Shoe settlement goes to health unit

        The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine was to receive $195,000 today to support its Women's Health Program.

        The money, to be presented by Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery, comes from a $34 million antitrust settlement negotiated last year with shoe manufacturer Nine West Group Inc.

        All 50 states and six territories participated in the settlement. Ohio received $1.24 million. The lawsuit alleged that Nine West entered into illegal agreements with shoe retailers to fix prices between January 1998 and July 1999.

        Because most of the customers harmed by Nine West's conduct were women, the settlement money was targeted to women's programs, Ms. Montgomery said.

        At UC, the grant will be used to develop a pilot project to serve elderly women who suffer domestic abuse.
       

Two sent to prison in OxyContin case

        HAMILTON — Two Kentucky men were sentenced Wednesday on drug and weapons charges involving $12,500 worth of OxyContin.

        Butler County Common Pleas Judge Michael Sage sentenced Jesse R. Jones, 48, of Flat Lick, Ky., to four years in prison for aggravated trafficking and a $7,500 fine. Co-defendant Richard Rickett, 38, of London, Ky., was sentenced to five years. Each man also received a five-year driver's license suspension and a 17-month sentence for concealed-weapons charges.

CHONORING THE GRADUATES: Jeni Stegman (left) and Linda Young help hang 117 ribbons Wednesday along Winton Road near Finneytown High School to honor the graduating class. Those graduates include Ms. Stegman's daughter Sara and Ms. Young's daughter Katy. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

        Mr. Jones received a six-month concurrent sentence on a drug abuse charge.
       

Policeman in bank during robbery; 2 held

        An off-duty Cincinnati police officer, assigned to security at a Firstar Bank branch in Avondale foiled a robbery Wednesday, police said. Two people were arrested.

        The arrests followed a scuffle between Officer Colin Vaughn and the male suspect, identified as Thomas Rachel, 42, who tried to take Officer Vaughn's handgun, police said.

        Mr. Rachel and Andrea Shealey-Daniels, 49, were each charged with two counts of aggravated robbery, one for the bank holdup and one for attempting to take the officer's gun. The robbery occurred shortly before 10 a.m.

        Officer Vaughn suffered a minor arm injury.

        There were two bank robberies in Greater Cincinnati Wednesday. In the other, the Kenwood Savings Bank in the 3500 block of Springdale Road in Colerain Township was robbed by a man at 11:54 a.m. He escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash, said Hamilton County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Barnett.
       

Boy, 14, stabbed in fight at school

        COLERAIN TOWNSHIP — A lunchtime fight between two 14-year-old Colerain Middle School students Wednesday sent one student to the hospital with a minor stab wound, and left the other facing charges.

NORDSTROM IT'S NOT: The new City of Cincinnati parking lot on the west side of Race Street between Fifth and Sixth streets held a smattering of cars mid-day Wednesday. The spot was meant for a Nordstrom department store until the Seattle-based retailer pulled out of the deal last year. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

        Police say shortly after noon, one boy pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed the other in the shoulder. Their names are not being released because they are juveniles.

        The victim was treated at Mercy Franciscan Hospital-Mount Airy and released. The other boy was charged with aggravated assault and having a deadly weapon on school property. He was taken to the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center.
       

Ohio opposes delay in execution case

        COLUMBUS — The state on Wednesday asked a federal appeals court to deny condemned killer Jay D. Scott's request for more time to prepare an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

        Mr. Scott's lawyers argue that because he is a schizophrenic, executing him would violate the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

The 6th Circuit on May 30 refused to hear Mr. Scott's latest appeal.

        The U.S. Supreme Court last month declined to hear an appeal on whether Mr. Scott is competent to be executed for the 1983 murder of a Cleveland delicatessen owner.
       

Pedestrian hit in Mount Auburn

        A 38-year-old Avondale man was in critical condition at University Hospital after being struck by a car while crossing William Howard Taft Road at Burnet Avenue in Mount Auburn Wednesday afternoon.

        Cincinnati Police Sgt. Bill Coombs said Calvin A. Foster of West Park Drive, Avondale, was in or near a crosswalk when he was hit by a westbound car driven by Gregory Kennedy, 20, of Yorktown Road, Bond Hill.
       

City Council OKs $300K for youth jobs

        Cincinnati City Council Wednesday approved spending $300,000 on a youth summer job program over the objections of council Republicans, who want the money spent on helping riot-damaged businesses.

        City Manager John Shirey told council there is no reason why they cannot fund both. The city will give $300,000 for a program — including job training — to be run by the Urban League.
       

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