Compiled from staff and wire reports

Former officer Jorg loses appeal of suit

The Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear former Cincinnati Police Officer Robert "Blaine" Jorg's $10 million defamation lawsuit against the Cincinnati Black United Front activist group and its president, Rev. Damon Lynch III.

In July, a Hamilton County appeals court upheld a lower court decision dismissing the lawsuit, which claimed Lynch and the group harmed his reputation by writing and publishing a letter that fueled the economic boycott of Cincinnati.

The letter accused Jorg of using a "Marine-style chokehold to kill unarmed Roger Owensby, Jr.," a 29-year-old College Hill man, during a Nov. 7, 2000, arrest at a Roselawn gas station.

In the ruling, the three-judge panel said the statements in the Black United Front's letter were opinions and protected free speech.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman dismissed the lawsuit last December.

Anthem plan praised for prevention tactics

Seniors with heart disease, asthma and diabetes were less likely to need hospital care after participating in health promotion programs through Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, according to a national trade group.

Anthem has received an award from the Disease Management Association of America for programs offered in its Anthem Senior Advantage health plan. Among the results:

• 23 percent fewer hospital admissions over two years for coronary artery disease.

• 16 percent fewer admissions over two years among heart failure patients.

• 12 percent fewer admissions over one year for asthma complications.

• 11 percent more seniors getting their flu shots.

Madisonville man charged in pizza case

MADISONVILLE - A 28-year-old Madisonville man has been arrested and charged with two recent pizza delivery robberies in Hamilton County.

Stanley Jackson has been charged with two counts of aggravated robbery for robberies in Sycamore and Anderson townships, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday.

Jackson is charged with the Oct. 17 robbery in which an employee of Domino's Pizza was robbed at knifepoint on Tudor Avenue in Sycamore Township, and an Oct. 20 robbery of a Pizza Hut employee who was robbed at knifepoint on Ridgepoint Drive in Anderson Township.

Fire starter sentenced to repay $500,000

LEBANON - A 21-year-old Kings Mills man convicted of lighting several fires, one of which burned down a Deerfield Township building that housed several businesses, avoided prison. But he must serve time in a local lockup - and must pay a half-million dollars in restitution.

Common Pleas Judge James Flannery Tuesday sentenced Deric Urton to six months in the Community Correctional Center, followed by five years' probation. He also was ordered to pay $529,325 to the arson victims.

The judge warned Urton that if he broke any rules of his five-year probation, he likely would go to prison.

A Warren County grand jury had indicted Urton on seven counts of arson stemming from a June 25 fire-setting spree after he and a friend were ordered to leave a barOn Sept. 30, Urton pled no contest to the arson charges.

Veterans Memorial fixed after vandalism

HAMILTON - Less than a week before Veterans Day, vandals damaged the Veterans' Memorial, police said Wednesday, but much of the damage was quickly repaired.

The memorial, at 20 New London Pike, was damaged sometime between 5 p.m. Monday and 4:30 p.m.Tuesday, a police report says. Vandals tore out bricks, removed concrete forms and wrote on bricks, the report says. The vandalism caused an estimated $5,000 damage.

Study funded for maternal diet issues

An anonymous donor has given $1.8 million to the University of Cincinnati College of Allied Health Sciences to fund studies of whether changes in maternal and child nutrition can reduce birth defects.

The gift will allow UC to hire Dr. Anna Maria Siega-Ritz, an expert on maternal dietary issues previously with the University of North Carolina. It also will help pay for several research projects.

Man indicted in fire that killed two

Anthony Gilliam was charged Wednesday with setting the fire that killed two of five homeless people who sued the city and Hamilton County after work crews cleaned up their camps in 2001 and threw away their belongings.

A Hamilton County grand jury indicted Gilliam, 41, on charges of murder and aggravated arson in the Oct. 25 blaze at the vacant West McMillan Street home where Clara Young and Gerald Cash, were staying.