Unity rally today at Lytle Park

        The singing group Blessid Union of Souls and Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken will highlight a public rally today at 10:30 a.m. at Lytle Park.

        The rally will feature comments from Mr. Luken, a small acoustic set by the singing group and the release of 20 doves from the Lytle Park bandstand.

        Free cookies, hot chocolate and coffee will be available, along with stickers with a snowflake theme celebrating diversity and unity.

        Free parking is available at either of the Western-Southern garages, on Sycamore or Broadway, until noon.

        The event is being organized by the City of Cincinnati, Western-Southern Life Insurance Co., the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and numerous business and civic leaders to celebrate the inclusive nature of Cincinnati, and to repudiate the message of the Ku Klux Klan cross on Fountain Square, organizers said.
       

Chiquita Center has garage fire

               A fire in an air compressor in the Chiquita Center parking garage kept fire crews busy removing smoke for about two hours Friday night.

        Firefighters were called to the building at 250 E. Fifth St. shortly before 8 p.m. Workers were evacuated for about 40 minutes while fire alarms were reset, Cincinnati District Fire Chief Steve Kluesener said.

        “Three sprinkler heads confined the fire to the compresser,” he said. “We had to go in using fire extinguishers and make the final extinguishment of the fire.”

        Damage was estimated at $3,000.

Deputies look into student "hit list"

               TRENTON - Butler County sheriff's deputies are investigating a “hit list” found this week on an Edgewood Middle School bus. The note named 11 middle and high school students under the title “People to kill,” said middle school Principal Judy Scherrer. The note also contained the alleged author's name, she said.

        After talking with that student and comparing handwriting samples, school officials concluded the person named on the note did not write it, Mrs. Scherrer said.

        “We have to take every one of these threats very seriously but we do not think there was any intent to harm anyone,” Mrs. Scherrer said. “We believe it was an attempt to get another student in trouble.”
       

Bank's name goes on museum theater

               The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center has named its theater after the third-largest donor to the project.

        Fifth Third Theatre is scheduled to open in 2004.

        The bank's $1.5 million grant is the third largest gift and Fifth Third's largest gift to date.

        The 325-seat theater will provide a setting for touring theatrical, choral and dance performances as well as for lectures and debates.
       

Earn degree on weekends at RWC

               Raymond Walters College is accepting applications for the new weekend degree in prebusiness administration, to begin in March.

        Classes are offered Saturdays in an accelerated format. Qualified students can earn the 2-year degree on weekends in eight quarters if they carry the full 12-credit load.

        Information, 556-8760.
       

Suspect to have second mental test

               HAMILTON — A woman accused of shooting her co-worker to death will undergo a second psychiatric evaluation.

        Butler County Common Pleas Judge H.J. Bressler approved Friday a request by the attorneys for Sophal Prom for another evaluation.

        A hearing to determine whether she's competent to stand trial will be held Dec. 22.

        Ms. Prom, 34, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to a charge of aggravated murder.

        Prosecutors say she argued with Darlene Adams on Sept. 28 at Prestige Display & Packaging in Fairfield. Ms. Prom went home, returned to work with a gun and shot Ms. Adams, 42, of Newport, more than 10 times, they said.
       

Flu shot clinic at Butler agency

               HAMILTON - The Butler County Health Department has received a partial shipment of influenza vaccine. A special clinic will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday at the department office, 202 S. Monument Ave.

        The shots will be offered only to those 65 or older, and those adults who have a serious, long-term health problem.

        Cost: $8; seniors should bring their Medicare card for possible reimbursement. Information: 887-5236.
       

Two clerks robbed at Hyde Park store

               Two Hyde Park store clerks were robbed at gunpoint Thursday by a man who fled with one clerk's rosary.

        The man entered The Acorn on Erie Avenue a little after 7 p.m., pointing a gun at one of the women and telling her to get into a back room, Cincinnati police said. When she ran into the bathroom, he put the gun to the other woman's head and ordered her to open the cash register.

        The suspect, described as a clean-cut black man in his 40s with a medium to dark complexion, and wearing a brown leather jacket and brown scarf, left with the first woman's keys.

        Police said he also took the second woman's black leather fanny pack, credit cards, money and rosary.
       

Bingham wins public health award

               Eula Bingham, a professor of environmental health at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, was honored recently by the American Public Health Association.

        Dr. Bingham received the first David P. Rall Award for Advocacy in Public Health.

        “David was a longtime colleague,” Dr. Bingham said. “The award is bittersweet in that it comes following his death.”

        The association said the annual award recognized Dr. Bingham's battle to protect workers, consumers and others from from environmental and industrial disease.

        Dr. Bingham, assistant secretary of labor during the Carter administration, is a former UC vice president for research. In Washington, she was credited with restoring credibility to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
       

Head of online charter school out

               COLUMBUS — The head of an online charter school has left her job after being suspended with pay two weeks ago, the school said.

        Coletta Musick left over disagreements with board members on administrative matters, said John Ledingham, spokesman for Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow. School officials would not disclose the settlement under which she is leaving.

        eCOT, Ohio's only Internet-based school, says it has 2,600 students who work on computers in their homes and communicate with teachers by e-mail.

        Ms. Musick was earning $96,000 a year.

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