Briefs
by John Temple Ligon
Mayor Riley looks ahead On Monday, January 14, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley championed commuter rail in his ninth swearing- in ceremony. Projected to cost more than $50 million, the commuter service would run along I- 26 on Norfolk Southern rails from Summerville to downtown Charleston. In addition to the $50 million route from Summerville, another route is planned on CSX Corp. rails along U.S. Highway 52 from Moncks Corner.

Hemingway's house and Sloppy Joe's Beginning February 16, US Airways will operate Saturday non- stop service from Charlotte to Key West through May 3.

Less coverage on the coast State Farm Insurance is cutting wind and hail coverage along the South Carolina coast. However, the homes losing coverage are inside the boundaries of the S.C. Wind and Hail Underwriting Association, better known as the wind pool. Through the wind pool, a $250,000 home can get coverage for about $2,133, according to the S.C. Department of Insurance.

Charlotte- based Bank of America's fourth- quarter income drops 95 percent Lexington County- based First Community Bank's fourthquarter income shot up 39 percent compared with last year's fourth quarter. BofA's total profit for the full year was $14.98 billion, and First Community's was $3.97 million.

CSohuietfh E Cxaecroultiinvea is No. 9 magazine surveyed 605 top executives to rank the states for which ones were best for business. Best was Texas and second best was Nevada. North Carolina came in third, and South Carolina, ninth. The worst was California, and New York was second- worst.

SCANA and Santee Cooper slow down SCANA and Santee Cooper planned a new nuclear power plant at their existing site in Jenkinsville, targeting 2016 as their completion date. Construction cost estimates have come in so high the project may get shelved before the permitting

process begins. According to the Charleston

Regional Business Journal, Santee Cooper CEO Lonnie Carter said, "There's no use to start that process if we can't afford it." Only three companies in the world build nuclear reactors: Westinghouse, General Electric, and AREVA in France. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not issued a new permit for nuclear plant construction in more than 30 years.

Meanwhile, Duke gets approval Charlotte- based Duke Energy received an air permit from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management for its proposed 630- megawatt coal gasification power plant. The plant will utilize a system that converts coal into a gas that is processed to remove sulfur, mercury and particulates before being sent to a traditional combined- cycle power plant. Construction is expected to begin in another two weeks.

American LaFrance seeks protection American LaFrance, the emergency vehicle manufacturer based in Summerville, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, January 28. American LaFrance owes more than $100 million.

Vietnam visits South Carolina The South Carolina World Trade Center held a luncheon at the Embassy Suites in North Charleston to honor three trade representatives from Vietnam. During the luncheon, information on Vietnam was distributed and cited, to include the country's gross domestic product growth rate estimated for 2008, 8.75 percent. The literacy rate is 90 percent, and its unemployment rate is 2 percent. Vietnam is slightly larger in area than New Mexico. Its population is more than 85 million people. The population of New Mexico is about 2 million people.

Volkswagen looking around here VW is investigating potential plant sites of at least 1,000 acres in the Carolinas and Georgia. BusinessWeek says the plant should produce 200,000 vehicles annually and put more than 2,500 workers on its payroll.

Google looking around here Richland County has offered to cut Google's property tax bill if it invests at least $600 million in a 200- employee data center. In September, Google bought a 466- acre tract on I- 77 near Blythewood. Under state law, if a company invests more than $600 million in a plant within eight years, the company can score a 4 percent assessment rate for property taxes instead of the 10.5 percent industrial rate.