Solicitation sting brings 10 arrests

In a matter of two hours, Cincinnati Police arrested at least 10 men accused of soliciting sex overnight Friday in Cincinnati neighborhoods that included Over-the-Rhine and Walnut Hills.

Police reports indicate that the arrests began at 11 p.m. Friday and continued until about 12:50 a.m. Saturday. Police said those arrested offered up to $30, packs of cigarettes or rocks of crack cocaine to undercover officers and informants in exchange for sex.

Those arrested ranged between 25 and 50 years of age.

Adams County man dies after crash

John Rader, 26, of the West Union area of Adams County, was found dead in a single-car crash early Saturday after losing control of his vehicle and crashing into a cemetery fence shortly after 2 a.m.

Mr. Rader was driving south on Cherry Street when the crash occurred, West Union police said.

An investigation continues.

Police investigate ethnic intimidation

Cincinnati Police are investigating a report that a white male yelled racial slurs and threw a bottle at an African-American woman while she was traveling on southbound Interstate 75, near downtown Cincinnati, on Friday.

A police account said day-care provider Vanessa Watkins, 37, of Northside, reported the incident at 6:15 p.m.. She said the incident had occurred about 10 minutes earlier near the 3.2-mile marker in Camp Washington.

Cincinnati Police said the suspect was driving a rental vehicle. They released no other information.

AK Steel wins ruling against labor union

CLEVELAND - A U.S. District Court jury awarded AK Steel $4.3 million Friday and ruled that a local steelworkers union violated a contract with a Mansfield mill and interfered with its business.

The jury ruled against the parent United Steelworkers of America International and its Local 169 in Mansfield. Union employees have been locked out since 1999 at the Mansfield plant.

The Middletown-based steel maker had sought more than $7 million.

The parent union promised to challenge the ruling, said Bill Collins, a staff representative for the union in the Mansfield area.

Local 169 attorney Tim Gallagher said the union's response had not been decided, but one option was asking a judge to overturn the jury's verdict.

Armco was the owner of the specialty steel mill four years ago amid negotiations for a new contract. AK Steel later purchased Armco Inc.

The company had alleged that union employees and union officials acted together to slow production through plant sabotage and refusing overtime and thereby hurt the company's business.

Man sentenced in car attack

COLUMBUS - A man was sentenced to nine years in prison for driving his car into a police officer, whose legs were crushed when he was pinned next to his cruiser.

Jurors in Franklin County Common Pleas Court convicted Ernest Thorpe, 56, of Columbus, on Friday of felonious and vehicular assault of officer Todd Bush.

Officer Bush, 34, has had 10 surgeries on his legs and is still recovering from the Feb. 2 crash.

Jurors acquitted Mr. Thorpe of felonious assault of officer Dawn Yoder, Officer Bush's partner, who was in the cruiser when the crash happened.

Mr. Thorpe's attorney, Sterling Gill, maintained that Mr. Thorpe never intentionally tried to hurt either officer.

Russian roulette blamed in death

CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio - A man is accused of playing a game of Russian roulette that ended in the death of his 15-year-old foster child, a family friend who had asked to be placed in the home the day before.

Daniel Mitchell was shot in the forehead Oct. 24 in Stephen Powers' mobile home in Harrison Township, just south of Franklin County, and died a short time later at Grant Hospital in Columbus, the Pickaway County sheriff's office said.

Daniel had been placed in the temporary custody of Mr. Powers, 32, by Franklin County Children Services at the boy's request Oct. 23, said John Saros, the agency's executive director.

"It was very apparent he and the family had a close relationship," Mr. Saros said. "From what the caseworkers told me, the boy was real pleased to go back and live with them.

"The next day this terrible thing happened."

A warrant charging Mr. Powers with reckless homicide was issued Wednesday. He surrendered Friday and was in the Pickaway County jail on $250,000 bond.

Three witnesses told deputies that Daniel was looking at the gun when it went off, but investigators said they later determined Mr. Powers was playing Russian roulette and holding the gun when it fired.

Children Services became involved the day before, when Daniel's father was arrested after a disturbance at his home in Franklin County, Mr. Saros said. The boy could not stay with his mother, who lives in Pickaway County, because she was allowed only supervised visits.