SPURRIER AND USC:

Can Steve reach the heights that Lou failed to scale?

Football program in disrepair. Huge name with storied background lured to deliver big-time achievements. Frenzied fans counting down the minutes to opening day.

Yes, 1999 was a year to remember.

So much so that USC will do it all over again.

The Gamecocks have replaced one coaching legend with another, luring Steve Spurrier to Columbia to replace Lou Holtz.

Holtz accomplished much during his five seasons at USC but failed to reach the lofty heights so sought after by the school.

So Spurrier is in, and with him comes a freewheeling offensive style that will be a 180-degree turn from Holtz’s conservative — and that’s the nicest word we could think of — approach.

So the offense will be fun, as will Spurrier’s often sharp candor.

But will he win? Well, that’s the seven-year, $1.25-million-per-year-guaranteed question waiting to unfold.

RESEARCH PARK

USC revving up work on ‘economic engine’

Work is expected to begin in February on the Horizon Center, site of two five-story buildings that will anchor USC’s new research campus.

The buildings, about 125,000 square feet each, will sit along Blossom Street on the block bounded by Main, Wheat and Assembly streets. Developer Craig Davis hopes to open the buildings in the third quarter of 2006 at a cost of around $40 million.

Davis said he hopes to announce some business partners during the first half of this year. Meanwhile, USC president Andrew Sorensen continues to talk about a courtship with a Fortune 500 company.

Supporters of the research campus believe it will become an economic engine for South Carolina and its capital city. The 5 million-square-foot campus will consist of laboratory and office space, mixed-use retail, recreation areas and affordable housing, Sorensen said.

SANFORD’S FUTURE

Popular governor says he’ll seek term No. 2; the question is who will rise to challenge him.

Although Gov. Mark Sanford is only halfway through a four-year term, much of the 2005 political talk will center on his 2006 campaign for re-election.

Sanford, a Republican, has said he will seek a second term. As of July, he had more than $2 million in his campaign account. That, combined with his steady popularity among voters, is likely to scare off most challengers.

Democrats will field a candidate, but who it will be remains unknown. And, although unlikely, it is possible that a Republican will challenge Sanford in a primary.

Sanford remains vulnerable over his inability to guide legislative priorities through a Legislature controlled by Republicans.

This year, he has another ambitious agenda, including a major income tax cut and a plan to offer tax credits for parents to send their children to private schools or better public schools.

If neither passes, some of Sanford’s perceived invincibility could wear off.

U.S. SENATORS

Graham takes the spotlight as the 109th Congress convenes; DeMint’s key issues also at top of GOP list.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is roaring into the 109th Congress, which convenes next week for a two-year run.

He is on the Sunday talk shows explaining his plan to reform Social Security. His editorials are printed in newspapers around the nation. He is on the front of those newspapers opining on changing how lawsuits are filed and on the war in Iraq.

Entering his third year in the Senate, the quick-tongued Graham has positioned himself as a conservative willing to buck the Bush administration publicly.

As for U.S. Sen.-elect Jim DeMint, R-S.C., his key issues — Social Security reform and tax reform — sit at the top of the GOP agenda for 2005 and 2006.

That may help the inherently quiet politician distinguish himself among his fellow freshmen. His first tasks, though, are to build a staff and open field offices across the state.

VILLAGE AT SANDHILL

The heart of the Northeast’s giant retail complex is expected to open this year, but questions remain about the market mix.

Over the next year, the 300-acre Village at Sandhill development in Northeast Richland will have staggered openings. The Town Center, the heart of the shopping complex, is expected to open in August.

The first businesses — Rhodes, Cost Plus World Market and Plex Indoor Sports — opened in November.

The 16-screen Eastern Federal Theater, a major tenant, hopes to open before the “Star Wars Episode III” debut May 19.

Town Center is expected to be home to a number of retailers entering the Columbia market for the first time.

Things to watch: Will Developer Alan Kahn get the upscale mix he hopes for, and will any established retailers relocate to the Village.

HOSPITAL GROWTH

Local medical facilities are investing millions in ambitious growth plans.

Columbia-area hospitals will continue their expansion plans this year.

• A state hearing is expected in February on Providence Hospital Northeast’s plans to launch a $58 million expansion that will add 135,000 square feet of space and 50 acute-care beds. If approved, the expansion is expected to be completed in 2007.

• In October or November, Lexington Medical Center is scheduled to complete a $145 million expansion. However, part of the project, a $5.6 million heart surgery unit — is being challenged by competing hospitals.

• Palmetto Health will continue with its plans to spend up to $140.4 million to build Palmetto Health Baptist Parkridge, a full-service hospital with 84 beds near its new offices at I-26 and Lake Murray Boulevard. State approval of the project is pending.

• Palmetto Health will continue building an $80 million heart hospital at the Palmetto Health Richland campus. That facility is under construction.

DOWNTOWN LIVING

A residential building boom will be changing the look of downtown in 2005.

Downtown Columbia residents can look forward to new neighbors as work continues in 2005 on these projects:

• Developer Ben Arnold’s Renaissance Plaza project at nearby Lady and Pulaski streets is offering 17 live-work town houses priced from $375,000 to $450,000 and 60 condominiums priced from $180,000 to $350,000.

• Another developer, Wade Caughman, promises to restore most of the dense trees and foliage he cut down on the stretch of the Three Rivers Greenway adjacent to Congaree Park, the 53-home upscale riverfront development he is building in West Columbia.

• Caughman also is developing the historic Middleton Building, at the foot of the Gervais Street Bridge, and the surrounding 3.85 acres into 54 upscale residential town houses and condominiums called The City Club.

• Housing is also likely for at least part of the Bull Street mental health property.

LEXINGTON COUNTY GROWTH

More houses, more headaches. Lexington County leaders will look for answers and consider one plan that would be the first of its kind in the state.

Lexington County, grappling with its rapid growth, could become the first South Carolina County to impose an impact fee on new homes and businesses, under a 1999 state law.

Lexington County Council is studying the issue as a way to pay for new infrastructure — such as the county’s $16 million Judicial Center, new roads or firehouses.

The county is one of the fastest-growing in the state, with more than 2,000 homes built most years. An impact fee — a fee added to the cost of new homes or businesses constructed in the county — could mean a property tax cut for current residents.

The biggest issue in deciding whether to impose an impact fee this spring, county leaders said, is determining which projects the law allows the fee to finance — which means the county may be lobbying for changes at the State House.

SCHOOL FUNDING

A ruling is likely in a decadelong school funding case that could have far-reaching implications for public education.

Look for a ruling with potentially sweeping implications for South Carolina schools sometime in mid-2005.

Judge Thomas W. Cooper Jr. heard closing arguments in the 16-month school funding trial in early December and has given both legal teams that argued the case a March 1 deadline to submit an outline of why he should rule in their favor.

An administrator who schedules trials before circuit court judges has promised Cooper he’ll be given extra time to review the court record and research rulings in similar cases elsewhere.

Eight rural school systems in eastern South Carolina are suing the Legislature in a dispute over how state government underwrites its share of the cost of providing a public education.

The lawsuit, which took a decade to get to trial, has raised fundamental questions about poverty, education reform and how the state pays for schools.

But whatever Cooper’s decision, it will be appealed to the state Supreme Court, attorneys on both sides and Cooper agree

FIXING THE NEIGHBORHOODS

Columbia shifts its focus to long-neglected in-town neighborhoods, a big-budget project with many questions and challenges.

The city of Columbia’s funding priorities slowly are shifting from the Congaree Vista to the redevelopment of long-neglected in-town neighborhoods.

This year, the city faces big decisions and is likely to earmark major money for such projects.

The East Central City Consortium has drafted a master plan for redeveloping five clusters of neighborhoods from Two Notch Road to Blossom Street east of Harden Street, plus Rosewood’s South Edisto Court neighborhood.

The city will have to work through regulatory barriers and find funding to begin implementing the plan. The first phase is estimated to cost $103 million.

Also, the city is planning to fund the creation of a master plan for land-use development in north Columbia. Finally, construction is under way on mixed-use developments where the former Saxon Homes and Hendley Homes subsidized housing projects were razed.

JOBS, JOBS, JOBS

South Carolina is expected to see a slightly higher job growth rate in 2005, as it struggles to fully climb out of a recession.

If job growth continues as expected in 2005, South Carolina may finally say goodbye to the last recession.

Total nonfarm jobs peaked at 1.9 million in June 2000, then fell to a low of 1.76 million in June 2002. Jobs have been growing slowly since; last year’s rate was just more than 1 percent, or about the rate of population growth.

USC economist Don Schunk predicts the number of jobs will increase 1.6 percent, enough to result in true growth.

South Carolina rang out 2004 with a rush of economic news. Vought Aircraft and Global Containment Systems announced plans to create hundreds of jobs in Charleston and Aiken, respectively. The Savannah River Site, meanwhile, said 2,000 workers could lose their jobs in the next two years, as the site winds down production of highly radioactive plutonium used in nuclear weapons.

S.C. MILITARY BASES

The state waits to hear about the future of its eight military installations.

The future of South Carolina’s eight military installations and the 121,000 jobs that depend on them will be known in May when the Defense Department’s budget-cutting ax falls.

Up to 30 percent of the nation’s military bases could be closed in the next round of shutdowns under the Base Realignment and Closure Act, or BRAC. Officials say that large number means no base is immune to threat of closure.

In the Midlands, business and government leaders are making their best cases to keep Fort Jackson, Shaw Air Force Base and McEntire Air National Guard Station open.

South Carolina lost an Air Force base in Myrtle Beach and a Navy base in Charleston to previous base closings.

TORT REFORM

Lawmakers are set to make big changes in whom you can sue, and how.

State lawmakers are likely to make big changes in where and how lawsuits are brought and how large damage awards can be.

Business leaders and many Republicans say the state’s laws are too friendly toward plaintiffs and bad for business.

Advocates for changing the law want to crack down on a plaintiff’s ability to “venue shop,” or file suit in a county where juries award large payouts.

They also want to limit the time in which a lawsuit can be filed and change the rules on who can be sued when more than one defendant is involved.

One bill, dubbed the “Business Protection Act” already has been filed. It is expected to fly through the House, but it could get bogged down in the Senate.

Still, the issue has more momentum this year than in the past.

TAX REFORM

The state still will be taking your tax money. It might just be doing it in a different way.

Taxes — and not just cutting them — again will be a hotly debated issue in the General Assembly this year.

Gov. Mark Sanford has made cutting the personal income tax a top priority. Lawmakers have their own ideas. Some examples:

• A bill Sanford recently vetoed would have prevented local governments from raising property values more than 20 percent during reassessments. Expect a similar version to come up again.

• Lawmakers also might try to revive the Quinn-Sheheen plan, which proposed raising the state sales tax while cutting property taxes. The plan lost some steam with the June primary defeat of House Majority Leader Rick Quinn, R-Richland.

• An increase in the cigarette tax is a potential dark horse issue this session, with the state Chamber of Commerce supporting a hike to help small businesses pay for employee health care.

STATE BUDGET

The picture brightens for the state’s budget, but don’t expect a spending spree.

For the first time in five years, lawmakers aren’t feeling glum about the state budget forecast.

About $350 million more is expected for the 2005-06 fiscal year, which begins July 1, and there’s no shortage of opinions on how to spend some $6 billion.

Bolstering law enforcement, controlling state health costs and shoring up education funding are leading issues for Republicans and Democrats alike.

Gov. Mark Sanford’s executive budget, which details all state spending and proposes targeted cuts, should raise a few hackles in the General Assembly.

Lawmakers also may opt to face some unpleasant realities by setting aside money for cost-of-living adjustments for state retirees. The system likely will be stretched too thin by 2006 to keep doling them out.

So, while prospects for the next budget are not as gloomy as in recent years, don’t expect a spending spree. The state has plenty of catching up to do.

HEALTH CARE REFORM

Federal change could affect how the state provides health insurance for the poor, elderly and children.

Medicaid costs, the fastest growing part of the $6 billion state budget, will be a dominant issue in the Legislature.

Changes in the program — which provides health insurance for the poor, elderly and children — could come at the federal level, which would have an undetermined impact on the state.

Lawmakers will try to hold down costs and boost the reimbursement rates, while resisting tax hikes to pay for the program.

At the same time, the governor and lawmakers will take another run at saving money by restructuring state health agencies.

Their goal is to eliminate waste caused by duplication of services to patients, to eliminate certain boards and commissions and have the health agencies answer to a head appointed by the governor with the Legislature’s consent.

HOMELESSNESS

On the agenda for city and community leaders: gathering more accurate information about homelessness and trying to find a long-term solution.

A series of summit meetings on homelessness in the city of Columbia continues in January.

The most pressing need for service providers, along with city and county leaders, is to identify a permanent site for a homeless shelter.

The Beth and Lou Holtz Winter Shelter will remain at its Hampton Street location for another year, after its lease was extended in December. Officials say that bought them some time to find a solution, but the pressure is still high to develop a long-term plan.

The notion of a joint, one-stop homeless center still is at the forefront of the discussion, even though an effort by business leaders to develop such a facility on Shop Road encountered neighborhood opposition.

Also in January, the Midlands Area Consortium of the Homeless launches a count of the homeless to finally give leaders an accurate picture of the problem’s scope.

NORTHEAST CONGESTION

Some want Richland County to put the brakes on new construction while it figures out how to fix its overloaded roads. Will the idea fly?

Figuring out how to pay for widening ever-more congested roads is an issue awaiting Richland County planners and the County Council in 2005.

The issue of traffic congestion — most at the forefront in the Northeast, but growing in other areas as well — is reaching a head. Some have suggested a moratorium on new houses or businesses until a solution is found.

“Something has to be done,” said planning commissioner Norman Jackson, who pitched the idea of a moratorium. Traffic makes it hard for emergency vehicles to navigate and means long wait times for commuters, he said.

But some opponents have said a moratorium would drive up the cost of housing.

Enacting new fees or increasing existing ones to pay for the work is certain to be an unpopular idea with many residents.

Others, such as planning commissioner Barbara Wyatt, agree with a moratorium for a few months. But a long-term one would “cripple the economy in Richland County,” Wyatt said.

YOUTH VIOLENCE

Several high-profile shootings of teenagers galvanized the community in 2004. Leaders plan to continue several efforts in the coming year to try to tackle the problem.

Leaders in 2005 face the challenge of trying to curb youth violence, an issue spotlighted tragically last fall by two shootings that left three teens dead.

Columbia Mayor Bob Coble is pushing for a statewide gang summit early this year that would bring together local community leaders to discuss the issue of gangs and how best to combat them.

The Greater Columbia Community Relations Council, which holds monthly discussions on curbing youth violence, also has called for a summit.

Meanwhile, some are pushing for legislation. A prefiled bill focuses on the criminal activity of gangs. It seeks to define a gang member, a criminal gang and what constitutes gang activity. But some legal experts question whether that legislation is necessary, and point to constitutional questions.

STATE OF THE ARTS

Two key cultural institutions are rebounding, but the picture still includes challenges.

Two important cultural institutions began rebuilding in 2004, but both have more work to do.

Karen Brosius, who had worked for 20 years with the Philip Morris Co., took the helm of the troubled Columbia Museum of Art. The museum fired its last director after only 11 months and has had many budget shortfalls; important positions had been vacant.

After a year, the museum is in the black and all the positions have been filled. But Brosius will still have to put the museum on more solid financial ground, attract more visitors and increase the museum’s scholarly work.

Since he became director of the Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties in May, Andy Witt has mended fences and improved the professionalism of the agency. The group once raised about $700,000 but is now raising less than half that.

Under Witt’s leadership the council is getting back to raising money and becoming a voice for all arts groups. This year will be a test of whether the council can get back on track.