The Hughes Center Alumni Foundation kicked off a $500,000 capital campaign Friday.

        Alumni have raised more than $150,000 to help restore and preserve the historic Tudor-style building in Clifton.

        The event was held in the Cincinnati Museum Center, where many pieces of art and sculpture purchased by former Hughes students are housed.

        Alumni foundation members Charles Whitehead, Robert Boeh and Juanita Mills, Superintendent Steven Adamowski and Board of Education President Rick Williams said the group's efforts will be far-reaching.

STUFFED TOYS CONVEY SORROW: A memorial is growing outside the house on Beekman Street where Devontrell Hill, 22 months, was fatally injured in a fire Wednesday. The family did not have insurance. Donations to the Hill family fund can be made at any Fifth Third bank branch. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

        The school district and the foundation agreed to a partnership that will enable the district to get $1 million in bonding authority for each $100,000 the foundation raises. This is allowed under a federal program that lets schools take out no-interest loans for construction and building improvements.

        With the $500,000 the alumni plan to raise, the district can fund $5 million in improvements to the 90-year-old Hughes building.
       

No action pending in Thomas shooting

        Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen issued a statement Friday afternoon, putting to rest persistent rumors that his office planned to announce action against a Cincinnati police officer who killed an unarmed black man.

        No such announcement would be released, Mr. Allen's office said shortly after noon.

        The grand jury has not begun hearing testimony in any case against Officer Steve Roach. He shot Timothy Thomas, 19, in an alley off Republic Street, on April 7.
       

All invited to potluck in Over-the-Rhine

        Over-the-Rhine residents are throwing a potluck dinner between 4 and 7 p.m. Sunday — on Main Street, between 13th and 14th streets — more than two weeks after rioters heavily damaged their neighborhood.

        “It's a chance to come together. We thought we needed to come together after what we've been through,” said Marge Hammmelrath, director of Over-the-Rhine Foundation.

        Everyone is welcome to participate in the potluck, she said.

        For more information, visit www.irhine.com or call 721-1317.
       

Health care access forum is Monday

        BLUE ASH — The struggles among small-business owners to provide affordable health benefits and spreading the word about a statewide health plan for uninsured children will be among the topics Monday at a regionwide forum on health care access to be held in Blue Ash.

        The public forum, “Achieving Health Care Access For All,” will be from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Clarion Hotel, formerly the Best Western Blue Ash Hotel and Conference Center.

        Several state legislators, county officials, business representatives and consumers are expected to speak.

        The event is sponsored by the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati. For reservations and information, call (513) 241-1400.
       

Guilty plea entered in house-fire death

        DAYTON, Ohio — A man pleaded guilty Friday to charges that he set the fire that killed a University of Dayton housemate.

        Paul Vincent Morgan, 21, of Rochester, N.Y., pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court to charges of involuntary manslaughter and arson.

        The charges stem from the Dec. 10 death of Austin Cohen, 21, of Loveland. Mr. Cohen's brother, Dustin Cohen, is a linebacker for the St. Louis Rams.

        Austin Cohen's body was found on the second floor of the house where he, Mr. Morgan and other students lived. Authorities said others in the house escaped, but were unable to get back inside to rescue Mr. Cohen, who was sleeping when the fire started.

        Prosecutors have said Mr. Morgan lighted an object that ignited the entire house.

New vote planned on strict smoking ban

        TOLEDO — The city-county health board, which thought it had passed the toughest smoking ban in the state, will have to vote again because it was one vote short.

        The Toledo-Lucas County Board of Health's legal counsel told it hours after Thursday's 5-4 vote that it was short of the required six votes for passage.

        “We'll just redo the vote,” said board president John Newton, who supported the smoking ban and left the meeting thinking it had passed.

        The board's vote was short because one member was absent and several others abstained. At least two board members who voted against the smoking ban said they supported the idea but thought more time was needed to study the issue.

        Lucas County would become the first county in the state to entirely ban smoking in restaurants and bars, said Randy Hertzer, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Health.
       

Teacher quitting after indecency case settled

        DAYTON, Ohio — A former Bellbrook High School band director has entered a no-contest plea to a charge of disorderly conduct in an agreement with prosecutors, who dismissed a count of public indecency.

        David M. “Marty” Spitzer was found guilty Thursday on the disorderly conduct charge and was fined $100 plus court costs of $54, said Pam Nipper, a deputy clerk in Dayton Municipal Court.

        The city prosecutor's office filed the charges in connection with Mr. Spitzer's arrest April 5 by Dayton police in Triangle Park during a sex sting operation. Police alleged Mr. Spitzer made physical contact with an undercover officer.

        On Monday, the Sugarcreek Local Board of Education accepted Mr. Spitzer's resignation from his teaching and supplemental duties at the high school, effective Aug. 26.

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