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Associated Press Friday Ohio Headlines - 11/6/2009
Latest Ohio news, sports, business and entertainment:
FORT-HOOD-SHOOTING-OHIO
Ohio National Guard: No members hurt at Fort Hood
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Officials say no members of the Ohio National Guard were among the casualties in the mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.
Thirteen people were killed and 30 were wounded yesterday at the sprawling base in central Texas.
The Guard says in a statement that units from Ohio sometimes go through Fort Hood on the way to or from deployments, but no Ohio National Guard units are currently at the base. Officials say 16 Ohio National Guard soldiers are now stationed at Fort Hood but all were away from the area where the rampage occurred.
Authorities believe the shooting was done by an Army psychiatrist now unconscious and on a ventilator in a hospital.
CLEVELAND-BODIES FOUND
Mistrust hinders ID of Cleveland slaying victims
CLEVELAND (AP) - Cleveland pastors are urging families to provide DNA samples that could help the coroner's office identify the remains of black women found in the home of a suspected serial killer.
Police and a cadaver dog re-entered the house yesterday where Anthony Sowell apparently lived among the reeking, rotting corpses of 10 women and the paper-wrapped skull of another that authorities found in a bucket.
Asked how the investigation will proceed today, a police spokesman would say only that a statement will be issued at 11 a.m.
So far only three victims have been identified.
Councilman Zach Reed says if relatives are hesitant to reach out directly to police or the coroner's office, they should contact him or a pastor.
ECONOMY
Jobless rate tops 10 pct. for first time since '83
WASHINGTON (AP) -The unemployment rate has surpassed 10 percent for the first time since 1983 -- and is likely to go higher.
The government says U.S. joblessness rose to 10.2 percent last month from 9.8 percent in September. The economy lost jobs for the 22nd month in a row.
Employers aren't expected to start adding jobs for several more months. Many are skeptical about the strength and sustainability of the recovery.
President Ralph Hardt of auto parts supplier Fein Tool North America in Cincinnati says he plans to slowly rehire once the economy picks up again.
JOBLESS BENEFITS-HOMEBUYERS
Obama to sign homebuyer, jobless bill assistance
WASHINGTON (AP) - Longtime jobless people and prospective homebuyers will be the main beneficiaries when President Barack Obama signs a $24 billion economic stimulus bill today.
The bill would provide another 14 weeks of benefits to all out-of-work people and an additional six weeks in states such as Ohio where the jobless rate is 8.5 percent or above.
Plus, the legislation extends the popular $8,000 credit for first-time homebuyers.
The White House signing ceremony comes a day after the House voted 403-12 for the measure. The Senate approved it unanimously on Wednesday.
The bill also includes tax cuts for struggling businesses.
RESPIRATOR MASKS
State relaxes flu face mask recommendation
CLEVELAND (AP) - State health officials have agreed to ease their recommendation that health care workers wear snug-fitting respirator masks when dealing with swine flu.
Reversing an earlier decision, the Ohio Department of Health now says it's OK for physicians and others treating swine flu patients to use simple surgical masks.
The state's hospitals had asked for the change because of a shortage of the so-called N95 respirator masks, which form a tighter seal around the nose and mouth than surgical masks. The Ohio Hospital Association also argued that the N95 masks were unnecessary because of a lack of evidence that flu is transmitted through the air.
Federal guidelines continue to support the use of N95 masks against swine flu.
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Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com
OHIO-CAMPAIGN EQUIPMENT
Feds give no answer on Ohio's candidate's gear
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Federal regulators are stumped on whether Ohio U.S. Senate candidate Jennifer Brunner may use $15,000 worth of equipment from her old state campaign.
Members of the bipartisan Federal Election Commission voted unanimously this week not to give an opinion on the matter.
Democratic Commissioner Ellen Weintraub called the issue "convoluted," and Republican Donald McGahn said the facts were unclear and a "moving target."
Brunner's Senate campaign had asked if it could donate $15,000 to charity and keep the office equipment and other supplies from her winning Ohio secretary of state campaign. Federal rules prohibit a candidate from directly using state campaign assets to finance federal races.
Brunner says she's now considering her options.
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Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com
BABY GRACE
Closing arguments in Baby Grace trial in Galveston
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) - A Texas man charged in the 2007 death of his stepdaughter did not testify before the defense rested in his capital murder trial.
Closing arguments are scheduled today in the trial of Royce Clyde Zeigler II.
A toddler's battered body was recovered in October 2007 in a plastic container in Galveston Bay. Emergency personnel dubbed her "Baby Grace" until relatives in Mentor, Ohio, saw news reports and identified the victim as 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers.
The defendant's mother, Nellie Zeigler, testified yesterday that she loved Riley. The woman also said her 26-year-old son was loving and trusting.
His wife, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, earlier this year was convicted of capital murder over her daughter's killing and received life in prison.
Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty against Zeigler.
NANCY DREW-ART
Ohio library acquires original Nancy Drew art
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - An Ohio library has acquired a piece of art that will help celebrate the local connection to fictional kid detective Nancy Drew.
The painting created in 1931 as cover art for the fifth Nancy Drew book will now hang in the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library.
The book titled The Secret at Shadow Ranch was one of the Nancy Drew mysteries that Toledo newspaper reporter Millie Benson wrote under the pen name Carolyn Keene. Benson authored 23 of the first 25 Drew books.
The library had been looking for an original Nancy Drew cover for years and bought its find through an online auction in March with $9,500 in donations.
The painting will be displayed from today through the end of the year, when it will be sent out to be restored and preserved.
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Information from: The Blade, http://www.toledoblade.com/
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-11-06-09 0908EST
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