DHEC Planning to Create Emergency Ban on Bath Salts

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) -- The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) plans to take special action this week to ban bath salts in the state. The emergency ban would authorize state police to outlaw the substances immediately.

The untimely death of an Anderson University athlete from misuse of bath salts has prompted counties across to the state to call for a ban on the cheap drug substitute. Anderson, Greenville, and Spartanburg counties are on the list of counties whose councils have approved measures banning both synthetic marijuana and bath salts.

State Sen. Larry Martin has said that the state General Assembly could ban bath salts and synthetic marijuana in the beginning of the new year, but the DHEC's move would make the ban immediate.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

SC Supreme Court Releases Former Security Guard from Prison Early

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) -- South Carolina Supreme Court let a former security guard leave prison on Wednesday, 11 years before his sentence was due to end.

The State reports that Jason Dickey was freed after serving five years of his initial 16-year sentence for fatally shooting a man on a Columbia sidewalk.

The high court cleared Dickey, whose case has attracted widespread attention from gun rights and self defense groups, for release late Tuesday after it denied a petition by Attorney General Alan Wilson to reconsider its September decision which overturned a guilty verdict made by a Richland County jury in 2006.

In September, the Supreme Court overturned Dickey’s 2006 verdict as well as a S.C. Court of Appeals decision that upheld the guilty verdict.

Dickey was sentenced after he fatally shot Josh Boot, 24, whom Dickey claimed was threatening him on a sidewalk on Pendleton Street in 2004. The incident occurred in front of the Cornell Arms apartments, where Dickey worked as a security guard.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

State Health Care Collaborative Receives $11 Million-Plus Grant

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) -- A statewide biomedical research group has been awarded an $11.25 million grant from The Duke Endowment in an effort to improve health care throughout South Carolina.

Health Science South Carolina is a collaborative venture by the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, Medical University of South Carolina, and other health care providers established to create a common link between medical studies and research across the state.

It marks the second grant provided to the HSSC from the endowment; HSSC received $21 million in 2006 to help fund the infrastructure of the organization.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

68,000 SC Students to Pledge Against Gun Violence

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) -- More than 68,700 students from across South Carolina are expected to meet with members of the U.S. Attorney's Office and other law enforcement officials on Wednesday as part of the state's annual Student Pledge Against Gun Violence campaign.

Officials say middle and high school students will sign a pledge, promising that "they will never take a gun to school, will never resolve a dispute with a gun, and will use their influence to prevent friends from using guns to resolve disputes."

Elementary school students will pledge that if they see a gun they will not touch it, that they'll assume any gun they see might be loaded and they will tell a teacher or a trusted adult.

Officials say the students participating in Wednesday's pledge come from 119 schools across South Carolina.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Four SC Counties File Lawsuit over GOP Presidential Primary

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) -- Four S.C. county election commissions have filed a lawsuit on Monday over the South Carolina Republican presidential primary.

The State reports that Greenville, Spartanburg, Beaufort, and Chester counties have asked the South Carolina Supreme Court to rule that the state’s election commission “lacks the authority to conduct any Presidential preference primary in 2012.”

The cost of holding the primary is the issue at stake, as the counties argue that the state is forcing them to pay for a primary that they believe to be “a private event” run by the Republican party.

In a news release, S.C. Republican Party chairman Chad Connelly said that state law clearly says the state is responsible for overseeing presidential primaries.

The Supreme Court has been asked by the counties to reach a decision by the end of November.

South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary is slated for Jan. 21, 2012.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio