Plane carrying 6 with UM medical group crashes

6/4/2007

(Posted at 10 p.m.) MILWAUKEE A medical transport plane carrying six members of the University of Michigan Survival Flight team back to Michigan went down this afternoon in Lake Michigan shortly after the pilot signaled an emergency, authorities said. There was no word on survivors. Molinaro said they found aircraft debris about six miles northeast of Milwaukee.

(Posted at 12:20 p.m.) COLUMBUS - The smoke from the last war has barely dissipated, but lines are being drawn again for another ballot battle in November over where smokers can light up in Ohio. An organization representing bars, bowling alleys, private clubs, and others this morning filed paperwork with Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, the first step on a long road to gathering more than 400,000 signatures to put a question on the Nov. 6 ballot to write exemptions from the strict Smoke Free Workplace Act into the Ohio Constitution.

(Posted at 1:05 p.m.) LANSING, Mich. A federal appeals court Monday rejected Michigan s attempt to ban a procedure opponents call partial-birth abortion, ruling the law unconstitutional because it could also prohibit other abortion procedures. A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal said the Michigan Legislature would have been virtually guaranteed a favorable result on appeal had it copied an Ohio law that the 6th Circuit already has upheld.

(Posted at 12:51 p.m.) About 35,000 Toledo-built Jeep Wranglers are being investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for engine stalling and loss of electrical power.

(Posted at 8:15 a.m.) The Toledo area will be mostly cloudy, with a high near 77 and showers and thunderstorms are likely. West wind between 9 and 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Check out local radar, ODOT traffic cams and National Weather Service hazardous weather outlook and special weather statements for northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan.

(Posted at 10:22 a.m.) BOWLING GREEN Authorities say they have shut down an operation in which crack cocaine from Toledo was being sold in Bowling Green and North Baltimore. On Friday, six people were arrested and charged with trafficking in crack cocaine following a long-term investigation by the Wood County Sheriff s Office and North Baltimore police.

(Posted at 7:22 a.m.) Bamboo-like plants that grow taller than adults have choked out native plants in a marsh that once teemed with life along Lake Erie. Wild flowers have disappeared. Migrating birds have gone elsewhere. The parkland has changed so much that Dana Bollin, the naturalist at Maumee Bay State Park, no longer leads tours along its boardwalk. I hate to spend an hour talking about invasive plants, she said.

(Posted at 7:15 a.m.) This fall s incoming freshmen at Ohio State University will need just 181 quarter-credits to graduate, a decision school officials said would give students a better shot at graduating in four years. The new credit requirement, approved by the board of trustees on Friday, is 10 fewer than what s been expected of previous classes. It also puts the university in sync with other Big Ten schools like Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois, which also require about 180 hours.