A 33-year-old San Diegoman who set fire to a Colerain Township apartment complex Jan. 18, causing $500,000 damage, will spend three years in prison.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Ethna Cooper ordered the sentence after Fernando Alarid pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of aggravated arson.

Firefighters rescued two juveniles and one adult from the burning building. It took about an hour to get the three-alarm fire at Ashley Woods under control.

Gunman robs Sharonville bank

SHARONVILLE - A man armed with a handgun robbed the Huntington Bank on Lebanon Road Tuesday afternoon.

The robber entered the bank at 12122 Lebanon Road just before 3 p.m., approached a teller and demanded money, police said. He fled the bank and got into a silver two-door Honda occupied by another man.

No one was injured during the robbery, police said.

Police described the robber as a black male, 35-40 years old with an athletic build and short hair. He was wearing a gray, hooded sweatshirt.

City, fire union battle over staffing

Lawyers for Cincinnati and its fire union will debate this afternoon whether the fire chief's plan to stop the controversial "brownouts" violates the union's contract.

The contract says all fire trucks should be staffed with four firefighters, but the union and city agreed years ago to allow three-person staffing in certain situations for up to six hours.

The union says Chief Robert Wright's effort to save more than $2 million by the end of the year doesn't justify three-person staffing. The city says it is an allowed use of the agreement.

Both sides will argue today before Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Beth Myers. The union has asked for a temporary restraining order.

Union President Joe Diebold said running a fire company with three firefighters endangers their safety.

"We feel like we have exhausted all the other potential alternatives," said Assistant City Manager Rashad Young. "What else do they want us to do?"

The three-person staffing started about two weeks ago to stop the rotating closures of fire companies. The union has vehemently opposed the brownouts.

School warns parents after stranger's inquiry

HAMILTON - Parents whose children walk to Fillmore Elementary School are being asked to make sure their children walk in groups after a stranger incident.

A man approached school employees when classes ended Monday asking if a 6-year-old female first-grader was still at school. When an aide returned with the girl to identify the man, he had left, said John Connell, a school counselor.

Later, a man fitting the description of the school visitor approached the girl's 11-year-old male cousin, who walks home with his cousin and other family members.

Connell said the man never entered the building or saw the girl. Nevertheless, the school sent home a letter to parents Tuesday explaining what happened, reminding them to make sure students walked in groups. Police also patrolled around the school Tuesday.

"It could have been something innocent, we don't know,'' Connell said Tuesday. "We'd rather err on the side of caution, rather than do nothing."

Most of the school's 630 students walk to and from school.