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News Briefs
State retains ASA to encourage drivers to buckle up
The South Carolina Department of Public Safety has selected the Advertising Service Agency of Mount Pleasant to help encourage South Carolinians to buckle up and adopt safer driving habits.
SCDPS awarded ASA a two-year contract, with three one-year options, with an estimated budget of $1 million to $1.5 million per year.
ASA, founded in 1931, is the state’s oldest advertising company. ASA and its partner firms will create and implement a statewide public education and communications effort.
Studies show 69.7% of the state’s drivers regularly use their seat belts. The communications program is aimed at improving those numbers to meet a federal mandate to achieve 92% compliance by 2010.
Elements of the campaign will include research, strategic planning, production, media planning and buying. Public and media relations efforts will be handled by ASA affiliate ASA Public Relations, led by Dean Foster.
Public education and outreach programs focused on the state’s black and Hispanic communities will be handled by The Tom Sawyer Co. of Columbia, led by Carolyn Sawyer, and Lonestar PR and Advertising of Charleston, led by Chester Jacinto.
Blackhawk Logistics acquires warehouse, transportation business
Blackhawk Logistics LLC has acquired Piedmont Interstate’s Charleston warehouse and transportation businesses and entered into a long-term lease with Piedmont’s parent company for the facilities at 5801 North Rhett Extension in North Charleston.
The acquisition positions Blackhawk Logistics as the largest third-party logistics provider in the tri-county area, the company said.
The facilities acquired include two warehouses and offices comprising about 510,000 square feet on more than 34 acres. Coupled with Blackhawk’s current warehouse and office facilities at 1 Alliance Drive in Goose Creek, the company now maintains more than 611,000 square feet of warehouse space, 19 trucks, 50 unloading doors and 20 rail doors.
WPC, Wolf Technologies to merge
Wolf Technologies Inc., a Jacksonville, Fla.-based engineering firm, has merged its operation with Mount Pleasant-based engineering firm WPC Inc.
The combination of WPC and Wolf Technologies will create a company with more than 155 employees operating in four southeastern states. Both firms provide geotechnical engineering, subsurface exploration and construction materials testing services.
The merger will allow the organization to offer clients improved and increased technical resources in the four states in which they operate, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
First National Bank of the South expands its Charleston presence
The First National Bank of the South, based in Spartanburg, recently opened a loan production office on Daniel Island. The office is located near the Family Circle Cup Stadium on Seven Farms Drive.
Bob Whittemore, regional lending manager for First National, will manage the Daniel Island office. The office will offer commercial lending services and residential mortgage services to builders, developers and homebuyers.
First National Bank of the South is a wholly-owned subsidiary of First National Bancshares Inc., a bank holding company based in Spartanburg.
Vehicle recovery program expands into state
LoJack Corp., which tracks and recovers valuable mobile assets, announced it has expanded its Stolen Vehicle Recovery System Network into South Carolina, beginning with the Charleston, Columbia and Rock Hill areas. Further expansion in the state is expected.
Local and regional law enforcement agencies will use LoJack’s system in the fight against auto theft. The LoJack Stolen Vehicle Recovery System is directly integrated into law enforcement agencies that use LoJack’s in-vehicle tracking equipment to recover stolen assets. The system has a better than 90% success rate in recovering stolen cars and trucks.
LoJack operates in 25 states and the District of Columbia, and in more than 25 countries throughout Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia.
Force Protection again hits production goals
Ladson-based armored vehicle manufacturer Force Protection Inc. announced it has met production objectives for the month of February.
The company, which supplies blast- and ballistic-protected vehicles to all branches of the U.S. armed forces, delivered 15 Cougar Joint Explosive Ordnance Disposal Rapid Response Vehicles, or JERRVs, to the government in February. To date, Force Protection has delivered 28 vehicles since the beginning of the year.
Large requirements, such as a May 2005 order from the Department of Defense for more than 120 Cougar JERRVs, have led to substantial expansions in Force Protection’s production facilities and manufacturing processes.
While Force Protection does not publicize the exact number or location of vehicles currently deployed, more than 100 have been delivered to the U.S. government since 2003. Based on orders already received, that number is expected to more than double by June.
Brentwood Homes announces new residential development
Brentwood Homes, the largest local builder in Charleston, recently announced the opening of a new planned community, Indigo Palms.
Indigo Palms is located off Ashley Phosphate Road in the Windsor Hill Plantation and offers 250 home sites. Home prices range from about $215,000 to $281,000. Floor plans range from 1,735 square feet to 2,759 square feet.
This residential community has the amenities and conveniences of a large master planned community and a neighborhood feel.
Brentwood Homes has partnered with the EarthCraft House green building program in order to provide efficient and technologically advanced homes. Indigo Palms homeowners will live in homes that were built with EarthCraft standards designed to provide a healthier indoor environment, lower utility bills, more durability and less maintenance.
Commerce department offers China export service in May
To help South Carolina businesses benefit from China’s strong demand for foreign goods, the South Carolina Department of Commerce’s Export Development Office will offer its popular China Export Service May 15 through June 2.
The service enables representatives of South Carolina businesses to conduct business in China.
South Carolina’s exports to China rose more than 21% last year and have tripled in the past five years, according to the department. Companies that participated in the China Export Service during fiscal year 2003-2004 reaped a combined $145 million in new sales to China.
A service fee of $2,400 will cover all expenses related to appointment making and facilitation, including ground transportation and interpretation. Airfare, hotel accommodations and incidentals will be the responsibility of each participant.
The registration deadline is March 20. For more information, contact Gregory Guest at (803) 737-0651 or gguest@Sccommerce.com.
Hollings Cancer Center joins with Carolina Regional Cancer Center
The Medical University of South Carolina’s Hollings Cancer Center in Charleston and Carolina Regional Cancer Center in Myrtle Beach have reached a formal affiliation that will introduce and extend the MUSC research network and Hollings Cancer Center multidisciplinary cancer care clinic services to Horry County.
The affiliation will immediately enhance the abilities of local physicians and area hospitals, and establish high standards of patient care and treatment therapies.
The participating physicians will establish multidisciplinary teams and tumor boards, and will participate in multidisciplinary case conferences to develop individualized treatment plans for patients.
State’s annual Salute to Small Business set for April
The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, the South Carolina Coalition for Small Business & Entrepreneurship and the U.S. Small Business Administration have joined together to present the third annual Salute to Small Business April 18 at the Columbia Marriott Hotel.
In addition to providing a forum for South Carolina small businesses to exhibit their products and services and meet one-on-one with state legislators and large corporations, the U.S. Small Business Administration will announce the state’s Small Business Person of the Year award.
The event will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and is open to the public. Small businesses will exhibit their products and explain how South Carolina’s economic development organizations have helped them expand their product lines and revenues.
Companies can register online at www.scmep.org or www.scchamber.net, or by calling event planner Donna Croom at (803) 749-9011.
Charleston Digital Corridor to present at Intelligent Community Forum
The Charleston Digital Corridor has been invited to participate in the Intelligent Community Forum’s “Building the Broadband Economy 2006” June 8-9 at Polytechnic University in New York City.
The city of Charleston will be one of three communities represented at the international conference. Also presenting will be the cities of Bellevue, Wash., and Virginia Beach, Va. As part of the “E-Government and Intelligent Community” panel, the roundtable experts will discuss their municipalities’ successes in pioneering the effort to create innovative opportunities for building their communities’ broadband economy.
The Intelligent Community Forum, a partner of the Innovations Group, is a nonprofit think tank that focuses on job creation and economic development in the broadband economy. Attendees from the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa are drawn to the conference by the shared challenge on how to adapt to the broadband economy in light of today’s economic realities.
In August 2005, a case study on the Charleston Digital Corridor was presented at the eCommunity Government Summit at Virginia Tech’s campus in Blacksburg, Va. Hosted by the Innovations Group, the conference’s goal was to guide communities across the United States through the next phase of technology advancement. Based on the Charleston Digital Corridor’s presentation in Blacksburg, the Innovation Group requested the city of Charleston be featured as a Best Practice Community.
Law school names two assistant deans
Two administrators have been named assistant deans at the Charleston School of Law.
Abby Edwards, who has directed the school’s student services office since August, has been named assistant dean for student affairs. Marta Borinksy has been named assistant dean for career services. She joined the law school in 2004 when it was launched.
Both lawyers say they are driven by the school’s mission of training students to know that an integral part of being a lawyer is giving back to the community.
Students at the Charleston School of Law are among the few in the nation required to perform 30 hours of public service before they graduate. The school is also the only one in the nation to require its faculty to provide 30 hours of pro bono work annually.
Study links nurse shortage to nurses’ pay
A new study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research finds that increasing nurses’ pay is the most direct way to solve the hospital nurse shortage.
According to the study, Solving the Nursing Shortage through Higher Wages, basic economic principles of supply and demand suggest hospitals are not offering high enough pay to fill their nursing positions. Hospitals employ three-fifths of all registered nurses and must compete for staff with doctors’ offices and other employers.
The study uses data on 18,300 hospital nurses from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ September 1995 to April 2005 Current Population Survey and provides state and metropolitan data and comparisons on nurse wages. In 2004, nurses’ pay nationwide averaged $825 a week, the study said.
The report finds that when nurses’ pay rises, so does the number of hospital nurses. Nurses’ real wages were flat from 1996 to 2000, although hospitals had begun complaining of a nurse shortage by 1998. In fact, hospital nurses made 1.5% less in inflation-adjusted wages in 2000 than in 1996, the study said.
When nurse wages increased in 2001, by 2.4% after inflation, hospitals were able to increase their nursing staffs by 9.2% in 2002. Further wage growth in 2002, an increase of 7.6%, was met with additional hiring the next year (hospitals employed 9.4% more nurses in 2003 than in 2002).
When wages stagnated and then dropped in 2003 and 2004, however, the hospital nurse workforce responded immediately with a 2.8% decline in employment from 2003 to 2004.
North Charleston hosts groundbreaking for housing community
State, local and federal housing authority officials, politicians and others broke ground recently on Horizon Village, a 68-acre, $240 million affordable housing community off Rivers Avenue in North Charleston.
Horizon Village will comprise nearly 500 residential units, including apartments and houses. Some of the houses will be sold at market value.
In 2001, the North Charleston Housing Authority received a $30 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to launch Horizon Village. The development will be funded by state and federal agencies, plus private donations.
Horizon Village replaces North Park Village, South Carolina’s largest public housing development before it was demolished for Horizon Village.
U.S. Congressman James Clyburn, North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey and North Charleston Housing Authority Executive Director George Saldana were among the officials at the groundbreaking.
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