Briefs
by John Temple Ligon

State Park 
Jafza International, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, unveiled its master plan Wednesday, Nov. 12, to develop a 1,300-acre logistics and transportation corridor at the intersection of Interstates 26 and 95. The master plan was released with a flexible 20- year strategy. The plan included a market demand analysis, an environmental impact study, a traffic impact study, a wetlands study, and an endangered species study. Jafza plans to have its first clients open for business in 2010.

Speaking of the United Arab Emirates…
…brings to mind the S.C. Department of Commerce will lead a trade and investment mission to the UAE, March 20-28. Registration deadline is Dec. 19. Contact Gregory Guest, 737.0651.

SCANA makes less than expected and, thereby, charges more
For the third quarter of 2008, SCANA earnings were $94 million, a little less than expected. Last year for the same period, SCANA made $92 million. The S.C. Public Service Commission recently approved an electric rate hike to residential rates (6%), to commercial rates (7.3%), and to industrial rates (12%). All three rate hikes go entirely to fuel costs.

First Community
First Community Corporation, the holding corporation for First Community Bank, reported recently its operating income for year- to- date and for the third quarter of 2008. For the first nine months of 2008, the company made $3.5 million, an increase of 29.7% over last year for the same period when the company made $2.7 million. For the third quarter, the company made $1.14 million compared to the $1.15 million in the third quarter of 2007, a slight drop.

Charities
According to a report by the S.C. Association of Nonprofit Organizations, public charities contributed $12.7 billion to the state's economy for 2007. There were more than 4,000 reporting public charities in S.C. with almost 162,000 employees.

Trucking
Columbia-based Southeastern Freight Lines has opened a new service center in Laredo, Texas, inside a 30,000-square-foot warehouse for the Mexican trade and traffic. Nucor's steel Nucor's third- quarter earnings are up 93 percent from $381.2 million last year to $734.6 million in 2008. The Charlotte- based steelmaker had sales of $7.45 billion in the third quarter, an increase of 75 percent over the same period last year.

More steel
CMC Steel of S.C. will expand its operating facility in nearby Cayce by spending $29.5 million. The mini-mill provides rebar, angles, channels, rounds, flats, squares, and billets to customers in the South. See www.cmcsteelsc.com.

Distinguished speakers luncheon November 18
At noon Tuesday, November 18, in the Summit Club on top of the Wilbur Smith Building, there will be speeches by the authors of "The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise." Nina Hachigian, the senior vice president of the Center for American Progress and a visiting scholar of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, and Mona Sutphen, the managing director at Stonebridge International LLC (a Washington- based international business strategy firm), are authors of a new report from the Stanley Foundation that examines redistribution and redefinition of power around the globe. The talk is presented by the Columbia World Affairs Council. For more information, call 252.2197.

BMW makes less
For the third quarter of 2008, BMW's profit after taxes dropped 62.9% to $375 million compared with the third quarter of 2007. The German automaker has its U.S. production facility in Greer, S.C., between Greenville and Spartanburg.

$886 million
On Tuesday, November 4, voters in three Midlands school districts voted for $886 million in new construction, expansion, and improvements in school buildings.

Merger
A Columbia-based residential real estate firm, Century 21 Bob Capes Realtors, is being acquired by Coldwell Banker United. The new Coldwell Banker United will have about 750 agents in eight offices statewide. President of Century 21 Bob Capes, Jimmy Derrick will be in charge of the new- home sales division of the expanded Coldwell Banker United.