Compiled from staff and wire reports

CAR FIRE ERUPTS ON I-71: The owner watches as Cincinnati firefighters prepare to put out a fire under the hood of her car on northbound Interstate 71 Tuesday just south of the Dana Avenue exit. No one was injured. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

Marine Reserves activated for duty

About 170 members of a Cincinnati-based Marine Reserve unit will report for active duty this morning at their East Walnut Hills headquarters and are expected to be deployed overseas within days.

Communications Company, Headquarters Battalion, 4th Marine Division was given its mobilization orders Saturday and will be activated today, according to Maj. G.J. Miller, the unit's inspector-instructor.

The company specializes in combat communications - setting up telephone, radio and data transmission services under combat conditions so no unit on a battlefield is ever out of touch with its command center and other units.

The Communications Company is based at the Naval Reserve Center on Gilbert Avenue.

Mason court adds X-ray machine

MASON - Municipal Court is beefing up security with the purchase of an X-ray machine.

The $40,000 machine will screen people entering the court, located at the city municipal center on Mason-Montgomery Road. The purchase was approved Monday night by City Council after members discussed the issue in an executive session.

The purchase follows recommendations from the Ohio Supreme Court.

Mason buys land to improve road

MASON - The city has purchased property along Mason-Montgomery Road as part of its continuing road-improvement project.

City Council approved the $125,000 deal to acquire land at 136 S. Mason-Montgomery Road during a meeting Monday night.

The action is part of the city's widening and improvement project for the road, where many Mason City School buildings, the municipal center and community center are located. The purchased strip of land includes part of the bike path that extends along the road.

FOUR INJURED IN RONALD REAGAN HIGHWAY CRASH: Springfield Township Fire Captain Mark Thurman (left) and Lieutenant Dan Vanderman stabilize James Williams' head and neck Tuesday afternoon as they move him onto a backboard at the scene of a head-on collision on Ronald Reagan Highway. The accident sent four people - including a 2-year-old boy - to hospitals. Williams, 79, of Lynnebrook Drive in College Hill, is in serious condition at University Hospital, as was his wife, Pearl Williams, 88. The other driver, Rhonda Omlor of Springfield Township, and her toddler son, Cameron, were treated at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and released. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

Norwood official to fill in as mayor

NORWOOD - Republican Vic Schneider, Norwood's public works superintendent, will serve as mayor when Republican Mayor Joe Hochbein officially steps down.

Hochbein has said he will resign by mid-March. He promised to give a final resignation date this month but no announcements have been made. He could not be reached Tuesday.

On Monday, at the Norwood Community Center, members of Norwood's Republican Party agreed they wanted Schneider to take over for Hochbein. They also picked Schneider to run in the fall.

Schneider, 37, has lived in Norwood for 30 years. He was hired as the public service director in August 2001. Five months later, the City Council combined the position with the safety director's job. Schneider was reappointed as the city's public works superintendent.

Mugger sought in Bond Hill incident

Cincinnati police need help finding a man accused of attacking a Bond Hill woman Sunday as she returned home from a quick grocery trip during halftime of the Super Bowl.

The 34-year-old victim was coming home to her house on Joseph Street about 8:30 p.m. She parked her car in a lot behind the house and got out. Police say a man grabbed her by the throat and told her to give him her purse. He took it and ran.

She described the man as African-American, 38 to 40 years old, about 5 feet 9. He was wearing a black hat, black jacket and blue jeans.

Police ask anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 352-3040.

Newport man named as sexual predator

A 41-year-old Newport man was sentenced to eight years in prison Tuesday and deemed a sexual predator in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court after Judge David P. Davis found him guilty of nine counts of rape - one for each victim.

This is not Paul Hearald's first prison sentence. In 1980, he was sentenced to 16 years on charges of rape and sodomy in Campbell County. He threatened the president while in prison and, in 1990, served another two years for promoting contraband material, according to the Kentucky Department of Corrections.

Officials said Hearald took his victims from Over-the-Rhine to spots such as the East End or off Spring Grove Avenue in Winton Place.

Prosecutor Mike Allen said the rapist used handcuffs and a box-cutter type blade, and sometimes indicated he was a police officer or informant.