MADEIRA — CSI Waste Services Inc. is replacing Rumpke Waste Inc. as the company that will provide the city's waste collection and recycling services for the next five years.

        CSI Waste was the city's lowest bidder by $20,000 a year. Residents should not notice any change in services except one.

        CSI will pick up mixed waste paper including pizza and cereal boxes at the curb. Residents no longer must take such items to McDonald Commons.

        Anyone with questions should call the city at 561-7228.

Parachutist drowned in lake, officials say

        MONTEZUMA, Ohio — A parachutist who overshot his target and landed in Grand Lake St. Marys apparently drowned, authorities said.

        Jason Krieg, 29, of New Bremen, was one of two parachutists who landed around 4 p.m. Saturday in the lake.

        The second parachutist, Bruce Cyphers of St. Marys, was rescued and was not injured, said Frank Giannola, manager of Grand Lake St. Marys State Park.

        The men parachuted from 9,000 feet, Mr. Giannola said. Windy conditions caused them to miss their landing spot at Montezuma Airport. Montezuma is about 50 miles northwest of Dayton.

Norwood firefighters, police to be sworn in

        NORWOOD — Six new city police officers and five new firefighters will be sworn in Thursday in this city of 21,651.

        The new police officers are Eric Nelson, Ronald Sanden, Ryan Conlon, Jeffrey Barger, Christopher Collins and Kimberly Brucker,

        The new firefighters are Shawn Meyer, Bryan Reece, Scott Mumper, Christopher Heywood and Brodie Cianciolo.

        Both ceremonies will take place on the second floor of City Hall, 4645 Montgomery Road. The police ceremony begins at 2 p.m. and the fire ceremony begins at 3:30 p.m.

Rise of meth labs worries officials

        AKRON, Ohio — Northeast Ohio law enforcement officials say they're worried about the increase in clandestine methamphetamine laboratories and the threat they pose to public safety.

        The labs first made their way into Ohio in 1997. Two years ago, 16 lab-related arrests were made statewide. In the first 11 months of this year, at least 68 meth labs have been destroyed, and more raids may have been unreported to federal authorities.

        The National Drug Intelligence Center reports that venti lation systems in many motels, where meth labs often are found, will allow the poisonous vapors to travel from room to room. If a lab catches fire, a motel's automatic sprinkler system can feed the fire because some methamphetamine-producing chemicals react with water.

        Methamphetamine provides a powerful, cheap high. Ohio police and fire departments are trying to learn how to identify and disable makeshift labs.

Sixth-graders struggle with ISTEP-Plus test

        INDIANAPOLIS — While more than half of the state's third-graders regularly pass the state's ISTEP-Plus exam, an analysis of statewide data shows that just three years later, sixth-graders struggle with the test.

        About 89 percent of Indiana's 294 school districts had a smaller percentage of students pass both parts of ISTEP-Plus during their sixth-grade year than in third grade, according to an analysis by an Indianapolis newspaper.

        Among 75,922 third-graders statewide, 57 percent passed both portions, compared with 56 percent last year. Meanwhile, sixth-grade scores remained flat, with just 46 percent of 79,047 students meeting state standards — the same passing rate as 2000.

Legislature may decide regulations' fate

        INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana businesses fuming over new reporting requirements of hazardous air pollutants, which they say are too expensive, may end up taking their fight to the state legislature.

        The Indiana Department of Natural Resources introduced the new requirements Feb. 1, and the Air Pollution Control Board gave the proposal preliminary approval in April.

        But opposition to the rules has delayed their final adoption and might ultimately put their fate in the hands of the Indiana General Assembly, an Indianapolis newspaper reported Sunday.

        State Sen. Beverly Gard, R-Greenfield, who chairs both a legislative environmental study committee and the Senate Environmental Affairs Committee, said she might introduce a bill to slow regulators.

        Ms. Gard said she wants to look at what air emissions data businesses already are reporting as well as the status of federal air quality regulations.

        “I wonder if we are not jumping too far ahead of the game without any direction,” Ms. Gard said.

        The proposal requires detailed reporting on relatively small emissions of 58 chemicals — from acetaldehyde to vinylidene chloride — that were picked because of their health risks.

        Dozens of companies, industrial lobbying groups and utilities uniformly opposed the measure during earlier hearings, arguing it was too expensive.

        Firms would be required to institute new reporting systems — at a cost of about $5 million — and increase their annual reporting costs to $10 million from about $3.2 million, according to Bernie Paul, an environmental consultant for Eli Lilly and Co.

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