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Associated Press Tuesday Ohio Headlines - 11/17/2009
Latest Ohio news, sports, business and entertainment:
TURNPIKE BUYOUTS
Ohio Turnpike offers buyouts to toll-collectors
BEREA, Ohio (AP) - The Ohio Turnpike is offering toll collectors buyouts of up to $35,000 because the E-ZPass electronic payment system means fewer booth attendants are needed.
Executive Director George Distel outlined the buyout offer to turnpike commission members on Monday.
The turnpike hopes up to 40 of 287 full-time employees will accept the offer. Part-time collectors also will get offers.
The turnpike joined the E-ZPass system Oct. 1. E-ZPass automatically charges enrolled motorists through an onboard electronic transponder.
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Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com
PEOPLE-PARKER-BRODERICK
Ohio chief's trial begins in Parker-Broderick case
ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio (AP) - A police chief on trial in Ohio acknowledges that he joked with paparazzi about working with them to snoop on the woman who carried twins for celebrity couple Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick.
The lawyer representing suspended Chief Barry Carpenter said during opening statements Monday that Carpenter was "foolish," but that he never stole anything from the woman's home.
A state prosecutor told jurors that Carpenter used his position as chief in Martins Ferry, the eastern Ohio town where surrogate Michelle Ross lived, to exploit someone's personal and intimate privacy.
Carpenter and police chief Chad Dojack from nearby Bridgeport are accused of scheming to sell items from the house to celebrity photographers. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
Dojack faces trial in January.
CLEVELAND-BODIES FOUND-JAIL
Film crew at Ohio jail holding suspect in killings
CLEVELAND (AP) - The Discovery Channel's "Behind Bars" show has arrived to begin shooting at the county jail in Cleveland, but it's unlikely viewers will see its high-profile inmate.
The show will highlight behind-the-scenes looks at the Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH'-guh) County jail, where suspected serial killer Anthony Sowell is locked up in a one-bed segregation cell. Remains of 11 women have been found at his Cleveland home.
Jail spokesman John O'Brien says Monday that there are no plans to film Sowell, whose signed permission would be required for him to appear on the show.
The jail has 2,000 inmates and a staff of 600.
STATE PLANE SALE
Ohio road agency to cut down air fleet
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio transportation officials plan to cut down on their air fleet.
The Department of Transportation wants to sell four decades-old airplanes and two helicopters, more than half its 11 aircraft.
They think the planes and choppers can bring the state $700,000 or more, despite their age and some repair issues. A Cessna 182 was grounded in 2007, while a Piper Navajo hasn't been airborne in nearly two years.
State officials would like to replace some of the aircraft with newer versions.
However, some budget watchers question the need for many government aircraft in a state that can be easily traveled by ground on its highways.
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Information from: Dayton Daily News, http://www.daytondailynews.com
LETHAL INJECTION-PROTOCOL
Botched Ohio execution doesn't change Neb. plans
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Ohio's decision last week to scrap its three-drug lethal-injection protocol following a botched execution is not causing Nebraska officials to reconsider using a similar three-drug protocol to replace electrocution.
After a public hearing Monday on Nebraska's proposed protocol, some attorneys said the decision in Ohio to use a one-drug system should give Nebraska officials pause.
Nebraska has been without a means of carrying out the death penalty since early last year when the state Supreme Court ruled that the electric chair was cruel and unusual punishment.
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said Monday that there's no evidence that using one drug would be significantly safer.
DRYER DEATH
Judge paves way for trial in Cintas wrongful death
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - A federal judge has denied a request by Cintas Corp. for summary judgment in a 2007 wrongful death lawsuit in Tulsa. The ruling clears the way for a jury to hear the case against the nation's largest uniform supplier next year.
District Judge Claire Eagan wrote in a 31-page opinion that there is "conflicting evidence" whether Cincinnati-based Cintas managers knew workers in company laundries were breaking safety rules to save time, but did nothing to stop them.
Amalia Diaz Torres is suing Cintas, claiming the company's plant managers knew about - and even encouraged - the dangerous working practices that led to the death of her husband, Eleazar Torres-Gomez, in 2007.
Cintas has denied those allegations.
A trial is scheduled for April 19 in Tulsa federal court.
COLGATE PRESIDENT
Colgate picks Miami of Ohio provost as president
HAMILTON, N.Y. (AP) - Miami University of Ohio provost Dr. Jeffrey Herbst is the new president of Colgate University.
Colgate trustees say they've unanimously approved Herbst's appointment to succeed interim president Lyle Roelofs, who temporarily took over the upstate New York school after Rebecca Chopp departed to become president of Swarthmore College.
The 48-year-old Herbst will be introduced to the campus Tuesday and take office next summer.
Herbst graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1983 and went on to earn advanced degrees in political science from Yale University. Herbst later taught at Princeton. He's also received two Fulbright scholarships.
Herbst served five years as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Miami.
COAL ASH-WVA
EPA report reduces concern about W.Va. power plant
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A consulting firm has recommended that the Environmental Protection Agency upgrade the safety assessment of waste impoundments at an American Electric Power coal-burning plant in West Virginia.
A draft report issued by the agency Monday suggests boosting the rating of impoundments at AEP's Philip Sporn plant in New Haven to fair from poor.
Consulting firm Dewberry and Davis says information from Columbus, Ohio-based AEP shows dike failure isn't imminent. However, AEP should determine how much of an earthquake the structure could withstand.
Spokesman Pat Hemlepp says AEP believed the initial rating was inaccurate.
EPA uncovered the potential problems during a national review of coal-ash ponds following the Dec. 22 failure of an impoundment operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
VETERANS GERMAN HONOR
Ohio WWII veteran to be honored by Germany
CLEVELAND (AP) - Germany is bestowing a high civilian honor on an Ohio man for his efforts more than 60 years ago to save German World War II military records.
Ninety-one-year-old Henry Sternweiler, of the Cleveland suburb of Fairview Park, is to be awarded Germany's Cross of the Order of Merit during a Dec. 7 ceremony at the German Consulate in Chicago.
In 1946, Sternweiler's U.S. military superiors ordered him to burn archives of the defeated German army. The young lieutenant thought the records were valuable but didn't want to disobey orders, so he notified a French officer assigned to the unit. The officer was appalled over the order to destroy the files and had it lifted.
The archives helped notify German families of army deaths and were used by war crimes investigators.
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Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-11-17-09 0130EST
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