Virginia disasters

The latest outbreak of tornadoes in the United States came Monday in Virginia, where three reported twisters injured more than 200 people, cut powerto more than 1300 homes and damaged many homes, according to the Washington Post. The tornadoes reportedly touched down repeatedly, damaging land and homes in swaths that were many miles long.
According to the Associated Press, at least one of the tornadoes was estimated to have winds between 86 mph to 110 mph, making it an F1 or F2 tornado on the Fujita scale. The Suffolk Red Cross Chapter Disaster Relief Fund is accepting contributions (money, not clothes or other items).

Man Goes through a lot to get where he's at

Levell Ricks beat a lot of problems to make it to age 20. He beat lymphoma with chemotherapy to become cancer-free. He overcame his mother's death and other problems as a teen. But he couldn't beat a murder charge. Ricks was sentenced last week to 23 years to life in prison. The Mount Auburn man was convicted in February of murder, felonious assault and being a felon with a weapon. He shot Richard Oldham fives times on Mother's Day. Oldham, 30, of Evanston, was the father of three. Police found his body on the sidewalk. "Without my daddy, I feel lost," Oldham's son, Ricardo Dixon, 10, told Ricks on Thursday. "I want to know why you would take my daddy from us." "I didn't do it," Ricks said. A jury - and Oldham's family - said he did."When he reached for that gun, he knew what he was doing. He wasn't going hunting for no animals," Demetrius Stanton, Oldham's uncle, said Thursday. Ricks' attorney, John Issenmann, asked Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge John "Skip" West for leniency. "His behavior is the result of the way he's been raised," Issenmann said. When he killed Oldham, Ricks was on probation for robbery and aggravated robbery. Ricks' sister asked for mercy because their mother is dead and she only has her two brothers. Her other brother, Levar Ricks, 18, is in the Hamilton County Justice Center awaiting trial on a separate murder charge. Levar Ricks is accused of the March 7 fatal shooting of Israel Barton during a robbery. His case is next in court May 8.

Witnesses still missing

The search will continue today for two children reported missing over the weekend after they witnessed the fatal shooting of a 25 year-old woman, Cincinnati police said. A critical missing report was issued for Armisha Williams, 4, and Damerco Jones, 9, after Jackie Denise Evans was shot in the chest late Friday while walking home with her four children outside the Fay Apartments complex, police said. Evans' children - believed to be 6, 4, 3 and 8 months - are staying with their maternal grandmother, but two other children who witnessed the attack are missing. Witnesses told police those children were taken by a woman who is not their mother or guardian. Their apartment was empty, and police have not been able to contact their parents. No arrests have been made in Evans' slaying, police said this morning.

pizza theft

They came up with the idea to rob the Colerain Township pizza shop where she worked two weeks ago, Bessie Hawkins told police. She was supposed to leave the back door of the Papa John's on Springdale Road open. Richard Kief, her roommate, was to come in wearing a ski mask and demand cash from her, Hawkins said. Police say they pulled off the caper late Sunday. Now, Kief is in jail, Hawkins was released Monday. Kief, 33, a father of two from Hamilton, appeared in court Tuesday, accused of taking $743 from the pizzeria. Videotape showed Kief inside Papa John's, according to court documents. He was identified by the store's general manager, Amanda Breckel - who, as it happens, is Kief's sister. Hawkins was arrested about two hours after she reported the robbery on charges of felony theft and making false alarms. Kief surrendered Monday and was charged with theft and complicity to theft. He was ordered jailed on a $12,500 bond.

You Hold the Key: Teen Driving Program
By Evan Lahmer

In health class, Mr. Fleming is having his annual teen driving program to show his students that are about to get their licenses what could happen if you are reckless and don’t care about anything that is going on around you when you are driving. As a sophomore in his class, I had to attend this presentation which is given throughout the week concerning safety when driving. I had already received my license when this program was brought to my attention, but after watching it and listening to the speakers I realized that I need to pay a lot more attention to the road and avoid carelessness in the car. This program really does help show the kids how they can be safer while driving.
This year might have a new kind of impact on the kids because of the tragedy that happened last year, involving the Northwest students in the fatal car accident. Since some of the students knew the students who were killed, the program could make a very large impact on the way the students view driving. This class will show all kinds of different wrecks and ways to have avoided those wrecks. Speakers will come in who have lost a loved one in an accident, and will tell of not only how it affects them, but how something like that can affect everybody around you as well.
More on this story after the class takes place and after more information is found.

Three seperate police chases in one night.

At least two adults and one juvenile are under arrest this morning after three separate police pursuits, including one that ended with a suspect possibly swallowing a substance. Cincinnati firefighters were called to the scene of the 3:42 a.m. crash in Over-the-Rhine at McMicken Avenue and Dunlap Road after officers suspected someone in the vehicle swallowed contraband so police wouldn't find it, according to emergency police and fire communications. The suspect was taken to University Hospital, Cincinnati police said. Earlier today, Larry Anderson, 24, was apprehended in Springfield Township after leading police on a brief chase from westbound Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway to the 700 block of Homeside Avenue, according to Hamilton County emergency communication reports. Anderson crashed into a parked car on Homeside Avenue about 2:30 a.m. and was charged with resisting arrest, failure to comply with police, driving with a suspended license and multiple traffic violations, jail officials said. He is held this morning without bond at the county jail and scheduled to appear before a judge Friday morning. About the same time in Green Township, two men and a teenage girl were spotted breaking into cars in the 3300 block of Harmony Lane and someone called police, reports state. They fled the scene in suspected stolen vans, including one that slammed into a police cruiser, reports state.

Robbers force People into Freezer

Authorities are searching this morning for two masked men who robbed a pizza eatery late Thursday after forcing two employees into the freezer. No injuries were reported in the 10:30 p.m. robbery at Donato’s Pizza, 11309 Montgomery Rd., according to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office. Two men wearing dark clothes and blue scarves over their faces approached an employee behind the business and forced their way into the back door, sheriff’s officials said. They ordered two employees into the freezer. Then, they told a third employee to open the cash register. After obtaining an undisclosed amount of cash, the men fled the scene in a teal or blue four-door vehicle. They are in their early 20s and six-feet tall.Sheriff’s officials did not say if a weapon was used in the offense

Crazy attacks

A West Chester man told a judge Tuesday how his daughter's ex-boyfriend burst through a door and terrorized him and his family with a butcher knife for about an hour last week. Terrence Candidate, 23, "was acting wildly and crazy," William H. Murray Jr. testified Tuesday in Butler County Area III Court. Candidate, whose bond was set at $2.85 million, was arrested on multiple charges stemming from the incident Thursday night at Murray's home on Birkdale Drive. Candidate would periodically calm down and then become agitated, Murray said. Candidate repeatedly threatened, "I'm gonna hurt y'all," Murray said, and also insisted that Murray and his family knew the reason for Candidate's tirade. But Murray said he couldn't think of any rational explanation for Candidate's behavior. Murray said he and Candidate got into a struggle. Murray ended up with knife wounds above his right eye and to the back of his head. The eye wound required 35 stitches, the head wound 12. "I was worried about my family, getting out of that house and the nightmare with him," Murray said. Murray was at home with his wife and two daughters. His son arrived later, and Candidate left soon afterward, Murray said. Police accuse Candidate of stealing a 2002 Kia Spectra that belongs to his ex-girlfriend, Sandra Osborne, court records say. After officers tracked that vehicle to Candidate's apartment complex on Lakeside Drive, Special Weapons and Tactics team officers captured Candidate on Friday. After Murray's testimony, Judge Robert Hendrickson found enough evidence to send the case to a Butler County grand jury. The grand jury can add, delete or change the charges against Candidate: aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, kidnapping, felonious assault and felony theft. Assistant Prosecutor Brad Burress said those charges carry a potential prison term of nearly 40 years if Candidate is convicted.