CPS to review progress, outline goals

        Cincinnati Public Schools will outline new goals today and give a mid-year review on the district's progress.

        Superintendent Steven Adamowski and Board of Education President Rick Williams will host a “community breakfast” from 8:30 to 10 a.m. at the Mayerson Academy.

        The event will focus on four areas: high school restructuring, facilities improvements, early literacy and what will be done with new money generated from the 6-mill levy approved by voters in November.

        Mr. Adamowski also will talk about plans to fund an extra week of summer school this year. Last year, students who did not pass a reading test were required to attend five weeks of summer classes.

FIREFIGHTER INJURED: A Cincinnati firefighter suffered minor burns to his neck while battling a fire that caused $50,000 damage to a Madisonville home Wednesday, District 1 Fire Chief Howard Reed said. The fire apparently began in the first-floor kitchen of a home in the 5700 block of Luhn Avenue shortly after noon. The injured firefighter, whose name was not released, was burned when an ember touched his neck. He was taken to the city employee health office for examination. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

        That program was so successful district officials think adding an extra week will help bring even more students up to speed.

        Students in the second and third grade who did not pass the state's reading proficiency test were required to attend summer school. About 42 percent of second-graders and 20 percent of third-graders failed the test.

        Of those 2,466 students, 83 percent attended summer school.

        More than 60 percent of the third-grade students who attended the mandatory summer reading program later passed the Ohio reading proficiency test.
       

Police investigating driver's death

        MIDDLETOWN — City police and the Butler County Coroner's office are investigating the death of a man found in an upside-down truck in a canal Wednesday. Police said the truck, which could not be seen from the road, appeared to have been in the canal for several days.

        Lt. Don Owens said police were called to the 900 block of West Central Avenue at 9 a.m. after an employee of the city engineer's office discovered the truck.

        Lt. Owens said the vehicle was traveling east on Central when it apparently went off of the left side of the street, hit several trees and crashed down an embankment where it landed upside down in 2 feet of water.

        The driver of the vehicle, Steven Larson, 31, was pronounced dead at the scene by the Butler County Coroner's Office. Mr. Larson's address was listed as the Ranch Inn Motel on Tytus Avenue in Middletown. The accident was under investigation.
       

Expanded breast cancer center to open

        Good Samaritan Hospital plans to open an expanded breast cancer diagnostic center Monday as part of an ongoing reshuffling of services after TriHealth closed Bethesda Oak Hospital last year.

        The new breast center, located on the hospital's fifth floor, will double the number of mammography X-ray machines at Good Samaritan and offer ultrasound exams and stereotactic breast biopsies, a less invasive form of biopsy that tests whether a suspicious lump is malignant.

        A fertility center at Bethesda Oak, one of the last patient services remaining in the hospital building, is expected to move to Bethesda North within months.
       

Study: Gene discovery may aid lung disease

        Researchers at Children's Hospital Medical Center and Johns Hopkins University report discovering a gene linked to interstitial lung disease, a rare condition that can affect infants and adults.

        The study, published in today's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, identifies a mutation in the SP-C gene, which produces proteins that make surfactant — a substance crucial to the function of air sacs in the lungs.

        The mutation explains some, but not all, cases of infants born with a deficiency of surfactant in their lungs, a sometimes fatal problem, researchers said. The genetic mutation may also play a role in acute respiratory distress syndrome, a much more common illness than interstitial lung disease. Eventually, the gene discovery may lead to genetically-engineered treatments.

Ex-secretary gets six years for forged checks

        COLUMBUS, Ohio — A former secretary who wrote about $400,000 in checks to herself from the bank accounts of a former Ohio Supreme Court justice has been sentenced to six years in prison.

        Michelle Counterman of Westerville had pleaded guilty in December to one count of theft and five counts of forgery.

        Franklin County prosecutors say Ms. Counterman stole from former Justice Craig Wright's accounts from 1999 to 2000, while she worked as his secretary at a law firm.

        Common Pleas Judge Patrick McGrath on Tuesday also ordered Ms. Counterman to repay Justice Wright, who has retired from the bench.She still owes about $270,000.
       

Harmons may square off for clerk job

        CANTON, Ohio — It could be Harmon vs. Harmon in the Nov. 6 election.

        Republican Jim Harmon has filed with the elections board to run for clerk of Canton Municipal Court, a job held for 18 years by Democrat Tom Harmon. The two are unrelated.

        If no one else files by today's deadline for the party primaries on May 8, the Harmons would advance to face each other in the general election.

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