The Dayton Daily News reported over the weekend that two men sprayed chemicals on about 300 Muslims, including a number of children, praying in their mosque Friday night.

Dayton fire District Chief Vince Wiley told the paper that someone - possibly two men seen by one of the children - had “sprayed an irritant into the mosque,” with a hand-held spray can.

The holy month of Ramadan, during which observant Muslims fast from dawn to sunset each day, concludes Thursday. Each evening during Ramadan Muslims break their 13- to 14-hour fast with prayer and a communal meal called the iftar.

The prayer session at the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton was stopped while those “suffering from tearing, coughing and shortness of breath could receive treatment,” according to the paper.

In a Sunday follow-up story, the paper said the police investigation was continuing. It also reported that “several Dayton religious groups were scheduled to view and…

Interesting recent story from The Journal-News in Hillsboro, Ill.

Here’s the lede:

For the purpose of Thursday night’s emergency exercise drill, the Continuing Recovery Center in Irving had become Irving Mosque, the home-base for a radical, heavily armed group with suspected terrorist ties.

According to the story, about 120 people in 30 different first-responder agencies took part in the drill, about 70 miles northeast of St. Louis. Some of those agencies included the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, the Illinois State Police Statewide Terrorism Intelligence Center, the Illinois Secretary of State Law Enforcement, the Illinois Secretary of State Bomb Squad, Madison County HazMat and Madison County Unified Command.

My favorite quote in the story (the only quote in the story) comes from Montgomery County EMA director Diana Holmes who said the exercise “went very well”:

I would like to thank everyone involved, and especially the folks in Irving who allowed us to use their community for this…