Bombing suspect tries to withdraw plea
A federal judge has delayed the sentencing of the fourth suspect in the plot this spring to blow up a bridge over the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. 

U.S. District Judge David Dowd put off the sentencing of 36-year-old Anthony Hayne this morning. Hayne had filed a last-minute motion last night asking to withdraw his guilty plea unless he got a sentence considerably shorter than those Dowd gave three other defendants yesterday. 

Hayne’s lawyer notes that he was the first to cooperate with prosecutors, and got drawn into the bombing plot late, and says he deserves a sentence of about four years in prison.

Yesterday, Dowd sentenced the alleged ring-leader, 27-year-old Douglas Wright of Indianapolis to 11 1/2 years in prison. The other two got sentences of 8 and nearly 10 years.

Prosecutors wanted more, saying the only reason the group did not succeed in blowing up the bridge is because a paid FBI informant provided them with dummy explosives.

A fifth suspect is undergoing a psychiatric exam and has not yet entered a plea.

Counterfeit perfume seized on Ohio Turnpike
Three Michigan men are facing felony charges after Ohio Highway Patrol troopers seized nearly 1,500 counterfeit perfume and cologne bottles on the Ohio Turnpike near Elyria.

 The troopers had pulled over a cargo van Monday night for speeding and a drug-sniffing dog discovered the perfume, worth an estimated $75,000.

Fair Finance's long-slog in bankruptcy
A bankruptcy judge says the thousands of people who lost more than $200 million in the Akron-based Fair Finance Co. collapse should get at least half of the money that the bankruptcy lawyers and trustee recover in the case. But that money will be slow-coming and likely amount to just pennies on the dollar

According to the Beacon Journal, the professionals charged with recovering the money have taken in nearly $6 million so far. After the professionals are paid, some $700,000 to $800,000 of that will likely be left.

The bankruptcy trustee, Brian Bash, said in court that he continues to pursue other assets.

Next week, the former head of Fair Finance, Tim Durham, and two co-defendants are to be sentenced on fraud and other charges.

Kent's coach up for honors
Kent State’s Darrell Hazell is in the running for football Coach of the Year honors. Hazell has led Kent to a school-record 10 wins and its first Mid-American Conference East Division title. Kent will play in the MAC championship game in Detroit next week and then in its first bowl game since 1972.