Carissa Moore demonstrates Wire EDM metal cutting machine for governor during tour of Midlands Tech

The state will be using a uniform, statewide measure for skilled labor to fulfill the hiring needs of new companies. Gov. Nikki Haley announced that the state was chosen to partner with vocational testing and certification group ACT, Inc.

South Carolina was one of four states to win a grant from ACT, which will be used to measure and match worker skills with jobs. The state workforce agency will partner with counties, schools, agencies and technical colleges to put into place the  ”Certified Work Ready Communities Academy.”

Gov. Haley announced the project at Midlands Tech in Columbia today

Dr. Marshall “Sonny” White, Midlands Technical College president has been working with the governer’s office to apply for this grant which will help the state streamline all of its job training and testing services.

AUDIO: He gave a specific example of how workers need specific skills (:26)

ACT and the state will pay for the worker training and testing.

Governor Haley says this is part three of her business plan for the state: recruit companies, reduce regulations and laws that block business,  and bridge the gap between available jobs and trained workers.

The ACT is a well-known high school skills test– and the company does many kinds of testing and measurement.

The company’s president, Martin Scaglione joined Gov. Haley for the announcement. He says ACT will help improve South Carolina’s standing by “embedding ACT’s diagnostic tool kit into the workforce initiative” for the state.

Officials say together, agncies and ACT will devise a “dashboard” tool to measure the state’s training and skills.

The project will begin next week, says General Abe Turner, State Workforce and Employment Director. A team of state leaders will take part in a 12-month training on how this all will work.

AUDIO: Gov. Haley says this offers new hope for the state’s families (:16)

The House passed the bill 86-25 Wednesday (File)

Rep. David Mack (D-North Charleston) said it’s just another attempt to minimize organized labor in one of the least-unionized states in the country. “How punitive do we have to be?” he asked rhetorically from the House floor, “Every year why do we have to literally pile on as relates to working people in the state of South Carolina?”

Sandifer says the bill is not anti-union and is meant to protect both union and non-union employees. “The bill says there can be no discrimination. None,” he told South Carolina Radio Network, “By the union, by the employer, nothing. It’s very clear that this is not an anti-union bill at all.”

Sandifer said he drafted the bill last year as a way to clean up some of the state’s “right-to-work” laws.

12 Democrats voted in favor of the bill. It now heads to the Senate.

House Judiciary Committee

The bill heads to the House floor after passing the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday by a party-line vote in a contentious meeting. Supporters say an employee who fails a drug test is not “ready and able” to work, which is required to receive the benefits. However, Democrats call the bill an unjustified attack on the unemployed.

“This bill does nothing to put people back to work,” said Rep. Todd Rutherford (D-Columbia), “It simply says if you apply for a job and get hired, this Republican administration is going to make sure that you have one more hurdle before you can get that job.”

The measure would allow companies to anonymously submit the results of a failed drug test to the state Department of Employment and Workforce. The agency would allow employers to require the drug tests without being liable for the results.

AUDIO: Rep. Todd Rutherford (D-Columbia) spars with Rep. Jim Harrison (R-Richland) Tom Young (R-Aiken) and Rep. Eddie Tallon (R-Spartanburg) – 8:01

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Eddie Tallon, said an unemployed worker who fails a drug test should no longer be eligible for the benefits because they are not “ready and able” to take a job, as the law requires. “We’re not punishing him. The Republicans aren’t punishing him. He’s punishing himself,” Tallon responded, “Nobody told him to smoke that joint, or snort that coke, or whatever he’s done.”

Rutherford questioned why the state doesn’t also require drug tests to pass the bar exam or to receive a state medical license. He said Republicans were focused on the unemployed because “they are the ‘least of thee,’ and that’s what (Republicans) enjoy beating up on.”

Some groups say they are concerned that a false positive would unfairly revoke a person’s benefits. The Appleseed Legal Justice Center has previously asked for the benefits to continue an additional 30 days for the appeals process. However, Tallon said false positives are rare and that labs already take additional steps to avoid them by following up with the person to determine if they take other drugs that could create the wrong result.

Under the current bill, an employer would have the option of requiring the drug test. However, Tallon said he plans to introduce an amendment on the House floor that would require all companies to conduct the test.

Charleston Place was the downtown hotel the Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC) used during the days leading up to the state GOP presidential primary last month. But the convention was poorly attended and Newt Gingrich canceled a speaking engagement there, citing the small audience. Ron Paul did speak at the event earlier in the day.

According to a Charleston City Paper report Friday, the ritzy hotel accuses conference organizers of refusing to pay a nearly $228,000 tab for lodging, food, and beverages. Its owners filed a complaint in the Charleston County Court of Common Pleas against the organization and co-defendant Robert Cahaly– a political consultant who signed the original contract on behalf of SRLC. The complaint seeks full payment and punitive damages.

However, the SRLC issued a statement Monday that it has already prepaid over $235,000 for its stay. It insists it had an unprofessional experience that breached the contract with Charleston Place.

“We continue to seek a reasonable and equitable settlement even as the Charleston Place’s Management seeks to sensationalize,” the statement said, ”We sincerely hope that cooler heads at the Charleston Place will prevail and they will acknowledge serious errors and actions resulting in a fair agreement.”

The Charleston Place complaint accused the SRLC of being an “alter ego” of Cahaly and merely acted as a “facade” for his activities. But John Harrell, an attorney representing the SRLC, insists Cahaly is not even an employee of the organization and was merely hired to manage the convention.

Peach buds are preparing to bloom in the warm weather

The state’s peach growers are uneasy about the current warm weather trend, which is coaxing out early buds on their trees. Chris Yonce, a fourth generation grower in Johnston, explains that once the buds begin to bloom, a hard freeze can cause a range of problems from total crop loss to cell damage which can cause misshapen fruit.

Current drought conditions make it difficult to full prepare for a freeze, says Yonce.  They protect trees by irrigating them to create an icy coating, keeping the temperature a couple of degrees higher than the air.  The Yonce’s 3,000 acres are watered by ponds that are refilled with rain water.

“If we don’t have water, with 70 percent of a peach’s size made up of water, then no appreciable rain in the wintertime is not good for us either,” Yonce says.

Yonce says there is a long time before the threat of cold is gone for the season. “But we just have to push ahead and we’ve got a lot to do. We have a lot of acreage to prune and all we can do is keep working and praying that it works out for the best. You can’t stop until it happens,” he says. “Then you can back up and assess your labor situation, your business and what you are going to do.”

Farms like Yonce’s can be protected somewhat by crop insurance, but there is no government assistance for fresh fruits and vegetables.  Big Smile farms are in the western part of the state known as The Ridge,which produces most of the state’s peach crop.

The $9.5 million investment by Highland Baking Company is expected to create 196 new jobs over the next five years. Highland says it will locate its new bread production and distribution facility to an existing building in the county.

The Illinois-based company specializes in producing custom bread products for national restaurant chains. Highland officials say the new facility will allow them to have some additional capacity.

The state Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved the company for unspecified job development credits, which the Commerce Department says will be available once Highland meets its hiring targets.

The company says it will begin hiring for the new positions in June.

The company’s spokesperson Carolyn Cinotti says the Richland County plant makes and distributes products for North America and the Asian-Pacific market, but the company wants to meet its overseas demand more efficiently.

Cinotti said Bose needs to restructure their manufacturing operations to create a more efficient program.

“Over the next 12 months, we will be consolidating our North American manufacturing operations, transferring production of select Bose products from our Columbia, South Carolina plant to our plants in Mexico,” Cinotti said in an email.

She also said the company wants to move more of their production to Malaysia by 2013, but the Richland County plant will still continue to produce products with a smaller workforce.

Tripp Girardeau contributed to this report

Columbia Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins said Podewil has thrown “Molotov cocktails” at several locations in downtown Columbia over the past month, including the Salty Nut Cafe on January 6. The restaurant remains closed nearly a month later.

The Columbia Fire Department, USC Police, and the State Law Enforcement Division cooperated in the investigation.

Podewil is charged with three counts of possessing an explosive device– which carries up to a 20-year sentence. He also could face four additional charges.

USC police said they were able to pull fingerprints from one of the cocktail bottles thrown into a dumpster off Main Street. When investigators questioned Podewil, they soon connected him to the Salty Nut blaze.

“We’re not sure if these were targeted,” Jenkins said, “But we thought they were just random acts.”

Podewil has had multiple run-ins with the law over the past four years, Jenkins said, including shoplifting, DUI, and cocaine convictions.

“We’re just glad to get this individual off the street,” Jenkins said, “No telling how far he would’ve gone or how many times he would’ve done this.”

This Army Corps of Engineers graphic shows how containers ships have gotten longer, wider, and larger in the past 30 years

Trying to speed up a study needed before the deepening of the Charleston Harbor can begin, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) met last week with local harbor pilots to determine part of the study’s focus.

The harbor pilots were brought in because they know the river channels as well as anyone else, according to ACE’s Charleston District commander Col. Edward Chamberlayne.

“Instead of going through a list of hundreds of alternatives to consider, which would make our feasibility study longer, they would really narrow it down to the most productive and most feasible alternatives,” he said. “It would make the most bang for our buck.”

The Corps has partnered with the State Ports Authority to help pay the estimated $20 million the feasibility study will cost. Port officials say the channel needs to be deepened to 50 feet in order to handle the new, larger ships that will begin arriving along the East Coast once the Panama Canal expansion is complete in 2014. The overall project is expected to cost around $300 million.

The study is currently in a public comment period that ends February 10. Once that passes, the Corps will take the recommendations and begin developing possible alternatives.

The entire study is expected to take about five to eight years. Chamberlayne said the agency would do everything within its power to speed up the process. “I don’t want someone to think that we’re going as fast as possible and ignore a lot of concerns,” he said “That’s not what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to streamline what we’re doing and cut out wasted time.”

Several prominent South Carolina officials, including Governor Nikki Haley, have said they want the amount of time shortened. Chamberlayne said the amount of time was due to federal laws the Corps has to follow, not intra-agency bureaucracy.

He said the Corps does not usually get the harbor pilots involved in the process this early, instead consulting them about final recommendations towards the end. “By then, it’s too late. They’re giving us their input, but we’ve already gone through the process.”

Other proposed ways to shorten the process include concurrent reviews and trying to determine every possible recommendation in advance, to prevent a second study if a different alternative emerges in the future.

The $70 million investment by Uniscite Inc., is expected to create up to 100 new jobs. Uniscite makes plastic film that is used to package food.

The company currently houses its North American offices in Greenville. The new facility is expected to be completed and operational by early 2014.

“Laurens County offered us an excellent business environment and ready and available workforce,” Uniscite general manager Fang Wang said in a statement Tuesday, ”We appreciate all the support we’ve received from state and local officials and we plan to create as many job opportunities as possible for the state.”

Laurens County Development Corporation executive director Marvin Moss told South Carolina Radio Network the state Department of Commerce approached his office about Uniscite last summer.

“We have been fortunate in locating some international companies,” Moss said, “With things going on around the world, the euro situation and what have you, we’re seeing some activity… I hope that continues.”

The company will build its new facility in Owings Mill Industrial Park between Gray Court and Fountain Inn. That is the same area where ZF Group opened a new automatic transmission production line last year. Italian manufacturer Flame Spray S.p.A. also opened a new plant in the area in 2011.

Although South Carolina still struggles from high unemployment, Moss said manufacturing in Laurens County is nearly back to pre-recession levels. “Our industrial base has actually been in a hiring mode for a while,” he said.

Uniscite says it will begin hiring for the new jobs by early next year.

The new facility replaces this 50-year-old coal-fired plant (Courtesy: Department of Energy)

A new biomass plant is now powering much of the Savannah River Site. Earlier this month, the U.S. Energy Department opened the facility, which generates steam power by burning wood chips.

SRS spokesman Jim Giusti said the new facility replaces a 50-year-old coal plant, “It was very expensive, very old,” he told South Carolina Radio Network, “We were spending millions annually just to maintain it.” He said it would be cost-prohibitive to bring the coal plant into compliance with new federal regulations.

In 2007, the Massachusetts energy service firm Ameresco won a consulting contract from the Energy Department. After studying the site, Ameresco officials recommended the biomass plant as the best way to reduce energy costs at SRS.

A big factor in the decision was that Energy Department officials allow timber companies to use the site. “There’s a significant amount of (wood) waste that was just being left behind on the forest floor,” said Keith Derrington, Ameresco’s general manager for federal operations, “So we had a ready source of fuel within a short distance of the plant.”

The new facility is the largest federally-owned biomass plant in the country and cost $195 million to build. Ameresco paid for the start-up costs, which the Energy Department will reimburse through its cost-savings in the coming years.

The plant will convert 322,000 tons of fuel each year, according to Ameresco– equivalent to about 50 truckloads per day.

The plant will also use shredded tires as an energy source. Ameresco received approval this week for a new facility near Jackson that will process the tires into pellets which can be combined with the wood chips. Derrington said the chemicals in tires have higher energy content than wood. Under the terms of Ameresco’s permits, however, tires cannot make up more than 10 percent of its total fuel.

The company has promised the Energy Department $944 million in savings over the next 19 years. From an emissions perspective, Ameresco’s projections claim the biomass facility will release 400 fewer tons of particulate matter each year and 3,500 less tons of sulfur dioxide annually.

“It solved a major environmental problem for them,” Derrington said.

Ameresco has done other work in South Carolina. It also operates a much smaller biomass facility at the Federal Correctional Institute in Estill.

Catherine Templeton (File)

A year after being appointed by Governor Nikki Haley as director of the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, Catherine Templeton has been selected as head of the Department of Health and Environmental Control. The DHEC board, largely appointed by Haley, gave the nod to Templeton Wednesday.

The 41-year-old Templeton is a Mount Pleasant attorney who has represented businesses in employee lawsuits. Governor Haley and the state Senate must approve Templeton’s appointment. She is expected to start February 1. She would be replacing outgoing DHEC Commissioner Earl Hunter who is retiring after 10 years at the post. In all, Hunter has spent more than 30 years with the agency.

Templeton made headlines last year when she was sued, along with Governor Haley, by a machinists’ union during the Boeing dispute for making anti-union statements. The suit was dismissed.

The DHEC board chose Templeton over fellow finalists DHEC health rgulator Pam Dukes and Spartanburg hospital executive Ingo Angermeier.