Compiled from staff and wire reports

Green uses grant to update senior center

GREEN TWP. - The Green Township Senior Center, built in the early 1980s, is getting a facelift.

A $125,000 federal grant has enabled the township to begin renovations on the entire senior center at 3620 Epley Road. Improvements include new lighting, ceiling, paint, handicap-accessible front doors and a backup generator.

Green Township officials were awarded the Community Development Block Grant earlier this year, but had to wait until Congress passed the federal budget to begin renovating, said Fred Schlimm, director of public services.

Council to vote on deal for law firm

OAKLEY - Cincinnati City Council will vote today on a $293,500 tax break to allow a downtown law firm to move to Oakley Square.

Barron, Peck, Bennie & Schlemmer, a 22-member firm specializing in insurance and real estate law, would move from the Provident Bank Building downtown to a new building at 3074 Madison Road. The company says it will invest $2.4 million at the new location.

The 10-year, 75 percent tax abatement deal - which gives the firm a break on the increased value of the Madison Road property - would cost the Cincinnati Public Schools $13,570 a year, and city and county governments $15,782 a year, according to a city report.

City staffers to vote on joining union

The State Employee Relations Board has set an Oct. 21 election date for mid-level city of Cincinnati managers seeking to form a union.

City officials and representatives of a group calling itself the Cincinnati Organized and Dedicated Employees have agreed on 817 positions that could be eligible for union membership.

Another 524 workers - senior managers, top development officials and all employees in the city manager's office, the solicitor's office and the Human Resources Department - are not eligible for membership.

Eligible city workers will vote on two issues: whether they should be represented by a union, and whether professional employees - such as architects, engineers and nurses - should be included in the same unit or have a separate union.

Fatal car accident likely was Saturday

WILMINGTON - A Sharonville couple whose bodies were discovered Tuesday likely died on Saturday, when their vehicle apparently skidded off Interstate 71 north of Wilmington and overturned in a rain-swollen ditch, an Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper said.

Feng Wei, 52, and Dai De Wei, 56, were found in the car in about five feet of water. The car was spotted by an Ohio Department of Transportation worker, State Patrol Sgt. Matt Crow said Wednesday.

The couple had left for Pittsburgh Saturday, and were reported missing by family members on Sunday. Their son declined comment.

There is nothing to indicate that flash flooding played a role in the crash, Crow said.

"We have nothing to make us think it was suspicious at all," Crow said. "Right now it's being treated as an auto accident."

Loans available for farm losses

Farmers who lost crops this season to floods and severe weather across much of Ohio will be eligible for emergency loans, state officials said Wednesday.

Disaster declarations were approved by the U.S. Agriculture Department for 70 of the state's 88 counties. Farmers in 14 adjacent counties also will be eligible for loans.

The only four counties not included are Belmont, Fulton, Lucas and Williams. in northwest Ohio.

Gov. Bob Taft a month ago asked for federal help for farmers.

Farmers will be able to apply for low-interest loans from the Farm Service Agency.

Lynch challenge still not resolved

Both sides in the fight over Damon Lynch III's candidacy for Cincinnati City Council won a round at the Hamilton County Board of Elections Wednesday.

The board, by a 4-0 vote, refused to dismiss Republican candidate Pete Witte's protest that Lynch is not eligible to run for office from his East Price Hill condo. Lynch, an independent who's one of 26 candidates for nine at-large seats in the Nov. 4 election, also owns a house in Woodlawn.

But the board also quashed, for now, 16 subpoenas Witte's lawyer had requested.

Lynch did live at the Warsaw Avenue condo on Aug. 18, when he changed his voter registration to that address, both sides agreed at a hearing Wednesday. They also agreed that his wife continues to live in Woodlawn.

The issue is whether a husband and wife may live "separate and apart" for purposes of voting residency.

Witte has until Friday to make a legal argument that the circumstances of Lynch's separation are relevant.