Compiled from staff and wire reports

Dayton lawmaker wins Armed Services seat

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Michael Turner said Friday that he has won a seat on the House Armed Services Committee.

"My seat ... enables me to ensure the security and vitality of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base," the Dayton, Ohio, Republican said. During last year's campaign, House Speaker Dennis Hastert promised Mr. Turner that if voters sent him to Washington, he would get a seat on the committee.

The Pentagon plans a round of base closings in 2005, and members with bases in their district had sought seats on the committee.

Mr. Turner also was named to the House Government Reform Committee, which broadly oversees and sometimes investigates the federal government.

Mr. Turner represents Ohio's 3rd District, which includes northern Warren County, most of Montgomery County, and all of Clinton and Highland counties.

The former Dayton mayor won the seat vacated by former Rep. Tony Hall, a Democrat who took a post with the United Nations.

Missing husband dies in automobile wreck

WAYNE TWP. - A 76-year-old Kettering, Ohio, man who was suffering from dementia was killed Friday morning in a single-car crash south of Waynesville, a day after police said his wife reported him missing.

Officials at the Ohio State Highway Patrol's Lebanon post said Robert L. Weisgarber drove off the left side of Middletown Road about 6:45 a.m., then apparently over-corrected his steering, sending his 1993 pickup truck off the right side into a metal pole and tree.

Cause of the crash, which occurred on slick pavement about a half-mile east of Red Oak Road, remains under investigation.

Officer Glen Evans, spokesman for Kettering police, said Mr. Weisgarber's wife had reported her husband missing a day earlier, saying he had left the house between 3:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. on Thursday.

Early morning crash kills Avondale woman

SHARONVILLE - An Avondale woman was killed early Friday when the car she was driving crashed on an entrance ramp.

Fanisca Achoe, 30, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ms. Achoe was driving a 1993 Pontiac Grand Prix on the ramp from east Interstate 275 to south Interstate 75 when the car went off the right side of the road and struck a light pole., Sharonville police said. The accident happened about 1:50 a.m.

It is not known whether Ms. Achoe was wearing her seat belt, but weather was not a factor, police said. She was alone.

She was the fourth person killed in three Tristate single-vehicle crashes within 24 hours.

A Felicity woman and her 2-year-old granddaughter were killed about 7:30 a.m. Thursday in a crash on Ohio 133 and a West Harrison, Ind., man was killed about 9 a.m. Thursday when a tire on his farm truck failed, causing him to lose control and crash.

Gift to foundation funds scholarships

LEBANON - A new fund at the Warren County Foundation will be used to provide scholarships for students attending Warren County Career Center.

The fund was created in honor of Dr. Vincent Roessner and his wife, Judy.

Dr. Roessner has served as superintendent of the Career Center for five years, and plans to retire at the end of the school year.

West End church hosts peace seminar

The Peace Committee of the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center will sponsor an Empowerment Workshop for Peace Against War, from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at St. Joseph Church, 745 Ezzard Charles Drive, West End.

Rania Masri, human rights activist, and Mary Evelyn Jegen, co-founder of Global Peace Services-USA, will be keynote speakers.

Workshops will include Moms and Dads for Peace, Strategies for Colleges, Movement to Abolish Weapons of Mass Destruction, Voices in the Wilderness, Civil Obedience Information, Strategies for High Schools, Community Education, War Tax Resistance and Strategies for Faith Based Communities

Beaver teachers, staff approve new terms

BEAVER, Ohio - Teachers and staff in the Eastern Local School District approved a new contract, ending a 31/2-month strike. They will return to work Monday.

The agreement was reached late Thursday between the district and unions with the help of a federal mediator.

The agreement improved health insurance provisions, which had been a major sticking point in negotiations, said Cheryl Selbee, spokeswoman for the Eastern Local Classroom Teachers Association. Under the contract, employee premiums will be fully covered through March 2004, she said.

"This offer certainly does not meet all our demands," she said.

Teachers rejected a contract proposal last month, 44-6.

Substitutes have taught the 900 students since the strike began Sept. 26.

Kindergarten through 12th- grade classrooms and administrative offices are on a single campus in this Pike County village, 65 miles south of Columbus.