From staff and wire reports

Senior curator leaving new arts center

DOWNTOWN - Thom Collins, senior curator for the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art for the past three years, resigned Tuesday to become the executive director for the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore. His last day is Dec. 12.

His inaugural show, Somewhere Better Than This Place: Alternative Social Experience in the Spaces of Contemporary Art received international recognition.

Collins says that he has set the center's exhibitions for the next two years and feels "there's a stability in our programs that wasn't there in the past."

He also was contemporary curator for the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Applause! to honor young black leaders

Applause! magazine is seeking nominations for young emerging African-American leaders in Greater Cincinnati.

Ten individuals 30 years old and younger will be selected based on their professional achievements, community service, and leadership abilities.

Nomination forms are available at any public library, or can be obtained by calling the Applause! office at 761-6900. Nominations are due by 5 p.m. Dec. 8.

Recipients will be honored at a reception and luncheon on Feb. 5 at the Cintas Banquet Center during Black History Month.

$3 million donation to expand hospital

HAMILTON - The Fort Hamilton Hospital has received a $3 million gift from Donna and Ralph "Pat" Carruthers to help pay for a planned hospital expansion.

The $18 million expansion will include a 16-bed intensive care unit and bigger areas for outpatient and diagnostic services.

The Carruthers donation kicks off a Fort Hamilton Healthcare Foundation capital campaign to pay for construction, the first such campaign since 1980.

Talawanda issue passing, unofficially

HAMILTON - Residents of Talawanda Schools will learn next Wednesdaywhether their taxes will increase in January to pay for construction of an elementary school to replace Stewart Elementary, which closed in June.

That's when an automatic recount of the Nov. 4 ballot will be done. Both Butler and Preble counties' boards of elections this week counted and certified walk-in and absentee votes.

The final tally shows the 1.19-mill bond issue passed, 3,810 to 3,794. That reverses election night totals, which showed that the $9.2 million issue failed. Because the issue is so close, a recount is automatic.

If the numbers hold, taxes will increase about $36 annually on a $100,000 house with collections beginning in January.

Teens suspected in multistate crime spree

MONROE - Police here and in several other states are investigating a pair of West Chester Township teens for an alleged crime spree.

Sgt. Brian Curlis on Wednesday said authorities had not yet decided which state will prosecute the teens first.

Paul Horton, 18, and a 16-year-old are suspected in series of crimes that began here Nov. 8, when nearly a dozen guns were stolen from a firearms dealer at the Turtle Creek Flea Market, Curlis said.

Police allege the teens then stole a car in Louisville, drove to London, Ky., where they robbed a shoe store and mugged a woman. The teens were arrested last week in the Myrtle Beach, S.C., area, Curlis said.

University Hospital uses robot in bypasses

University Hospital has become the second hospital in Greater Cincinnati to begin using a robot to assist with coronary bypass operations.

Two patients have had successful surgeries, one performed Monday, the other Tuesday. The hospital acquired two surgical robots in August with the help of Cincinnati financier Carl Lindner.

Doctors use the four-armed robot to work through holes poked between the ribs while watching their efforts on a video screen.

Similar procedures using a similar robot began in March at Good Samaritan Hospital.

Traffic watch

For 24-hour traffic information call ARTIMIS at 333-3333 or 511 from Cincinnati or Northern Kentucky.

Interstate 275

Westbound traffic will be reduced to one lane near the I-75/71 interchange from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m.

Deerfield Township

Irwin-Simpson Road is closed between Snider Road and Wilkens Boulevard and Wilkens Boulevard is closed between Natorp Boulevard and Irwin-Simpson Road until Tuesday. Follow posted detours.

Green Township

Rybolt Road is closed between the Interstate 74 west exit ramp and Wesselman Road.