MARION, Ohio – Strong thunderstorms that moved across the state knocked out power to about 18,000 homes and businesses here and killed one person, authorities said. Most of the damage from Thursday’s storms centered around north-central Ohio, where the National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado struck Shelby, and officials were investigating tornado sightings in Medina, Stark and Summit counties, said Walter Fitzgerald, a meteorologist with the agency in Cleveland. In Marion, about 40 miles north of Columbus, a falling tree limb struck a sport utility vehicle, killing a 22-year-old woman as she drove during the thunderstorms, police said.
Hawaii: Storm means surf’s up
Hurricane Flossie headed toward waters south of Hawaii on Friday, but forecasters didn’t believe it would hit the state with anything more than some rough surf. On Friday, the Category 1 storm was about 1,300 miles southeast of Hilo and had winds of 85 mph. It was expected to strengthen slightly in the next day and a half, but then weaken as it passed over cooler waters. “It looks like the system is going to pass well south of the Big Island and all of the other islands,” a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu said. “The biggest impact may be some large rough surf.” The Big Island’s southeastern shores could see waves of 8 to 12 feet, he said.
California: Hospital loses funding
Federal regulators announced Friday they are pulling $200 million in funding from Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, a move that will almost certainly force the Los Angeles medical center that serves one of the city’s poorest inner-city neighborhoods to close. The decision came after the county-run Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital failed two federal inspections. The hospital can apply for reinstatement, but that would take three to four months because federal regulators would want to be assured that the problems have been corrected.
Indiana: DUI arrests in jeopardy
Authorities may have inadvertently given hundreds or even thousands of accused drunken drivers, speeders, drug dealers and others a way to get off the hook — the arresting officers were never sworn in. A judge has ruled that a drunken driving arrest was invalid because the officer hadn’t been sworn in as a member of a new police department formed when the city police and the Marion County Sheriff’s Department merged on Jan. 1. The state said it plans to appeal the ruling, which the attorney general said “raises questions about the propriety of hundreds, if not thousands, of arrests.”
Colorado: Jogging priest busted
A Catholic priest who was arrested for jogging in the buff nearly two months ago was investigated by the Archdiocese of Denver more than eight years ago for “inappropriate personal behavior,” a church official has acknowledged. The Rev. Robert Whipkey was placed on administrative leave as of Wednesday from the three Colorado parishes he serves. The priest told officers he runs in the nude because his large size makes him “sweat profusely” if he wears jogging clothes.
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