WKSU News: Noon headlines: Dec. 26, 2012

Wednesday, December 26, 2012 Noon headlines: Dec. 26, 2012 Winter weather; Judges fight over "double dip"

Winter weather

Judges fight over "double dip"

Winter Weather
A Winter Weather Advisory begins today at 4pm, but strong winds and heavy snowfall have already hit Northeast Ohio, making visibility near zero.

Cleveland Hopkins says United Airlines plans to cancel about 60 percent of its flights beginning at noon. United accounts for about 65 percent of all flights in and out of Hopkins. The airport suggests travelers check their flight status ahead of time. USAir is waiving its change fee for customers affected by the snowstorm, if flights are rescheduled by New Year's Day.

In Cuyahoga County, O-DOT had crews ready Christmas night. The department planned to have at least 80 workers operating plow and salt trucks on major highways and roads in Cuyahoga, Geauga and Lake counties.

Snow accumulations could be up to 12 inches, and temperatures will be noticeably colder the rest of the week. A snow and rain mix should change to freezing rain by midnight tonight, before changing to rain tomorrow morning.

We're under a Blizzard Warning until 7am tomorrow morning, with winds up to 40 mph. A Weather Advisory remains in effect until 7pm tomorrow night.

Southern Ohio judges fight over "double-dip"
Judges in southwestern Ohio are fighting over employees who retire and then are rehired so they can collect a pension and a paycheck, also known as "double-dipping."

At a recent meeting of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court judges, Judge Melba Marsh said that she was going to ask that Magistrate Michael Bachman be allowed to retire and then be re-hired so he does not lose a 3 percent increase to his retirement.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Bachman's annual salary is $94,760. If he's allowed to retire and be re-hired, he will get an annual pension of about $63,000 plus his new salary of $75,000, for a total of about $138,000 per year.

Some judges say double-dipping isn't fair because it's not applied equally and blocks other employees from advancing.

Sports: Cavs and Browns
In sports, the Cavs head to Washington to take on the Wizards, tonight at 7. The Wizards and the New Orleans Hornets, by the way, are the only teams with worse records than the Cavs right now in the NBA.
The Cleveland Browns have signed free agent quarterback Josh Johnson. Johnson replaced safety Usama Young on the roster Wednesday as the Browns look for protection at quarterback, where starter Brandon Weeden went out with a sprained right shoulder in Cleveland's 34-12 loss in Denver on Sunday.

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