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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Nation in brief: Governor tours rain-battered areas

The Spokesman-Review

Storms slammed rain-soaked Ohio on Saturday and hundreds of thousands of people in the Midwest were without power after their homes were battered by lashing winds and flooding rains.

Tornado warnings were issued Saturday afternoon for parts of central and southeast Ohio. Downed trees and power lines were reported in the southern part of the state.

Flooding this week spread across an 80-mile swath through the northwest and north central parts of the state. Gov. Ted Strickland toured some of the damaged areas Saturday.

“What I’ve tried to do and what we’ve all tried to do is let these folks know … that we are working to get assistance to them as rapidly as possible,” Strickland said.

Powerful storms rolling through the Upper Midwest during most of the past week caused disastrous floods from southeastern Minnesota to Ohio that were blamed for at least 18 deaths. In southern Michigan, the skies were clearing Saturday but more than 100,000 customers were without power, utilities said.

Smyrna, Tenn.

Counterfeit $100s used for lap dances

A man who authorities say used his computer to make fake $100 bills to buy lap dances at a strip club has pleaded guilty to counterfeiting charges, federal prosecutors said.

Strippers at Deja Vu in Nashville were suspicious of the bills and called police after Damon Armagost spent $600 of the fake money April 16, authorities said.

When officers arrived, Armagost first told them he got the money when he sold gold coins for $1,400 to an unidentified person.

U.S. Secret Service agents later determined that counterfeit bills with the same serial number had been passed in other parts of the country. When they went to Armagost’s Smyrna home, about 20 miles southeast of Nashville, a family member told agents that an image of a $100 bill had been on a computer there.

Armagost pleaded guilty Friday to manufacturing and passing counterfeit currency and has a sentencing date of Nov. 5.

Denver

Airline passenger tries to open door

A passenger tried to open a plane door during a Frontier Airlines flight on Saturday but was subdued by airline staff and passengers, an airline spokesman said.

Police and Transport Security Administration staff met Flight 514 after the plane landed in New York City and took the man into custody, said Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas.

Hodas said the man would not have been able to open the door even if he had not been subdued. “You need special training to open the door,” he said.