Briefs

by John Temple Ligon

Taking an idea from the Brits

North Carolina is the only state in the country to look into possible wrongful convictions, as they do in the United Kingdom. The Innocence Inquiry Commission is a state-authorized eight-member panel empowered to review the innocence claims of felons if new evidence exists. If five or more commission members agree on new evidence of innocence, the case is sent to a three-judge panel at the state's Superior Court. The new North Carolina law came into effect after advances in DNA technology yielded new evidence to overturn convictions.

BMW

The Greer plant's parent company, BMW AG, reported strong second-quarter earnings for 2006. For the April-through-June quarter, the company made about $1 billion, an 18% increase over the same period in 2005. BMW sold a total of 365,547 Rolls-Royce, Mini, and BMW brand vehicles for the quarter, rising 3.2% above last year's second quarter. BMW's CEO since 2002, Helmut Panke, left his post at the end of August as he reached the company's mandatory retirement age of 60.

A different kind of lottery

The South Carolina Education Lottery might review Arizona's idea being decided by statewide election November 7. The state is considering awarding a $1 million prize to one randomly selected voter, just for casting a ballot, to encourage higher voter turnout. In the 2004 general election, Arizona had a turnout rate of registered voters of 77%, while the country's rate was 61%.

Dow Chemical buys in

Last month, Tom Davis, a research professor of chemical engineering in USC's College of Engineering and Information Technology, saw his company, ZDD Inc., and Dow Chemical sign into a licensing agreement for the rights to a water purification technology. USC alumnus Walker Rast is chairman and CEO of ZDD, and Davis developed the technology as ZDD's chief technology officer. The technology desalinates seawater.

Columbia's Larry Wilson moves on to more money

Larry Wilson founded Policy Management Systems in 1974 when he worked at Columbia-based Seibels Bruce. After selling what became of PMS in 2000, Wilson and partners formed The Trelys Funds, a venture capital firm in Columbia. He recently resigned from Trelys to join Pequot Ventures in New York City, where as one of four general partners he will advise on investments in software and technology serving insurance companies and banks. Wilson's Trelys started in 2002 with $22 million, most of it from South Carolina. Pequot is funded with $1.8 billion. Wilson will continue to live in Columbia, working in NYC one week each month.

City gives away turkeys

The City of Columbia is giving its 2,150 employees 2,150 Christmas turkeys, all for a grocery bill of almost $27,000.

Duke sticks to its knitting, which could become a Southeast sweater

America's largest utility, Charlotte-based Duke Energy, has about $70 billion in assets. Crescent Resources, Duke's real estate arm, recently formed a joint venture by accepting Morgan Stanley's $1.4 billion contribution. Morgan Stanley manages $51 billion in real estate assets worldwide. In Columbia, Crescent owns Longtown Commons, and in Mt. Pleasant, The Shoppes at Rivertowne. Morgan Stanley got 49% of Crescent, and Duke kept 49%, while Crescent's CEO Art Fields owns the remaining 2%. Duke is moving ahead with plans to spin off its natural gas business into a stand-alone Houston-based company. Suspected as a potential neighborly buyer of SCE&G, Duke is thinning down to target its core electricity business.

SCANA goes to a low-rise, campus-like, surface-parking headquarters

Sounds like a '50s shopping center. Maybe it is. As SCANA relocates in 2009 from its high-rise on Main Street to a three-story compound near Lexington County's intersection of I-77 and I-26, just off Cayce's 12th Street Extension, there is plenty of surrounding SCANA-owned developable property. The acreage's development potential can be kick-started by SCANA's new headquarters. SCANA owns both sides of I-77 west of Old State Road, all at a flood-free elevation higher than the nearby proposed Green Diamond property. SCANA bought a long-term extension to its monopoly franchise in Columbia when the city agreed to manage a take-over of the bus system in 2002, so SCANA is already solid in the city. There is no business advantage for SCANA to stay in downtown Columbia. On the other hand, SCANA's presence and customer base in Lexington County is an understatement compared with what they have recently guaranteed in Columbia. SCANA then moves its headquarters to Lexington County and pays taxes in Lexington County and expands its business in Lexington County, SCANA's best opportunity for growth in the Midlands.