continue to break down the numbers posted at the DHEC website.

There were 277 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the latest data. A record 6,824 new positive cases were reported on January 8. South Carolina had never seen a day above 4,000 before Christmas Day and had never seen more than 3,000 prior to December 9, 2020.

Today, DHEC announced 413 new cases of COVID-19 (277 confirmed, 136 probable), 4 new deaths (4 confirmed, 0 probable), and a percent positive of 4.0%.

See today's updated COVID-19 and vaccine data at https://t.co/d0PzSPvRgJ.

— SCDHEC (@scdhec) May 10, 2021

According to DHEC, there is a total of 8,448 confirmed deaths since the start of the pandemic, with 4 additional deaths reported in the latest numbers. The highest number of confirmed COVID-19 related deaths reported in a single day was 93, reported on January 15, 2021. There are also 0 probable deaths reported today, for a total of 1,148 probable deaths.

Hospitalizations decline slightly with 341 hospitalizations reported on Monday, with 90 of those patients in intensive care and 52 on ventilators. A single day record of 2,453 hospitalizations was reported January 12, 2021.

Here are the rest of the day's numbers.

Today's cases and deaths (scdhec.gov/COVID19)

Facility reports

The information above as well as extensive reporting on county-level information, demographics and more is available at scdhec.gov/COVID19. The website is updated between 1 p.m.-3 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m.-1 p.m. weekends. Visit scdhec.gov/COVID19vaccine for the latest vaccine information.

Additional information and resources

A South Carolina county is planning to pay charities and civic groups $250 a mile for cleaning up litter.

Pickens County has set aside $75,000 for the program, enough to clean up 300 miles, said County Councilman Roy Costner III.

The program is designed to help struggling groups that have been unable to do their usual fundraising during the pandemic, Costner said.

It would also be a way to use COVID relief money aimed at helping communities, without having officials pick and choose which organizations get the relief, he said.

The program aims to clean up at least 25% of the county's roads while supporting local organizations and businesses, said Jamie Burns, a spokeswoman for the county.

It's a big step in a years-long effort to fight litter, said Chris Bowers, council chairman.

Pick Up Pickens program to be announced Monday

It is believed to be the first program of its kind in the state and using COVID money for this could be a first in the nation, Burns said.

The county will unveil more details of the Pick Up Pickens program Monday, and organizations can sign up Monday. It will be open to 501c3 organizations that have existed for a year.

There are some guidelines: Political groups and candidates aren't eligible, there needs to be before and after photos to show that it was cleaned and there would be a limit on how many miles each group does.

The plan is promising and could serve as a model for other counties in the state, said Sarah Lyles, executive director of Palmetto Pride, the state's anti-litter organization.

The small town of Batesburg-Leesville, near Columbia, did a similar program with high school students, she said, but it has not been done over large geography like a county in the state before.

In the first year of the pandemic, many litter collection programs stopped working and litter piled up around the state, Lyles said.

With social media attention to litter and a rush of litter pick-up events throughout the state, the litter is getting cleaned up right now but keeping the momentum will be important, she said.

"It built up and now it's being taken care of," Lyles said.

Keeping momentum for litter programs is essential, the slowdown in the pandemic showed how a year of neglect can become a huge problem but also how an engaged public can fix it.

Pickens County plans variety of ways to tackle litter problem

Pick Up Pickens is part of a series of litter efforts by Pickens County.

County administrator Ken Roper said during a recent council meeting that enforcement of litter rules could include ordinances but would need to involve education programs, enforcement and clean-up efforts.

The county is working to become an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, a national group that helps with litter efforts. The process of joining can take about a year. Anderson and Oconee counties are affiliates in the Upstate.

Pickens County employees and departments have, since at least 2019, been encouraging people to pick up (at least) five pieces of litter on Fridays.

The Five on Fridays effort sees departments frequently competing over which one can get the most, or most interesting, litter.

Scuba divers have even picked up five pieces of litter on a Friday.

Cleaning up litter can help the state economically by helping to lure businesses, said Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, in a statement.

She regularly picks up litter at community events and has worked with Palmetto Pride for almost two years on litter programs.

"We know that clean roads and clean communities directly relate to economic development and overall quality of life," Evette said.

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Mike Ellis tells South Carolina stories with a focus on Easley, Powdersville and Pickens County along with faith and religion. He's always looking for the next story that people need to read, please send any tips or feedback to [email protected]

A strong weekend had a sour ending for Mississippi State.

The No. 4 Bulldogs couldn't finish off a sweep of No. 19 South Carolina on Sunday as MSU fell to the Gamecocks 4-3 in 11 innings. State heads back to Starkville having won two out of three games in Columbia, but the Bulldogs were disappointed they weren't quite able to get them all.

"The reality is we're playing good baseball right now," State head coach Chris Lemonis said in his postgame interview on the MSU Radio Network. "Sometimes the game just doesn't play you the right way."

South Carolina trailed 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth before rallying to tie the game and force extra innings. The Gamecocks then claimed the victory with David Mendham's walk-off RBI double in the 11th that scored Jeff Heinrich all the way from first base.

Mendham's hit put an exclamation point on a frustrating day for State, particularly offensively. The Bulldogs left 13 total runners on base and were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. MSU was just 2-for-15 at the plate when runners were on base.

Still, the Bulldogs had a chance to win. After falling down 2-0 in the second inning when Mendham hit a two-run homer off of State starting pitching Jackson Fristoe, MSU scored three unanswered runs.

Kellum Clark tripled and scored on a Kamren James sacrifice fly in the third inning, then in the fifth, Tanner Allen tied the game with a long solo dinger to right.

Mississippi State climbed in front in the sixth inning. That's when Rowdey Jordan cranked a solo shot of his own down the right-field line. Suddenly, MSU led 3-2 and that score held until the Gamecocks rallied in the ninth to even things up ahead of Mendham's game-winning hit in the 11th.

It's not the ending the Bulldogs had in mind, but in the big picture, MSU still claimed a series win on the road over a quality opponent. It's hard for Mississippi State to be too worked up over one Sunday loss when so much continues to go right. The Bulldogs will try to keep things trending in a positive direction this week at Dudy Noble Field in a Tuesday night game against UT Martin and a three-game series against Missouri that begins on Thursday evening.

"Everything is big now," Lemonis said. "It's that time of year. Every game has a lot of implications to it. So we've got to get back, get a good night's rest and get ready to keep playing good baseball."

Alright, let's take a quick look at Sunday's stats, game MVPs and the Moment of the Game:

Jordan's sixth inning solo home run nearly was a game-winner if not for South Carolina's late heroics. It was Jordan's only hit of the day and it might get forgotten given the day's end result. But in the moment, it was huge for the Dogs and put them up 3-2.

Simmons is quickly becoming a reliable piece out of the Bulldog bullpen that Lemonis isn't afraid to give high-leverage situations to. With 1.2 scoreless, hitless innings of work with four strikeouts to boot on Sunday, Simmons only strengthened his case. Simmons has now had scoreless outings in four of his last five appearances. In his last 7.2 innings, he's surrendered just three hits and two runs.

The biggest swing of the day was the final one. Mendham stepped to the plate with the winning run on first in the 11th inning. Mendham then blasted a ball into the gap in left-centerfield and try as they might, the Bulldogs couldn't throw out Heinrich at the plate and the Gamecocks came out on top. Here's a look:

Thank you for coming to Cowbell Corner for coverage of Mississippi State sports. Be sure to follow Cowbell Corner on Twitter (@SIBulldogs) by clicking here, and like it on Facebook by clicking here.