Compiled from staff and wire reports

Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken announced committee chairmen for the new City Council on Monday.

They are:

Committee on Committees, Alicia Reece; Finance, John Cranley; Health, Tourism, Small Business, Employment and Training, Reece; Law and Public Safety, David Pepper; Neighborhoods and Public Works, Laketa Cole; Community Development and Intergovernmental Affairs, David Crowley; Arts and Culture, James Tarbell; and Rules½ Pepper.

The mayor also announced that Christopher Smitherman will be the appointee to the Hamilton County Transportation Improvement District.

Officer, accused of ignoring victim, quits

The Cincinnati police officer accused of failing to respond to a shooting outside a Corryville restaurant has resigned.

Michael Baxter, a five-year veteran, had been on leave for several months at his request. Before that, he had been taken off patrol and assigned to desk duty in the Telephone Crime Reporting Unit after the fatal shooting April 15 on Short Vine Street.

Baxter was working an off-duty detail for the restaurant that night when a patron, University of Cincinnati student Andrew November of Cleveland, repeatedly approached him, telling the officer he should be doing something about the victim lying in the street outside. The victim, Varion Mines, later died.

Baxter responded by charging November with disorderly conduct, a charge that was later dropped.

Man linked to theft ring gets probation

A man who played a minor role in what police called a multimillion-dollar theft ring operating out of corner markets throughout Cincinnati was sentenced to probation Monday.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Crush sentenced Bruno Okuja, 41, of Norwood for receiving stolen property. Okuja, who pleaded guilty to the charge Oct. 29, had faced up to a year in prison.

Eighteen others were indicted Sept. 30 in a 105-count indictment that included charges of conspiracy, money laundering, receiving stolen property and tampering with records.

Authorities said the men reaped at least $37 million by reselling stolen goods at inflated prices.

Man pleads guilty to child porn charges

A former part-time professor at University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music admitted Monday that he downloaded child pornography.

Michael Luebbe, 50, pleaded guilty and was convicted on 28 charges of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a juvenile. Luebbe, who taught music history, will be sentenced next month.

He faces a sentence of between two to eight years in prison on each charge. He is being held in the Hamilton County Jail without bond.

Luebbe was indicted Sept. 9.

Information sought in hit-and-run

ANDERSON TWP. - Investigators are looking for help finding the vehicle that hit a man near his house Friday night.

The vehicle hit Doug Caudill, 38, of Salem Road about 9:15 p.m., and fled the scene.

Investigators want anyone with information about the vehicle to call them at 825-1500 or Crime Stoppers at 352-3040.

Ohio court stays death sentence

The Ohio Supreme Court on Monday stayed the death sentence during appeals for a man convicted of stabbing a Springfield Township couple to death during a 1987 burglary.

Gary Hughbanks Jr., 37, was scheduled to be executed next week. He was convicted in 1998 of killing William and Juanita Leeman, a conviction the Ohio Supreme Court upheld in August. Hughbanks is appealing the decision.