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GREENVILLE, S.C. – Meeting the demands of South Carolina's continued growth will require more than new infrastructure. It will require a skilled workforce ready to build it.

To help strengthen that talent pipeline, Duke Energy Foundation is awarding $180,000 in grants to nine technical colleges across the state to expand construction-related training, enhance hands-on learning opportunities and support industry-recognized certifications in high-demand fields.

Our view: “Projects like our new natural gas facility in Anderson County will help power South Carolina’s growth while creating good jobs in the communities we serve,” said Tim Pearson, Duke Energy South Carolina president. “The construction of that facility over the next few years will need potentially thousands of highly skilled trade workers to complete, and these grants will help ensure local students and workers are prepared to compete for those opportunities.”

Where the money goes: Each of these schools received a $20,000 grant that supports workforce training programs, welding tools, materials and supplies for electrician programs and more. You can find a full list of projects here.

Positive response:

Dr. Debbie Cheek, Florence-Darlington Technical College interim president: “Florence-Darlington Technical College is grateful to have Duke Energy as a partner providing funds for our Electrician Program. Construction is one of the fastest growing sectors in the Pee Dee, yet nearly half of construction firms cite labor shortages as the leading cause of project delays. SC DEW has recognized ‘electricians’ as a workforce priority, recognizing the importance of electricians on the workforce now and in the future. With the help of Duke Energy and its support of FDTC’s electrician program, we are helping to fill the demand for highly skilled electricians.”

Gina Blohm, Greenville Tech Foundation executive director: “We are grateful to the Duke Energy Foundation for its generous support of welding education at Greenville Technical College. This grant helps remove barriers for our welding students, ensuring they have the resources they need to pursue the strong career opportunities available in this high-demand field.”

Dr. Michael Mikota, Spartanburg Community College president: “This investment from the Duke Energy Foundation represents more than new equipment – it represents new opportunities for students and for the future workforce in Union County. By expanding access to high-quality technical education closer to home, we are helping students explore rewarding careers while building the skilled workforce our region's employers need. We are grateful to the Duke Energy Foundation for partnering with us to create lasting opportunities for students and our community.”

Since 2016, Duke Energy Foundation has invested $5.4 million in these types of initiatives across South Carolina.

Duke Energy Foundation

Duke Energy Foundation provides more than $30 million annually in philanthropic support to meet the needs of communities where Duke Energy customers live and work. The Foundation is funded by Duke Energy shareholders.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America’s largest energy holding companies. The company’s electric utilities serve 8.7 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 55,700 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas utilities serve 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio and Kentucky.

Duke Energy is executing an energy modernization strategy, keeping customer value at the forefront as it invests in electric grid upgrades and efficient generation resources to strengthen the system and serve growing energy needs.

More information is available at duke-energy.com. Follow Duke Energy on X, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook for stories about the people and innovations powering its communities.

A district court will decide whether to strike down part of a South Carolina law that gives voters age 65 and older broader access to absentee voting.

The issue stems from a 2023 lawsuit filed by five Charleston County voters against the South Carolina State Election Commission and the Charleston County Board of Voter Registration and Elections. The plaintiffs argue that the state's absentee voting law unconstitutionally discriminates on the basis of age.

Under South Carolina law, absentee voting is permitted in eight circumstances. Voters who cannot cast a ballot in person may qualify if they have a provable work conflict, are jailed awaiting trial, will be outside the county they live in, or are caring for someone with a disability. Voters who are 65 or older, have a physical disability, are in the military, or are hospitalized may also vote absentee regardless of whether they can vote in person on Election Day.

The plaintiffs contend that the provision allowing voters 65 and older to vote absentee violates the 26th Amendment, which guarantees voting rights to citizens age 18 and older, as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which provides that no state shall make or enforce any law that abridges the rights of citizens.

The lawsuit sought an injunction blocking enforcement of the age-based provision. In March 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina denied that request. The plaintiffs appealed.

On Aug. 18, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the lower court's decision. The judges concluded that the law places a greater burden on voters under 65 than on older voters.

“Because the challenged South Carolina rules make it harder for voters under age sixty-five to vote as compared to voters aged sixty-five and over, they explicitly and impermissibly abridge Plaintiffs’ right to vote,” the court wrote.

The circuit court judges have returned the legal matter to the district court to decide how it should be remedied. They recommended that the courts either eliminate the age-based rule or expand access to absentee voting for all eligible voters, regardless of age.

A spokesperson for the South Carolina State Election Commission said the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation and noted that the state's absentee voting rules have not changed.

Bella Carpentier covers the South Carolina legislature, state, and Greenville County politics. Contact her at bcarpentier@gannett.com

Highline Hospitality Partners, the hospitality investment platform launched by Highline Real Estate Partners, has selected hospitality data platform Otelier to centralize and standardize financial and operational data across its hotel portfolio.

HHP owns 21 hotels totaling more than 5,500 guestrooms and approximately $1.7 billion in hospitality assets under management. The company said the partnership will strengthen the data infrastructure supporting Highline Intelligence, its in-house technology group, which oversees analytics, data management and AI-related initiatives across the organization. The platform will provide access to normalized data from multiple property-management and accounting systems, creating a single source of information for investment, asset-management and operational decision-making.

"Highline aims to operate with institutional discipline across all aspects of the business," Key Foster, president and CEO of Highline Real Estate Partners, said in a statement. He said the company has already built a significant analytics platform and views the partnership as a way to expand the scale and reliability of its data infrastructure while supporting future AI development efforts.

Otelier will provide a centralized data feed into Highline's internal data warehouse, which serves as the foundation of the company's broader analytics ecosystem. Highline also will gain access to Otelier's IntelliSight platform, which includes hospitality-focused dashboards and reporting tools designed to provide visibility across portfolios and individual properties.

The companies said the centralized data environment is expected to simplify the integration of newly-acquired hotels and management companies by reducing the need to build custom reporting processes for each transaction.

Rob Lawrence, CEO of Otelier, said the partnership will help Highline consolidate information from across its management and operating platforms while maintaining flexibility in how the company accesses and uses its data. He added that creating a unified data foundation can improve decision-making and support future growth initiatives.