Car-bus collision injures three students

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP - Three Lakota East students suffered minor injuries Wednesday after a car coming from the high school collided with a school bus at Wyandot and Lakota lanes.

Police said the 17-year-old female driver pulled her Honda Civic in front of the bus at about 2:45 p.m. while turning onto Wyandot. The girl, a passenger in her car and a bus passenger were taken to hospitals with minor injuries. The other four bus passengers and the bus driver were not hurt.

Dan Bower, traffic investigator for the Butler County Sheriff's Department, said charges are pending against the teen driver.

Woman changes plea in fatal trailer fire

HAMILTON - A Madison Township woman accused of causing a fire that claimed the life of her 7-month-old son has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to child endangering and involuntary manslaughter charges, both felonies.

Aimee Leonard, 29, entered the plea Friday.

Authorities said they believe Leonard ignited a piece of clothing and threw it onto the kitchen floor of their mobile home in the Catalina Manufactured Home Community. The fire spread quickly from the kitchen as her son, Justin A. Johnson Jr., slept in his crib two rooms away.

New Lockland chief starts in mid-summer

LOCKLAND - D. Michael Murphy, a veteran state criminal investigator, is the village's new police chief.

Murphy, a senior special agent for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, replaces Ken Johnson, who resigned in January.

Mayor Jim Brown hired Murphy on WednesdayHis annual salary will be $50,000.

Murphy will begin the job in mid-summer. He will retire from BCI on May 31, take some time off and then begin directing Lockland's 12-member police force.

Investigation finds report unfounded

HARTWELL - After investigating an attempted child abduction for three days, Cincinnati police said Wednesday that the report was unfounded.

A 7-year-old girl on Sunday afternoon said a man touched the strap of her top and pulled it down before he ran away on Galbraith Road.

An older child said she saw the incident from an upstairs window, and the girl's mother complained that she could no longer let her daughter play outside.

The Cincinnati Police Department's personal crimes unit investigated, but said in a statement Wednesday the incident was unfounded. It did not elaborate.

Meth lab discovered in repeat visit to house

NEW RICHMOND - A meth lab operation was discovered in a wooded area behind a Clermont County residence Tuesday when sheriff's deputies served a search warrant.

The warrant was served in the 2000 block of Bethel-New Richmond Road, just outside New Richmond, about 4:30 p.m., the Clermont County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday. The meth lab was found in the woods behind the residence and about 4 to 5 grams of methamphetamine was found inside the residence.

The lab, which was not running, was dismantled by members of the Clermont County Narcotics Unit.

Two people at the residence were arrested on outstanding warrants unrelated to the meth lab operation, the sheriff's office said.

A search warrant was executed at the same residence on Feb. 18, and a meth lab was located then, the sheriff's office said. Evidence is still being evaluated in that case.