Hedge your bets, or debts

According to research from New York University’s Stern School of Business, one in five hedge fund managers misrepresents her (or his) fund or its performance to investors during formal due diligence investigations. In other words, when looking into hedge funds, you’re getting lied to about 20 percent of the time.

SCANA maintenance

SCANA’s (SCE&G’s) nuclear plant in Jenkinsville has been taken offline for a scheduled refueling outage. The V. C. Summer Nuclear Station began commercial operation in 1984, and refueling takes place every 18 months when about one–third of the reactor unit’s uranium fuel assemblies are replaced. The refueling should be through in another six to eight weeks. Meanwhile, SCE&G can look to its other generating plants to provide electric power to its 654,000 customers.

Brain power

Since 2006, more than $180 million has been invested in S. C.’s endowed chairs program, also known as the Centers of Economic Excellence Council of Chairs. And that investment has generated returns of $246 million in non–state funds. The first–ever Centers of Economic Excellence Council conference is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 30, at USC’s Russell House Theater, 1–4 pm. Attendees will see illustrations of the research being conducted at Clemson, the Medical University of South Carolina, and USC. Available for introductions and conversation will be 20 CoEE endowed chairs, who are among the world’s leading scientists and engineers. There is no cost to attend the event, and pre–registration is not required. For more information, call Clare Morris at The Clare Morris Agency, 413.6808.

Hydrogen power

Congress recently voted $174 million in next year’s budget for hydrogen transportation research.

Changes for Patterson Hall

What began in the early ’60s as South Dormitory, USC’s Patterson Hall on Bull St. is undergoing a $38.5 million renovation, beginning this May. The building is raising the privacy standards for its tenants, shifting from dorm rooms with community bathrooms to suites with attached bathrooms.

Charleston’s City Market getting an upgrade while the city makes the grade

Charleston’s historic City Market, come January, begins a $5 million, top–to–bottom renovation. The project includes new roofs, floors, paint, and electrical wiring. Also, there will be the addition of ceiling fans, security cameras, and bathrooms. The brickwork will be repointed where necessary. Hank Holliday, a partner with the controlling group City Market Preservation Trust, is also owner of Columbia’s Clarion Hotel on Gervais Street. The City Market’s land was donated to the city for a market in 1804, and the existing buildings were built in 1841 and last renovated in the early ’70s. Conde Nast Publications recently announced its reader survey named San Francisco the country’s favorite city for visitors, and Charleston is No. 2.

And the kid can write

Shea Airey, a May graduate of USC’s School of Law, won first place in the 2009–10 Property/Trust & Estate Law Student Writing Contest, beating out No. 2 from Emory and No. 3 from the University of Chicago.

BMW a natural draw

In the first week of October, Greer’s BMW plant announced about 700 new job openings, paying $13 to $14 an hour with benefits. Applications at the Greenville office of the state Employment Security Commission were running around 1,000 a day for the following week.

Two film festivals worth looking into

(1) The 4th Annual Beaufort Film Festival is accepting entries in the following categories: Animation, Documentary, Features, Short Film, Student Film, Screenplays. The Beaufort Film Festival runs February 18-21, 2010. Enter submissions by going to the Withoutabox Web site https://www.withoutabox.com/login/4990. For more information: http://www.beaufortfilmfestival.com. (2) The inaugural 2010 Charleston Film Festival takes place March 11–14, 2010. Enter submissions by going to http://www.terracetheater1.vpweb.com/FILMSUBMISSIONS. html.

Foreclosures

For the number of foreclosures filed in the third quarter of 2009, South Carolina is ranked 24th out of the 50 states. The highest rate of foreclosures in the country was in Nevada, where one in every 23 homes was listed as being in distress. Here at No. 24, S.C. had one in every 268 homes listed in distress. The lowest rate of foreclosures in the country was in Vermont, where one in 5,023 homes is in distress.

Holland and Quackenbush

Cheryl Holland of Abacus Planning Group and her husband architect Doug Quackenbush have together donated $100,000 to Clemson University to develop both the Abacus Planning Group Endowed Scholarship in Financial Planning and the Quackenbush Architects+Planners Room in Lee Hall.