Under new regulations, snuff and cigars will have to go behind store counters, where cigarettes are now kept. How the different products share that space will be a challenge for tobacco companies.

The new law would allow the FDA to reduce nicotine in tobacco products, ban candy flavorings and block labels such “low tar” and “light.“ Tobacco companies also will be required to cover their cartons with large graphic warnings.

Even under the watchful eyes of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, tobacco companies such as Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc. will have opportunities to thrive, some industry observers say. That’s because the legislation passed by Congress this week giving the FDA authority to regulate the industry leaves some doors open for tobacco companies to innovate, and even to make health claims about products, something they cannot do now.

A force in Virginia’s economy and culture for 400 years, the business is headed toward potentially sweeping changes under legislation approved by the U.S. Senate yesterday.

Federal regulators are cracking down on a cigarette substitute that uses technology similar to devices that Philip Morris USA researchers have focused on in recent years. Meanwhile, Virginia Commonwealth University is studying how much nicotine—the addictive compound in tobacco—the “electronic cigarettes” deliver, under a grant from the National Cancer Institute to look at nicotine products.

The nation’s top cigarette maker is moving quickly to strengthen its business in tobacco products such as snuff and cigars as cigarette volumes erode, the top executive for Altria Group Inc. told shareholders yesterday. “Since the shareholder meeting in May of last year, Altria has continued to transform itself as adult tobacco consumer preferences have evolved,“ said Michael E. Szymanczyk, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer.

On April 2, the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation granting the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority over tobacco products. In Virginia, nearly 9,300 children a year become regular smokers. In our state alone, we spend more than $2 billion on health care costs directly caused by smoking, and 9,700 people die from tobacco each year—the leading cause of preventable death.

The Supreme Court yesterday threw out Philip Morris USA’s appeal of a $79.5 million award to a smoker’s widow, ending a 10-year legal fight to keep her from collecting. In a one-sentence order, the court left in place a ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court in favor of Mayola Williams.

Altria Group Inc., the largest U.S. tobacco company, will raise prices on Marlboro and 17 brands on March 9 ahead of an increase in federal tobacco excise taxes.

Altria/Philip Morris: “larger wave” of job cuts this month Altria Group Inc. said yesterday that it expects a wave of layoffs this month at its Richmond-area operations but declined to specify the number of employees affected. The parent company of cigarette maker Philip Morris USA said last fall that it was reducing staff as part of a corporate reorganization.

A Florida jury decided yesterday that a longtime chain smoker’s death from lung cancer was caused by nicotine addiction, a potentially costly loss for tobacco giant Philip Morris and an important test case for thousands of similar lawsuits. The lawsuit by Elaine Hess, widow of Stuart Hess, is the first of about 8,000 such cases to go to trial since the Florida Supreme Court in 2006 threw out a $145 billion jury award in a class-action lawsuit on behalf of thousands of smokers and their families.

Members of the General Assembly confront many issues that are simple and clear-cut. Gov. Tim Kaine’s proposal to raise the cigarette tax is not one of them. The governor has linked the tax hike to Medicaid funding, effectively using hospitals and poor Virginians as hostages: Either raise the tax, or both will suffer. State lawmakers might create a third option by shifting money from other programs to prevent deeper Medicaid cuts without raising cigarette taxes. But doing that risks angering some other constituency, such as teachers and parents of schoolchildren.

A House of Delegates subcommittee rejected two bills yesterday that sought to increase Virginia’s cigarette excise tax, including Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s proposal to double the tax to 60 cents per pack. The House Finance subcommittee voted 8-2 to table that bill. The panel unanimously dismissed another bill backed by public-health groups that would have increased the tax to $1.19 per pack.

Supporters of stricter indoor-smoking laws and higher cigarette taxes in Virginia turned out yesterday to lobby state lawmakers. About 150 volunteers descended on the Capitol, urging legislators to vote for bills that would crack down on smoking in workplaces and increase the state’s cigarette tax to $1.20 from 30 cents per pack. A coalition of public-health groups organized the effort.

The top cigarette company in the nation is also its top seller of smokeless tobacco. Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc., the parent company of cigarette maker Philip Morris USA, said yesterday that it completed its $10.4 billion acquisition of UST Inc., maker of the top-selling premium moist snuff brands Skoal and Copenhagen. The acquisition, which includes the assumption of $1.3 billion in debt, gives Altria a leading position in the growing smokeless-tobacco category and a platform for potential growth as cigarette consumption declines in the United States.