Compiled from staff and wire reports

Church event still on despite vandalism

BATAVIA TWP. - Members of a tiny Clermont County church ransacked earlier this week by vandals said Friday that a planned gospel event will take place this weekend as scheduled.

Investigators are still searching for those responsible for vandalizing the Church of God, 2451 Straight Street, causing more than $40,000 in damage.

Proceeds from the event, scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, were initially going toward the purchase of a central air conditioning unit for the church. But now, the Rev. Max Burris said, half of the money will go to help a congregation member diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Information: 732-6123.

Teen battling disease to come home soon

CHICAGO - Eric Page, the 15-year-old Whitewater Township boy fighting a severe case of Crohn's disease, is out of the hospital and about a week from coming home. And he's not taking any medications for his disease.

COMING OUT: Caesar, a week-old Damara zebra foal, made his public debut Friday, out with his mother, Angie, at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. He was born March 7, weighing 75 pounds and standing 3 feet tall. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

For the past three weeks, Eric and his family have been at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago to receive an experimental stem cell transplant that doctors hope will put his illness into long-term remission.

Crohn's disease is an immune system disorder that causes the body to attack its own digestive tract.

Eric is expected to take about three months to fully recover from the treatment. He will be followed indefinitely by researchers to see how long the treatment lasts.

Banks plans can stay private, court rules

The Cincinnati Enquirer does not have a legal right to see documents about development plans for The Banks project on Cincinnati's riverfront, an appeals court ruled Friday. The newspaper sued Hamilton County officials last year seeking release of documents they had received from the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority.

The Port Authority allowed county officials to review the documents but did not make them public. County officials refused to release the documents, citing a state law they said allows port authorities to keep development information private until it is formally presented to county leaders.

The Enquirer argued the documents should have been made public once they were submitted to county officials for review.

In its decision, the Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals ruled that the documents never entered the public domain and therefore should remain secret. The secrecy is necessary, the court ruled, for the Port Authority to do its work without revealing information about sensitive negotiations and development plans.

Banner staying up during appeal of fines

The Hustler advertising banner hanging on a building near Interstate 75 in Carthage is staying up while the property owner appeals fines from Hamilton County officials who say the sign is illegal.

Hamilton County zoning inspector Mike Burman recently issued the two required warnings to officials of MSV Properties, which owns the building at 125 City Center Drive on which the advertising banner for Hustler of Hollywood in Monroe hangs.

Groups rally against eminent domain abuse

Supporters from Norwood, Evendale, West Chester, Loveland, Newport and other Greater Cincinnati communities are expected to attend a Thursday rally on Mount Lookout Square to fight government's possible misuse of eminent domain powers.

Beginning at 6 p.m., the rally will be sponsored by three groups - Reading Road property owners whose Evendale land has been deemed blighted; Citizens Against Eminent Domain Abuse, which formed to fight the use of eminent domain for a proposed Norwood development; and Institute for Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based group of public interest lawyers that work to set precedent in eminent domain law.

Thursday's rally will be followed by the showing of The Castle, an Australian film, at the Mount Lookout Cinema Grill, in the 3100 block of Linwood Avenue. Afterward, the audience can direct questions toward Institute for Justice lawyers.