FAIRFIELD - The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Butler County is hosting a free 12-week “Family to Family” series starting at 6:30 p.m.

Because of a continuing hazard from toxins generated by cyanobacteria, Grand Lake St. Marys is still not safe for direct water contact, an update from a state agency said late Friday, Sept.

WAYNE TWP. - The plan was to spend his birthday weekend at Lake Cumberland. Donna Idle, 46, packed a few things; her 65-year-old husband, Doug, whose birthday is today, Sept.

WAYNE TWP. - As a volunteer with the Wayne Twp. fire department, Jeff Kinsel said he has seen his share of fires.

HAMILTON - Twenty cats were believed to have died of smoke inhalation in a house fire that broke out around 6:30 p.m.

Do you know someone who has been serving overseas in Iraq and is now coming home as a result of the recent troop withdrawal?

Are you a retiree who has had to go back to work or is currently looking for another job because of the economy?

HAMILTON - It might be on a larger scale but the new Walt’s Barbeque was built from the same roots as its counterparts.

HAMILTON - Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones for years hasn’t had to worry about where to put prisoners, but budget cuts that forced the closure of one facility and the thinning of his staff has the jails bursting at the seams and him looking to judges for help.

HAMILTON - Navigating construction zones in Butler and Warren counties is a daily challenge; add thousands of additional vehicles on the road this holiday weekend and the potential is great for a lot of traffic headaches and crashes in “cone zones.”

Attention Meijer shoppers: You could be saving more money at the store; no coupon clipping required.

HAMILTON - A cold front moving into the Butler and Warren County region will bring a drop in temperature, but no hurricane-like winds this weekend.

MIDDLETOWN - People often get down and boogie on the weekends, but this Labor Day weekend, hundreds of skydivers will fall down and boogie.

TRENTON - The wheels on the bus will go round and round for Edgewood High School students. The Board of Education re-established district transportation to last year’s levels during a Thursday, Sept.

FAIRFIELD - Fairfield’s athletic trainer, Diana Ivkovich, knows a thing or two about overcoming limitations and dealing with great talent.

MIDDLETOWN - A resident suffered second-degree burns Wednesday Sept. 1, in a fire that destroyed his home on Cincinnati-Dayton Road.

TRENTON - City Council rewarded City Manager John Jones with a 3 percent pay raise during its meeting on Thursday, Sept.

Those finding themselves with an empty gas tank this holiday weekend will pay a heftier price to refuel, according to web sites that gauge gas prices across Ohio.

COLUMBUS - Area home builders are asking the Ohio Supreme Court to determine whether Hamilton Twp.’s impact fees are legal.

DEERFIELD TWP. - Several students became ill from taking another student’s pills at Kings High School this morning, according to a report. The children were transported to an area hospital, but additional details were not available.

MONROE - Visitation and services for Sgt. James C. Robinson, who was killed last week in Afghanistan, that were scheduled for Saturday, Sept.

 

OXFORD - Miami University could face “major” cuts in five years if officials don’t make $40 million in budget changes.

In what is hopefully a sign of an economic improvement, a leading travel agency is estimating almost 10 percent more people will be hitting the open road this Labor Day weekend than the previous year.

MIDDLETOWN - Increased orders have upped productivity at AK Steel Corp., equating to hundreds of new jobs at the local plant.

Temperatures will drop slightly today, Sept. 2, and continue their downward trend through the weekend as rain enters the forecast.

HAMILTON - Any public space is not immune to bedbug sightings, including Butler County offices.

BUTLER CO. - Rumpke asks residents in Hamilton, Middletown and other service areas to wrap and seal all mattresses and furniture believed to have bedbugs in plastic to be picked up for trash.

FAIRFIELD - Butler Tech announced last week it will be offering a Registered Nursing training program this fall, a sign that the demand for nurses and health care professionals will continue to increase in the future.

OXFORD - Tickets for the Dalai Lama's Oct. 21 public address at Miami University's Millett Hall drew a crowd today. The line spanned about 80 people, winding to the stop floor on the Shriver Center, by the time the $5 ticket went on sale at 10 a.m.

Near the end of September, the West Chester Tea Party will feature Dr. Michael Pryce, an independent candidate for the U.S. Senate. He is also the author of “Anathema! America’s War on Medicine.” Pryce - according to a West Chester...

Next week, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray will be the featured speaker at the Butler County Progressive Political Action Committee’s quarterly “Candidate’s Night” meeting. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. Sept. 9 and will be at the LCNB Bank, 30...

Here’s the agenda for the Butler County Commission meeting on Monday, Aug. 30. Any comments? BCCmeeting083010...

The new court date in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati for former Butler County commissioner and former state legislator Michael A. Fox will be in April 2011. Just last week Fox pleaded not guilty to federal charges for allegedly receiving...

The Butler County Board of Elections will now meet with the county commission in executive session to discuss if the county will proceed with its own lawsuit against Premier Election Solutions, or take its share of the Secretary of State’s...

BURTON The animals brought Elise Silipini to the Geauga County Fair this year. And the animals kept the 8-year-old girl there throughout most of the day on Friday.

WARREN - A 169 Washington St. N.E. man is in the Trumbull County Jail in lieu of a $5,000 bond following a shooting at his home about 4:25 a.m. Friday.

WARREN - The lawyer for a truck driver accused of causing an accident that killed three U.S. Marine recruits March 31 says his client deserves to have a lower bond because he is not a flight risk and that he has cooperated fully with authorities. J.

WARREN TOWNSHIP - A township police officer who was released recently from jail after violating a protection order failed to show for a predisciplinary hearing Friday.

YOUNGSTOWN - A Mahoning County grand jury indicted 33 people Thursday. Indicted were: Ian B. Davis, 25, Springfield Road, Springfield, burglary, felonious assault, carrying concealed weapons and receiving stolen property.

YSU trails Penn State 13-7 at halftime.

YSU leads 7-3 after one quarter.

YSU pregame.

These area residents became U.S. citizens in a Thursday naturalization ceremony, with Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, presiding.

The Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission will not revoke Valley View Downs’ harness-racing license — at least not yet.

Archie M. Cooper, 38, of Washington Street Northeast, pleaded innocent to felonious assault Friday in Warren

A tour bus from here was towed from Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh after an inspection by Pittsburgh police, according to Pittsburgh TV station KDKA.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth with two on

David J. Zadai, 23, of Marshall Street was sentenced to three years in prison for shooting at a car containing two people he was trying to rob on Raglan Drive in Howland Township on Dec. 27, 2008.

A portion of East South Range Road will be closed for a month beginning Tuesday.

A fire left two families without an apartment Friday morning.

Antonio D. Carter, 19, of Mahoning Avenue Northwest, has pleaded innocent to felonious assault after police said he stabbed his brother three times with a screwdriver.

Browns rookie running back Montario Hardesty is out for the season after tearing a left knee

Ben Roethlisberger isn’t the only Steelers quarterback who might be out for four weeks. Byron

If history is any guide, today’s YSU opener is more likely to look like the (Nittany) Lions versus

Connie Hathorn is the new Youngstown City Schools superintendent, the board of education announced

VETERANS xxxxx Service members, veterans, and beneficiaries of service members, whose service

For the second time this week, Mahoning County Democratic Chairman David Betras is asking the

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Just in case it wasn’t clear: Weapons and drugs don’t make good charitable

BELMAR, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey authorities have called off a search for a second victim of rough

Lakota Schools teacher Janet Raulin has seen a lot of new school year openings since 1981 - her first year of teaching in the Butler County school system.

The victim wept softly into her hands and the defendant's mother tried to muffle her sobs as a Butler County jury convicted Courtney Haynes, 27, of raping a young single mother who had complained he was a noisy neighbor.

The most expensive commercial property transfers recorded recently in Hamilton, Clermont, Butler and Warren counties in Ohio; and Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties in Kentucky, based on dollar values of $200,000 or more (data collected from county records).

It's too soon to say how popular absentee voting will be this election season, but the requests for absentee ballots already are pouring in to Greater Cincinnati election boards.

Go back in time – to either high school or college – to celebrate youthfulness Sept. 15 for the First Financial Bank Tailgate Party on the Square.

From 11:30-1 p.m., the start of classes and the college football season will be celebrated on

The West Chester-Liberty Chamber Alliance has added hospital manager Ron Rohlfing and educator Brett Smith to its board.

Rohlfing, vice president of operations at the West Chester Medical Center, is active in City Cure WhizKids reading progr

OXFORD TWP. -- A Butler County bridge replacement project will close a portion of Somerville Road in the township beginning Monday, Sept. 13.

Located just west of Oxford Milford Road and spanning Harker's Run, the current bridge is a 52-foot

Friends of Jae Cho will hold a candlelight vigil leading from Cho's Timrick Place home at 10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10.

The vigil for the 31-year old restaurant worker will proceed to the Shell station at 1280 Hamilton-Lebanon Road, where Cho's bo

The Sept. 13 death-penalty trial for a woman accused of killing her infant son to avoid being prosecuted for having sex with the baby's teenage father may be put on hold.

The Badgerland Ski Team will attempt to set a Guinness Book of World record by pulling more than 50 skiers at one time during the 2010 Great Miami River Days Festival.

The Sept. 11-12 festival runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday; and from

Several exercise, computer and arts classes targeted to adults ages 55 and older will be offered at the Fairfield Community Arts Center beginning the week of Sept. 13.

All classes require registration, which can be done in person at the cent

Officials are hoping the Lakota West girls volleyball team will take on Oak Hills before gym full of pink T-shirts on Sept. 9.

That’s when the team will be raising funds for the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s Volley for the Cure. Food, raffles,

An Oxford Township road will close Sept. 13 for a bridge replacement.

Somerville Road will close 1.9 miles northeast of Ohio 732 and .1 mile west of Oxford-Milford Road for the replacement.

Detours will be posted for all through tra

In the Sept. 10 battle of the Rams on the gridiron, it will be overseas members of the military who will be the real winners.

For the second year the Rams at Ross and the Rams at Badin high schools are collecting items for troops stationed i

Sandra Wright’s play The Mask will come to the Fairfield Community Arts Center for one performance on Sept. 11.

Curtain is 7:30 p.m., at the center, 411 Wessel Dr.

The play, rated PG-13, tells the stories of six women of varying age

After toying with tens of millions of coastal residents and tourists along the East Coast, Earl finally made landfall Saturday morning — but in Canada's Nova Scotia province.



Nova Scotia - Canada - Hurricane Earl - Business and Economy - Recreation and Sports

French trade unions protested on Saturday against a clampdown on immigrants, launching a week of action against tightening security and pension reforms on which President Nicolas Sarkozy has staked his political reputation.



Nicolas Sarkozy - French people - Trade union - Paris - President Nicolas Sarkozy

Authorities declared an overnight curfew for Saturday after a major earthquake hit New Zealand's second-biggest city.

New Zealand - South Island - Earthquake - Oceania - Christchurch

Anti-war protesters hurled shoes and eggs at Tony Blair on Saturday as he arrived for the first public signing of his fast-selling memoir.

Tony Blair - Prime Minister - History - Parliament - Northern Ireland

Despite the smells of fried dough and roasted meat wafting from the Minnesota State Fair, Salim and Zuleyha Ozonder were focused on the people who were leaving, not the food or festivities beckoning from across the street.

Minnesota - United States - Minnesota State Fair - Government - Zuleyha Ozonder

Police in southern Switzerland say a teenage member of the Russian national snowboard team has died at a training camp in the Alps.



Russia - Switzerland - Recreation - Alps - Camps

Several relatives of 104-year-old reclusive heiress Huguette Clark went to court Friday, asking for a guardian to protect her. Msnbc.com's Bill Dedman reports.

Bill Dedman - United States - Msnbc.com - Huguette Clark - California

Craigslist has apparently closed the adult services section of its website, two weeks after 17 state attorneys general demanded it shut down the section.



Craigslist - Attorney general - United States - Website - Jim Buckmaster

Dallas Cowboys - sport - NFL - Football - American

Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: More than a decade ago, British physicist Stephen Hawking said there was a 50-50 chance that a unified "theory of everything" would be discovered within 20 years. Now he explains why he thinks the theory has been found.

Stephen Hawking - Physicist - Physics - Alan Boyle - British people

Sport - Business - Clothing - Consumer Goods and Services - Apparel

Nine people were killed after a light aircraft used for skydiving crashed in New Zealand's South Island, police said Saturday.

New Zealand - Oceania - Earthquake - Christchurch - Government

You can't avoid all environmental toxins, but you can make it easier for your body to cleanse them.

Health - Toxin - Alternative - Shopping - Fasting and Cleansing

More than five decades after a partial nuclear meltdown just outside Los Angeles, state and federal officials Friday announced agreements to remove all contamination.

Los Angeles - California - Nuclear meltdown - United States - Counties

An 11-year-old boy was recovering Saturday after a sea lion mauled him at a popular Sydney zoo's aquarium show as horrified visitors looked on.



Sea lion - Biology - Zoology - Zoos and Aquariums - Aquarium

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who gained fame defending the state's immigration law and warning of border violence, says her claim that headless bodies were turning up in state was 'an error.'

Jan Brewer - Arizona - United States - Law - Immigration

FOX reality show has yet to announce a new lineup, but  Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Elton John are among  the reported front-runners. The show returns to the air in January.

Steven Tyler - Kara DioGuardi - American Idol - Jennifer Lopez - Television

Make the most of Labor Day this year by packing up the car and escaping for the weekend.

Labor Day - Holidays - United States - Travel - Work

Game icon Duke Nukem will wield his over-the-top guns and attitude yet again. After more than a decade of delays, "Duke Nukem Forever" will debut on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC game systems in 2011.

Xbox 360 - Duke Nukem - Duke Nukem Forever - PlayStation 3 - Video game

Even Rafael Nadal felt compelled to applaud when his second-round opponent at the U.S. Open hit a spectacular, full-sprint winner. The shot put Denis Istomin within two points of tying the match at a set apiece, but he couldn't close the deal and lost to the top-seeded Spaniard 6-2, 7-6 (5), 7-5 Friday night.

Denis Istomin - US Open - Rafael Nadal - Sport - Tennis

The piece of equipment at the center of the investigation into the Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill was being retrieved from a mile below the sea, BP announced Friday.



Deepwater Horizon - BP - Oil spill - Environment - Energy

If Kendrick Meek gets almost every one of Florida's Democrats, he can win the Senate race. But will that happen in a year in which polls show a GOP edge in voter enthusiasm?

Florida - Kendrick Meek - Democratic - United States Senate - United States

Her play sparkling as much as her sequined dress, Venus Williams easily eliminated 185th-ranked qualifier Mandy Minella of Luxembourg 6-2, 6-1 on Friday night at the U.S. Open.

Venus Williams - US Open - Luxembourg - Mandy Minella - Tennis

Emergency calls placed minutes after a gunman entered the Discovery Channel's headquarters include descriptions of the propane tanks strapped to his body and a blinking device in his left hand.



Discovery Channel - Propane - Television - Silver Spring Maryland - Arts

One of the investors in a proposed Islamic center near the World Trade Center site is a Long Island medical clinic owner whose expressions of sympathy for Palestinians included a donation to a charity later shut down for links to Hamas.



Hamas - Long Island - World Trade Center - Islam - Middle East

Rookie Jaime Garcia beat the Reds for the fourth time, halting the St. Louis Cardinals' five-game losing streak and ending Cincinnati's four-game run in a 3-2 victory on Friday night.

St Louis Cardinals - Cincinnati Reds - Cincinnati - sport - Baseball

A team of NASA doctors and engineers recommended Friday that Chilean authorities regulate the day-and-night sleep patterns of 33 trapped miners, boost their Vitamin D intake and phase in an exercise program as their nutrition improves.

NASA - Chile - Nutrition - Technology - Space

Mexican police have arrested six suspects in a bar fire that killed eight in the resort city of Cancun.

Mexico - Cancún - Quintana Roo - Police - Cancun

Drought has cut Peru's Amazon River to its lowest level in 40 years and it is already below the minimum set in 2005, when a devastating dry spell damaged vast swaths of South American rainforest in the worst drought in decades.



Peru - Drought - South America - Amazon River - Rainforest

Nationals rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg had reconstructive elbow surgery Friday that could keep him out of the starting rotation until the 2012 season.



Stephen Strasburg - Tommy John surgery - Washington Nationals - Surgery - Medicine

The head of a labor recruiting company accused of exploiting 400 workers from Thailand and forcing them to work on U.S. farms pleaded not guilty Friday, part of what the FBI calls the largest human-trafficking case charged in U.S. history



Thailand - United States - Federal Bureau of Investigation - Human trafficking - Los Angeles

Federal investigators have decided a suspicious fire that damaged construction equipment at the site of a future mosque in Tennessee was arson.



Construction - Arson - Tennessee - Islam - Business

Google has settled a lawsuit alleging privacy violations in connection with its Buzz social networking service, according to a court document filed on Friday.



Google - Social network service - Search - Lawsuit - Search Engines

A Mexican man who prosecutors say headed a major drug-smuggling ring that shipped tons of marijuana into the U.S. was sentenced Friday to 27 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $4 million to the American government.



Cannabis - Illegal drug trade - Federal government of the United States - Prison - Drugs

A $62-billion water diversion project 60 years in the making will channel water from the south of the country to the drought-prone North. The project will dislocate 330,000 people, who must leave their homes forever.

The storm swooped into New England waters as a tropical storm with winds of 70 mph after sideswiping North Carolina's Outer Banks, where it caused flooding but no injuries and little damage.

When the blowout preventer reaches the surface after its mile-long journey, government investigators will take possession of it and eventually examine it, hoping to gain insight into why the device failed.

The report on the newspaper's website says Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has asked the Justice Department to see whether Blackwater misled the government when using the subsidiaries to gain government contracts.

In the end, Hurricane Earl wasn't even as bad as some of the no-name nor'easters that pound New England from time to time. It left clear, blue skies in its wake, the perfect start to the Labor Day weekend.

The U.S. unemployment rate surged far higher and has remained higher than in other major industrial countries. It's now at 9.6 percent. The big shift came when American companies cut workers more aggressively than foreign firms in the face of the financial crisis.

Job growth this past spring had the Obama administration hopeful that the recovery would be more stable by Labor Day. Not so. And so Obama Friday renewed his call for the Senate to act on legislation to reduce taxes for small business. He promised more initiatives would be unveiled next week.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, chairman of the Republican Governors' Association, has been described as the "most powerful Republican in American politics." In a wide-ranging conversation, host Scott Simon talks with Barbour about Mississippi's recovery from Hurricane Katrina, the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill and the significance of conservative figures like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators finished up talks on Thursday, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to keep talking. Host Scott Simon talks with the Institute for Middle East Peace's Stephen P. Cohen about whether this really signals progress.

It's Labor Day weekend, when we turn our attention to the hard courts of Flushing Meadows and weary outfields across the country. Host Scott Simon talks with Howard Bryant of ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com.

The NFL season kicks off this week, and there are some interesting storylines developing: a rookie quarterback who could make it big, a new "it" team and an overweight defensive lineman with a little snark in his voice.

Hurricane Earl was born somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, quickly grew to a Category 5 monster -- and calmed down just as fast. Saturday morning, Earl was downgraded to a tropical storm, and northeastern beach communities are hoping they can salvage the last official weekend of summer. Host Scott Simon gets the latest from from Sean Corcoran of member station WCAI.

Relations between the U.S. and the Afghan government are becoming severely strained again. Recent moves by Afghan President Hamid Karzai have both surprised and provoked concern in Washington, but options on how to deal with the Afghan leader are limited.

When the growing season ends in the North, migrant farm workers along the East Coast will head south, often on Interstate 95, in search of work. For the undocumented workers who make up the majority of that labor pool, the journey can be harrowing.

Keeping an active mind helps stave off the development of dementia. But being mentally active might speed up Alzheimer's once it hits, according to new research from Chicago's Rush University Medical Center.