Police dog finds hotel robbery suspect

FORT MITCHELL - A suspect in the early Tuesday morning robbery of the Holiday Inn was located by a police dog on a nearby residential street.

A man entered the hotel at 2100 Dixie Highway just after midnight and robbed the clerk at gunpoint, then fled with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said. Officers from several area police departments responded to search for the suspect.

A police dog from the Kenton County Police Department and the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office helicopter also joined the 80-minute search. The dog, Tommy, spotted the suspect hiding beneath a car on Maple Avenue, a residential street just north of the hotel.

The suspect, identified as Donnie Johnson, 29, told police he was homeless since being released from a Columbus jail two weeks ago. He was charged with first-degree armed robbery.

The suspect was transported to St. Elizabeth South Hospital, where he was treated for injuries he sustained while struggling with the police dog, before being taken to the Kenton County Detention Center.

Police are investigating the suspect's possible connection to other recent area hotel robberies.

Crash at highway exit injures two drivers

FLORENCE - Two people were injured Tuesday morning in a two-vehicle crash on U.S. 42 at the Interstate 75 northbound exit ramp.

A 1989 Chevrolet Cavalier made a left turn from the northbound exit ramp to go west on U.S. 42 and was struck on the driver's side by a Chevrolet pickup truck traveling east, police said.

The Cavalier's driver, Paula Moran, 21, of Florence, was transported by Air Care helicopter to University Hospital in Cincinnati. Her condition was not available.

The driver of the pickup truck, a 76-year-old Union man, was taken to St. Luke West Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

Running mate backs out on Landham

FRANKFORT - Independent Sonny Landham is looking for a new running mate, even though he's not yet an official candidate in Kentucky's race for governor.

Landham's announced slate mate, Roger Thoney, has told the former actor he wanted out of the race for "personal reasons."

As an independent candidate, Landham has until mid-August to formally file his candidacy with the state Board of Elections.

"I want to become neutral in this election to be positioned to work in the next administration as an economic troubleshooter," Thoney told Landham in a letter dated May 22.

Landham was an actor in action and adult movies. He served nearly three years in federal prison on a spousal abuse charge before an appeals court overturned his conviction and ordered his release in 2001. Landham left the Republican Party in January to run for governor as an independent. He said he is interviewing Thoney's possible substitutes.

"It was (Thoney's) decision," Landham said. "There's no acrimony there. I love him."

Thoney, of Highland Heights, won 22 percent in the GOP primary for the 4th Congressional District seat in the May 2002 primary against Geoff Davis.

Feds add 7 counties to metro Louisville

LOUISVILLE - Federal officials have added seven counties to the Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area, raising its population 15 percent to 1.2 million people.

Henry, Meade, Nelson, Shelby, Spencer and Trimble counties will join the MSA under a realignment by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. Washington County, Ind., will also be included.

Also, the Bowling Green and Elizabethtown regions have been designated as metro areas, giving Kentucky nine overall. The federal government redefines and realigns its metropolitan areas every decade. There are more than 360 nationwide.

The realignment is important for Louisville because the federal government hands out grants, in part, based on metropolitan populations, said Ron Crouch of the Kentucky State Data Center.

Businesses also use the population figures to help decide where to build stores or locate companies.