Awards and decorations The University of South Carolina/City of Columbia Fuel Cell Collaborative, which is readily recognized by the initials everyone knows, USCCFCC, received the 2009 Innovator Award from the Southern Growth Policies Board. The board, a public policy think tank based in the Research Triangle Park of North Carolina, named USCCFCC a 2009 Innovator for promoting an outstanding initiative that encourages economic opportunities and quality of life relating to bio- products, alternative energy, and energy efficiency.

Worries, top five A new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey disclosed worries about unemployment have tripled over the past year. Last April, 13 percent of the people surveyed said unemployment was the most important economic issue facing the country. Presently, based on the latest survey, 36 percent of those questioned say unemployment is the largest worry, followed by inflation (20 percent), and then the mortgage crisis (16 percent), the stock market (14 percent), and taxes are the main worry among 11 percent in the survey.

Tough to the north of us, tough to the south of us North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue recently proposed cutting more than 1,000 state jobs in her $21 billion state budget. She is asking to increase two sin taxes: the state tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1 from the current 35 cents to $1.35, and an additional 5 percent in the tax to all alcohol purchases. To the south, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra recently adopted another $1.3 million in budget cuts for the 2009 fiscal year. Previous belt tightenings had already recognized a $1 million drop in revenue, so the ASO is operating on a 2009 budget more than $2 million less than 2008.

What's missing here Several years ago, the hot topic in Columbia secondary education was the hundreds of millions of dollars for new schools, while the overall quality of the education programs (teacher qualifications, curricula, performing and visual arts, non- varsity sports, class size, etc.) was set to stay the same. In other words, were old buildings really the problem, particularly just 60- year- old buildings? Walk into the middle of Harvard Yard or the USC Horseshoe and again ask the question about the usefulness of old school buildings. Now the president's stimulus package is coming to S.C. bus systems, and it appears $15 million is earmarked to buy replacement buses and to upgrade old buses. The overall bus systems, however, should stay with the same level of service and the same per capita distribution of service, which ranks among the worst in the U.S.A. Still, take the money and run.

We're the only... ...state in the country that owns all the state's educational broadcasting licenses, 67 all told. Through its broadcasting license largess, S.C. has the unique opportunity to provide universal wireless Internet access to all of the citizens of the state. The nationwide shift to digital broadcasting leaves excess capacity because digital signals take up less bandwidth than analog, and that excess could be dedicated to statewide universal access to the Internet. Call your legislator.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly... ...about Hydrogen will be the topic for public discussion on Thursday, April 2, as part of the National Hydrogen Association conference at the convention center on Lincoln Street. Go to the Hydrogen Trailblazers' Web site: www.nhatrailblazers.com

Lowest metropolitan area in jobless For January, the Columbia metropolitan area, the Midlands, has an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent, the lowest for metropolitan areas in the state. The unemployment rate statewide is 10.4 percent, and the highest metropolitan area unemployment is at Myrtle Beach, 14.4 percent.

S.C. Research Authority starts Innovation Center The SCRA plans to acquire the warehouse at 1000 Catawba Street in order to convert it to accommodate between 12 and 20 growing businesses. Preference on space will be given to companies taking intellectual property from USC research in areas such as fuel cells and nanotechnology. The SCRA is also opening a similar Innovation Center in Anderson and in Charleston.

Exports S.C.'s 2008 exports totaled more than $19.8 billion in goods sold to 193 countries, representing an almost 20 percent increase over 2007. The state's top 10 export industries for 2008 were vehicles, machinery, rubber, plastics, electrical machinery, paper (and paperboard), organic chemicals, optics and medical equipment, iron and steel, and wood pulp.

Hitchcock's North by Delta By the end of 2009, Delta Air Lines expects to complete the rebranding of Northwest Airlines at domestic airports, worldwide by 2010. The name Northwest will be fully phased out.