Using store surveillance video, police identified and charged an 18-year-old Kennedy Heights man Wednesday as one in a group who set fire to a neighborhood carryout during the recent riots.

        Police charged William A. Hedges of the 3600 block of Zinsle Avenue with arson and aggravated riot in the April 12 incident.

        Police said Mr. Hedges and about seven others threw Molotov cocktails into the Redwood Carry Out at 3610 Woodford Ave. The incident occurred about 11:50 p.m.

        The suspect was identified by two witnesses who viewed the surveillance video, police said.
       

22 join suit alleging injuries by police

        Twenty-two people have been added to a federal lawsuit filed last month against Cincinnati police on behalf of those injured by non-lethal projectiles during the unrest of April 10-12.

        Plaintiffs in the suit now number 27.

        Plaintiffs claim they were shot by more than a dozen unnamed Cincinnati police officers during riots. Some contended they were hit by beanbags, rubber bullets or beaten with clubs.

        The amended complaint was filed Tuesday by attorney Robert Newman.
       

Boy started fatal fire, officials say

        READING — A 5-year-old boy playing with matches and a lighter sparked a Sunday blaze that killed a 3-year-old Fairfield girl, according to Reading fire officials.

        Cassey Robinson was pronounced dead after firefighters found her on the second floor of a burning home at 8910 Reading Road. It was the home of family friends who were watching the youngster for the weekend while her parents were on a short vacation to Gatlinburg, Tenn., fire officials said.

        The fire began in the first-floor living room under a sofa. The 5-year-old was playing in the living room while his parents were in an adjacent room, officials said. Cassey and two other girls were playing in an upstairs bedroom. The other two girls escaped.
       

Dayton high-rise hatches 3 falcons

        DAYTON, Ohio — Three peregrine falcon chicks have hatched in a nesting box on the Fifth Third Bank building and the parents, Mercury and Baltimore, still have one unhatched egg in the nest.

        “We think the three hatched on Sunday,” said Rick Jasper, peregrine project manager of the Ohio Division of Wildlife's office in Xenia. “There's a chance that fourth egg could still hatch.”

        In about three weeks, wildlife workers will band the chicks so they can be identified later. In about six weeks, the babies will leave the nest.

        “We were glad to see them nest in one of our boxes,” Mr. Jasper said. “There is a lot of protection where they are. But you never know where they will nest. We have four boxes up in the downtown area, and we were fortunate they chose one of them.”

        Mercury, the male, has been in Dayton since 1993. Baltimore came in 1994.

        They are part of an effort to introduce peregrines to cities, where the tall buildings simulate the cliffs that peregrines naturally call home.

        While peregrines are no longer on the federal endangered list, they remain an endangered species in Ohio.
       

High court allows driver checkpoints

        COLUMBUS — The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously upheld the constitutionality of a checkpoint that Dayton police use to find unlicensed drivers, saying it did not violate protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

        Magus Orr and Andre Smith, who were cited for driving without being properly licensed after being stopped at the checkpoint in June 1998, challenged its constitutionality, saying it was a “suspicion-less seizure.”

        The court, in a 7-0 ruling, said that each driver's-license checkpoint must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to determine its intrusion on privacy, the state's interest in maintaining the checkpoint, and how much the checkpoint advances that interest.
       

Outpatient clinic for veterans opens

        UNION TOWNSHIP — The Department of Veterans Affairs is expected to cut the ribbon today on a new outpatient clinic for veterans in Clermont County.

        The clinic, one of 25 being opened nationwide this year, is at Eastgate Professional Park, Suite 270, 4355 Ferguson Drive.

        For information, call 513-943-3680.
       

Hospital honors cancer-care expert

        Dr. Beatrice Lampkin, a childhood cancer expert at Children's Hospital Medical Center, will be honored today by the hospital for receiving a distinguished career award from the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.

        Dr. Lampkin, now a professor emerita, is an expert in leukemia, solid tumors and chemotherapy for children. During her 40-year career, she helped build the hospital's cancer division from one physician to 24 faculty members and seven research fellows.

        She also launched the nation's first pediatric tumor board to improve studies of cancer, established a school re-entry program for cancer survivors, helped launch the local Ronald McDonald House for families of sick children, and recently launched Glad House, a program for children whose parents are in drug rehabilitation programs.
       

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