Venture capital Columbia's Larry Wilson, founder and former CEO of PMSC, is making the transition from venture capital firm Pequot Ventures to its new name and form, FirstMark Capital LLC, still based in NYC and still focused on innovative high- tech start- ups. With $1 billion under management, FirstMark Capital has almost $2 billion total in capital commitments.

Pole tax next? Not likely to come back up this legislative session, a bill restricting lap dances, aka couch dances, was passed by a House subcommittee. The bill requires all sexually oriented businesses to close at midnight. Introduced by Rep. Scott Talley (R- Spartanburg), the bill also requires dancers to keep a six- foot distance from their patrons.

Transportation meetings The Richland County Transportation Commission, chaired by Columbia College President Caroline Whitson, meets for public input on the Columbia bus system four different times and places in April: (1) 10 am- noon April 12, Richland County Public Library, 1431 Assembly Street; (2) 6- 8 pm April 14, Ridge View High School, 4801 Hard Scrabble Road; (3) 6- 8 pm April 16, Lower Richland High School, 2615 Lower Richland Blvd.; (4) 6- 8 pm April 17, Dutch Fork High School, 1400 Old Tamah Road.

Farmers Market update According to Gov. Mark Sanford, private developers of a relocated S.C. State Farmers Market should put up their money before any tax dollars are invested in the new site. The Senate and two House panels have approved $22.5 million for the new State Farmers Market proposed for a bottom- land site facing the Charleston Highway about two miles south of the intersection of I- 77 and S.C. Highway 321, the former Bonanza mobile home sales property near Cayce. Adjacent to EPA Superfund clean- up sites, the proposed Farmers Market is perfectly placed on pristine property without any continuing contaminated conditions whatsoever, as the developers and their lawyer remind reporters. The developers plan to raise the elevation of the site by trucking in 400,000 cubic yards of landfill dirt. Gov. Sanford and many Farmers Market produce vendors, on the other hand, suggest the Farmers Market and its tenants could better benefit by staying put on its existing site across Bluff Road from Williams- Brice, where it's been for 55 years. USC wants the existing Farmers Market shut down and moved to make way for stadium parking needed seven Saturdays a year, each time for a home football game. Vendors at the Farmers Market claim 5,000 cars already park on the property during the games, and they are not sure how many more could park if USC took over the property and tore down the Farmers Market buildings. Meanwhile, a new real estate value appraisal may be forthcoming to modify the purchase price USC prefers for its seven- Saturday annual parking program. USC doesn't disclose their planned use for the property on the other 358 days in the year. Cayce's newly annexed Vista Farms, aka Green Diamond, sits between the Congaree River and the existing Farmers Market frontage on Bluff Road.

Houses According to the Standard & Poor's/Case- Shiller index of 20 major cities, U.S. house prices fell 2.4% in January from December, and from a year earlier were down 10.7%. The U.S. Commerce Department reports new home sales fell further in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 575,000 from 588,000 in January. Representatives of the S.C. Homebuilders Association report the median price of homes sold in the Columbia market increased more than 3% in the past year.

Going nuclear Although it may be several years before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules on the decision, a joint application to build up to two new nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville has been filed by SCE&G and Santee Cooper.