Compiled from staff and wire reports

WILMINGTON - A teen driver died Sunday morning after she lost control of her car and crashed in Highland County, police said.

Amber D. Smith, 16, of Leesburg, was driving east shortly before 1 a.m. on New Vienna Road when the 2000 Chevrolet Impala slid off the left side of the road. The car became airborne before rolling into a tree and landing on the passenger side.

She died at the scene. This is Highland County's fourth fatal crash this year. Three of the four people who died were teenagers.

Smith's passenger, Brittany Lowman, 16, of Leesburg, was taken to Miami Valley Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Both teens were wearing seat belts. Police say speed was a factor in the crash.

Adamowski seeks Seattle school job

Former Cincinnati Public Schools superintendent Steven Adamowski is a finalist for the superintendent's job in the Seattle public schools.

Adamowski, who led CPS from 1998 to 2002, is one of four finalists, the Seattle school board announced Sunday, the Seattle Post Intelligencer reported.

Adamowski is an assistant professor in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Missouri.The board is expected to make a decision Oct. 7.

Police charge mother with punching baby

LOCKLAND - A 9-month-old boy was hospitalized Sunday after police say his mother punched him in his mouth and shook him by his head for 30 seconds.

Mary Bradford, 29, of Reading, was charged with felonious assault. Witnesses who saw the incident on Shepherd Lane shortly after 1 p.m. called authorities.

Lockland police say the child had serious injuries and was being treated at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

The child's father, James R. McKinney, 34, of Lockland, was charged with child endangerment. Police say he was drunk and unable to care for the infant.

Surgical center to open in Evendale

EVENDALE - Evendale Surgical Properties LLC will break ground Wednesday on a $7 million surgery center that will eventually include a surgical hospital with 10 overnight beds and physical therapy.

The first phase on about 20,000 square feet of the center, on six acres behind the Village Crossings Shopping Center, should be done next year. The rest of the project, which doubles the facility's size, will start in 2005 and should be done in late 2006.

Hamilton man charged in credit theft

SPRINGDALE - A Hamilton man has been charged with making fake returns to his credit cards.

Police say 36-year-old Randall C. Leichman made nearly $18,300 worth of fraudulent returns during the last three weeks at The Great Indoors, 11925 Kemper Commons Circle.

Leichman was arrested last week. He faces a felony charge of aggravated theft.

Most Columbus police learn basic Spanish

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Nearly all the city's police officers have been taught some basic Spanish so they can better serve a rapidly growing Hispanic population and better communicate in potentially dangerous situations.

"We realize a two-hour course will in no way make an officer fluent, but it can teach commands that can save the life of an officer or a citizen," said Officer Kelly Weiner, one of those teaching the course.

Census figures show the Hispanic population in Franklin County more than doubled to 24,279 in 2000 from 9,235 a decade earlier.

But just seven of the city's 1,787 police officers are of Hispanic heritage. Only five officers can serve as translators.

The shortage of Spanish-speaking officers in Columbus is "a big problem," said Anna Quevero, editor of a bilingual newspaper in suburban Gahanna.

"Encountering the police for anybody is a scary situation," she said. "To not understand what they are asking is even worse."

Otterbein College growth concerns some

WESTERVILLE, Ohio - Otterbein College has more than twice as many students as it did 20 years ago, and some of its neighbors are concerned that it's getting too big.

Tensions have surfaced with the college's recent plans for an $8 million, 174-bed dormitory it hopes to open in September 2005.

The college's 80-acre main campus is next to neighborhoods of houses built in the early 1900s.

Otterbein's enrollment has gone from 1,400 students in 1984 to 3,100 students this year.

To relieve pressure on crowded dormitories, the college has been buying neighboring property.

Calloway Robertson, who has lived near the college for more than 19 years, said he's upset about what he considers to be a lack of attention to landscaping and maintenance at university-owned houses.

C. Brent DeVore, the college's president, said Otterbein complies with city building codes and performs nine inspections a year at its properties.