AT&T Gains FCC's Ear as Agency Nears Decision on Net Neutrality - Bloomberg

"Both sides are trying to affect draft rules that Genachowski may present to commissioners for a Dec. 21 vote.

Regulators are considering whether mobile Web service should be subject to the same rules as Internet service delivered over wires. AT&T opposes net-neutrality rules for wireless in part because companies need flexibility to manage traffic on crowded airwaves, the company said in a filing. Carriers’ wireless traffic and revenue are increasing as more consumers adopt smartphones such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone."

Utilities Shift to Gas-Based Plants as Alternative to Coal - NYTimes.com

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS

Published: November 29, 2010

"For Progress, the decision to scrap coal-fired plants and replace them with gas-fired plants was a drastic change in its business plan. It meant reducing the utility’s coal-fired production capacity by 30 percent while increasing gas power from less than 4 percent of its production capacity to a projected 25 percent after the gas plants are built."

SC's Santee Cooper dedicating first wind turbine - Breaking Business - TheState.com

South Carolina's state-owned electric utility is dedicating its first wind turbine.
Santee Cooper's 2.4-kilowatt turbine is located at North Myrtle Beach's Oceanfront Park and is being dedicated on Tuesday.
The turbine is part of the utility's Wind Education Project which is designed to show the viability of wind power and promote awareness of the power source.
The Wind Education Project is part of the utility's renewable energy program."

WCIV-TV: News, Weather and Sports for Charleston, SC - Building at Trident Tech evacuated

"A portion of Maybelline Road was closed for part of the day on Monday as firefighters from North Charleston and crews from South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCE&G) worked to repair the damaged lines."

Faster cellphones to bring a wave of new services and charges

By Cecilia Kang

"FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said that even though carriers say they let users know how many minutes of talking and megabytes of data they use, mystery fees continue to confound consumers. Verizon Wireless recently agreed to pay $25 million in a settlement with the FCC on false data charges for 15 million subscribers. The federal agency estimates about 30 million cellphone users have experienced bill shock from sudden increases.

And Genachowski doubts that most people know how much data is consumed by watching an episode of 'Mad Men,' a recipe for even more confusion in the new world of ever-more-powerful smartphones and tablets that act like computers"

Heraldonline - Comporium plans to keep making phone books despite national trend

"By Don Worthington - dworthignton@heraldonline.com
Comporium has no interest in embracing a national trend to get rid of phone books, says Glenn McFadden, the company's executive vice president and chief operating officer.
The company will continue to distribute its book listing residential and business listings - one book to each phone number.
The North Carolina Utilities Commission has given AT&T the OK to end residential white-page delivery in Charlotte, Huntersville and Davidson.
According to the Associated Press, 15 states have either approved or are considering suspending delivery of white pages.
South Carolina is not one of them, McFadden said.
The first telephone directory was issued in February 1878, a single page listing 50 customers in New Haven, Conn."

New U.S. Magistrate has nuclear background - Local / Metro - TheState.com

By JOHN MONK - jmonk@thestate.com

After Austin graduated with an electrical engineering major from the University of South Carolina in 1989, she went to work in the regulatory licensing section of SCE&G’s nuclear power plant in Jenkinsville."