Two injured in AK plant blaze
Two workers were taken to a hospital and three were treated at AK Steel's medical center Monday after a flash-fire in the coke plant near Oxford State Road in Middletown.

The crew was performing maintenance on a pipe when escaped coke-oven gas ignited at 2:19 p.m.

The blaze was out by the time firefighters arrived, Middletown Deputy Fire Chief Jim Hall said.

Two of the workers, who received second-degree burns on their faces and hands, were taken to Middletown Regional Hospital, said Alan McCoy, AK's vice president of public affairs. The others suffered first-degree burns to their faces and hands, he said.

None of the injuries was serious. One of the workers was back at work Monday evening; the others were expected at work today, McCoy said.

Accidents

One killed, two injured
One person died and two others were injured Monday afternoon in a three-vehicle crash on westbound Interstate 275 in Springdale.

Ejected from one vehicle, Jarrod Chaney, 19, of Cleves, was pronounced dead at University Hospital in Cincinnati following the 5:19 p.m. crash. He was a passenger in a pickup truck driven by his uncle, Bobby Chaney, 37, also of Cleves, who was treated at the hospital and released.

Also injured was Stephanie Johnson, 23, of Forest Park, who was driving a Chrysler sedan. She was treated at Mercy Fairfield Hospital on Monday night and released.

Nicholas Roth, 43, of Cincinnati, drove the third vehicle, a Freightliner dump truck, and was not injured.

Springdale police were still investigating the accident Monday night.

Driver critically hurt
Cincinnati police are investigating a car accident Sunday that critically injured a Kentucky man.

The driver, Nathan Mueller, 28, of Florence, lost control of his vehicle and struck a bridge parapet on the left side of Waldvogel Viaduct in Lower Price Hill about 9 p.m.

Mueller had to be cut out of the vehicle. He was transported to University Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition.

Police

High school damaged
Offices were ransacked, obscenities were spray-painted on walls and money was taken at Loveland High School during a break-in early Monday.

Hamilton County sheriff's deputies said the suspect or suspects may have gotten in using a stolen key, deputies said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Criminal Investigation Section at the sheriff's office, 825-1500.

Community

Ad: New Cincinnati
"New York. New Orleans. New Cincinnati."

That's the tag line to a new ad campaign the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau has launched to draw attention to the area's newest attractions.

"We're capitalizing on all that's new in Cincinnati," said convention and visitors bureau spokeswoman Julie Harrison Calvert. "We're heralding it as a season of premieres."

Two years after riots tarnished the city's image, the new ad campaign is celebrating the opening of the Great American Ball Park, the soon-to-open Contemporary Arts Center and other attractions to draw visitors to the region.

The bureau is spending about $140,000 on the campaign.

In conjunction with the ads, the bureau is touting the region through several other avenues, including promotions on its Web site. http://www.cincyusa.com/ and through a promotion at the Great American Ball Park.