New stent may curb artery reclogging

        Cincinnati cardiologists have begun testing a type of drug-coated stent that could prevent the kind of artery reclogging problem recently suffered by Vice President Dick Cheney.

        Stents are expandable mesh tubes that doctors use to prop open blocked arteries in the heart and other parts of the body.

        The Lindner Clinical Trial Center and Christ Hospital are participating in a national clinical trial of a stent coated with a drug called rapamycin.

        The drug is intended to reduce restenosis, an artery-blocking buildup of scar tissue that occurs in about 40 percent of patients who receive stents. If successful, the drug-coated stents could be an alternative to radiation treatments that are available in Cincinnati and many other cities, but were not offered to Mr. Cheney.

MONTGOMERY HOUSE FIRE: Ed Hamilton (left), a member of the Hamilton County Special County Arson Team, and Rob Lantman, a Montgomery firefighter/paramedic/inspector, work in an upstairs bathroom as they search for the cause of a fire Thursday. The blaze did about $45,000 damage to a home in the 7900 block of Shelldale Way in Montgomery. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

        The Lindner Center is one of 55 sites nationwide testing the stent. The first local patient in the study had a stent implanted Monday.
       

Girl, 13, revived after jail incident

        LEBANON — A 13-year-old Franklin girl was airlifted from the Warren County Juvenile Detention Center on Thursday after she apparently tried to commit suicide two hours after her arrest.

        The girl, who was assessed and deemed not to be a suicide risk, was alone in a cell about 2 p.m. when a guard found her blue and not breathing with a T-shirt tied around her neck, center director Desiree Batsche said.

        The officer revived the girl, and she was breathing and conscious when emergency crews arrived at the Justice Drive facility. The teen was flown by helicopter to Miami Valley Hospital, where she was listed in fair condition Thursday evening.

        The girl was placed in detention Thursday for violating a court order because she was suspended from school, Mrs. Batsche said. Corrections officers were checking on the girl every 15 minutes because she was a new inmate, she said.
       

Police event to help seniors prevent fraud

        Cincinnati police hold their first expo April 18 to help arm senior citizens against fraud.

        For the event, officers are organizing free workshops on topics such as self-defense and people's rights concerning telemarketers. The event will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 18 at the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center downtown.

        The Seniors Against Fraud Expo is aimed at seniors, social service agencies, people who take care of dependent adults and anyone else wanting information about fraud and personal safety.

        Officers will demonstrate self-defense techniques.

        Registration takes place from 9 to 10 a.m.
       

Farmers get pagers to battle barn fires

NIGHT TO REMEMBER: Roger Bacon senior Brian Waymire (right), 18, dances with Antoniette Paccariello, 90, of the Archbishop Leibold Home for the Aged, run by the Little Sisters of the Poor. The high school's students organized a “prom” for the residents Wednesday. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        FREDERICKSBURG, Ohio — A fire department has distributed pagers to farmers because of a rash of suspicious barn fires, and some farmers are staying up at night to keep an eye on their property.

        Thirteen farmers in southern Wayne County and northern Holmes County have been startled in the middle of the night since January 2000 to discover their barns were ablaze.

        Most of the fires have occurred along a narrow stretch of rolling countryside that straddles the two northern Ohio counties. All have been in barns near a road.

        Seven of the fires are considered arson, and the causes of six remain undetermined, Thomas Ratcliff, spokesman for state Fire Marshal Robert Rielage, said Thursday.
       

Indiana financial picture worsens

        INDIANAPOLIS — The cloud over the state's finances grew darker Thursday with word that tax collections were $61 million below projections for March.

        For the first nine months of the fiscal year, the state has taken in $214 million less than projected.

        “We've known for some time that we're in a slowdown, and this report continues to demonstrate that,” said state Budget Director Betty Cockrum, an appointee of Democratic Gov. Frank O'Bannon.

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