Briefs

by John Temple Ligon

Duke expects tighter emissions standards

Charlotte- based Duke Energy is working with Southern Co. to build a $6 billion emissions- free nuclear plant in Cherokee County, S.C. Duke is spending about $50 million a year on energy efficiency. The company plans on the next generation of tools to collect heat- trapping carbon before it is emitted into the atmosphere and contributes to global warming. Duke Energy was among 10 U.S. corporate giants last week who begged President Bush to move more aggressively to counter climate change.

USC's business school among 50 best

According to CNN- Money.com, the Moore School of Business at USC was ranked No. 35 among America's top "50 Best MBA Schools for Getting Hired." The ranking was the result of an analysis by Fortune magazine and its Web partner, QS.

The City of Columbia among 50 best

According to Expansion Management magazine, Columbia is one of the country's top 50 cities for relocation and expansion. Greenville and Charleston also made the list.

Flora's Frank Fusco

A 1966 graduate of A.C. Flora High School, Frank Fusco ran the State Budget and Control Board as its director through last month. Fusco resigned to make room for the Republican favorite, and he was almost immediately hired by the Joint Bond Review Committee as research director.

Beds for Providence Northeast

Providence Hospital is planning to spend another $82 million on its Northeast Richland site to almost double the number of beds and expand intensive care, MRI, and emergency services. Located on Farrow Road, off I- 77, the hospital's addition of 38 beds would bring the total to 84. The main Providence Hospital site at the downtown intersection of Forest Drive and Two Notch Road has 258 beds.

New facilities at the S.C. State Museum

In the $7.3 billion budget approved by House budget writers, the State Museum gets $2.5 million to help with the construction of an observatory, a planetarium, and a theater, reportedly an IMAX.

Nanotechnology

Benedict College and USC's NanoCenter are offering a spring session of the S.C. Citizens School for Nanotechnology. Beginning March 7, the classes for adults meet at 6:30 pm every Wednesday for eight weeks in the N.A. Jenkins Board Room in the Benjamin F. Payton Learning Resource Center on the Benedict campus. For more information, call 777.9444 or go to www.ced.sc.edu/nano.

Superintendent suggests testing cuts

Jim Rex, the S.C. Superintendent of Education, is attending town hall meetings through March 19 to hear South Carolinians tell him their most pressing issues on public education. Rex advocates scrapping the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests, the end- of- course tests elementary and middle school students have taken each year since 1999. For locations and times for the town hall meetings, go to ed.sc.gov.

A bad egg in the Lowcountry

The Atlanta office of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) released its results last week of an undercover investigation at Mepkin Abbey's egg production facility. The Trappist monks are on video tape with their overcrowded chicken cages. More evidence of inethical treatment of the chickens was found in the truncated beaks. Apparently the monks' supplier of 18- week- old chickens debeaks the chicks before they are 10 days old, a practice to prevent the chickens from tearing each other apart, but an inethical practice all the same. Originally the rural retreat of Henry Luce, the founder of Time- Life, Mepkin Abbey's property was a donation to the Trappist monks. A Columbia- based writer wrote the history of Mepkin Abbey about 20 years ago, but a willing publisher could not be found. Maybe including the PETA update and changing the title to Luce Morals would do the trick.

Bull Street site available

The S.C. Supreme Court ruled last week in favor of the State Department of Mental Health as the direct beneficiary of the sale of the 178 acres on Bull Street. State politicians were trying to snare the proceeds of the sale for the state's general fund. The State Budget and Control Board still must vote to sell the land. Then the board must accept the town plan for the new development and champion its cause for rezoning before the planning commission.