UC faculty members vote to allow strike

        About 250 University of Cincinnati faculty members voted Thursday to grant their union — the American Association of University Professors — the authority to call a strike if contract negotiations fail, said AAUP President Joe W. Fisher.

        UC and AAUP are seeking a negotiator to help restart contract talks.

        The 1,988 full-time faculty represented by AAUP have been working without a contract since Aug. 31 and have rejected UC's offer of an 8 percent pay increase over three years and the same health plans as other university employees.

        AAUP wants a 20 percent raise over three years.

FAA head here for airport security look

       HEBRON — The federal official in charge of airline and airport security will tour Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport today, even as the debate of how to make the nation's airways safe continues.

        Jane Garvey, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, is scheduled to visit the airport at the invitation of Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky.

TEACHERS REWARDED: Dee Dee Allen (center), a sixth-grade teacher at Turkey Foot Middle School, smiles after receiving a goody bag in the lobby of the Aronoff Center from the Cincinnati Ballet's Lisa Flanagan (right). Area teachers were invited to the Aronoff to watch the ballet's Thursday dress rehearsal of Don Quixote. (Brandi Stafford photo) | ZOOM |

        “He wants her ... to see the facilities on the interior of the nation to give a common reference point, in addition to Newark (N.J.) and (Washington) Dulles,” said Dan DuBray, Mr. Rogers' spokesman.

        The visit will include a trip through passenger checkpoints and a behind-the-scenes tour of the airport's secure areas and surveillance facilities.

Township chief has city experience

        COLERAIN TOWNSHIP — Steven J. Sarver is the new township police chief.

        He has more than 27 years in law enforcement with the Cincinnati Police Division.

        He holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati and a master's degree in public administration from Northern Kentucky University.

        His most recent post was as police chief in Amelia.

        Chief Sarver replaces Chief Edmund Phillips, who retired from the township this month after 14 years of service.

Morgue defendants' lawyers file lawsuit

       Attorneys for Thomas Condon and Dr. Jonathan Tobias want Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen held in contempt of court.

        They filed a motion Thursday asking Common Pleas Judge Norbert Nadel to find that Mr. Allen violated the judge's order to keep statements Mr. Condon made to police out of the public record.

        The Enquirer and the Cincinnati Post obtained the statements after filing open-records requests with the prosecutor's office.

        Mr. Condon and Dr. Tobias were convicted of multiple counts of gross abuse of a corpse for photos Mr. Condon took of autopsied bodies inside the morgue.

        The pictures show that inanimate objects were placed on the bodies of eight corpses.

        Both men are scheduled for sentencing Dec. 13.

Complex for seniors wins planning OK

        Cincinnati's planning commission has voted 5-1 to recommend to City Council a zone change that would allow Glenmore Partners to develop a seniors' campus on about 11 acres on Glenmore Avenue in Westwood.

        The development plan calls for 104 apartments, 74 assisted-living rooms, 50 regular nursing beds, 40 beds for the memory-impaired, and a child-care center.

        The dissenting vote came from Pete Witte, a newly appointed commissioner and Price Hill resident.

        “I had no problems with the nursing home ... but I have straightforward reservations about developing more apartment units inside the city,” Mr. Witte said.

        City Council is expected to hear the recommendation within 30 days.
       

Same man may have held up two banks

        SYCAMORE TOWNSHIP — Hamilton County sheriff's officials said the man who held up the Provident Bank in the 8000 block of Montgomery Road Thursday morning may have pulled a similar job last week.

1, 2, 3 ... FLIP!: Charles Schweitzer (center) tosses a shakaree during a demonstration of how to make music with gourds at Mount Healthy North Middle School on Thursday. The shakaree consists of a gourd with woven beads wrapped around it, which makes a distinctive noise when shaken. Mr. Schweitzer is a member of Drums for Peace, which uses 30 percussive gourds in a routine that consists of music, dance and storytelling. The group's visit was to encourage cultural diversity and understanding. (Dick Swaim photo) | ZOOM |

        There were no injuries in either robbery.

        Hamilton County sheriff's spokesman Steve Barnett said a man walked into the bank at 11:25 a.m., displayed a dark-colored handgun, and demanded money.

        He obtained an undetermined amount of cash and fled through a rear door.

        The suspect is a white man 35 to 40 years old. He was wearing a fake beard, dark sunglasses, a tan jacket and a white or tan fishing hat.

        The description — all the way down to the fake beard — and method closely match that of a man who robbed the Provident Bank in the 11000 block of Montgomery Road on Oct. 17.

        Anyone with information about either robbery is asked to call the sheriff's office at 851-6000 or Crime Stoppers at 352-3040.

2 face drug charges after arrest at prison

       TURTLECREEK TWP. — Two West Virginia women were arrested early Thursday after they were found with a backpack containing bags of marijuana on the grounds of the Lebanon Correctional Institution.

        Alisa Spaulding, 23, and Rhonda Haynes, 33, both of Charleston, remained jailed Thursday afternoon following their arraignment in Lebanon Municipal Court.

        Both are charged with criminal trespassing and conveying drugs onto the ground of a correctional facility.

Police improvements could cost millions
Now it's time to act, critics advise police
First 2012 Olympic cuts today
Conflicting details arise in testimony
Punching of suspect angered officer
Fuller responds to his critics
Independent draws some notice
Ladybeetles descend on area
Luken has vastly more than Fuller
Military small part of war, general says
Q&A: 'You knew this was no accident'
Schloemer leads board candidates in contributions
Sidewalks for shoppers
Small airports batten down
Tristate A.M. Report
HOWARD: Some Good News
RADEL: Police report
WELLS: Images of infamy
Fairfield candidates rank roads, property values high
Lovers of log house take appeal to county
Natural gas line planned
Storm water a concern
Two projects dropped from sales tax funding
Petition puts annexation law on hold
Safety on tap this Halloween
State will reimburse poor families
Fire doesn't derail plan for school for Muslim kids
Kenton could guide locale of sex zone
Peaselburg suspects jail ploy
UK students accused of counterfeiting