|
Associated Press Monday Morning Ohio Headlines - 11/2/2009
Latest Ohio news, sports, business and entertainment:
RAPIST'S HOME-BODIES
Officers had visited Ohio home where bodies found
CLEVELAND (AP) - The discovery of six bodies at a house in Cleveland has left some in the community concerned about women who haven't been seen in a long time.
Seventy-two-year-old Ida Garrett walked to church yesterday just one block from the house, and said she was worried that a friend who went missing six months ago might be among the dead.
A spokesman for the coroner says the bodies were all women and at least five apparently had been strangled. Decomposition made it difficult to determine how the sixth died.
The registered sex offender who lived in the home, 50-year-old Anthony Sowell, was arrested Saturday when officers spotted him walking down the street in his neighborhood.
So far, no charges have been filed regarding the bodies.
MIDAIR COLLISION
Search for Calif. crash survivors now recovery
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Officials say they're no longer searching for survivors of last week's midair collision between a U.S. Coast Guard plane and a Marine Corps helicopter over the Pacific Ocean.
Petty Officer First Class Allison Conroy says there's little chance of finding survivors among the seven military personnel aboard the Coast Guard C-130 plane and the two in the Marine Corps Super Cobra helicopter.
Those on the Coast Guard plane included 35-year-old Petty Officer 2nd Class Carl Grigonis, from the Cleveland suburb of Mayfield Heights.
Conroy says the active search for survivors has been suspended and the investigation has begun into the cause of Thursday's crash.
EARLY VOTING
Ballot issues lead to early voting surge in Ohio
CLEVELAND (AP) - Ohio's casino gambling issue and other ballot questions in tomorrow's election have led to a surge of early voting.
Election officials in areas including Cleveland and Cincinnati report heavy early voting. Under a 2006 law, anyone can get an absentee ballot and vote early without giving a reason, like illness or out-of-town travel, as required in the past.
In Cleveland and Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH'-guh) County, early voting turnout so far is a record for an odd-year election, when local races dominate.
Heavy early voting may not translate into overall higher turnout, just less crowded polling places on Election Day.
---
Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com
STREETCARS DESIRED
Streetcars on the ballot amid trolley revival
CINCINNATI (AP) - Dozens of local governments are hoping streetcar projects will benefit from federal grants, including stimulus money.
A streetcar proposal in Cincinnati has become an issue in tomorrow's mayoral election.
Mayor Mark Mallory favors his city's $128 million streetcar plan, after traveling to Seattle and Toronto to see their urban rail projects. His challenger, Brad Wenstrup, calls the project "ill conceived" and compares it to Cincinnati's failed early 20th-century subway, where miles of tunnel were dug but no track ever laid.
Opponents like the Cincinnati NAACP got a measure on the ballot seeking to require a popular vote before any streetcar can proceed.
GAS PRICES-OHIO
AAA: Ohio gas up another 3 cents to $2.66
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Prices for gasoline in Ohio have gone up another 3 cents in the past week, and gas now costs 35 cents more in the state than it did last month.
A survey from auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express puts the current statewide average for regular-grade gas at $2.66, up from $2.63 last Monday.
One month ago, regular was averaging $2.31 in Ohio. Last year at this time, the state's motorists were paying just $2.16, on average.
Gas prices continue to climb following oil's recent spike to $82 a barrel, which was largely due to weakness in the U.S. dollar.
COLLEGE PRESIDENTS-PAY
Ranks of millionaire college presidents up again
UNDATED (AP) - A new study says at least 23 heads of private colleges and universities earned a total of more than $1 million each in fiscal 2008.
Topping the list from the Chronicle of Higher Education is Shirley Ann Jackson at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, whose total compensation was pegged at nearly $1.6 million. A record one in four presidents in the survey broke a half-million.
The figures cover the 2007-2008 academic year, and experts say salaries have probably declined since then because of the economic downturn.
The survey does not include public universities, where salaries are generally lower than at top private institutions. Last year, just one public university president, Ohio State's Gordon Gee (gee), earned more than $1 million.
OHIO UNIVERSITY-HALLOWEEN
Scores arrested at Halloween party near Ohio U.
ATHENS, Ohio (AP) - Police in the hometown of Ohio University say more than 100 people were arrested at an annual Halloween street party known to draw tens of thousands of people.
Athens police say in a news release that the only major incident Saturday night and early yesterday was a fight around 3 a.m. involving a crowd that officers described as "rowdy."
Police say they made 51 arrests throughout the night, one fewer than last year. The police department also says the Ohio Department of Public Safety's Investigative Unit charged 61 people with alcohol-related offenses, such as underage drinking.
The Halloween bash is a tradition going back 35 years and is not sanctioned by the university.
STRESS MAP
AP analysis: Hardest-hit areas recovering slowly
UNDATED (AP) - The economic recovery is proceeding unevenly in its early stages, with areas hurt most by the housing slump still lagging behind other regions.
That's according to The Associated Press' monthly analysis of economic stress in more than 3,100 U.S. counties.
Counties in the industrial Midwest are among making the least improvement, while cities such as Pittsburgh are benefiting from economically stable industries like higher education and health care.
That's in contrast to much of neighboring Ohio, which still has auto-related manufacturing hit hard by the downturn. In September, Ohio suffered from a Stress score of 12.48, while Pennsylvania's was only 9.49. The scores are based on unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy rates.
MAUSOLEUM GATES STOLEN
$2K reward posted in theft of mausoleum gates
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A $2,000 reward is being offered for information on the theft of bronze gates from a historic mausoleum in Ohio.
Authorities say some 20 gates each weighing about 100 pounds were removed from the fronts of crypts at Green Lawn Abbey in Columbus on October 11 and 12. The reward posted by Central Ohio Crime Stoppers over the weekend is for information received by November 11 that leads to an arrest or indictment.
Investigators have believed the gates were stolen for scrap and issued an arrest warrant last week for a 31-year-old man they say sold parts of some of the gates to a scrap dealer. Police believe other individuals also were involved.
The two-story mausoleum built in 1927 resembles a Greek temple with four columns.
PRICEY SCULPTURE
Sculpture from Ohio garden sells for $118K
CLEVELAND (AP) - A bronze sculpture from his garden that a Cleveland man almost let an antique dealer take for $3,000 a few years ago has sold at auction for $118,000.
The 4-foot tall sculpture of a woman carrying a water vessel on her head was in the yard when the man bought his house on the city's west side 40 years ago. Research determined that the piece was created in 1931 by Egyptian sculptor Mahmoud Mokhtar, whose works are the subject of an entire museum in Cairo.
Kelly Grimm of the Cleveland Auction Company says only the sculpture itself knows how wound up in the garden.
The auction house sold it October 25 for $100,000, plus an $18,000 auctioneer's commission. The seller and buyer asked to remain anonymous.
---
Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com
HOSPITAL-DOCTORS DISPUTE
Hospital in Ohio accuses docs of playing favorites
AKRON, Ohio (AP) - An Ohio hospital is accusing a group of doctors of unfairly steering patients to a competing medical center in which they have a financial interest.
In letters sent recently to hundreds of physicians throughout the region, Akron General Hospital also claims the unnamed doctors are spreading misinformation about the hospital so patients won't go there.
The doctors at the heart of the allegations are investors in the new Summa Western Reserve Hospital, formerly Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH'-guh) Falls General Hospital.
Summa Western Reserve spokesman Mark Bosko denies Akron General's accusations, saying the physicians are doing what they have always done, which is making sure their patients receive the best possible care.
---
Information from: Akron Beacon Journal, http://www.ohio.com
I-74 DEVELOPMENT
5 SE Indiana counties form development group
GREENSBURG, Ind. (AP) - Five southeastern Indiana counties have formed a regional development group to attract new jobs to the Interstate 74 corridor between Indianapolis and Cincinnati.
The newly formed I-74 Business Corridor includes Shelby, Rush, Decatur, Ripley and Dearborn counties, as well as the city of Batesville, Indiana.
Members of the group will help employers grow and expand, with the ultimate goal to create more jobs for area residents.
They'll also work with prospective employers from outside the area to attract new business and jobs to the 80-mile stretch of I-74, which connects two of the nation's largest cities.
A public relations firm is working to develop a logo, slogan and Web site for the group.
---
Information from: Greensburg Daily News, http://www.greensburgdailynews.com
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-11-02-09 0903EST
|
