Toal wins reelection, maintains chief justice seat
Incumbent Jean Toal was reelected as the chief justice of the S.C. Supreme Court Wednesday in a 95-74 vote, according to The State.
Toal was supported by the majority of the General Assembly’s black caucus and several Republicans, including House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston.
Toal’s opponent, Costa Pleicones, will maintain his current role of associate justice.
State senators and representatives voted in a joint session, with the 124 House members voting in a rare voice vote.
Toal will serve through 2015, when she will turn 72; she has promised to leave the court then.
Had she lost, Toal would have left her post in July at the end of her 10-year term. She became the first woman on the court in 1988.
CVS to phase out tobacco products by October
CVS Caremark will phase out its sales of cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco by the beginning of October in order to shift the company’s focus more toward health care, according to The Associated Press.
After the phase-out, tobacco products will no longer be sold in the company’s 7,600 stores across the country. This will allow the chain to work with doctors and hospitals to improve customer health.
The company expects the move will cost it $2 billion in revenue. In 2012, its total revenue was $123 billion.
According to Chief Medical Officer Dr. Troyen A. Brennan, the presence of tobacco in the stores has presented the company with some issues.
“One of the first questions they ask us is, ‘Well, if you’re going to be part of the health care system, how can you continue to sell tobacco products?’” he said. “There’s really no good answer to that at all.”
Bill proposes longer sentences for gang members
Gang members would be given longer prison sentences if a bill in the state House is passed, The Associated Press reported.
Sponsored by Rep. Phyllis Henderson, R-Greer, the bill was prompted by the shooting of USC first-year business student Martha Childress in Five Points. Childress was shot while waiting for a cab and was left paralyzed below the waist.
Henderson, who has a daughter at USC, said the incident “really made (her) angry,” so she is seeking to increase prison time for crimes that benefit a gang.
For the majority of crimes, one to five years would be added to a gang member’s conviction; however, some felonies would result in life imprisonment.
The bill also says a criminal gang can involve as few a three people, equivalent to federal standards.