Compiled from staff and wire reports

The Cincinnati Police Department today will announce its plans to refund fees paid by users of alarm systems after Cincinnati City Council unanimously enacted - and then repealed - a $50 tax on home alarm systems.

It will not be necessary for alarm users to request a refund, Lt. Col. Cindy Combs said in a report to City Manager Valerie Lemmie.

City Council passed the fee in order to offset the estimated $500,000 a year it costs to respond to false alarms. But council bowed to public outrage after homeowners got the bills. The biannual fee was $50 for homeowners and $100 for business owners.

Getting inked won't hinder giving blood

People who get tattoos - from a licensed tattoo artist - no longer have to wait a year to give blood, according to a policy change announced Monday by the Hoxworth Blood Center.

Until now, the Tristate's primary blood bank had been turning away about 500 willing blood donors a year because they had received tattoos or other types of permanent makeup in the past year. The rule existed to reduce the risk of spreading hepatitis, which can be transmitted via non-sterile tattoo needles.

Now, a recent tattoo is OK as long as it was done at a licensed shop using sterile needles and non-reused ink.

EPA to field questions on lead tests at Kings

DEERFIELD TWP. - Officials from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency plan to attend tonight's Kings Board of Education meeting to answer questions regarding lead testing at the junior-senior high campus.

The school board meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.

Test results done on soil samples from the 63-acre site, located on Columbia Road, also are expected to be released today.It is believed the grounds were once used for ammunition testing and later used by a shooting club.

West End slaying is city's 41st this year

Cincinnati police are investigating the city's 41st killing - a 44-year-old woman found slain early Monday in the West End.

Amerrintha Spikes was found just after 1 a.m. after a woman called police from the Saveway Food Mart, saying her friend was just raped. Spikes was lying on a loading dock near the corner of John and Livingston streets.

Homicide detectives didn't say how Spikes died. They said further details were being withheld pending an autopsy by the Hamilton County coroner's office.

But at one point during the search, minutes after the body was discovered, officers said they were looking for someone armed with a knife.

Witnesses described the possible suspect as a light-skinned black man in his 30s running from the scene, carrying a red shirt.

Coates will not run for county commissioner

Former state Rep. Wayne Coates has decided not to run for Hamilton County commissioner, he said Monday.

The conservative Democrat from Forest Park took out petitions last week to run for Commissioner John Dowlin's seat. However, Coates said, he does not want to run against Dowlin, a friend who announced Friday that he would seek re-election rather than retire.

Man dies in car accident near GE

EVENDALE - A man was killed after his vehicle struck a concrete wall on Shepherd Lane near the General Electric plant early Monday.

Joe Aden, 42, whose address was not available, was pronounced dead at the scene. He was alone in the SUV and was not wearing a seat belt, Evendale police said.

The vehicle was traveling north on Shepherd Lane at General Electric Gate 4 about 6:30 a.m. when Aden failed to negotiate a curve and struck the wall, Evendale Police Sgt. Steve Niehauser said.

Aden was not a General Electric employee, Niehauser said. No other vehicles were involved in the crash. The accident remains under investigation.

New Cleveland school reporting for duty

CLEVELAND - The first charter school sponsored by the city school district will teach its students how to salute and keep a stick-straight posture, in addition to reading and writing.

The General Johnnie E. Wilson Military Academy had 128 student recruits, but a few have already dropped out. Organizers planned it that way and expect to start classes Aug. 28 with about 100 ninth-grade students.

The school district will watch over the school without paying for it. Teachers are members of the district's teachers union. The school's board of directors will rent space at an existing school on the east side and receive state money for every child enrolled.

Two years of planning have gone into the academy, which will combine military-style training, academics, technical training and the chance to attend college classes while still in high school. Students will be added each year until school leaders reach their enrollment goal of 1,000.