FastTrac

The next class of the entrepreneur- friendly 11- module, 38.5- hour educational program known as FastTrac starts September 14 at the Northeast campus of Midlands Tech. Cost is $295, but there may be a savings of $50 if paid by the end of August. For particulars, call Felicia Maloney at the City of Columbia Office of Business Opportunities, 545.3955.

S.C. takes a cut

The S.C. State Ports Authority suffered a drop of $29 million (from $55 million down to $26 million) in operating earnings for fiscal year 2009 due to a 19.3% drop in containers down to 1,367,980 from 1,694,508 in 2008. The state budget overall is running about $200 million short of the estimates that shaped the annual budget when the fiscal year came into effect, July 1.

Out of it

S.C.'s unemployment rate improved a bit in July, dropping from 12.1% in June to 11.8% in July, while N. C.'s unemployment rate remained at 11% for both June and July. The Georgia unemployment rate for July was 10.3%, up from 10.1% in June. Across the country, the national unemployment rate was 9.5% in June and 9.4% in July.

A move to follow

Raleigh- based Progress Energy plans to shut down its coal- fired Lee Plant to build a $900 million natural gas-fueled facility on the same site, adding another 550 megawatts of electric power to the site's output while considerably reducing the carbon emissions once the new plant is up and running by 2013.

Another move to follow

Santee Cooper announced it was not building its coal- burning power plant in southern Florence County, after all, since to purchase the electric power in bulk from Duke Energy became such an affordable alternative. Santee Cooper hasn't said what it expects a similar deal with SCANA might cost. The City of Orangeburg invited Duke Energy to offer to sell Orangeburg its electric power for the next 10 years, and Duke's bid was $10 million cheaper than SCANA's over the same 10 years.

Nation's housing

The country's housing starts were down 1% in July to 581,000 from 587,000 in June. Single- family starts rose 1.7%, but multi- family dropped 13%.

Moore School's take

The business school at USC delivered a report recently to the S.C. Commission on Higher Education, where the anticipated additional bachelor's degrees by 2030 in the state should mean another $6.9 billion in new annual personal income, $7.8 billion in new gross state product, and 44,514 additional permanent jobs per year. On the current calendar, the school reports $1.2 million more in lifetime income can be expected with a bachelor degree when compared to a lifetime with no more than a high school diploma.

Sumter's Shaw Air Force Base gets part of a post

The headquarters for the Third Army has begun to move into Shaw Air Base by breaking ground on its $92 million headquarters building. At the end of the next two years, the Third Army presence will add at least 1,000 soldiers and civilian employees to Shaw at an annual economic impact of more than $150 million.

Grounds for dismissal

Starbucks cut 16 jobs this month from its Calhoun County roasting plant.

Indulgences

TicketCity, an online company that specializes in college football ticket sales, reports the average price of a seat at this year's November 28 Clemson- USC game is $324.45. The most expensive, the September 12 Southern Cal.- Ohio State game, is running on average at $842.37.

Speaking of Clemson...

Clemson's freshman class is a record 3,375 students with another 449 freshmen coming through the Bridge to Clemson transfer program at Tri- County Technical College, all with an average SAT score of 1223. USC's 3,930 freshmen are coming in with an overall average SAT score of 1194, and out of that number there are 320 Honors College freshmen with an average SAT score of 1410.

Atlanta has a shot at it

The USA Bid Committee for the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022 said Atlanta and the Georgia Dome are among 27 U.S. cities and stadiums combinations that passed the third stage of the review process. The 11 cities removed in the third stage are Birmingham, Ala.; Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Fayetteville, Ark.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Las Vegas; Minneapolis; New Orleans; Pittsburgh; Salt Lake City; and San Antonio, Texas.