Business briefly

Greenville Chamber president retiring

Ben Haskew is retiring as president and chief executive officer of the Greenville Chamber after nearly 12 years in the job, the Chamber announced Thursday. The Chamber said Haskew, 66, would remain in the job while it conducts a national search for his replacement. That process is likely to take several months, said David Lominack, the Chamber’s chairman-elect.

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▪ Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative Inc. will celebrate its 75-year anniversary by recognizing 75 members of the community in September. The nonprofit electric utility will hold a “Bolts of Brightness” event in Clemson on Sept. 10. The event will honor 75 individuals who have volunteered personal time to serve others in the community. Each honoree will receive an award and a $500 donation to a charitable organization of their choice.

▪ The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating reports that a defect in certain Honda Accords could prevent the air bags from deploying in a crash. Administration documents show the problem with the air bag control computer model affects some model year 2008 Accords. The defect causes the air bag status indicator lamp to illuminate, and the air bag system is disabled until it is repaired.

▪ A federal appeals court on Friday reinstated Obama administration regulations that guarantee overtime and minimum wage protection to nearly 2 million home health care workers. The ruling is a victory for worker advocacy groups and labor unions that have long sought higher wages for domestic workers who help the elderly and disabled with everyday tasks such as bathing or taking medicine.

▪ The Spotify streaming music service apologized Friday after changes to its privacy policy raised alarms among some customers. Spotify’s latest policy asks for access to users’ pictures, contacts, voice controls and location information, which sparked some concerns that the company was going to spy broadly on its users’ habits. The company said the purposes are pretty straightforward and focus on customization: Spotify wants to access your pictures to let you personalize playlists or album covers, for example.