Compiled from staff and wire reports

Contribution ban gets temporarily shutdown

A federal judge has temporarily struck down a provision in Cincinnati's charter that prohibits City Council candidates from contributing to other campaign committees.

Tuesday's ruling, by U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith, was a victory for Republican candidate Pete Witte, who filed suit Monday to block the Cincinnati Elections Commission from enforcing the law. The City Solicitor's Office declined to comment on the temporary restraining order.

Witte's lawyer, Chris Finney, has successfully helped overturn several campaign finance laws since 1995. "The anti-free speech Stalinists have been stopped in their tracks one more time," he said.

Beckwith will decide on whether to issue a permanent injunction after a hearing Oct. 16.

Man who drowned was drunk, police say

WEST CHESTER TWP. - The Mason man who drowned last week after driving his sport utility vehicle off the road and into a retention pond was drunk, authorities said Monday.

Marion Roe, 48, had a blood-alcohol content more than two times the legal limit for DUI when he died Sept. 16, said Andy Willis, an investigator with the Butler County Coroner's Office.

Roe's green Chevy Blazer was found submerged in a pond at The Fairways at Wetherington, a gated condominium complex off Tylers Place Boulevard.

Two plead guilty in robbery of tavern

Two men who tried to rob Junkers Tavern in Northside at gunpoint in May, but were stopped when bar patron Harold McKinney shot and wounded one of them, pleaded guilty Tuesday to five charges of aggravated robbery - one for each person in the bar.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Mark Schweikert convicted Joseph Person and DeMeico Hester, both 18, of Walnut Hills, and scheduled sentencing for Oct. 14.

A grand jury declined to indict McKinney in Person's shooting.

Columbus air control tower to be redesigned

COLUMBUS - The design of the new air traffic control tower at Port Columbus International Airport prevents controllers from seeing all the runways and taxiways from any single spot, the national air controllers' union said.

To compensate, the Federal Aviation Administration has decided to put dual air traffic control positions in the tower.

Infant's death at day care investigated

INDEPENDENCE - State and local officials are investigating the death of an 8-month-old girl at a state-licensed daycare center.

The Kenton County Coroner on Tuesday said autopsy results confirmed that Leah Gabrielle Roark suffocated last week when her head became trapped between the slats of a crib.

Leah was the youngest of four children of Anthony Allen and Mary Ann Funke Roark.

Women indicted in roommate's death

A 30-year-old College Hill woman is accused of killing her roommate, Ann Thornton earlier this month, according to an indictment Tuesday filed in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

Zabrina Hall was indicted on a charge of murder for the Sept. 12 stabbing death of Thornton, 39, during an argument.

Jury declines action in alleged perjuries

HAMILTON - A Butler County grand jury has declined to indict anyone in a pair of alleged perjury cases.

The grand jury's action, which was made public Tuesday, involved allegations that arose from County Commissioner Michael A. Fox's controversial report outlining concerns about justice in some of the county's courts, particularly Domestic Relations Court.

Two librarians bitten by woman during theft

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. - A woman bit two librarians after they tried to stop her from stealing about $70 from the public library's cash drawer.

One of the librarians, Debbie Barry, said that a man tried to distract her while a woman grabbed the money and fled.

Barry and fellow librarian Christina Crouch chased the woman outside.

The woman bit Crouch on the chest and Barry on a thumb before the man pulled her free and they ran off.

Anna M. Davis, 24, and her live-in boyfriend, Kevin T. Kamradt, 25, were arrested a few minutes later, Police Officer Bob Rivers said. An officer at the Montgomery County Jail reported finding $71 in Davis' underwear.

Davis and Kamradt were both jailed Monday on robbery and battery charges, a jail officer said.

Crouch and Barry were treated for their injuries and returned to work Monday.