CONNERSVILLE, Ind. - A railroad that derailed a week ago, injuring 12 people, has been cited for 31 federal safety violations since 1995.

Whitewater Valley Railroad, a nonprofit railroad, failed a federal inspection of its lines in May, after officials with the Federal Railroad Administration reported two defective rails, two bad rail joints and eight switches that did not meet federal standards, according to reports posted on the administration's Web site.

Two other track inspections were conducted in 1995 and 1996 and resulted in 15 defect citations, including six for defective rails and nine for defective switches, the Indianapolis Star reported in Saturday's paper.

Railroad officials downplayed the federal inspections.

Police arrest teens, say they were armed

A drug bust Friday night in Price Hill sent four people to jail - two of them 17-year-olds police say acted as armed guards for their 15-year-old dealer.

The 17-year-olds stayed inside while someone else flagged down the undercover officer and fetched the young seller, said vice Capt. James Whalen. While their friend exchanged crack and money with Spec. Lenny LaBrecque, they stood back, watching.

"Clearly, they were the armed guards for this street-side drug dealing,'' Capt. Whalen said. "We don't see that every day.''

When officers identified themselves, the 17-year-olds drew their loaded guns - a .357 Magnum revolver and a starter pistol modified to fire .22-caliber rounds - and threw them down, he said. They were arrested and charged with carrying concealed weapons.

The 15-year-old was charged with aggravated drug trafficking. The only adult, Maurice Davis, 23, the man police said flagged the officer down at West Eighth Street and Elberon Avenue, was charged with complicity to commit aggravated drug trafficking.

The arrests were among 26 in about 12 hours Friday and early Saturday during a citywide drug buy-bust and warrant service operation by the Robbery Task Force. They also worked in Over-the-Rhine, Walnut Hills, Northside and on Burnet Avenue in Avondale.

Kenwood jewelry store robbers still at large

SYCAMORE TOWNSHIP - The three robbers who held up a jewelry store Friday at Kenwood Towne Centre and, with one gunshot, sent shoppers scrambling for cover, remained at large Saturday. Hamilton County sheriff's deputies said the suspects are all black males and were wearing dark coveralls, gloves and ski masks at the time of the morning robbery. One, armed with a semiautomatic handgun, was 5-feet-9, 200 pounds. Another, carrying a small red duffel bag, is about 6-feet-2, 170 pounds. The third was 6 feet tall, 170 pounds.

Just after 10 a.m. Friday, the men held up a jewelry store, Bailey Banks & Biddle store, and one of the masked bandits fired an "errant shot" skyward as the trio escaped from security guards outside of the mall. No one was hurt.

The robbers took diamond solitaire rings and necklaces, as well as watches. The store's Web site indicates the stolen items were worth up to $28,000 in value.

Police investigating rustling of ATVs

MELBOURNE - Campbell County Police are looking for the thieves who stole a barn full of all-terrain vehicles in the predawn hours Friday.

Someone cut the padlocks off Charlie and Patricia Parker's barn on Ky. 8 to get the seven ATVs and one motorbike. All the vehicles were 2000 models or newer except for the red 1986 Honda motorcycle. The Parkers estimated the cost of the vehicles at $30,000.

Campbell County Police Detective Dennis Lehmkuhl said the thieves broke into the barn between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m. less than 100 feet from the Parkers' home. Police believe the vehicles were rolled across Ky. 8 to two pickup trucks, one towing a trailer.

Anyone with information about the theft should call Campbell County police at (859) 635-7484 or (859) 292-3633.

Man indicted in foster son's roulette shooting

CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio - A grand jury has indicted a man accused of shooting his 15-year-old foster son in a game of Russian roulette. Stephen Powers, 32, was charged Friday with murder, reckless homicide, felonious assault and child endangering in the Oct. 24 death of Daniel Mitchell at Mr. Powers' home in Pickaway County south of Columbus.

He had been granted temporary custody of the boy by Franklin County Children Services the day before the shooting.

Ohio's longest-serving inmate released

COLUMBUS - Ohio's longest-serving prison inmate, locked up with only brief tastes of freedom since 1954 for beating a man to death and subsequent crimes, has been released.

State prison officials released William Louis Banks, 65, from the Allen Correctional Institution in Lima on Wednesday.

Using money from his prison commissary account, he bought a $28.50 one-way bus ticket to Cincinnati, where he reported to an inmate halfway house.

Compiled from staff and wire reports