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EVENING NEWS DIGEST - JANUARY 4, 2013

STATE CRIME LAB

(AP) - Ohio's attorney general is highlighting a drop in the time it takes the state's crime lab to process evidence. Improving the crime lab was a campaign priority for Attorney General Mike DeWine, who took office in 2011. DeWine says that in December 2010 state investigators took roughly 125 days to process biological evidence. Last month, he says the lab took a record low of 20 days for results.

TEEN RAPIST AND MURDERER

(AP) - A northeast Ohio teen convicted of raping and killing his 3-year-old half sister could be released from juvenile custody in less than four years if he behaves himself. The Akron Beacon Journal reports the 17-year-old boy from Barberton was sentenced to confinement at an Ohio Department of Youth Services facility until he turns 21.

LOTTERY SPELLING BEE

(AP) - The Ohio Lottery has reversed course and will restore funding for schools to participate in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Lottery spokeswoman Danielle Frizzi-Babb told the Akron Beacon Journal the restored money will pay spelling bee enrollment fees for Ohio schools.

PAYING FOR STORM OUTAGES

(AP) - American Electric Power wants its customers pick up the nearly $62 million tab for repairs resulting from last summer's severe storms. The Columbus Dispatch the reimbursement plan would cost about $3 a month for a typical household and would be paid for a year.

SUPERSTORM SANDY AID

(AP) - Congress has approved $9.7 billion to help pay flood insurance claims to thousands of people and businesses affected by Superstorm Sandy. But Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York calls it "a small down payment on the larger aid we need." House Speaker John Boehner is promising a vote Jan. 15 on a broader, $51 billion aid package. The Senate would vote on it the following week.

NEW FDA REGULATIONS

(AP) - The Food and Drug Administration on Friday has proposed new regulations intended to reduce the estimated 3,000 deaths a year from foodborne illnesses. The new rules are the first major changes in decades. The regulations could cost businesses close to half a billion dollars a year to implement.

ACCUSED DRUNK PILOT

(AP) - Officials say an American Eagle pilot about to fly from Minneapolis to New York City was suspended after failing a blood-alcohol test. Police at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport said officers and a Transportation Security Administration agent smelled alcohol as they passed the pilot waiting to get on an elevator. The pilot was conducting preflight checks at about 6 a.m. when police boarded the aircraft, made him take a breath test and arrested him.

FORMER GOVERNOR'S REALITY SHOW

(AP) - A former Louisiana governor who served prison time for a corruption conviction is getting his own reality show on the A&E cable network. In a Facebook message, the wife of 85-year-old Edwin Edwards tells The Associated Press that crews have already started filming "The Governor's Wife." The show will feature Edwards and his 34-year-old wife, Trina, as well as his two grown daughters.

YOSEMITE RESTRICTIONS

(AP) - The National Park Service is making permanent its daily limit on the number of hikers climbing Yosemite's Half Dome. Yosemite officials have been issuing 400 hiking permits at day since 2010 in an effort to reduce crowds which had reached as many as 1,200 people a day. The park also has decided to keep in place the metal cables that hikers can use on the 45-degree final ascent up the slick granite monolith.