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Brief fire causes evacuation but no injuries at historic Detroit college building

DETROIT (AP) — A fire on Wednesday caused the evacuation of a historic building owned by Wayne State University in Detroit.

Video from TV stations showed thick rolling clouds of black smoke near the top of the 14-story Maccabees Building, a nearly century-old building designed by Albert Kahn, along Woodward Avenue, just north of downtown.

The fire on the 11th floor was contained, Wayne State said on social media, and no injuries were reported. Authorities said it likely began in the heating and cooling system.

Wayne State has owned the building for more than 20 years and has offices there, including the Computer Science Department and African American Studies. But it is not generally known as a place for classes.

The Maccabees was the home of early radio and TV studios, including radio broadcasts of “The Lone Ranger,” starting in the 1930s, and “The Green Hornet.”

Ohio State trustees OK $100M settlement with hundreds of former students abused by doctor

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State University agreed Wednesday to pay approximately $100 million to settle legal claims from hundreds of former student athletes who said they were sexually abused decades ago by a doctor at the university. The school has fought lawsuits in federal court since 2018 brought by former student athletes against the university over its failure to stop abuse by Dr. Richard Strauss. Strauss worked at the school from 1978 to 1998 and also ran an off-campus clinic. He died in 2005. During a meeting Wednesday, the school's Board of Trustees approved a preliminary agreement with all but one of the 280 survivors with claims still involved in pending litigation. Once finalized, the settlement could mark the end of a lengthy legal battle and close a painful chapter in the school's history. “The survivors of the Strauss abuse are all Buckeyes, will always be a part of our family and our community, and I firmly believe that,” the school's president, Ravi Bellamkonda, said during the meeting. “We continue to be very grateful to them for their courage in coming forward, and reaching a final resolution is very important to us and is an important step forward.”
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