A Charleston-based firm has been hired by the State Budget and Control Board to remove mold at the Governor’s Mansion.

Risk Tech LLC has managed similar problems in buildings including schools, hospitals and U.S. embassies abroad, according to the board.

The company will work to eliminate the mold and humidity problem that led to the closing Monday of the Governor’s Mansion. Officials will develop a comprehensive testing and cleanup program that will include health screenings for mansion staff members and Gov. Mark Sanford and his family.

• Man robs store after spraying aerosol can

A convenience store owner was injured Thursday when a man sprayed her with an unknown substance and pushed the cash register toward her, striking her in the head, police said.

Hina Vanodia was working at Shiv Food and Beverage Mart at 631 Whaley St., a police report said. A man walked into the store at 11:05 a.m., held up an aerosol can, sprayed her and jumped over the counter, store clerk Ravi Maleshri said Thursday afternoon.

Vanodia, who was sitting in a chair with wheels, backed up as the man pushed the register toward her in an attempt to force the drawer open, Maleshri said.

The drawer flew open and hit her in the head, he said. The man fled with the drawer, which contained an undetermined amount of money, he said.

Vanodia was taken to the hospital with a gash on her head. She was released Thursday, said Maleshri.

• Employee suspended since early June arrest

The state prison employee charged in connection with the April shooting of two Allendale Correctional Institution inmates has been suspended since shortly after her arrest, the Corrections Department disclosed Thursday.

Kezia Fennell, of Brunson, is a medical assistant who has been with the agency since February 2000, prison officials said in a written response to requests for public information about the arrested worker.

Fennell, accused of smuggling a gun inside the prison, was denied bond June 8 by an Allendale County magistrate the day after she was arrested, an employee in the judge’s office said Thursday.

Whether she remains in jail could not be determined Thursday.

• Coroner identifies body found at fort

A man found dead at Fort Jackson has been identified through fingerprints, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said.

Laurise Rhem Welsh, 52, was reported missing on Wednesday by his mother, who filed a report at the Columbia Police Department, Watts said. She last saw her son on June 18. On Thursday, police investigators learned the fingerprints taken from the body matched Welsh’s, whose prints were on file, Watts said.

Welsh, who lived with his mother at 4517 Winthrop Ave. in Columbia, was found by soldiers Tuesday in a training area near Percival Road. He had a head injury consistent with a gunshot wound. A gun was found at the scene, but authorities don’t know if he died from a self-inflicted gunshot or a homicide.

Watts said the body had been at Fort Jackson for at least three or four days.

• Columbian sentenced in 2002 stabbing death

A Columbia man was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday after admitting to a lesser charge in the 2002 stabbing death of another man.

Grover Hickson Jr., 39, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter as his public defenders and prosecutors were planning to present closing arguments in his Richland County trial. The jury trial before Circuit Judge Reginald Lloyd started Monday.

Hickson, who didn’t testify, could have received 30 years on the manslaughter charge. Had he been convicted of the original murder charge, he would have faced 30 years to life without parole.

Hickson was charged with fatally stabbing Johnny Adams Jones, 61, of 3300 Maybank St. in Columbia, on Sept. 16, 2002.

From Staff and Wire Reports