Staff/Wire reports

HYDE PARK - Cincinnati fire investigators are seeking the cause of a fire Monday that caused $400,000 damage to a house under renovation.

Firefighters responded to 2552 Perkins Ave. a little after 3:30 a.m. after someone reported smoke in the area of Perkins and Stettinius avenues. They found heavy fire coming through the roof of the vacant, two-story brick-and-frame house, said District Chief Dave Collini.

It took 34 firefighters about three hours to put out the flames. They also had to put out brush fires caused by flying debris.

Records show the eight-bedroom house, built in 1957, as owned by John and Jennifer Ragland and with a total market value of $649,000.

Police seek Newport shooter; victim OK

NEWPORT - Officers responding to a call on the 600 block of Monmouth Street early Monday found a man with a gunshot wound.

Police say Donal A. Blair, 22, of Cincinnati was shot in his right side during an altercation with the shooter.

Newport paramedics took Blair to University Hospital, where he was treated and released.

The shooter, described by police as a white male, fled before officers arrived at 2:25 a.m.

It was Newport's second non-fatal shooting in 24 hours.

Man charged with importuning teen

MOUNT HEALTHY - A 24-year-old Foster, Ky., man was arrested Monday when he attempted to meet a 15-year-old-girl he met on the Internet for a sexual rendezvous, police said.

Police charged Peter Henry Fossett with importuning.

Fossett was arrested 1:10 p.m. near Hamilton and Stevens avenues, about two blocks from the public library branch where he planned to meet the 15-year-old, police said.

While talking to the teen in a chat room, Foster solicited her to meet him for a sexual encounter, police said.

Officials at the teen's school caught her in the Internet chat room and alerted the police department, police said.