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Chosen as the King Andrew XXXV and Queen Elizabeth XXXV of the Irish Spring Festival this year were Charlie Chipps and Sharon Allman. The new King and Queen, along with other candidates, raised over $2,500 for the festival; money used to keep the Ireland Community Building open. Other candidates for King included John Nelson and Randy Poirier, Other candidates for Queen included Linda Clutter and Karen Gum. The announcement of the new King and Queen came last Friday night at the festival. (Photo by John G. Wolfe)

May Aid in Aliayah Case

ALIAYAH LUNSFORD Age-Enhanced Photo

ALIAYAH LUNSFORD

Aliayah Lunsford, 3, was last seen Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011 at 6:30 a.m. She disappeared from the Bendale area, wearing purple pajama pants and a pink sweat shirt. Lunsford has short brown hair and brown eyes and is missing four front teeth. If you have any information, please call 304-269-8241.

Male Patient Scales Fence, Flees Sharpe

Nearly a year after accused murderer Rocco Zuccaro scaled a 15- foot wall escaping from William R. Sharpe, Jr Hospital leading to a massive manhunt before his capture, another patient has escaped from the facility. This patient has yet to be caught.

Parking Fines Set To Go Up

Illegal parking fines in Weston are going to increase this week. Weston Parking Enforcement Officer Malissa Henline announced that there will be two major changes on the fines imposed for improper parking. The fine for overtime parking at the meters will be increasing from $3 to $5 and will increase in amount if the same vehicle is ticketed within a 24 hour period.

Guilty Slayer Back in Court

Kevin Lane Putnam, found guilty on Feb. 19 of voluntary manslaughter in the death of his brother Stephen Jerod Putnam, will be in Lewis County Circuit Court on Thursday on post-trial motions filed on his behalf by his attorneys. The hearing is set for 11 a.m.

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The Weston Democrat :: Home

Cardin, right, confers with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. during a committee markup meeting on the proposed nuclear agreement with Iran Tuesday. Win McNamee/Getty Images hide caption

Cardin, right, confers with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. during a committee markup meeting on the proposed nuclear agreement with Iran Tuesday.

It was a fluke that turned Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland into the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez got hit with criminal charges and gave the rank up. Now, just two weeks into his new gig, Cardin has helped bridge the divide on legislation letting Congress weigh in on a nuclear deal with Iran. The bill thrust a man without flash or hubris into the spotlight.

The way his rabbi puts it, Democrat Ben Cardin isn't how you'd picture a senator.

"He is soft-spoken, unassuming, does nothing to draw attention to himself," said Mitchell Wohlberg, who's been the rabbi at Beth Tfiloh Congregation in Baltimore for 37 years.

But Wohlberg said those are the qualities that make people respect Cardin, and now the low-profile senator has landed in a position with high-profile consequences.

The rabbi told Cardin his ascension reminds him of the Biblical story of Esther.

"Where Mordecai says to Esther, 'You are the queen, and you have influence now in the upper echelons of the King's palace. Perhaps it was for this that God has put you in this place, at this time,'" Wohlberg recounted.

Probably not the first time Cardin heard his rabbi lay it on thick, but Wohlberg said the expectations on the senator have been the highest he's ever faced. Many supporters of Israel will not trust any deal with Iran.

"I don't think the senator has ever faced this kind of pressure from the Jewish community. I don't know if there's ever been an issue as sensitive as this. He has never been in that kind of public position that he's in right now since Senator Menendez had to step back," Wohlberg said.

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Helping Bridge Congress' Iran Divide, Sen. Ben Cardin Moves Into Spotlight

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's online presentation of a writer's near-death experience in the southwest Texas desert was one of 10 Arkansas winners of Great Plains Journalism Awards announced in a ceremony in Tulsa on Monday.

The Great Plains Journalism Awards recognize the best newspaper and magazine journalism each year from Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

The newspaper's online staff also won Great Plains Awards for spot news video coverage of the April 27, 2014, tornado and best overall website design for WholeHogSports.

Philip Martin, the newspaper's MovieStyle editor, won the entertainment/specialty blog category for his blog, blooddirtandangels.

Photographers Benjamin Krain, Rick McFarland, Melissa Sue Gerrits and Staton Breidenthal won the multiple news photography category for their pictures of the destruction and personal impact from the April 27 tornado that killed 16 people.

Reporter Chelsea Boozer's coverage of changes in Little Rock city government's sex-offender employment policy won for beat reporting.

Reporter Cheree Franco's story about an aficionado of 1960s garage bands won for best entertainment feature.

Deputy Sports Editor Jeff Krupsaw won for his portfolio of headlines.

Arkansas Life magazine's Nick Hunt, Katie Bridges, Jordan Hickey and Kelley Lane won the magazine feature writing category for a story about Arkansas-based storm chasers who end a long trek across Oklahoma without a tornado only to find one close to home.

Hickey, Bridges and Lane won the magazine profile writing category for a story about a man left "minimally conscious" after a car accident.

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State journalists garner 10 awards

It should come as no surprise that Ohio's Democrat Party leaders have endorsed former Gov. Ted Strickland as nominee for a U.S. Senate seat - without bothering to consider whether that may be the choice of Democrat voters.

But what is surprising is that the party machine believes Buckeye State residents have forgotten the mess Strickland created while governor.

On Saturday, party leaders endorsed Strickland in the Senate race next year against incumbent Republican Rob Portman. The endorsement came despite the fact the primary election is months away.

Another Democrat, Cincinnati city Councilman P.G. Sittenfield, already has announced he is running for the Senate. During the coming months, other Democrats may decide voters ought to have options other than Strickland.

But party leaders have made up their minds. Clearly, they would rather any other Democrat candidates just go away so they can get on with promoting Strickland for the Senate.

That will not be an easy task in a race against Portman, who has served Ohioans and the nation well in the Senate.

Any attempt to make Strickland appealing will have to rest on the hope that Ohio voters have short memories.

But many recall he left office having helped create an $8 billion state budget gap - after insisting Ohio had no fiscal worries.

Too many also recall Strickland's unequivocal support for President Barack Obama's policies, including those aimed at destroying the coal industry and with it, the reasonably priced electricity on which so many Ohioans rely.

Last fall, voters throughout the country turned their backs on members of Congress who had the attitude that their party's president came first, with their constituents a distant second. Democrat leaders in Ohio do not seem to have gotten the memo on that.

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Strickland Bad Choice for Party

Meanwhile Conservative presidential hopeful Ted Cruz, who entered the fray last month, released his own video in reaction to Mrs Clinton's announcement, saying she represents a third Obama term and the "failed policies of the past".

The Scottish National Party's Nicola Sturgeon - another female powerhouse, seemingly backed Hillary, tweeting her support after the announcement:

While the video has gone down very well on social media, her new logo not so much. Memes have already been started, with unfortunate parallels drawn between the two vertical blocks for the H in "Hillary" and the Twin Towers, while others say it looks like a sign for a hospital

Our correspondent Rob Crilly happens to live down the street from Hillary's new HQ. He's checked it out for us:

One way for a 67-year-old former First Lady and Secretary of State to shed her image as part of the Washington old guard is to base her campaign in one of the most fashionable of New York neighbourhoods.

So it came as no surprise when details emerged that her embryonic team had leased two floors of an office block across the East River from Manhattan in Brooklyn Heights.

Even though the building itself is slightly stuffy housed on its 19 floors are the bankers of Morgan Stanley as well as lawyers working for the US attorney for the eastern district of New York - its owners market One Pierrepont Plaza as Brooklyn Cool.

And the roll-out continues. Clinton will apparently spend the next 6-8 weeks in "ramp up" mode while her team builds a "nationwide grassroots organisation", according to the first press release from her new Campaign For America operation. Some might say that she's been ramping up for years already. The first big rally will be some time in May, after she's been on her "listening tour" to Iowa, New Hampshire and other early caucus and primary states.

Her campaign team were said to have had a meeting yesterday in the new Brooklyn HQ. Jennifer Palmieri, who is expected to be her head of communications, tweeted this:

Philip Sherwell, our correspondent in New York, has this to say on her video announcement:

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'I'm running for President': Hillary Clinton launches campaign for 2016 Democrat nomination: live