NEWS OF THE DAY
_1 Hostage standoff: An armed Ohio man held a 10-year-old boy captive during a hostage standoff of about 30 hours that ended peacefully Sunday, authorities said. The boy was taken to a hospital as a precaution, but no injuries were reported. The gunman surrendered and was jailed. He had recently served prison time for assault. Sheriff Richard Jones said the incident began after an altercation late Friday at an apartment in the Cincinnati suburb of Liberty Township. The initial call came from the child’s mother, saying a man with a gun was demanding money. She fled the apartment. Authorities said the man fired as many as 30 shots, hitting an armored vehicle. The gunman later barricaded himself with the child inside a vehicle in a garage. Donald Gazaway, 31, was eventually taken to jail on charges including kidnapping.
_2 Airborne car: Two people escaped serious injuries when their car went airborne Sunday and slammed into the second floor of a dental office in Santa Ana. The Orange County Fire Authority said the car hit a center divider, soared into the air and plowed into the top floor of the two-story structure. The sedan’s front half wedged inside the building, while the back half hung about 10 feet above a sidewalk. Investigators will try to determine whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash.
_3 Casino boat fire: Florida authorities say a casino venture’s shuttle boat caught fire Sunday, but all 50 passengers safely made it to the nearby shore after a rescue operation in the Tampa Bay area. Chief of Police Gerard DeCanio said passengers and crew were able to reach safety in Port Richie after the fire erupted. The shuttle carries people back and forth from the Tropical Breeze Casino Cruise, which remains offshore because it can’t legally operate close to land. DeCanio says the shuttle boat was rapidly consumed by fire.
_4 Video game violence: Police arrested a man in Ceres (Stanislaus County) they say fatally shot his mother after an argument that erupted as he was playing a video game. Matthew Nicholson, 28, was arrested last week on suspicion of murder. Police called to Nicholson’s home found his 68-year-old mother with a head wound. She died at a hospital. Police said Lydia Nicholson went to check on her son in his bedroom after he grew enraged as he played a video game. Nicholson argued with his mother, broke his video game headset, then blamed her. He allegedly got a gun and shot his mother before his 81-year-old father wrestled the weapon away. _5 Civil rights: Southern states are banding together to promote civil rights tourism across the region. Fourteen states including all of the Deep South are joining to promote the U.S. Civil Rights Trail. It’s a tourism website and campaign that will highlight about 130 sites linked to the modern civil rights movement. The joint effort is being unveiled as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Most states participating in the promotion are part of Travel South USA, based in Atlanta, which is funded by state tourism agencies.