The S.C. Supreme Court, not lower courts, will decide who directs the sale and receives the proceeds from the redevelopment of the old State Hospital campus on Bull Street in Columbia.

Both the S.C. Mental Health Commission and the State Budget and Control Board asked the justices to clarify whether a trust controls the 178-acre site.

While a resolution is likely to take months, Bull Street boosters said the move avoids years of legal wrangling in lower courts.

• Skeletal remains thought to be missing man

The skeletal remains of a body found March 4 in Columbia have been identified tentatively as a 43-year-old man who disappeared in February 2004.

Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said Bobby D. Jefferies, of Chevis Street in Columbia, was reported missing by his wife.

The body was found in a swampy area near the 4000 block of Edmund Drive.

His death is considered suspicious death, but a cause has not been found, the coroner said.

• Benedict celebrates Founder’s Day

The President of the National Baptist Convention, Rev. Dr. William J. Shaw, will deliver the Founder’s Day message at 11 a.m. today at Benedict College’s Antisdel Chapel.

Bathsheba Benedict founded the historically black college in 1870.

• Columbia International gets $4.5 million gift

Columbia International University has received $4.5 million, the largest gift in the private, multi-denominational school’s 83-year history.

The gift is from the estate of the late Henry and Mary MacCullouch of Willow Grove, Pa. Henry MacCullouch died in the 1980s. His wife died last year.

The money will go toward student financial aid and faculty and staff salaries, said university President George Murray.

LEXINGTON-RICHLAND 5

• Spokesman cited for ethics violation

The state Ethics Commission released a report this week admonishing the Lexington-Richland 5 school spokesman for inappropriate use of e-mail prior to last fall’s failed school construction referendum.

The agency issued a warning letter to Buddy Price and charged him a $50 fee. Price acknowledged he had become “exuberant” in crafting internal correspondence to principals to generate support for the referendum.

LEXINGTON

• Town is second largest in Columbia-area

The town of Lexington has grown by 4,536 residents during the past six years, a census update Friday says.

The new count of 14,329 — up from 9,793 — makes Lexington the second-largest municipality in the Columbia area.

That jump will increase federal and state aid tied to population by nearly $500,000 until the next census in five years.

Contributing: Staff writers Jeff Wilkinson, Shalama C. Jackson, Bill Robinson and Tim Flach