Compiled from staff and wire reports

U.S. Playing Card donates deck proceeds

NORWOOD - After selling more than 20,000 decks of its Iraqi Most Wanted playing cards on Thursday, U.S. Playing Card Co. is donating the $100,000 in proceeds to two charities.

The Norwood Service League and the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors Inc. (TAPS) of Washington each will receive $50,000.

Norwood Service League plans to use the money for programs that benefit Greater Cincinnati families.

TAPS, a national nonprofit organization, will use its portion to help those who have lost loved ones serving in the armed forces.

FDA OKs stent tested at University, Christ

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug-coated stent intended to reduce reblockage of coronary arteries.

Cordis Corp.'s cypher sirolimus-eluting coronary stent is the first approved combination drug device marketed in the United States. Cordis is a Johnson & Johnson company.

The Cyper stent was extensively tested at Christ and University hospitals, and, since Thursday's FDA approval, has been placed in two patients at those facilities.

The device is placed into coronary arteries to prevent restenosis - reclogging of arteries that have been previously treated. Sirolimus, marketed as Rapamune, is a commercially available drug marketed by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. The drug prevents scar tissue growth in arteries.

Burned OSU student home in West Chester

WEST CHESTER TWP. - The 20-year-old college student badly burned in a house fire this month was released Friday from the Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus.

Josh Patterson was home with his parents late Friday in West Chester Township, said Cathy Cepress, a neighbor and close family friend who declined further comment. A call to the Pattersons was not returned.

The Lakota West High School graduate was severely burned and suffered smoke inhalation during a fire at his off-campus residence at Ohio State University in the early morning of April 13.

Andrea Kali Dennis, an Ohio University student from Madeira, and Kyle Raulin, an OSU student also from West Chester Township, died in the fire, along with three other students.

Patterson's girlfriend, Jennifer Lehren, 20, of Centerville, Ohio, suffered minor injuries.

Norwood council OKs Cornerstone plan

NORWOOD - City Council approved a planned unit development plan this week for Cornerstone of Norwood, a $44 million, mixed-use project.

According to the plan, two five-story office towers will appear on 4 acres bounded by Interstate 71 and Smith and Williams roads.

Each will have a total of about 125,000 square feet and be occupied by about 500 employees.

An accompanying parking structure will accommodate 1,070 cars.

Ackermann Group, the development company, plans to break ground in July.

UC honors nurses for excellence

Sixteen area nurses have won 2003 Florence Nightingale Awards for Excellence in Nursing.

Receiving the 2003 UC Board of Advisors Awards of $1,000 each at a ceremony Thursday night were: Renee Holleran of University Hospital-Air Care, Barbara Schaffer of St. James White Oak School, Helga Mathews of University Hospital, Susan Ware of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Sally Kaiser of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center-Home Health and Kathy Calihan of Mercy Hospital-Fairfield.

Winners of the $200 UC Dean's Awards were Sandra Kordis of Jewish Hospital, Theresa Vietor of St. Elizabeth Medical Center, Brad Bailey of Jewish Hospital, Eileen Hendrix of Greater Cincinnati OB/GYN, Claire Fredasch and Kelly Krummen of Good Samaritan Hospital, Inez Hall of Mercy Hospital-Fairfield, Sharyl Iden of Southgate Independent Schools, Kim Latham of Christ Hospital and Jane Vandervort of C.M.H. Regional Health System.

UC's Board of Advisors received 330 nominations for area nurses.

Taft refuses clemency as execution nears

COLUMBUS - Gov. Bob Taft refused to grant clemency Friday for a man scheduled to be executed Tuesday for killing a former fraternity brother's wife in 1985.

David Brewer, 43, was convicted of killing Sherry Byrne, a 21-year-old cosmetics saleswoman from Southwest Ohio, who was beaten, choked with a necktie and stabbed multiple times with a butcher knife.

"There is no doubt that Mr. Brewer is responsible for the death of Sherry Byrne," Taft said.

At a clemency hearing in early April, Brewer's attorneys called him a law-abiding and hardworking man who was well-liked, well-known and respected before killing Byrne.

Brewer confessed that he sexually assaulted and beat Byrne in a motel room on March 21, 1985, after luring her there on the pretense of meeting him and his wife. He then abducted her and drove around with her in the trunk of his car for several hours.

He killed Byrne after she tried to escape in Beavercreek, a Dayton suburb.