Compiled from staff and wire reports

Religious leaders gather to back bond

About 25 religious leaders gathered on the steps of Greater New Hope Missionary Baptist Church Friday to pledge their support for Cincinnati Public Schools' bond issue.

The $480 million bond issue, to be voted on Tuesday, would help finance a $985 million project to build 35 new schools and renovate 31 more.

"We ministers have decided to take a stand on the eve of this important decision," said the Rev. Rousseau O'Neal, spokesman for the Coalition of Ministers and pastor of Rockdale Baptist Church in Avondale. "We stand together solidly in support of new buildings for our children."

Those attending included the Rev. Calvin Harper, president of the Baptist Ministers Conference; the Rev. Duane Holm, executive director of Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati; the Rev. Stephen Scott, co-chair of the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati and member of the Baptist Ministers Conference.

"The schools have done a great job of improving their performance," Harper said. "Now we need to get out and support them by passing this levy."

Harper cited a letter by the Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Tave Zelman recognizing Cincinnati schools for surpassing a benchmark of 5 percentage points of improvement on proficiency test results. The district, according to the March 26 letter, improved by 7.7 percentage points from the 2000-'01 school year to the 2001-'02 school year.

Prison guard arrested on drug charges

WASHINGTON COURTHOUSE - Ohio State Highway Patrol officials said they stopped a half-pound of marijuana from being distributed at Lebanon Correctional Institution (LCI) when they arrested a prison guard this week.

Kerrick L. Franklin, 31, of Moraine, appeared in Fayette County Municipal Court Thursday on a felony drug possession charge after troopers arrested him at the Prime Outlet Mall off Interstate 71.

Officials at the state patrol said troopers and LCI investigators had information that Franklin planned to convey the drugs into the prison on Ohio 63.

Franklin is free on bond. A state corrections officer since 2000, he was placed on paid administrative leave at LCI following his arrest.

Inmate found hanged; suicide appears likely

HAMILTON - An inmate found hanged in the Butler County jail Thursday night was an apparent suicide, Sheriff Harold Don Gabbard said Friday.

Lawrence E. Burton, 33, of Cambridge, Ohio, was found unconscious in his cell shortly after 8 p.m. with a sheet around his neck. The sheet was attached to a light fixture in his locked, single cell. He was pronounced dead at Fort Hamilton Hospital.

Burton had been in the jail since March 25, Gabbard said, on probation violation and failure to appear charges. He had previously served time in the jail in 2001 and 2002.

An autopsy will be performed.

Miami University commencement today

Miami University's 164th annual spring commencement will be at 3 p.m. today at Yager Stadium on campus.

CBS commentator Andy Rooney will give the commencement address. No tickets are required to the public event at which 3,320 degrees will be awarded.

Storm, hail caused $51.7 million damage

COLUMBUS - A storm that dropped golf ball-sized hail on central Ohio last month caused at least $51.7 million in insured damage, an insurance group said Friday.

The survey of insurance companies by the Ohio Insurance Institute shows at least 12,499 claims have been filed from the storm on April 20.

Of the claims, $37.7 million, or 56 percent, were filed under homeowners policies for damage primarily to roofs, siding and gutters.

Auto insurance claims totaled $10.1 million, or 35 percent, mostly for dented car roofs and hoods.

The rest of the claims were for business-related losses.

3rd parochial school in Cleveland to close

EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio - Christ the King School will soon close, the only parochial school in a city where troubled public education is under state scrutiny.

Christ the King will be the third parochial school in the Cleveland area to close at the end of the academic year. St. Vitus and St. Rose in Cleveland also have announced plans to shut down. All three have declining enrollments.

Christ the King's enrollment of about 100 from kindergarten through eighth grade and an $80,000 deficit were factors, said the Rev. Michael Wittman, pastor of Christ the King Roman Catholic Church.

The parish cannot afford to subsidize the school any longer without jeopardizing its own financial stability, Wittman said.

City Councilwoman Saratha Goggins said the loss was troubling because the state has declared a fiscal emergency in East Cleveland public schools because of its debts. The district also is in academic emergency, having passed only six of 22 state standards.