Media outlets nationwide jumped on a major health story: the first�]ever release of maps showing the rate of HIV/AIDS infection by U.S. county. While experts had long seen high rates in urban centers, many were surprised to see the Southeast emerging as a major hub for HIV and AIDS. The online mapping interface, created by ROK Technologies, Inc., has proven so powerful that 100,000 people visited the site MapHIV.org within 24 hours of its posting.

Philip Simmons was more than just another outstanding American craftsman; he remains the inspirational founder of an entire American movement to ensure that art goes back into building. Just as Philip Simmons understood the critical need for master artisans in America, a small group of individuals in Charleston saw the shortage of professional building artisans across the United States and in 1997 the group joined forces with Simmons to try and preserve the lost arts and give a national crisis hope.

Techbridge Academy, a summer technology and academic program sponsored by South Carolina State University teaches high-school students about technology, nd how to build a computer. If they complete the course successfully, they get to keep the computer. The university purchases the computers at a reduced cost from the Pennsylvania-based construction and engineering firm Henkels & McCoy.

Of all the trades taught by the American College of the Building Arts, none may be quite as endangered as plasterer. While new construction today often makes use of masons, timber framers, carpenters and even stone cutters, it's rare to find new plaster walls. Plaster is more organic � a simple mix of lime and sand � instead of the reconstituted gypsum and chemical-treated paper found in sheetrock.

The iTEAMS program (Innovation Technology & Entrepreneurship Among Middle Schoolers), which is free to its participants, is a joint effort among The S.C. Governor�s School for Science and Mathematics, Google Inc. and Berkeley County School District to encourage students who are interested in pursuing computer science, engineering, programming and business.

South Carolina�s seaports stand to gain more than $12 million in additional funding for deepening studies and channel maintenance following action in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Port of Charleston is currently 47 feet deep at mean low water in the entrance channel and 45 feet inside the harbor. Charleston�s channels have the opportunity to go even deeper thanks to funding for the resumption of a reconnaissance study on future deepening.

BAE Systems, which operates facilities in Aiken and North Charleston, has been awarded $124.8 million in contracts from the U.S. Army to reset, upgrade and maintain M113 vehicles. The contract work will be doled out between the company�s existing facility in Aiken, as well as its facilities in Anniston, Ala. and Fort Hood, Texas.

A new market for its products, coupled with a commitment to source materials from local suppliers, has prompted Welded Tube-Berkeley to expand its operations in the Charleston area. The company, a subsidiary of Welded Tube of Canada, was established in Huger, SC in 2004. Welded Tube-Berkeley produces sprinkler pipe products for use in fire protection systems, and mechanical and light structural tubing for original equipment manufacturer (OEM) applications such as racking, handrail and other manufactured products.

BiblioLabs, LLC is pleased to announce the relocation of its Corporate Headquarters to the Charleston Digital Corridor�s Wharf District in Charleston, South Carolina. The CEO selected the location based on the growing community of entrepreneurial companies, the quality of the facility and its ability to support the needs of a rapidly growing technology business, the area�s lifestyle in terms of attracting and retaining high value employees in areas such as software development.

Charleston is ranked as No. 2 on a list of best small cities for young professionals to live and work. The designation, announced this month, comes from Next Generation Consulting, a company that studies city and workplace preferences of 20- to 40-years-olds. The rankings are based on seven characteristics that are important to young professionals: earning, learning, vitality, around town, after hours, cost of lifestyle and social capital.

Officials from MeadWestvaco Crop. and Rockefeller Group broke ground on their joint-venture logistics park near Jedburg. Work on the site pad will begin for the first of four planned buildings. The goal is to create a plot where a building could be erected in a matter of months if a tenant is secured.

The Medical University of South Carolina Children�s Hospital is ranked among the Best Children�s Hospitals in the August edition of U.S. News and World Report. The report ranks the 30 best children�s hospitals in the country and breaks down the ranking into 10 specialties, including cancer, neonatal care, orthopedics and urology. The rankings are decided based on reputation, outcome and care-related measures.

Academic Magnet High School in North Charleston is ranked No. 12 on this year�s Newsweek magazine ranking of top public high schools nationwide. To calculate the index, the magazine takes the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests given at a school in May and divides it by the number of seniors graduating in May or June.

A vaccine created by GenPhar, Inc. in Mount Pleasant has proved "100 percent effective" in protecting monkeys against all four strains of dengue fever. Researchers plan to see if they get the same results with humans by the Naval Medical Research Center conducting human clinical trials of the vaccine. The potential economic impact for the state and region is enormous.

Wave Sciences Corporation, an internationally recognized leader in audio and video forensics and C4ISR technology, is pleased to announce the relocation of its Corporate Headquarters to Charleston, South Carolina. Locating in the Charleston Digital Corridor's Flagship, Wave Sciences is a welcome addition to Charleston's entrepreneurial economy and attributes its success and growth to the strong Advanced Security Cluster in the region.

Some of that $700 billion in federal stimulus money is trickling down to small businesses in South Carolina � including Lee German's book publishing company in Mount Pleasant. German's Sylvan Dell Publishing, which publishes and distributes science-themed children's books across the country, employs eight people and has seen record growth in the last year.

Navistar and American LaFrance are working towards an agreement to jointly produce a low cab-over engine (LCOE) truck that will be added to Navistar�s International lineup. The vehicle, originally being designed for the waste and construction markets with additional vocational applications to be added in the future, will be based on the American LaFrance LCOE platform.

The Review Board that oversees SC's endowed chairs research program voted this week to award three new Centers of Economic Excellence (CoEE. The CoEE program provides incentives for the state's three research universities (Medical University of South Carolina, University of South Carolina and Clemson University) to create Centers of Economic Excellence, along with associated endowed professorships, in high-technology areas to enhance the state's economy.

The Trident One Stop Career Center was recognized by the International Association of Workforce Professionals (IAWP), SC Chapter, as the 2008 winner of the �One Stop of the Year Award� for outstanding achievement.

BeliefNetworks, Inc, a Charleston, SC tech startup has been selected to the top 10 of Startup 2009 by Silicon Alley Insider. These 10 emerging online companies have survived three rounds of scrutiny from our panel of VC judges and been selected from a pool of more than 150 applicants to make their pitches live at our conference on June 3rd.

Winning Workplaces and The Wall Street Journal have collaborated to identify exceptional small organizations � private, nonprofit or publicly held � in their 2009 annual ranking of the Top Small Workplaces. The Advanced Technology Institute (ATI), an SCRA affiliate, has been chosen as one of 35 national finalists.

Three Charleston authors won top awards in the Independent Publishers prestigious annual IPPY competition. Former Wall Street investment banker John Thompson won the gold for his thriller �Armageddon Conspiracy,� published by Charleston-based Joggling Board Press.