Gov. Mark Sanford on Tuesday signed a bill imposing mandatory minimum sentences for more serious criminal domestic violence offenses.

The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, imposes a minimum sentence of 30 days for second offenses and one year for third and subsequent offenses and criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature.

It also sets higher fines for first and second offenses and makes third and subsequent offenses a felony. Judges will be required to undergo training in domestic violence issues under the new law.

• Large liquor bottles to pour beginning Jan. 1

Those tiny bottles of liquor will disappear from bar shelves starting Jan. 1 as part of a bill Gov. Mark Sanford signed into law Tuesday.

Voters asked for the legislation when they approved a constitutional amendment last fall to end a state law that required bars to serve booze from the 1.7 ounce bottles. South Carolina was the only state that served liquor only from minibottles.

Lawmakers negotiated into the final hours of the session last week. Retailers will be able to distribute larger bottles of liquor to bars — and the public would be able to buy minibottles at stores — as of Jan. 1.

Wholesalers were left out of the mix, but that issue will be revisited during the 2007 legislative session.

CHARLESTON

• Six arrested in brawl over pack of cigarettes

Four people were injured and six arrested after a brawl at a convenience store over a pack of cigarettes, authorities said.

It happened Sunday when a 20-year-old woman walked into the store on Johns Island and tried to buy cigarettes. The 18-year-old clerk would not sell them to her because the woman’s driver’s license was damaged.

The woman argued with the clerk, then left, returning a few minutes later with a friend who also started arguing. The friend jumped over the counter and attacked the clerk, sheriff’s deputies said.

A clerk called relatives for help, and 10 family members and friends arrived, several of them fighting with the two women customers.

When it was over, four women were injured and three arrested. Three more people were arrested on various charges Monday.

WALHALLA

• Prosecutor to seek death in killing of 4-year-old

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against an Upstate man who police say beat his 4-year-old son to death.

In an earlier hearing, an investigator said the boy’s older brother said Clifford Michael Baker, 38, began beating both boys with a belt as they slept. The 6-year-old boy said Baker then took his younger brother, Billy Nathaniel Henry Jr., into the bathroom and came out alone, saying the boy was sleeping, investigator Gentry Hawk said.

The boy’s 28-year-old mother, Joyce Lynn Veal, found her younger son on a mattress making a gurgling sound and bleeding from the nose. She had left the boys with Baker after the two argued the day before, officials said. Veal has been charged with homicide by child abuse because prosecutors said she knew her sons were being severely abused and did nothing about it.

Contributing: The Associated Press