Compiled from staff and wire reports

Boy, 7, calls 911 after sister is fatally shot

WEST PRICE HILL - A 7-year-old boy called 911 Thursday morning after a shooting in his townhouse left his older sister dead.

Investigators think Olivia Washington, 23, was shot by her boyfriend, Lejon Crawford, 25, who then killed himself. Police did not say what they think led to the shootings.

Police responded to the townhouse on Guerley Road a little before 6 a.m. after Washington's brother, for whom she was caring, called for help. Her 5-year-old daughter also was home at the time of the shooting, police said.

Avondale Council VP faces cable charges

AVONDALE - The vice president of the Avondale Community Council faces felony charges that he rigged a cable television at his house and a bar without paying for it.

Fulton Jefferson, 46, was charged with two counts of unauthorized use of property after officers on Wednesday searched his home and the Spot Bar in Over-the-Rhine. Jefferson said Thursday that police are "just looking for anything, they're grasping at straws" to try to get at Deanna Morgan, owner of the Spot and another bar, Uncle Milt's in Avondale.

Jefferson said he's trying to reopen Uncle Milt's, which closed this summer after police found that cocaine was being sold in the bar. The state yanked the bar's liquor license earlier this year.

Man who fled gets 10 years in manslaughter

A 26-year-old Lincoln Heights man who fled to Atlanta after killing James Clark Jr. will spend the next 10 years in prison - the maximum amount of time allowed by law.

Thomas Nurre, a retired Hamilton County Common Pleas Court judge who served as a visiting judge on the case, ordered the sentence for Jamie Toran Jr. Thursday on a charge of voluntary manslaughter. Toran pleaded guilty to the charge last month.

Toran shot Clark Sept. 25, 2002 in the 1000 block of Van Buren Street in Lincoln Heights. Clark later died.

Union hoists rat balloons in Fairfield

Drivers on Dixie Highway through Fairfield Thursday saw two giant rats - rat balloons that is.

A federal judge this week allowed a labor union to use the balloons at protest rallies, overruling city officials' objections that the balloons block the right of way.

The 12-foot-high rat balloon has been the centerpiece of labor protests this year outside the Fairfield Ford auto dealership on Ohio 4.

City officials said the inflatable rodent had to go because it violated zoning rules.

The union sued the city in U.S. District Court in July.

U.S. District Court Judge Sandra Beckwith said the balloon can stay, but union members must remove it after protests. .

The city's attorney, John Clemmons, said the city plans to appeal the ruling.

Drive-through clinic in Norwood draws crowd

NORWOOD- A steady stream of cars rolled up Thursday to a former bank, where 252 people got flu shots as part of the region's first drive-through flu clinic.

The idea was the brainchild of the Greater Cincinnati Flu Collaborative, which has been working on ways to make getting those winter flu shots as easy as possible.

"We had people lined up before we even opened the clinic," said Mary Sacco, director of nursing for the Hamilton County General Health District.

For information about other places to get a flu shot, call the collaborative's information line at 931-SHOT or check its Web site at www.931shot.org.

Oil from truck wreck closes part of U.S. 50

STONELICK TWP. - A jackknifed tanker truck hauling motor oil forced the closure of U.S. 50 in this central Clermont County township for much of Thursday.

The accident occurred just after 11 a.m. and that stretch of road - just east of Ohio 222 - will likely remain closed until this morning, officials said.

The truck driver suffered minor injuries and was taken to an area hospital, police said. No other injuries were reported.

Officials with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency were inspecting the scene, while the Ohio Department of Transportation was working on repairing a stretch of damaged guardrail, officials said.

The cause of crash remains under investigation.

Blacks solicited to donate bone marrow

Wanted: African-Americans willing to donate bone marrow.

The Sigma Gamma Rho sorority and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity are co-sponsoring a minority bone marrow donor registration drive Saturday at the University of Cincinnati.

The National Bone Marrow Donor Program has about 3.5 million people signed up to give bone marrow to people who need transplants to treat leukemia and other diseases. However, African-Americans comprise about 7.8 percent of the donor pool.

The registration drive will be held from noon to 3 p.m. at the African-American Cultural and Research Center, first floor of the Sander Complex, on UC's campus. For information, call 661-2591.