Five things you might have missed: 6/19

Bridgett White

THE BLADE/JETTA FRASER
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1. Woman guilty in girl’s horrific death

Bridgett White

Her tiny body was covered in bruises old and new. She’d been burned in various ways — with cigarettes, a small blow torch, even pushed against a space heater.

Four-year-old Aaliyah Smith weighed just 30 pounds and had cocaine and heroin in her system when she was found dead Nov. 22 in the South Toledo home of Bridgett White. Aaliyah’s two front teeth had been knocked in. And, the evidence indicated, at times she’d been locked in a dog cage in a poorly lit basement.

On Thursday, White, 25, who was supposed to be taking care of Aaliyah and her sister, entered Alford pleas and was found guilty of aggravated murder and endangering children for Aaliyah’s death, which the coroner’s office concluded was caused by chronic abuse and neglect. FULL STORY

2. 5 Toledo women charged in theft of Girl Scouts cookie money

ANGELA ORANA EATON

Toledo police charged five city residents who are accused of keeping thousands of dollars of proceeds from Girl Scouts of Western Ohio’s cookie sales.

A Girl Scouts official told investigators last week that several people received cookie boxes from the organization's offices at 2244 Collingwood Blvd. They agreed to turn in money from the sales, but failed to do so, she told police. FULL STORY

3. Toledo might have as much as $9M in unspent money

Millions more dollars could be in the city of Toledo’s capital improvement fund — on top of the millions Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson announced in late May was unexpectedly available for residential street repaving, The Blade has learned.

George Sarantou, Toledo mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson and Steven Steel.

Or the money — as much as $9 million — might be restricted under a special tax district designated years ago for the Franklin Park Mall area.

City Council President Steven Steel, a Democrat like the mayor, who is seeking re-election this year, said it was unclear how many unspent city funds are available for spending. FULL STORY  

4. Man dies after electric shock in boat incident

19-year-old man from suburban Columbus died Friday evening after he was shocked by an electrical current in the water around his family’s boat as it was moored at a Put-in-Bay marina.

Evan Currie was pronounced dead in Port Clinton, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, whose Division of Parks and Watercraft is investigating the incident. Eric Heis, an ODNR spokesman, said he is believed to have died from a combination of the electrical shock and drowning. FULL STORY 

5. Company to invest $700M in E. Toledo

Bringing new heavy manufacturing to East Toledo, an iron ore company on Thursday announced plans for a $700 million plant on a vacant former industrial site that will employ at least 130 people in making a product used in steel mills.

Toledo City Councilman Peter Ujvagi

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., based in Cleveland, will construct facilities, including electric furnaces, on the Ironville Terminal site on Front Street owned by the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, the company said, ending months of closely guarded negotiations over site incentives.

“This is a unbelievably huge project. There’s going to be a tower that’s going to sit on this property that’s going to be so tall that you’re going to be able to see it from downtown,” James Tuschman, chairman of the Port Authority board of trustees, said at a news conference on the site. “This is a strategic location.” FULL STORY