COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The state has confirmed this year's first two human cases of West Nile virus in Ohio, amid a sharp increase in mosquitoes found carrying West Nile.

The Ohio Department of Health said Tuesday that a 19-year-old woman has been hospitalized in Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH'-guh) County with meningitis related to the potentially dangerous virus.

Officials also said a 14-year-old boy in northwest Ohio's Putnam County has been confirmed with a West Nile fever.

The department said in a statement that both teens are recovering.

Last year, the state recorded five cases of West Nile virus in humans.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Companies drilling for oil and natural gas in shale formations in Ohio might soon face new air pollution limits.

The new practice of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," in pursuit of gas can require multiple wells on a single site, creating a concentration of equipment that can leak hazardous airborne compounds. An Ohio Environmental Protection Agency spokesman tells The Columbus Dispatch that's causing concern about the pollutants the drilling operations might be releasing into the air.

The Ohio EPA has proposed permits that would set pollution limits.

An official for the Ohio Oil and Gas Association says the proposed regulations don't clash with industry interests.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it will spend $6 million to hire unemployed people who can work on Great Lakes cleanup projects.

Congress has appropriated $775 million over the past two years for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a wide-ranging plan to improve the region's environmental health.

Among the priorities are cleaning up toxic pollution, fighting invasive species, improving wildlife habitat and protecting watersheds from contaminated runoff.

Susan Hedman is the EPA's regional administrator in Chicago and says $6 million will go to the employment initiative. Each project it funds must provide jobs for at least 20 people.

Yesterday was Late Summer's Cross Quarter Day, the halfway mark to autumn equinox. Having dropped below the celestial equator in the first week of Late Summer, the sun leaves the stability of Leo and enters the more volatile sign of Virgo, the first of the more violent periods of change in the second half of the year.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Organizers say an Ohio charity bike ride for cancer research has had its most successful year yet, raising nearly $8.7 million over the weekend.

The three-year-old Pelotonia tour had collected a total of about $12.3 million in its first two years to support cancer work at Ohio State University.

Cyclists raised or committed money to ride one of several routes during the two-day event. The longest was a 180-mile round trip from Columbus to Athens.

The event's website says nearly 5,000 riders participated, beginning Saturday. That's up from nearly 2,300 in 2009, the inaugural race that included cycling star and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong.

ST. MARYS, Ohio - A Cleveland company has received a 1 million dollar federal grant to help create a facility that would turn animal waste into energy near Grand Lake St Marys.

 U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown announced today (Monday) that Quasar Energy Group will use the U.S. Department of Agriculture grant for a methane digester. The 2.2 million dollar facility would turn manure into methane that can be used for heating and converted into alternative vehicle fuel.

Manure and chemical runoffs from farms have led to high levels of phosphorus, which feeds blue-green algae. Brown says the digester project will also create clean-energy jobs near the lake between Dayton and Toledo.