NEWS FROM THE PLAIN DEALER

Headlines for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio

• A super Cabinet' to cut red tape
Washington -- President-elect Barack Obama is assembling a new and influential cadre of counselors just steps from the Oval Office whose power to direct domestic policy will rival, if not exceed, the authority of his own Cabinet.

• Avon, Lorain not worried about growing baseball competition
Avon -- In 148 days, the first pitch will fly through the city's new minor league ballpark.

• Brick wall collapses onto busy Akron street
Akron - A brick and cement wall collapsed across one of Akron's busiest streets Wednesday, disrupting traffic for more than two hours.

• Stanley Zielony gift to pay for Cleveland Clinic nursing scholarships, education center
A large gift from a former Cleveland Clinic patient who lives in New York City will pay for nursing scholarships, then help establish a nursing education center at the hospital.

• Community News Briefs
Year of the River events

• Deficit forecast to exceed $1 trillion
Washington- The forecast Wednesday of a jaw-dropping $1.2 trillion one-year federal budget deficit will make it harder for President-elect Barack Obama to win broad support for a massive stimulus package that would add even more to the red ink.

• Group led by the Rev. C. Jay Matthews fails to gather enough signatures to put Cleveland's domestic-partner registry on ballot
A group of local pastors has come up short in an effort to trigger a referendum vote on Cleveland's domestic-partner registry.

• Israel's Barak gains stature in Gaza offensive
Jerusalem -- A few weeks ago, Defense Minister Ehud Barak was considered a dead man walking in Israeli politics. Members of his Labor Party were plotting to replace him after elections on Feb. 10, if not before. Under his lead ership, the sto ried party of Da vid Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir had sunk so low in the polls that there was seri ous talk it might disappear.

• Law and Order
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• Cleveland lawyer Jeffrey J. Fanger gets Euclid Hunger Center's first Thomas G. Woods Humanitarian Award: honored
Jeffrey J. Fanger has won the first Thomas G. Woods Humanitarian Award from the Euclid Hunger Center. Fanger, a Cleveland lawyer, has given the center legal and other help since 2002. The award's namesake was a center board member who died in September.

• Medical Mutual of Ohio catches $6.2 million in fraudulent claims
Medical Mutual of Ohio, the state's largest health insurer, said it caught a record $6.2 million in fraudulent health care claims last year, up from nearly $5 million the year before.

• Metroparks celebrate Year of the Ox
Ox in the parks? Celebrate the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Ox at the Cleveland Metroparks at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, at the John J. Donnelly Rocky River Nature Center, 24000 Valley Parkway, North Olmsted, 440-734-6660. Or 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 25, at Garfield Park Nature Center off Mill Creek Lane and Broadway, Garfield Heights, 216-341-3152. On Jan. 15, naturalist Min Keung will chat about the New Year customs. On Jan. 25, there will be crafts, food, music and a puppet show.

• Mississippi has highest teen birth rate
Atlanta - Mississippi now has the nation's highest teen birth rate, displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title, a new federal report says.

• Mumbai gunman confirmed as Pakistani
Islamabad, Pakistan - Pakistani national security adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani confirmed Wednesday that the lone surviving gunman from the Mumbai terrorist attacks is a Pakistani citizen. Hours later Durrani, a respected retired army general and former ambassador to the United States, was fired by the Pakistani prime minister for "irresponsible behavior."

• New chief performance officer to focus on government spending
Washington -- President-elect Barack Obama announced Wednesday that he is creating a new high-level position to wring waste and inefficiencies out of government, as part of a broader push to bring more discipline to fed eral spending.

• Gov. Strickland signs Emily's Law requiring competency test for pharmacy technicians
Christopher Jerry will never forget the pain of his daughter's death, but his anguish eased a little Wednesday when Gov. Ted Strickland signed his name on "Emily's Law."

• County Commissioner Chris Smeiles' daughter repays $12,000 tuition grant
The daughter of a Portage County official has repaid a $12,000 tuition grant that remains under investigation by state authorities.

• Ohio had second-highest salmonella numbers in October outbreak
Ohio had the second-highest number of people infected in the most recent national salmonella outbreak, according to data gathered by the state Department of Health.

• Purple Heart won't be given for PTSD
The Pentagon has decided that it will not award the Purple Heart, the hallowed medal given to those wounded or killed by enemy action, to war veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder because it is not a physical wound.

• Security tight during Shiite holy day
Baghdad - Millions of Iraqi Shiites celebrated one of the most emotional occasions in their religious calendar Wednesday, accompanied by stringent security measures that included a ban on women entering the area around one of Baghdad's holiest shrines for fear of suicide bombings.

• Stars are honored at People's Choice Awards ceremony
Ellen DeGeneres and "Dancing with the Stars" were early winners at the People's Choice Awards.

• Washington's tone toward Burris is changing
Washington -- The opening days of the 111th Congress have become the Roland Burris Congress.