Georgia: 13; North Carolina: 13; South Carolina: 1

Fortune magazine compiles its list of the country's largest businesses based on financial performance, focusing on revenue. Georgia and North Carolina have 13 companies' headquarters each on the magazine's annual list, nine of which are in Atlanta and eight in Charlotte. South Carolina has one: Cayce's SCANA Corp.

Housing market values Nationally, housing prices have fallen 9.9 percent from their peak in 2007. For 2008, statewide average home price declines exceeded 20 percent in Arizona, California, Florida, and Nevada. Price declines exceeded 10 percent in Maryland, Michigan, Georgia, and Virginia.

Housing cost/income ratio The housing cost to income ratio measures the relationship between the median priced single family home and the median household income. The ratio for Columbia is 18 percent, the most attractive home- buying opportunity since 1971, according to RESH Marketing Consultants in Columbia. Nationally the average ratio is 25 percent.

McClatchy hears NYSE delisting notice As of April 9, newspaper publisher McClatchy's total market capitalization had been below $75 million - the NYSE's minimum allowed for McClatchy - for more than 30 consecutive trading days. Over the last year, McClatchy's stock has traded between 35 cents and $10.70, and on Monday, April 20, it was 59 cents. McClatchy has about another month to show the NYSE it can comply with the exchange's minimum standards within 18 months. McClatchy publishes The State in Columbia,

the Myrtle Beach Sun News, and The Charlotte Observer

among its 30 daily newspapers and 50 nondaily newspapers.

High- speed rail The federal government recently announced intentions to spend $13 billion on early development of a high- speed rail system. Columbia would connect with Raleigh and Savannah but not with Charlotte, while Greenville is planned between Charlotte and Atlanta.

Unemployment The North Carolina jobless rate is 10.8 percent. The total non- farm industry employment declined by 41,300 jobs in March. The total number of N.C. jobless workers is 492,512, an all- time high. In South Carolina, the unemployment rate hit 11.4 percent in March. The number of unemployed in S.C. hit 248,578. The Georgia unemployment rate remained at 9.2 percent in March, the same as in February, leaving a total of 442,758 unemployed.

Georgia tuition At the University of Georgia and also at Georgia Tech, students taking more than six hours a semester pay $3,035, according to recent reductions, which comes to $6,070 annually.

South Carolina annual tuition Tuition for in- state students ranges from $8,400 at the College of Charleston to $11,108 at Clemson.

Power plant legal challenges The Southern Environmental Law Center filed suit on Monday, April 13, against the S.C. Dept. of Health and Environmental Control for issuing Santee Cooper a permit to build a coal- burning power plant on the banks of the Great Pee Dee River. The law center filed the suit on behalf of six organizations that claim DHEC illegally permitted a plant that could emit 31 times more mercury than is legal.

Bankruptcy Chicago- based General Growth Properties has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. GGP owns more than 200 malls across the country, including Columbiana Centre.

Another bankruptcy Newsprint maker AbitibiBowater filed for bankruptcy protection this month in both the U.S. and Canada. Headquartered in Montreal, AbitibiBowater was based in Greenville from 1981 until 2007. The company owes more than $6 billion.

No. 1 Orangeburg's Four Moons restaurant was recently voted South Carolina's best by 16,500 diners who use the Open Table online reservation system. No. 2 was The Melting Pot in Myrtle Beach. Rick Erwin's West End Grill in Greenville was No. 3. No. 4 was Charleston's Peninsula Grill. Columbia's Saluda's was No. 7.

Charleston cited On the cover of ForbesLife magazine, April 2009, is the article title, "Charleston: Pound for Pound, America's Finest City."

Complexity continues The length of CCH's standard federal tax publication was 400 pages in 1913 when the income tax began. By 1939, it was 509 pages; by 1954, 4,000. This year, 2009, the publication is 70,320 pages.

Funerals The business of funerals in the U.S. is expected to reach $20.7 billion this year. The country's annual death rate should come to about 2.5 million. Another way of looking at the death rate is to take a comparison with Baghdad, which is a match: one per person.