DELHI TOWNSHIP - Fears about the elusive sniper have postponed another Tristate school's trip to Washington, D.C.

Delhi Middle School's 49 eighth-graders were scheduled to leave on a three-day trip Nov. 9, but will instead make the trip Feb. 15.

"Based on what's going on in that area, we decided to go ahead and postpone," said Jeff Brandt, principal of Delhi Middle School. "We were really monitoring the situation the last couple of weeks. If we can't secure our students' safety, we're not interested in taking any of our kids where there's that kind of danger."

At least four Greater Cincinnati schools have changed plans because of concerns about the sniper.

Thirty-five sophomores from Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy were to leave for Washington on Saturday, but will delay the trip until spring. Last week, Evendale Elementary sixth-graders postponed their annual fall trip to Washington, switching it with the spring trip to Michigan.

Earlier, parents at Springboro Junior High voted to delay their children's Washington trip.

Stent tested here gets preliminary OK

A drug-coated stent designed to keep heart patients' arteries from re-clogging after surgery won first-round approval Wednesday.

The Food and Drug Administration's Circulatory System Devices Panel voted to recommend approval of Cordis Corp.'s Cypher Sirolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent System.

The stent - a metal device inserted into an artery to reopen portions narrowed by heart disease - is coated with medication to prevent scar tissue from developing. Scar tissue often means patients need second and subsequent surgeries to reopen arteries after bypass and angioplasty.

Dr. Dean Kereiakes, a Cincinnati cardiologist and medical director of the Lindner Clinical Trials Center, oversaw testing of the device. The trials showed that 36 percent of patients who received bare-metal stents suffered restenosis (re-narrowing of the artery), compared to 9 percent of patients who received the Cypher device.

The technology will be a boon to patients and insurance providers alike because of the reduced need for follow-up surgeries, Dr. Kereiakes said, but physicians are concerned that insurance reimbursement rates, including Medicare, will not match the actual cost of the device.

UC buys $2.4M house for president

The University of Cincinnati closed on a $2.4 million house this week that will be used for fund-raising events and as the president's home.

The house, built in 1900, is at 2 Twin Hills Ridge Drive in the California neighborhood and was bought with endowment funds as an addition to the endowment real estate portfolio.

"As public funding throughout the United States declines, colleges and universities understand that their futures will be determined by success in raising funds from the private sector," George Schaefer Jr., chairman of the UC Board of Trustees, said in a statement.

UC's endowment ranks 50th among all colleges and universities in the United States. It has been slipping in recent years despite hitting the $1 billion mark last year before the economy turned sour.

Norwood OKs tax break for company

NORWOOD - Council has approved a 50 percent property tax break for the CW Zumbiel Co., which is buying $2.1 million in equipment for its Harris Avenue facility. Council's action came Tuesday.

Hamilton County commissioners still must approve the 10-year tax break included in an enterprise zone agreement that will be reviewed on Nov. 6.

Mark Hansfeld, Zumbiel's vice president, has promised council members that the company would hire 15 people over the next three years and improve efficiency if the tax break is allowed. The company now employs about 400.

Child struck by van in critical condition

HAMILTON - A 3-year-old boy remained in critical condition Wednesday, a day after a vehicle struck him in front of his home.

Alexander Mounts of the 1200 block of Elizabeth Drive was flown to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center on Tuesday evening after the accident.

A Hamilton police report says Alexander was standing on the north side of the road, but "ran out in front" of a westbound 1994 GMC Safari.

No charges have been filed against the driver, Pamela K. Fields, 45, of Hamilton, e incident is being investigated, said Sgt. Thomas E. Kilgour, Hamilton police spokesman.

Luken vows to do his part in drug battle

Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken said Wednesday he would "go anywhere" to meet with any community group serious about attacking drug dealing and drug-related violence in its neighborhood.

Mr. Luken told City Council Wednesday that the city needs to do more to fight "an uptick in violent and drug-related crime." And though he had no specific proposal, he said the solutions should come at the neighborhood level.

"All of us have to do more. Politicians have to do more. Neighbors have to do more. Police have to do more," the mayor said.

Toledo diocese puts priest on leave

TOLEDO, Ohio - Leaders of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo have placed on leave a priest accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a boy two decades ago.

The Rev. Bernard Kokocinski, 64, will be temporarily replaced as pastor of St. Anthony of Padua in Columbus Grove, Bishop James Hoffman said Tuesday.

William Claar, now 43, said he was raped and molested by Father Kokocinski in the rectory at St. Joseph's Church in Fremont, according to a lawsuit in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.

Mr. Claar sued the priest last week asking for more than $25,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.

His case is the 11th lawsuit filed against a local priest and the Toledo diocese since April, and one of nine that alleges diocesan leaders knew of a widespread pattern of sexual misconduct among its clerics but failed to stop it.

Father Kokocinski has served in at least nine parishes since his ordination. He has declined to comment about the suit.