Winning choir welcomes New Year

CINCINNATI (AP) — Some hometown heroes sang in the New Year in Cincinnati.

Members of “Team Lachey” — the choir of locals that pop star Nick Lachey led to victory on NBC’s “Clash of the Choirs” — performed on Fountain Square downtown as the clock ticked toward the start of 2008.

Choir member and Lakota West High School math teacher Chuck Merk says it was a chance for the group to give back for all the support they received from the community.

Lachey himself wasn’t able to make it.

Mayor Mark Mallory says the TV choir competition this month provided an opportunity to show the country and the world that Cincinnati is a great place to be.

The winners brought home $250,000 for Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.