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COLUMBIA, S.C. – Pallidus, an innovative silicon carbide (SiC) wafer semiconductor manufacturer, today announced plans to relocate its corporate headquarters and manufacturing operations to York County. The company’s $443 million investment will create 405 new jobs.

Founded in 2015, Pallidus leverages its proprietary M-SiC technology to increase the quality and lower the cost to produce silicon carbide wafers used in semiconductors. The company’s next-generation technology has garnered traction in the rapidly expanding transportation, green energy and industrial power electronics markets. In addition to addressing the semiconductor shortage, Pallidus is specifically working to advance the innovative and energy efficient sectors of the economy including electric vehicles and mass transit; wind, solar and smart power transmission; and data centers and telecommunications.

Relocating its corporate headquarters from New York to Rock Hill, Pallidus’ York County facility marks its first operations in South Carolina. Located at 1786 and 1800 Overview Drive, the 300,000-square-foot facility will serve as the company’s new corporate headquarters and manufacturing plant. Pallidus’ plans include the growth of its manufacturing capacity to expand the United States’ semiconductor market.

Operations are expected to be online by the third quarter of 2023. Individuals interested in joining the Pallidus team should email resumes to the company.

The Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved job development credits related to the project.

QUOTES

“We are thrilled to be partnering with the state of South Carolina, York County and the city of Rock Hill in supporting our new high-volume semiconductor silicon carbide wafer manufacturing plant and corporate headquarters. The decision to select Rock Hill, South Carolina for our next manufacturing facility was the result of extensive research to locate to a community that aligned with our innovative and collaborative spirit, offered an exceptional quality of life for our employees and is easily supported from our research and development facility in New York.” -Pallidus Vice President Global Facilities Jerry Knowles

“The arrival of Pallidus is further proof that we have the workforce and pro-business environment in place to attract innovative and cutting-edge companies to South Carolina. This major $443 million investment and the 405 new jobs it will create will help to bolster our economy and create new opportunities for our people. We look forward to Pallidus becoming an integral part of our state’s business community for years to come.” -Gov. Henry McMaster

“Innovative technology companies like Pallidus are helping to lead the way in this time of industry transformation. We appreciate Pallidus’ commitment to York County and confidence in South Carolina to be a partner for the future.” -Secretary of Commerce Harry M. Lightsey III

“Today, we proudly welcome Pallidus to York County. It is exciting to add this innovative manufacturer and their headquarters to York County. We applaud their commitment to invest here and add quality jobs in the community. We look forward to a successful long-standing partnership that will add value to this leading-edge technology company. Congratulations to Pallidus.” -York County Council Chairwoman Christi Cox

“For decades our community has invested in its utility systems with the belief that dependable and modernized utilities would entice investments as announced today by Pallidus. Rock Hill's foresight and commitment to attain the diamond standard recognition as a Reliable Public Power Provider has resulted in one of the most impactful economic development announcements in our history. We welcome Pallidus and the new generation of manufacturing jobs they bring to the ‘good town’ as well as the opportunity for more of our people to build wealth through high paying wages.” -City of Rock Hill Mayor John Gettys

“We welcome Pallidus and are excited to have their company relocate to York County. The state of South Carolina, along with our region, continues to be a magnet for innovative, next-generation companies like Pallidus. Success stories like these, within our targeted industries, are a testament to our streamlined, dual-state economic development capabilities.” -Charlotte Regional Business Alliance Chief Business Recruitment Officer Danny Chavez

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​Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday he will introduce a bill laying the groundwork ​for President Biden to use US military force against Mexican drug cartels.

Graham (R-SC) was reacting to the kidnapping of four Americans in the border city of Matamoros — two of whom were found dead Tuesday — and the continued proliferation of dangerous drugs, including highly lethal fentanyl, brought into the United States by the cartels.

“This administration has done nothing about it,” Graham told Fox News’ Jesse Watters.

“I’m going to introduce legislation, Jesse, to make certain Mexican drug cartels foreign terrorist organizations under US law and set the stage to use military force if necessary to protect America from being poisoned by things coming out of Mexico,” he added.

Graham said he agrees with former Attorney General Bill Barr, who wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last week that the US should designate the cartels as terrorist groups and confront them the same way past administrations confronted ISIS in the Middle East.

“I would follow Bill Barr’s advice and get tough on Mexico,” Graham said.

“It’s not just the hostages. Number one, I’d do everything I could to get them back. I’d do what [former President Donald] Trump did. I’d put Mexico on notice. ‘If you continue to give safe haven to fentanyl drug dealers, then you’re an enemy of the United States,’” he added.

Graham added that he would warn Mexico “to clean up your act” or “we’re going to clean it up for you.”

Also appearing on Watters’ show, Barr said the government of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is at the mercy of the cartels.

“The Mexican government is being held hostage by tens of thousands of paramilitary members of terrorist organizations that effectively control Mexico. It’s pretty close at this stage to a failed narco-state. They can use violence and oceans of cash to corrupt the government. The government has no will, and it doesn’t have the ability to deal with the cartels,” Barr told Watters.

Barr went on to urge Obrador to “stand aside” and let the US take on the cartels if he doesn’t want to do so.

“[W]e have to methodically dismantle these groups. And we have to tell the Mexicans they’re either coming along with us for the ride or step aside, we’re going to do it by ourselves,” Barr said.

T​he four Americans from South Carolina were abducted by a group of gunmen wearing bulletproof vests last Friday, moments after they crossed into Matamoros in the state of Tamaulipas — an area controlled by the cartels.

The foursome — identified as Latavia “Tay” McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown and Eric James Williams ​– were believed taken in a case of mistaken identity.

After the disaster at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986, local residents were forced to permanently evacuate, leaving behind their homes and, in some cases, their pets. Concerned that these abandoned animals might spread disease or contaminate humans, officials tried to exterminate them.

And yet, a population of dogs somehow endured. They found fellowship with Chernobyl cleanup crews, and the power plant workers who remained in the area sometimes gave them food. (In recent years, adventurous tourists have dispensed handouts, too.)

Today, hundreds of free-ranging dogs live in the area around the site of the disaster, known as the exclusion zone. They roam through the abandoned city of Pripyat and bed down in the highly contaminated Semikhody train station.

Now, scientists have conducted the first deep dive into the animals’ DNA. The dogs of Chernobyl are genetically distinct, different from purebred canines as well as other groups of free-breeding dogs, the scientists reported Friday in Science Advances.

It remains too soon to say whether, or how, the radioactive environment has contributed to the unique genetic profiles of the dogs of Chernobyl, the scientists said. But the study is the first step in an effort to understand not only how long-term radiation exposure has affected the dogs but also what it takes to survive an environmental catastrophe.

“Do they have mutations that they’ve acquired that allow them to live and breed successfully in this region?” said Elaine Ostrander, a dog genomics expert at the National Human Genome Research Institute and a senior author of the study. “What challenges do they face and how have they coped genetically?”

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Before the researchers could tackle these questions, however, they had to get the lay of the canine landscape.

“You have this region where there’s different levels of radioactivity, there’s dogs living everywhere,” Dr. Ostrander said. “We had to know who was who and what was what before we could begin our hunt for these critical mutations.”

The project is a collaboration among scientists in the United States, Ukraine and Poland, as well as the Clean Futures Fund, a nonprofit based in the United States that works in Chernobyl. The nonprofit, which was established in 2016, began as an effort to provide health care and support to the power plant employees, who still work in the exclusion zone.

But the organization soon realized that Chernobyl’s canine residents needed help, too. Although the dog population boomed during the summer, it often crashed in the winter, when food became scarce. Rabies was an ongoing concern.

In 2017, the Clean Futures Fund began holding veterinary clinics for the local dogs, providing care, administering vaccines, and spaying and neutering the animals. The researchers piggybacked on these clinics to collect blood samples from 302 dogs living in different locations in and around the exclusion zone.

Nearly half of the dogs lived in the immediate vicinity of the power plant, while the other half lived in Chernobyl City, a lightly occupied residential area about nine miles away. (A small number of samples came from dogs in Slavutych, a city built for evacuated power plant workers, nearly 30 miles away.)

Although there was some overlap between the canine populations, in general, the power plant dogs were genetically distinct from the Chernobyl City dogs, the researchers found. There appeared to be little gene flow between the two groups, suggesting that they rarely interbred. (Physical security barriers around the power plant may have helped keep the dogs apart, the researchers noted.)

“I was completely surprised by the near total differentiation between the two populations, the fact that they’ve existed really in relative isolation for quite some time,” said Timothy Mousseau, a biologist at the University of South Carolina and the other senior author of the study.

The researchers also traced kin relationships, connecting parents and offspring to identify 15 different family groups. Some dog families were large and sprawling, while others were tiny, with more defined geographic territories. Three family groups shared a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, the scientists found.

“I don’t think anybody has looked at a single, free-breeding dog population genetically at this level of detail before,” said Adam Boyko, a canine geneticist at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, who was not involved in the research.

The study will be a good starting point for further investigation of the effects of radiation, Dr. Boyko added. “They find where the interesting populations are,” he said, “where the interesting family groups are.”

The power plant dogs and the Chernobyl City dogs had mixed breed ancestry, but both shared stretches of DNA with German shepherds, as well as other Eastern European shepherd breeds. The dogs from Chernobyl City also had variants that are common in boxers and Rottweilers.

These segments of shepherd DNA might yield particularly useful data in future studies, the scientists said. Comparing these sequences from the power plant dogs, the Chernobyl City dogs and purebred shepherds living in nonradioactive environments might help the researchers identify radiation-related changes in the genome.

“This is a unique opportunity,” Dr. Mousseau said, “a unique population of animals.”

COLUMBIA, S.C. – STIWA US, Inc., a company of the STIWA Group, today announced plans to expand and relocate its new North American headquarters in York County. The company’s $30 million investment will create 48 new jobs over the next five years.

Headquartered in Austria, STIWA US, Inc. is an advanced automation company, specializing in high performance automation with a focus on individual customer and product requirements. The company’s expertise in serving the automotive, fittings and medical markets contributed to its growth over the last 50 years.

Relocating its headquarters, to include manufacturing operations, from Fort Mill to Rock Hill at Porter and Long Meadow roads, STIWA US, Inc.’s expansion includes a new facility which will serve as the company’s new North American headquarters. From this location, the company will be able to readily engage with U.S.-based companies on their specific needs, including new mobility and electrical equipment markets.

The relocation is expected to be complete by September 2024. Individuals interested in joining the STIWA US, Inc. team should visit the company’s careers page.

The Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved job development credits related to this project. The council also awarded a $250,000 Set-Aside grant to York County to assist with site preparation and building construction.

QUOTES

“STIWA US, Inc. has been in the greater Charlotte area since 2016. We are excited that with our future new North American headquarters in Rock Hill we will be able to lift our abilities and services to a new level. The site and the city of Rock Hill also offer us enough opportunities to continue on our planned path to grow and to be able to supply our North American customers with excellent products in automation and parts manufacturing.” -STIWA US, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Andreas Prokesch

“With the expansion of STIWA US, Inc., South Carolina’s manufacturing industry continues to lead our state’s thriving economy. We are proud to be home to this growing company’s new North American headquarters and look forward to their continued success in York County and beyond.” -Gov. Henry McMaster

“More and more, international companies are discovering that South Carolina provides the pro-business climate where they can find ongoing success. Congratulations to STIWA US, Inc. for their continued growth in South Carolina, and our state proudly welcomes the international manufacturer’s new North American headquarters to York County.” -Secretary of Commerce Harry M. Lightsey III

“The city of Rock Hill is excited to see additional investment in the city of Rock Hill’s Interstate-77 Commerce Corridor. Manufacturing jobs are the backbone of sustainable growth and opportunities in our community. This commitment by STIWA US, Inc. serves as a testament to others looking to locate in Rock Hill of our business-friendly environment and the city's continuous investments in infrastructure necessary for businesses to succeed in today's world.” -Rock Hill Mayor John Gettys

“Today's announcement by STIWA US, Inc. is exciting, as they will not only provide quality new jobs for our area, but also add to our expanding manufacturing footprint here. We are proud they chose to establish and now grow their specialized operations here in York County. We look forward to watching them grow and succeed.” -York County Council Chairwoman Christi Cox

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COLUMBIA, S.C. – Element Designs, one of the leading North American manufacturers of custom aluminum frame glass cabinet doors, today announced plans to relocate its headquarters and manufacturing operations to York County. The company’s $5 million investment will bring approximately 100 new jobs to Fort Mill over the next five years.

Founded in 2003 and currently headquartered in Charlotte, Element Designs’ product offerings have expanded to include custom glass and acrylic surfacing solutions and components. All products are made and fabricated in the United States, with manufacturing processes that use water-based coatings and recycled materials to create products for customers across North America.

Located at 7107 Logistics Lane, Suite 101 in Fort Mill, Element Designs’ new 112,840-square-foot facility will serve as the company’s joint headquarters and manufacturing operations, allowing the company to efficiently serve its international customers, including many well-known manufacturers in the kitchen, bath and office furniture industries.

Operations are expected to be online in the second quarter of 2023. Individuals interested in joining the Element Designs team can submit resumes to the company.

The Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved job development credits related to this project.

QUOTES

“We are very excited to move our headquarters to Fort Mill, S.C. We already feel very welcomed and can’t wait to call it our new home. It will be a transformational move for our company. This new location and state of the art facility will not only provide us with the necessary room to grow, but it will also be a testament to what we as a company want to be recognized for: an innovative industry leader that produces beautiful products in a sustainable way. Its proximity to our current location was also very important as we want our incredible team to move with us and enjoy the benefits of this new space to call home. -Element Designs President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Uebersax

“We eagerly welcome Element Designs to South Carolina. Our state is proud to be home to companies producing some of the most unique, high-quality goods in the world, and we’re proud to add Element Designs to that roster. We’re grateful for the skilled jobs this company will bring to our state and the Fort Mill community.” -Gov. Henry McMaster

“On behalf of the South Carolina business community, we congratulate and welcome the entire Element Designs team to York County. Manufacturers of all sizes and industries have found long-term success in communities throughout South Carolina, and we’re eager to support Element Designs to continue that commitment.”-Secretary of Commerce Harry M. Lightsey III

"We celebrate today's announcement by Element Designs. We are pleased to see that they have found an ideal location in York County to continue to grow their manufacturing operations as well as establish their headquarters. Congratulations to this industry leader. We welcome your growing team to our community."-York County Council Chairwoman Christi Cox

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