FLORENCE -- McLeod Heart and Vascular Institute has announced a cardiac surgical affiliation Wednesday with the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic based in Ohio. The partnership will allow surgeons at McLeod to have access to the same surgical information that the surgeons at the cutting-edge Cleveland Clinic are utilizing via a variety of Web seminars and other technological advancements to make the trade of information run more smoothly.

Read more at The (Florence) Morning News...

BEAUFORT -- A new state House committee will have a year to improve the state's 30-year-old educational funding system, long bemoaned in South Carolina as a funding system that has shortchanged students in poorer counties over the last several years. House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, appointed 15 legislators Wednesday who will investigate the Education Finance Act, the state's primary education funding mechanism.

Read more at The Beaufort Gazette...

MYRTLE BEACH -- Interstate 73, tourism promotion, tax reform and immigration issues were among the top concerns aired Wednesday at the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce's annual legislative luncheon. Lawmakers were asked if they think they can get $10 million - or more - in the state budget again for tourism promotion, and if it could be a permanent allocation rather than one that has to be considered each year.

Read more at The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News...

GREENVILLE -- A new 42,000-square-foot business and office park on U.S. 25 is aimed at bringing more services to the growing population of southern Greenville County. Michigan-based Coleman Group is developing Harrison Centre, which is located near the Matrix Business & Technology Park. Construction is underway on the first of two buildings that will make up the development. The building should be complete early next year.

Read more at The Greenville News...

CHARLESTON -- The wife and investment partner of disgraced economist Al Parish has agreed to walk away from possessions she and her husband amassed during their marriage in exchange for immunity from civil litigation for her and her children. Parish pleaded guilty on Oct. 5 to three federal charges of securities fraud related to an investment offering that over some 10 years raised $112.5 million from 600 to 650 investors.

MYRTLE BEACH -- Investors say there's no bottom in sight for the national housing and real estate markets, and 80 percent say they think national real estate conditions are getting worse, according to the November UBS/Gallup Index of Investor Optimism. Shaken investors along the Grand Strand are being extra cautious, experts say. Many are shying away from real estate and finding other investment vehicles - or not investing at all.

Read more at The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News...