Business: Rome’s Hampton Inn needs a few more weeks. More ‘life’ on Broad Street. Darlington’s career day features key speaker, other local voices.

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Rome’s new Hampton Inn & Suites will need a few more days: Today was the scheduled opening day of Rome’s newest Hampton Inn & Suites on Turner McCall just above Broad Street but “a few delays” is pushing the opening back a few days. Developer Sam Patel told our Natalie Simms on Friday: “Were looking at an end of January opening.” Built on the site of a former auto dealership, the new Hampton has 90 rooms and will employ more than 40 people. It was built at a cost of $9.3 million. The Hampton Inn coming to LakePoint in Emerson is due Jan. 22 and features 86 rooms, an indoor heated pool, fitness center and other amenities.

As J.R. Cricket’s finally opens, hints of more new life downtown: Call it soft or hard, J.R. Cricket’s is open for business at 201 Broad St. inside Magretta Hall. Early reviews on Facebook have been good. Says one contributor: “My wings were great! The Chicken Waffle Sliders are excellent. Will be back soon.” Meanwhile, another vacant spot on Broad Street had some signs of life over the weekend. We’ve got calls out to see if there’s an opening pending.

Darlington Career Day will feature a keynote address from alumnus Dr. Daniel “Dan” Garrett (’82), vice president of Cornerstone Research, on Jan. 15 at 8:30 a.m. in Morris Chapel. All students in grades 9-12 will participate in the special event. “In keeping with our celebration of 100 years of honor for this school year, we know Dan is the perfect fit,” said Vicki Vincent, director of alumni relations. “Beyond his time at Darlington, during which he served as a president of the Honor Council, his career has focused on consulting with product misrepresentation, antitrust and consumer fraud clients.” Expanded release and additional guests.