A 40-year-old woman was arrested and charged Saturday with two counts of arson. Police say she deliberately caused a four-alarm fire at her Golf Manor apartment building July 7.

        The fire briefly sent another tenant, a 69-year-old woman, to a hospital and caused $25,000 in damages to the two-story, four-apartment building at 2659 Vera Ave.

        Tonya Mayo was charged after an investigation by the Hamilton County Arson Task Force. She is being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center and will appear in court today.

        Firefighters declined to discuss the case Sunday, referring calls to Golf Manor Fire Chief Gregory Ballman, who was unavailable.

        The day of the fire, Chief Ballman told the Enquirer the fire appeared to have started in a closet on a ground-floor apartment.

Schott remains in hospital

        Former Reds CEO Marge Schott remained a patient Sunday at Jewish Hospital, but officials remained mum on the reason for her stay and her condition.

        Mrs. Schott, 73, has been at the hospital since Friday for an undisclosed reason.

        In 2001, the former majority owner was hospitalized twice after complaining of breathing problems.

        In 1999, a bout with seasonal allergies brought Mrs. Schott to the hospital, and in 1998, she underwent hip surgery after falling on her driveway and breaking her left hip.

Couple accused of child endangerment

        Two Winton Hills parents were arrested Saturday and charged with four counts of child endangerment after police discovered their four small children alone in an apartment strewn with trash, and animal and human feces.

        Devin Johnson, 25, and Ontinette Primus, 25, both of the 700 block of Dutch Colony Drive, are being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center and are expected to appear in court today.

        The two are accused of creating “a substantial risk to the safety and health” of the children, ages 8, 4, 2 and 1, according to police records.

        Police found the children after responding to a 911 disconnect call at 6 p.m. Saturday. They waited for about 20 minutes before Mr. Johnson returned.

Ohio volunteer is Big Brother of year

        COLUMBUS, Ohio - An insurance executive who has volunteered for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America since 1986 has been selected for the organization's top honor.

        Richard Gandarilla of suburban Gahanna was honored as national Big Brother of the Year in Anaheim, Calif. With him were his “little brother” of three years, 12-year-old Devin Gray, and Devin's mother, Jackie Gray.

        “He is a big brother that you can talk to and explain your problems,” Devin said. “We talk about things friends talk about.”

        They usually get together Tuesday evenings. Flash card drills and conversations about accountability and goals are punctuated by trips to see the Cleveland Browns and Indians play.

        Mr. Gandarilla, a Cleveland native, knows the value of mentors. His mother was ill when he was young, and his father worked two jobs to support seven children.

        He said he was a gang member until the librarians where he worked took him under their wing.

        Now an executive at Columbus-based insurance and finance giant Nationwide, he is married and has a grown stepdaughter.

Warsaw officer shot; suspect killed

        WARSAW, Ky. - A 59-year-old Hanover, Ind., man was killed after a shootout with a Warsaw police patrol officer early Sunday, according to Kentucky State Police.

        Jerry Sample was pronounced dead at Carroll County Hospital by Coroner James Dunn.

        The shootout occurred at 12:33 a.m. Sunday as Warsaw police officer Brent Caldwell, 36, was investigating an abandoned vehicle at Gallatin County Park, off of U.S. 42. He saw a man nearby who brandished a gun, state police said. Mr. Sample fired, police said, and the officer returned fire.

        Officer Caldwell radioed for assistance at 12:46 a.m., saying he had been shot.

        Mr. Sample died at a hospital of his gunshot wounds at 2:20 a.m. Sunday, authorities said. His body was taken to the State Medical Examiners Office in Louisville for an autopsy. Officer Caldwell was taken to St. Luke Hospital West in Florence, where he was treated for a gunshot wound to his right side and released. He has been with Warsaw Police, which has three full-time officers and one part-time officer, since March 1999, state police said.

Computer will aid West Nile tracking

        ALBANY, N.Y. - More than half a dozen states worried about West Nile virus are using climate-based computer models to predict the course of the mosquito-borne disease before a fatal outbreak occurs.

        Indiana, which first reported West Nile last year when 47 dead birds and one dead horse tested positive for it, will be the next state to join the project, said Hans Messersmith, director of surveillance investigation at the Indiana State Department of Health.

        Public health officials usually rely on reports of dead birds as an early warning sign that West Nile is spreading in their region. Scientists say the computer-model method has to the potential to warn local officials in advance if their counties are at high risk for the virus.

        Last year, New York collaborated with NASA and Oxford University to create climate maps based on satellite data to track the virus. Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, South Carolina and Virginia have since joined. In the $504,000 NASA-funded project, state health departments tally the number of dead birds and mosquitoes that test positive for West Nile while NASA satellites pick up weather information like temperature and humidity.

        The information is sent to Oxford, which uses a computer program to create “risk maps” showing areas infected with the virus, temperature and vegetable distribution and migratory routes of birds.

        Since the disease turned up three years ago, the virus has hit 34 states, including Ohio, and the District of Columbia. The total death toll nationwide is 22, with more than 200 people sickened.

Four men sought in S. Fairmount shooting

               A South Fairmount man shot late Saturday during an attempted robbery was listed in serious condition Sunday at University Hospital.

        Cincinnati police searched Sunday for four men accused of demanding money from Lorenzo Lisandro, 30, in the 1700 block of Queen City Avenue.

        When Mr. Lisandro told the men he didn't have any money, one of the men pulled out a handgun and shot him once in the abdomen at about 10:30 p.m., according to the police report.

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