In brief: Coast Guard calls off search for missing 14-year-olds

FLORIDA – After hundreds of rescue workers fanned out across a massive swath of the Atlantic for a full week, the Coast Guard’s search for two teenage fishermen was to end Friday, a heart-rending decision for families so convinced the boys could be alive they’re pressing on with their own hunt.

Even as officials announced at noon that the formal search-and-rescue effort would end at sundown, private planes and boats were preparing to keep scouring the water hoping for clues on what happened to the 14-year-old neighbors, Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos.

Capt. Mark Fedor called the decision to suspend the search “excruciating and gut-wrenching.” He suggested what long had been feared by observers – that the boys had surpassed any reasonable period of survivability – with his offering of “heartfelt condolences.”

Woman shot, run over with lawn mower

CLEVELAND – A man who became agitated about his next-door neighbor mowing her lawn at night shot her and then ran a push mower over her body, authorities said Friday.

Linda Ciotto, 62, was shot in the face from close distance, Huron County Coroner Jeffrey Harwood said. Ciotto also had a severe wound to her left arm and hand that appeared to have been caused by a mower blade, Harwood said.

The slaying occurred at around 9 p.m. Tuesday in a township outside Willard, a city about 80 miles southwest of Cleveland.

James Blair, 50, has been charged with murder and is being held in Huron County Jail on $1 million bond.