Some of Today's State News Headlines
Today is Tuesday January 22, 2008
Advocates say juveniles should be kept off sex offender lists
CLEVELAND (AP) - Advocates for juveniles who have committed sex crimes are challenging a new state law that increases the length of time convicted sex offenders must register their names and addresses with law enforcement agencies.
The law, which went into effect Jan. 1, changes the number of classifications for sex offenders from eight to three, increasing the number of felons considered sexual predators and requiring those considered the worst to register for life.
But advocates say juveniles have low recidivism rates and should not be required to register, at times meaning their photos will be posted on the Internet.
About 2,500 young people could be affected by the reclassification system, said Amy Borror, spokeswoman for the Ohio public defender's office.
The office has asked judges to grant temporary orders to keep juveniles being held by the Ohio Department of Youth Services from having their information placed on Internet registries.
(Refer to page 5 of today's Daily Chief-Union)
Bank awarded judgment against Ohio judge for default on loan
CINCINNATI (AP) - A southwest Ohio judge who was once removed from the bench for 16 months while fending off a criminal indictment said he defaulted on a farmland mortgage because he used all his available money to pay his defense attorney.
Highland County Common Pleas Jeffrey Hoskins has been ordered to pay $354,465 to the Hillsboro bank that refinanced his purchase of the 60 acres of land.
"It was a choice, do I pay for my defense or do I make this mortgage payment? I chose to pay toward the defense," Hoskins said. "I don't regret that I made that choice."
The judgment ordering him to make good with the bank was entered last week in Highland County Common Pleas Court by visiting Judge James Luse.
"We're making every effort to pay that amount in full," Hoskins said. "If we can't, the normal procedure would be for the foreclosure process to continue."
(Refer to page 5 of today's Daily Chief-Union)
Researchers study feathers to help military battle bird strikes
DAYTON (AP) - Researchers who spend their workdays in a room filled with hundreds of thousands of bird carcasses are working to helping reduce one of the deadliest threats to Air Force planes - collisions with birds.
Ohio native Marcy Heacker-Skeans, who grew up in suburban Clayton, is one of three researchers who work in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's Feather Identification Lab.
In the Washington, D.C., room filled floor-to-ceiling with about 650,000 bird carcasses preserved as early as the 1860s, she matches feathers and bird remains scraped off military and civilian aircraft with feathers from the Smithsonian's massive collection and images in her "Sibley Guide to Birds."
The Air Force estimates it loses about $35 million annually to strikes by birds, and the results can be deadly.
For example, investigators believe the 1995 crash of an AWACS military surveillance plane near Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska that claimed the lives of 24 American and Canadian fliers was caused when several geese were sucked into the engines.
(Refer to page 5 of today's Daily Chief-Union)
Pickup Your Copy Of The Daily Chief-Union Today For The Rest Of The Stories....