U.S. agency rejects light-rail project

        For the third straight year, the proposed light-rail project along Interstate 71 has gotten the thumbs-down for potential funding from a key federal agency.

        The Federal Transit Administration gave the proposed $800 million proposal a “not recommended” rating earlier this week in its list of possible projects seeking funding nationwide.

        “Until we have local funding in place and are asking for federal construction dollars, no other rating would be appropriate,” said Judi Craig, division manager for corridor studies for the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, which oversaw the study that eventually recommended light rail.

        The current “not recommended” rating was based on a lack of local financial commitment to build the project, but previous concerns over land use and poor cost effectiveness appear to have been alleviated.

        The proposed route would run 19 miles and have 25 stations, starting downtown and ending in Blue Ash. No decision has been made on a tax levy to raise the local funds.
       

Cow that escaped will be in parade

        The Findlay Market Opening Day Parade has coralled a new celebrity participant.

        The Charolais cow that gained international notice when she escaped from stockyards and eluded capture for 10 days has been added to the parade lineup, Neil Luken, chief parade organizer, confirmed Thursday.

        The celebrity cow will travel the parade route in a trailer — a move that should prevent any more escapes.

        The cow was captured in Mount Storm Park in Clifton nearly a week and a half after escaping from a Camp Washington slaughterhouse. She is staying in Whitewater Township while her owner, Ken Meyer, works with the Hamilton County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to secure a sanctuary for her.
       

Program to improve Hispanics' health care

        A program to improve health care services for Greater Cincinnati's growing Hispanic population will be announced today.

        The program, called Bienestar, will offer health access information, legal advice for consumers, and cultural competency training for health care professionals. Agencies supporting the new program include Santa Maria Community Services, the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati and Culturally Competent Communications.

        The new program is supported by a $360,000 grant from the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati.
       

Adult-store owner released from hospital

       Elyse Metcalf, the Northside adult book store owner critically burned in a house fire, has been released from the hospital.

        Ms. Metcalf, 42, and her 6-year-old great-niece, were burned six weeks ago in a fire that gutted Ms. Metcalf's Carthage house. Ms. Metcalf was released Monday. The girl, Taylor Bogan, went home March 8.

        Cincinnati fire investigators still have not released the cause of the blaze.

        Ms. Metcalf owns Elyse's Passion, a store that sells sexually oriented gifts and toys. She was charged with obscenity last year, but was acquitted. The store has remained open.
       

Trial set for mother in children's deaths

        An Evanston woman who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the drownings of her two children in a bathtub was ordered Thursday to stand trial on July 29.

        If convicted of the aggravated murder charges, Bridget Stovall could be sentenced to death. She waived her right to a jury trial and will be tried before a three-judge panel in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

        Ms. Stovall, 24, is charged with two counts of aggravated murder in the April 7 drownings of her 20-month-old son, Iyan, and daughter, Cariyan, 4. She said she drowned her two children in the family's apartment while trying to exorcise the devil from them, said her lawyer, Clyde Bennett II.

        Judge Fred Cartolano ruled in January that Ms. Stovall is now mentally competent to stand trial. She was initially considered psychologically unable to be tried and was placed in a psychiatric facility shortly after her arrest.

        Judge Cartolano and fellow judges David Davis and Thomas Crush will hear her trial.
       

Man gets life sentence in 1998 murder case

        A three-judge panel sentenced a 31-year-old Wheelersburg, Ohio, man Thursday to life in prison without parole for the 1998 murder of a Colerain Township woman.

        Steven A. Smith agreed to plead guilty Thursday to charges of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated arson in the death of Stella Ann Abbott, 58, on Oct. 20, 1998.

        Family members of Mrs. Abbott agreed to let prosecutors offer the former Colerain Township man a deal in exchange for his guilty plea.

        Mr. Smith, a one-time neighbor of Mrs. Abbott, was accused of breaking into her home, robbing her, stabbing her repeatedly with a lawn dart, and then setting her Crusader Drive home on fire to cover up the crime.

        Authorities focused on Mr. Smith after he was arrested and charged with the death of an elderly Kentucky woman, Florence Mary Mayne, 89, in 1999 in Corbin, Ky.

        He'd fled to Kentucky, officials said, the same day that Mrs. Abbott's body had been found.

        Mr. Smith, who was convicted in the Mayne murder, is serving a life sentence in Kentucky.

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