News Events of 1998
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February 1998
2-1-1998 -- The Ohio Legislature approved a new school funding plan, but left uncertain how the plan would be funded. Voters in the May 1998 primary election would be asked to approve or reject a proposed half-cent increase in the state sales tax. The legislature was pushing to meet a one-year deadline imposed by the Ohio Supreme Court when it overturned the old formula on March 24, 1997.
2-3-1998 -- In a surpise announcement, Dayton officials said the city is back in the running to bring baseball to downtown Dayton. Officials said a new investment group, Mandalay Sports Entertainment, would buy the Dayton Professional Baseball Club corporation from Sherrie Myers, whose own bid to own a Dayton team was blocked. 2-3-1998 -- Karla Faye Tucker was executed in Texas for a 1983 pickax murder. Tucker, the first woman executed in Texas since the Civil War, was the subject of an intensive clemency campaign.
2-7-1998 -- The Winter Olympics opened in Nagano, Japan.
2-10-1998 -- A house fire in Dayton killed the elderly aunt and uncle of Dayton Police Chief Ronald Lowe Sr. Arthur Lowe, 83, and his wife, Eudora, 81, died in the fire at 832 Kumler Ave.2-10-1998 -- After going five days into the Winter Olympic games without winning a gold medal, the U.S. picked up two when skiers Jonny Mosley and Picabo Street won gold in separate events.
2-14-1998 -- Newlyweds Ronald Rihms, 51, and Carolyn Rihms, 57, were shot to death at a Valentine's Day dance at the Fairborn Fraternal Order of Eagles lodge. James R. Taylor Sr., 67, was charged with two counts of aggravated murder. Police said the Rihms were seated with Taylor's estranged wife, Pat Taylor, when the shooting occurred. She was not injured.
2-17-1998 -- The U.S. women's ice hockey team won the gold medal at Nagano. It was the first time women's hockey was included in the Olympics.
2-18-1998 -- Three top Clinton Administration officials -- U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Defense Secretary William Cohen and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger -- came to Ohio State University for a "town hall" meeting on the Administration's plan for military strikes against Iraq if diplomatic efforts fail. However, the meeting -- which was broadcast live by CNN around the world -- was repeatedly interrupted by hecklers.2-18-1998 -- Montgomery County Coroner James H. Davis ruled homicide as the cause of the deaths of three children at 633 Homewood Ave. The three children died within weeks of each other.
2-20-1998 -- Fifteen-year-old Tara Lipinski won the the gold medal in figure skating, defeating rival Michelle Kwan, who won the silver.
2-21-1998 -- In Darke County, 19-year-old Lynn Topp disappeared while jogging near her home. 2-22-1998 -- In an apparent breakthrough in the U.S.-Iraq standoff, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan negotiated an agreement with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein which would allow the resumption of full weapons inspections.
2-24-1998 -- Tornadoes plowed through central Florida at the height of tourist season, killing at least 38 people. 2-26-1998 -- Four students were expelled from Antioch College for hanging a dark-skinned mannequin from a noose in a tree on campus. The students admitted the act, but said they hadn't realized the racial connotations.
2-26-1998 -- After a five-week civil trial a jury in Amarillo, Texas declared that Oprah Winfrey did not defame the cattle industry in a 1996 show on mad cow disease.