South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce

10/04/2026

OpenAI boss Sam Altman told POLITICO Decoded that the world “should accept some bad things happening” in the name of AI development.

You know, like killing all humanity.

09/29/2026

Virginia gets enhanced benefits in proposed NextEra-Dominion merger while SC package remains unchanged (WIS-TV, by Stephen Biddix, 9-28-26)

Critics in South Carolina are questioning why Virginia customers are being offered a significantly enhanced package of benefits in NextEra-Dominion merger while South Carolina customers are not.

…Frank Knapp Jr., president and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, said the additional concessions offered in Virginia raise questions about whether South Carolina is getting enough from the deal.

Read and watch story:
https://www.wistv.com/2026/09/28/virginia-gets-enhanced-benefits-proposed-nextera-dominion-merger-while-sc-package-remains-unchanged/

Critics in South Carolina are questioning why Virginia customers are being offered a significantly enhanced package of benefits in NextEra-Dominion merger while South Carolina customers are not.

09/28/2026

SBA wants larger businesses to receive its benefits—
"Backbone” Podcast

The U.S. Small Business Administration wants to raise the size standard for the businesses that can receive SBA-backed loans and federal contracts. The result will be fewer private loans and federal contracts to the nation’s real small businesses.

Listen here:
https://rss.com/podcasts/scsbcc-backbone/3185640

09/24/2026

South Carolina customers urged to seek benefits in Dominion-NextEra merger talks (WLTX, Jamine Wade, 9/23/26)

…Frank Knapp, president and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, said South Carolina customers should pay attention to those benefits.

“Well, our needs aren't any different from Virginia ratepayers. We want a fair system. We want to get as much benefit for our ratepayers out of a proposed merger that we can,” Knapp said.

Knapp said South Carolina should use the Virginia package as a starting point and ask for similar benefits.

“One thing that everybody can do. Everybody can say whatever you're giving Virginia, we want that here in South Carolina,” Knapp said.

Read and watch story here:
https://www.wltx.com/article/money/consumer/benefits-in-dominion-nextera-merger-talks/101-ad138def-b89b-4af2-8af0-8cdfbf0f1b74

South Carolina could gain benefits from the Dominion-NextEra merger.

09/23/2026

SC utility’s parent doubles bill discounts to boost NextEra buyout — but only for Va. Ratepayers

(Post and Courier, by John McDermott, September 22, 2026)

Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy are sweetening the terms of their planned merger by doubling the billing credits it’s offering more than 2.7 million ratepayers while tossing in an assortment of other financial incentives.

But the offer only applies to customers in Virginia. It hasn’t been extended to South Carolina, where Dominion is one of the largest investor-owned electric utilities.

… Frank Knapp, CEO of S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce in Columbia, is wondering why a similar deal isn’t on the table for the Palmetto State, where Dominion’s residential customers have been offered a two-year billing credit.

“Where are all the concessions for South Carolina?” he asked last week.

Read the story here:

NextEra said the new financial commitments announced for Dominion Energy's Virginia service territory last week "should not be viewed as a template for every other state."

09/21/2026

VA State Senator wants SC to get less benefits than his state from NextEra/Dominion merger

Read press release here.

09/21/2026

Opinion: The Torches and Pitchforks Defense We Need Against the AI Threat

…When those who created AI tell us that we are in trouble, action is needed. But what?

---Big Tech billionaires have too much money invested in AI to allow research to be banned. Getting Congress and President Trump to agree on any meaningful national oversight isn’t going to happen. And Big Tech and China are unlikely to agree on letting the world see what they are doing.

…The bottom line is that we can’t and shouldn’t rely on the federal government or tech industry to protect us. We must protect ourselves by taking on AI agents where they live — in the data centers in your state, county and neighborhood.

Read the commentary here:

On the recent anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in our country, the Central Intelligence Agency released top-secret briefings that had been given

09/18/2026

Commentary: S.C.’s elected leaders fail on NextEra/Dominion merger

by Frank Knapp Jr.

NextEra and Dominion Energy felt it necessary to offer more benefits this week to Virginia ratepayers and the state’s economy to persuade its regulatory agency to approve the proposed merger of the two companies.

In South Carolina, the story couldn’t be more different.

Read commentary here:

NextEra and Dominion Energy felt it necessary to offer more benefits this week to Virginia ratepayers and the state’s economy to persuade its regulatory agency to approve the proposed merger of the two companies.

09/18/2026

We might not make it until rogue AI agents kill us.

AI is going to help us do it ourselves:

In the spring, a U.S. military intelligence report that a Chinese ship was carrying nuclear weapons components led the military to make plans to intercept it in the Middle East, CNN’s Katie Bo Lillis and Zachary Cohen scooped. But at the last minute, with planes already in the air, they discovered the report had been made with AI — and the chatbot was wrong about the cargo. It was “entirely false,” one source told CNN. But it “almost started a war.” (Politico)

Read the scary story here.

The episode shows the risks of using this new, relatively poorly understood technology in the middle of the Iran war

09/17/2026

Professor’s research reveals “brain rot” associated with social media use—“Backbone” Podcast

Professor Maxi Heitmayer talks with podcast host Frank Knapp about his research on how the young users of social media are aware of how they are being impacted.

He describes brain rot as a state of being fogged out, overwhelmed, exhausted and not fully in control of what one is doing; characteristics described by young social media users.

Listen to podcast
https://rss.com/podcasts/scsbcc-backbone/3162012