Compiled from staff and wire reports

African-Americans needed for bone study

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is seeking African-American children ages 6-16 to participate in a national study of bone health.

Cincinnati is one of five locations for the Healthy Bones Study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, which seeks to build a database related to bone mineral density. The information will be used to identify, prevent, and treat bone disease in children and adults.

The study involves one visit per year to Cincinnati Children's for four years. Children will get a physical exam, several bone scans and a hand-wrist X-ray. There also will be questionnaires for the parent and child.

Each child who participates will receive $50 in gift certificates for each visit.

For information, call Marla Hurston Fuller at 636-9705 or e-mail marla.fuller@cchmc.org

IRS auditing bonds used for apartments

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is auditing $17.5 million in multifamily housing bonds issued by Hamilton County to rehab the failed Huntington Meadows apartment complex in Bond Hill.

The audit, by the IRS's Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division, will determine whether all the proceeds from the 1997 bond issue were used for tax-exempt purposes. If not, the holders of the bonds may be required to pay back taxes.

Karen Skinder, field manager of the division's Cleveland office, confirmed the agency was examining multifamily housing bonds nationwide, but declined to discuss how Huntington Meadows was selected for special attention.

The 1,169-unit complex, owned by the Michigan-based P.M. Group, went into bankruptcy and evicted its remaining tenants a year ago. MCR Property Management Inc., a Connecticut developer, bought the property at a sheriff's sale in April for $2.6 million.

Victim killed at site of his drug arrest

Cincinnati's latest homicide victim was shot to death in the West End on Wednesday night at the same intersection where he was arrested two weeks ago for selling crack and having a loaded semiautomatic pistol.

Raymone Lyons, 20, was shot and killed just before 11:30 p.m. at York and Linn streets.

Lyons was arrested July 22 at the same intersection. He was charged with drug trafficking, carrying a concealed weapon and illegally having a weapon - illegal, court records said, because he was convicted in 1999 of using a gun during a robbery.

A grand jury chose not to indict him on the charges last week. Lyons was the 40th homicide victim in the city this year. That's two fewer than at this time last year.

Children's Hospital gets powerful MRI

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has installed a new, powerful MRI scanner for use in research and patient care.

The higher resolution images allow more detailed study of bodily functions, including the brain and other organs. It also allows doctors to spot smaller signs of disease.

The device will be the second-most-powerful MRI in town. In October, crews at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center took delivery of an MRI intended primarily for research.

Coal-processing plant not being cleaned up

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio - State regulators are trying to decide how to go about cleaning up wastes at the site of a closed coal-processing plant whose operator has failed to comply with a cleanup order.

The state has ordered New Boston Coke Corp. to remove contaminated wastewater and drums of chemicals from the site along the Ohio River. But the company has failed to comply for months and now says its officers have resigned. The company also says it lacks the money to do the cleanup.

The state's lawyers were consulting Thursday with Judge Howard Harcha III of Scioto County Common Pleas Court, who has been presiding over the case.

In documents filed with the court, New Boston Coke listed its money on hand in May as $368.95 and its liabilities as more than $12.7 million.

Akron man dies after 80-foot fall from cliff

NEWBURY, Ohio - A man died after falling about 80 feet from a cliff in Nelson-Kennedy Ledges State Park in Portage County.

Joseph E. Lewno, 22, of Akron, was pronounced dead at the scene Wednesday night, said Ohio Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Jane Beathard.

Ryan Luban, 17, of Champion, fell while trying to help Lewno, Beathard said. Luban was taken by helicopter to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Youngstown, where he was in stable condition Thursday.