OHIO

OHIO

Fishermen may be billed for rescues on the ice

PORT CLINTON — As Lake Erie begins to freeze, Ohio authorities are making some changes after last winter’s stranding of 130 fishermen on an ice floe.

The rescue operation cost the Coast Guard more than $245,000 on Feb. 7 after a miles-wide chunk of ice broke away in the lake. Local agencies dealt with about $20,000 in additional costs.

Ottawa County Sheriff Bob Bratton says rescues from lake ice will now be coordinated by fire departments, and they will decide whether any fishermen will face civil penalties effectively billing them for the services. The sheriff’s department will determine whether any criminal charges are in order.

Bratton says he supports ice fishing but also wants people to use common sense when the ice may be thin.

Police: Son backs over father, killing him

HAMILTON — Police say a man accidentally backed his vehicle over his 85-year-old father, killing him.

Police in the southwest Ohio city say there will be no charges against the son, Robert Krinov, 59. They say his father, Stanley Krinov, died of injuries Sunday afternoon soon after being run over.

The older man had slipped and fallen on ice without the driver realizing it.

PENNSYLVANIA

$3.8M settlement OK’D

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh City Council has approved a $3.77 million settlement with a man who spent 19 years in prison before his rape conviction was overturned by DNA evidence in 2005

City attorneys didn’t immediately return calls for comment on Monday’s vote, but an attorney for the retired city detective who arrested Thomas Doswell, 50, says the case settled out of court last month, subject to council’s approval.

Doswell claimed a 1986 photo lineup was tainted because his mug shot was marked with an “R” when the victim identified him. At that time, Pittsburgh police routinely marked rape suspects pictures with that letter — and Doswell, who had a prior rape arrest, was the only one in the photo lineup with a marked picture.

Associated Press