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Associated Press Tuesday Ohio Headlines - 5/12/2009
DEMJANJUK
Demjanjuk arrives at German prison
MUNICH (AP) - John Demjanjuk arrived in Munich overnight and was transferred to a German prison.
The suspected Nazi death camp guard was deported from the U.S. yesterday to face a warrant accusing him of being accessory to the murder of 29,000 Jews and others.
The retired Ohio autoworker arrived at Munich's airport from Cleveland at about 9:15 a.m. German time. The plane taxied directly into a hangar, accompanied by police vehicles and an ambulance.
From there he was transported to a special medical unit of the Stadelheim prison, where the 89-year-old Demjanjuk, who is allegedly in poor health, will be examined by a doctor and formally arrested.
The Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk says he was a Red Army soldier who spent the war as a Nazi POW and never hurt anyone.
OHIO SEXTING-SENTENCES
Ohio judge sentences 2 teens for sexting
LEBANON, Ohio (AP) - Two Ohio teenagers caught sending or possessing nude photos on their cell phones have been ordered to surrender their phones, perform 100 hours of community service and receive counseling.
A Warren County Juvenile Court judge on Monday also sentenced one of the teens - a 15-year-old boy - to 30 days of house arrest. The other teen, a 15-year-old girl, must write a paper detailing the dangers of "sexting."
Warren County Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel said the Mason High School teens admitted to misdemeanor charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She says the sentence sends a message to other teens that texting is a serious issue that can have long lasting consequences.
SCHOOL DANCE FLAP
Ohio teen: Suspension for going to prom 'drastic'
NEW YORK (AP) - An Ohio teenager who was suspended by his Christian school for attending another high school's prom where dancing took place says he was caught off guard by his principal's decision to discipline him.
Tyler Frost says in an interview with the CBS "Early Show" on Tuesday that officials at Heritage Christian School in Findlay took drastic, unnecessary measures.
The fundamentalist Baptist school Ohio forbids dancing, rock music and hand-holding. School officials had warned Frost he would be suspended and prohibited from attending graduation if he went to the dance over the weekend.
Frost said he doesn't have any regrets and doesn't feel any less Christian for attending the dance.
SCHOOL-ELIMINATING SPORTS
Ohio school district urged to try again with levy
GROVE CITY, Ohio (AP) - More than 3,000 students, parents and residents of a school district near Columbus that's eliminating athletic programs and extracurricular activities turned out for a forum on the district's looming $8 million budget cuts.
Many speakers at the Monday night meeting at Central Crossing High School in Grove City asked school board members to again put a levy before voters in August.
About 56 percent of South-Western City School District voters last week rejected a levy that would have raised $21 million a year.
Superintendent Bill Wise said the cuts, which take effect this fall, will balance the district's budget for the 2009-10 school year. But he says the district still faces a $5 million budget gap in the 2010-11 school year.
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Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com
CLEVELAND HOTEL TAX
Cleveland mayor, hoteliers squabble over bed tax
CLEVELAND (AP) - Cleveland's mayor and the city's hotel industry are squabbling over how to spend the city's bed tax.
Mayor Frank Jackson hopes to use the tax on hotel guests to help plug a possible $50 million deficit in next year's municipal budget. The tax generates about $4.8 million a year and supports the city's aging and little-used convention center.
The hotel industry wants the tax reserved for promoting travel and tourism to Cleveland. Chairman Steve Groppe of the Greater Cleveland Lodging Council says the tax money is supposed to promote tourism, not address the budget problem.
City officials in Cleveland say they have the legal authority to transfer the tax to another use.
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Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com
UNATTENDED PETS
Police find 2 dozen unattended pets in Cincinnati home
CINCINNATI (AP) - Police in Cincinnati say it was a neighbor's complaint about the rank odor that drew them to a house where officers found two dozen pets apparently left unattended.
Officers and firefighters wearing masks removed about 20 dogs, three birds and a cat on Monday. The animals were handed over to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for examination.
Police described the conditions inside the home as filthy. Neighbors said they had not seen the home's resident in about a week.
Police have not said whether the woman who lives there would face any charges.
THRUWAY-TOLL CRASH
Crash at NY Thruway toll barrier results in ticket
RIPLEY, N.Y. (AP) - A truck driver has been ticketed after he drove his rig into a Thruway toll building in western New York.
State police say 49-year-old Mark Porter of Massillon, Ohio was traveling west on Interstate 90 Monday when he drifted off the right shoulder and struck a Thruway car parked in the employee parking lot at the Exit 61 toll barrier in the town of Ripley.
Troopers say the truck then hit a building adjacent to the toll booths.
No one was injured.
Troopers say Porter was ticketed for moving from a lane unsafely.
Police say his truck was hauling a load of windows.
The Ripley toll barrier is located near the Pennsylvania border, 60 miles southwest of Buffalo.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland says $150 million in agency savings and delayed debt payments will help plug a hole in the state's budget that could reach $900 million.
State agencies reported Monday they will be able to save $99 million through travel limits and "stop-work" orders on contracts. The Ohio Public Facilities Commission also approved delaying $52 million in debt payments until future years.
Strickland had already delayed $400 million in payments to free up money to spend in the next two-year budget. The state will have to make $90 million in additional payments by 2021. Monday's action brings that total to about $101 million.
Lawmakers will likely have to use the state's $1 billion rainy-day fund to make up the difference between the deficit and savings announced Monday.
MEDICAL MARIJUANA
Poll boosts push for medical marijuana in Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Medical marijuana supporters in Ohio are headed back to the Statehouse armed with two pieces of new ammunition: recent legalization in neighboring Michigan, and new poll results showing a majority of Ohioans would favor the same in this state.
Ed Orlett, a former state legislator who lobbies on the issue, says even he was surprised when last week's Ohio Poll out of the University of Cincinnati showed strong support for legalizing marijuana for medical uses.
Seventy-three percent of residents said they were in favor of allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for medical reasons.
Results from the telephone poll showed majorities in every demographic group either strongly or somewhat supported the issue.
BURNING RIVER-CLEANUP
Upgraded status sought in Ohio for once-dead river
CLEVELAND (AP) - A regional clean water group and Ohio environmental officials say Cleveland's Cuyahoga (keye-uh-HOH'-guh) River is not nearly as polluted as it once was.
They're asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to upgrade the river's status by removing the once-dead and still-symbolic river from an international list of polluted Great Lakes hot spots.
A 1969 fire on the river that involved floating oil and debris helped spur the environmental movement and widespread reforms, including the federal Clean Water Act.
If the request by the state EPA and the Cuyahoga River Remedial Action Plan is approved, it would be the first official change in the river's status since 1985, when the Cuyahoga was named one of 43 polluted areas on the Great Lakes.
ATTORNEY GENERAL-SPENDING
New Ohio attorney general boosting staff, payroll
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A newspaper analysis shows that Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray added 52 people to his staff and 5 percent to his payroll in his first three months in office.
Cordray's hiring decisions came as Gov. Ted Strickland was pleading with state agencies to cut costs because of declining revenue projections.
The state's top lawyer tells The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer for a story published Monday that payroll figures and staff size don't tell the whole story. He says he's also reduced overtime expenses and lowered top salaries in the office.
Cordray was elected in November to replace Marc Dann, who resigned last year in the face of a sexual harassment scandal. Cordray says many new employees were hired to fill jobs left vacant during the scandal.
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Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com
AUDITOR RACE
Hamilton Co. commissioner to challenge Taylor
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A Hamilton County commissioner will challenge Republican Mary Taylor for state auditor in 2010.
A Democratic source tells The Associated Press that Democrat David Pepper will run against Taylor. The source requests anonymity because the source is not authorized to speak to the media ahead of a formal announcement.
Pepper was considered as a possible replacement to Marc Dann as attorney general after Dann was forced to resign a year ago.
His father is a former chief executive of Procter & Gamble Co. and currently serves as chairman of the board of the Walt Disney Co.
Taylor was elected in 2006 and is the only Republican currently holding a statewide elected office. The seat comes with a seat on the Apportionment Board, which draws legislative districts.
SUPERSONIC ENGINE
Air Force plans flight test for supersonic engine
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - The Air Force plans to send a futuristic-looking aircraft roaring out over the Pacific Ocean at hypersonic speeds this fall in its first flight test of a scramjet engine.
The X-51 program is managed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton. Officials hope the engine eventually will be able to propel a plane from the atmosphere into space. They expect the aircraft will be used to deploy satellites and for reconnaissance or strike missions.
The X-51 aircraft to be sent aloft Oct. 27 will be sped up by an Army missile booster to at least Mach 4.5, the minimum speed at which the air-breathing engine operates. Then the scramjet kicks in and accelerates the vehicle to about Mach 6 - six times the speed of sound.
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Information from: Dayton Daily News, http://www.daytondailynews.com
CHRYSLER-TWINSBURG
Ohio officials, union to meet on Chrysler jobs
TWINSBURG, Ohio (AP) - Elected and union officials will meet in northeast Ohio to try to save 1,200 jobs at the Chrysler stamping plant in Twinsburg.
The factory and four other Chrysler plants are scheduled to close by the end of next year.
United Auto Workers Local 122 President Doug Rice says the rank-and-file meeting late Monday afternoon will protest what he calls corporate greed. Rice says workers were misled and understood the plant would be spared as part of Chrysler's bankruptcy court filing and pending takeover by the Italian car maker Fiat.
The union says U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown from Ohio asked to meet with union members to discuss the situation at the union hall in Twinsburg, about 15 miles southeast of Cleveland.
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