Around the Patch: Prostitution Stings, Poker Champs and Mountain Lions

1. Stow's former Mayor Vince Urbin was arrested following a prostitution sting June 30 in Bowling Green, .

The Wood County Sheriff's Department arrested five people in a prostitution sting at a Bowling Green hotel on June 30. Urbin reportedly pleaded “no contest” to the charges of solicitation after answering an ad on a website by undercover officers posing as women selling sex. Reports indicate Urbin agreed to pay $100 to have sex in a motel in East Wooster Street in Bowling Green.

Read more about the story and Urbin's criminal history .

2. A Kent student, Joe Ebanks, overcame a field of 474 players to win a coveted World Series of Poker gold bracelet and a prize of $1,158,481.

The 2003 Theodore Roosevelt High School graduate took first place Thursday in Event No. 46, a six-handed no-limit hold 'em tournament with a $10,000 buy-in held in Las Vegas.

Harry Hammel, a WSOP media spokesman, said Ebanks “defeated a stellar lineup which included several notable names from the elite ranks of online and live poker” to win the second-largest six-handed payout in poker history.

See what Ebanks had to say .

3. Two North Canton residents called police Wednesday after seeing what they swore was a mountain lion in the city, according to a

One woman said she saw the animal walking near her yard at the southwest side of Price Park Saturday. She didn't report the incident until she heard about other sightings on the news.

And another resident said he saw a mountain lion as he was driving in the 100 block of Easthill Street SE.

Officers found no mountain lions in either case.

 reminds all residents and those who work or visit North Canton to be aware of their surroundings and their safety — just in case.

4. Cleveland Heights City Council passed two amendments to a  Tuesday night — one that adds six new exceptions to the law, and another that gives the city manager authority to designate new curfew zones during times of emergency.

The first amendment passed Tuesday explicitly states the six ways children under 18 can be in the designated curfew areas — right now the Coventry and Cedar Lee business districts — after 6 p.m.

See those amendments on .