LOCAL

LOCAL
Indians come to town
LIBERTY -- The 2005 Cleveland Indians Media Tour and Kids Fest returns to the Mahoning Valley on Wednesday, Jan. 26 at the Holiday Inn MetroPlex, Belmont Avenue.
All proceeds from the annual event will go to Forum Health Tod Children's Hospital.
The media tour will feature appearances by Cleveland Indians players, coaches and announcers and the 2004 Indians highlight video will be shown. A sports memorabilia auction also will take place during the event.
The audience will have the opportunity to ask questions of the players and other personnel from the Indians organization. Mascots from the Indians, Mahoning Valley Scrappers baseball team, Youngstown State University.
In addition, the YSU men's championship baseball team will be making a special appearance.
Adult tickets are $35, of which $16.05 is tax deductible. Children, age 12 and under, are $15 per ticket.
The ticket price includes a buffet dinner for adults and a special "Ballpark menu" for kids.
For more information, or to purchase tickets, contact the Western Reserve Health Foundation at (330) 884-4773, or visit forumhealth.org.
REGION
Steelers' Bettis out for Bills game
PITTSBURGH -- Steelers running back Jerome Bettis was downgraded on Friday with a sprained ankle and will miss Sunday's game at Buffalo.
The injury means that Bettis will finish 59 yards short of his ninth 1,000-yard season since breaking in with the Rams in 1993. Bettis has started only six games this season as a backup to Duce Staley, but gained at least 100 yards in all six.
Staley is questionable with the hamstring injury that has sidelined him for six of Pittsburgh's last eight games. If he can't play, third-string running back Verron Haynes likely will get most of the carries against the Bills (9-6), who must win to stay in the AFC playoff race. Haynes is averaging 5.3 yards per carry on 47 carries.
The Steelers (14-1) already have home-field advantage and a first-round bye secured for the AFC playoffs, so Bettis understands the decision to hold him out.
"It's an incentive to get 1,000 yards, but it's a bigger incentive to have the opportunity to win the Super Bowl," Bettis said.
Robert Ferguson,ex-Buckeye, dead
COLUMBUS -- Robert "Big Bob" Ferguson, an All-American fullback who played at Ohio State for coach Woody Hayes from 1959-61, died Thursday at his home of complications from diabetes. He was 64.
His son, Robert Ferguson Jr., said the fullback who was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in 1961, had been bedridden for more than a decade.
During his three years playing for Ohio State, the 220-pound Ferguson accumulated 2,304 all-purpose yards, including 2,162 rushing for an average of 5 yards per carry.
He scored 26 touchdowns, including four against Michigan in 1961, when the Buckeyes defeated the Wolverines 50-20 to cap an 8-0-1 season.
NATION
Baseball Hall of Famer hospitalized
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Baseball Hall of Famer George Kell is hospitalized and will need some physical therapy after breaking his left leg and left arm in a car crash, his wife said Friday.
Carolyn Kell said her 82-year-old husband was "doing very well" but remained hospitalized following a crash Tuesday with a tractor-trailer.
Kell was a 10-time All-Star and the AL batting champion in 1949. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.
WORLD
TV debate planned for 2012 Olympic bidders
LONDON -- Is beach volleyball better in Central Park or beside the Eiffel Tower? Are Olympic venues more scenic alongside the Moscow River or the Thames? Would the world's best athletes rather eat bagels on the Upper West Side or tapas in Madrid?
Those and other questions might be addressed if the first TV debate in Olympic bid history comes off, featuring senior figures from the five cities vying for the 2012 Summer Games. The debate would be broadcast by BBC World.
The date, site and guests for the proposed debate have not yet been decided, BBC World spokesman Kevin Young said Friday. The format most likely would involve each bid leader presenting his case, with a panel later asking questions.
"It's obviously a good thing for all of the cities," New York 2012 spokesman Michael Moran said in a telephone interview.
The BBC World channel is shown in more than 200 countries and the debate would give each city a chance to make a very public pitch for hosting the Olympics. While the format would be different from the presentations made to the International Olympic Committee, the debate would also allow each city to, as Moran says, "highlight their positives."
"It's a fair opportunity for everyone to state their arguments," Paris 2012 spokesman Jerome Lenfant said.
Vindicator staff/wire reports