Ohio’s former chairman of the Public Utilities Commissioner, facing charges in the state’s biggest corruption case, has been found dead. The body of Sam Randazzo was discovered late Tuesday morning in a building he owned in Columbus. He was 74.
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A study published this week by Center for Justice Research, a partnership between the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Bowling Green State University, revealed gun crime decreased in six of Ohio’s eight largest cities following the implementation of the Constitutional Carry law.
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Three men have been arrested and charged with murder following an altercation at a south Columbus Kroger earlier this month, according to the Columbus Police Department (CPD).
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Ohio plans to build two dozen fast electric vehicle charging stations after it became the first state to open a charger funded by the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program.
The announcements come as car dealers across the country told President Joe Biden electric vehicles continue to stack up on car lots, as previously reported by The Center Square.
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Two men from Columbus have pleaded guilty in a case involving the armed robbery of a United States Postal Service (USPS) mail carrier, according to the Southern District of Ohio U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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Columbus officials won’t back away from their fight to enact more restrictive gun laws than the state allows.
City Attorney Zach Klein filed a motion to dismiss the state’s challenge of ordinances dealing with gun storage, high-capacity magazines and illegal guns, all more restrictive than state law.
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Chicago is the latest major city to sue Hyundai and Kia for failing to equip their U.S. cars for more than a decade with anti-theft technology, which was exposed on social media last year and made the vehicles a target for criminals.
“Unlike the movies, hot-wiring vehicles is far harder than it appears—unless that vehicle was manufactured by Hyundai or Kia,” the lawsuit filed Thursday by the city of Chicago states.
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“I’ve put everything on the line and I will never yield. I never yield. I will never be deterred. I will never stop fighting for you.”
That was former President Donald Trump in Columbus, Georgia on June 10 in his first appearance after being indicted by the U.S. Justice Department on supposed violations of the Espionage Act over documents Trump says he declassified before leaving office, with Trump unsurprisingly using the prosecution to his political advantage in his 2024 election bid to oust President Joe Biden.
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Ohio cities can return to creating gun safety ordinances more than three years after the city of Columbus filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a bill passed by the General Assembly in 2018.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said Friday the state will appeal a Franklin County judge’s ruling that temporarily blocked part of the state law that stops cities from creating local gun restrictions.
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A new study released this week by a Columbus-based nonprofit observed that, with the exception of Ohio’s capital city and its surrounding suburbs, the Buckeye State is losing population.
The paper by the Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC), titled “Ohio + Columbus: A Tale of Two States,” posits that “much of Ohio functions like a legacy state rather than a rapidly growing place.” In other words, many places in the state experienced manufacturing booms a century ago but have seen industrial activity quickly decline in recent decades.
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With the midterm election, less than a week away Ohio voters are going to decide on bond measures, tax levies, charter amendments, bail considerations, and who is allowed to vote in local Ohio elections across the state.
With the large ballot at hand here is an overview of the state and city-wide ballot measures in Ohio.
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On Columbus Day 2022, the disconnect between institutions over whether to commemorate Christopher Columbus persisted, with many organizations aligned with progressives and the Democratic Party making no mention of America’s discoverer and celebrating “Indigenous People’s Day” instead.
Conservative politicians and candidates happily celebrated the holiday.
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Ohio’s largest city wants to spend $200 million on affordable housing if voters approve borrowing a total of $1.5 billion in November.
Columbus mayor Andrew Ginther had previously said the city has a goal of combining $1 billion in public and private funds to meet housing needs in the region, calling housing a regional problem.
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Central Ohio’s oldest mall faces demolition if it cannot be brought back up to code, owing to two years’ worth of accumulating citations and warnings by City Code Enforcement and a judge declaring it a public nuisance.
“The owner is working on improvements,” mall manager Nihal Weerasinghe told The Ohio Star. “He is committed to uplift the mall by the end of the year.”
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One Ohio city ranks in the top five of best places to retire in the nation, and four others rank among the best of the nation’s largest cities, according to a new report from WalletHub, a personal finance website.
Cincinnati ranked third – behind only Charleston, South Carolina and Orlando – in the report that compared the retiree-friendliness of more than 180 cities using 46 metrics, such as cost of living to retired taxpayers to the state’s health infrastructure.
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Students in Ohio’s largest school district will begin classes Wednesday remotely after teachers rejected a final contract offer and voted to strike late Sunday night.
Columbus Education Association teachers were on the picket line at several school buildings Monday morning, the first day teachers were scheduled to report, after 94% of its members voted to strike for the first time since 1975.
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Teachers in Ohio’s largest school district are prepared to continue negotiations over the weekend but have scheduled a Sunday meeting for a vote on a potential strike.
After 12 hours of negotiating Thursday, the Columbus City Board of Education made what it called its final contract offer, which teachers called substantially unchanged from their most recent.
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Ohio’s largest city is not considering another mask mandate despite recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a growing number of COVID-19 cases.
The city of Columbus has issued a mask advisory, urging masks indoors and in crowded places, despite vaccine statues, until further notice, Columbus Public Health spokeswoman Kelli Newman said.
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An illegal alien from Guatemala who has lived in Columbus, Ohio, for the past seven years has been arrested and charged with raping and impregnating a 10-year-old girl.
The Columbus Dispatch reported Wednesday Gerson Fuentes, 27, who has been working in a café, confessed to raping the child on at least two occasions and has been charged with rape, a first degree felony in Ohio.
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Nearly two years after protests filled the streets of downtown Columbus, the state’s largest city took steps to demilitarize its police force Monday by limiting certain weapons and equipment that can be used during peaceful protests.
The Columbus City Council unanimously approved a new ordinance that limits police from using tear gas, wooden or rubber bullets, batons, flash-bang grenades and other items on nonviolent protesters on streets and sidewalks.
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Ohio’s largest city filed suit Wednesday to stop a new law that allows medical providers to deny treatment based on their beliefs.
Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein filed the suit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on behalf of the city of Columbus, challenging the law, known as the “Conscience Clause,” that protects individuals and health care payers who deny care or payment for any service they feel violates their conscience.
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A “solidarity fund” has been created for Starbucks employees at a Columbus store as they attempt to join coworkers nationwide in unionizing, a process they say is being opposed by the coffee giant.
“In Columbus, OH, a courageous and amazing group of Starbucks workers have come together at the 88 E. Broad St. store to form their Union with Starbucks Workers United! They are fighting for better wages, safe working conditions, and a voice at their worksite,” says a GoFundMe page organized by former Columbus mayoral candidate Liliana Baiman.
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City leaders from Bexley, Whitehall, Worthington, and Columbus met with Columbus Public Health Commissioner Dr. Mysheika Roberts and Franklin County Health Commissioner Joe Mazzola recently to receive an update on the status of the spread of COVID-19 in the community, according to a statement by the city of Columbus.
Currently, each city has local orders in place requiring the wearing of face coverings indoors, however, Dr. Roberts reported that both COVID-19 transmission rates and hospitalizations have continued to decline dramatically. If current trends continue, each city expects to consider lifting local face covering requirements in the coming weeks, according to the press release.
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According to a U.S. congresswoman from Ohio, the United States Postal Service (USPS) will conduct audits of its policies and procedures after a massive uptick in mail theft and violence against mail carriers has the public up in arms.
“For years now, Central Ohioans have struggled with slow and unreliable USPS deliveries, particularly in the Northland area serviced by the Innis Road branch and Southeast Columbus,” Representative Joyce Beatty (D-OH-03) reportedly said. “These audits are the first step to restoring the rapid, reliable deliveries Americans should expect from their Postal Service. We expect to receive full reports from the USPS following the completion of the audits in the coming weeks, and I will work with local officials to ensure the necessary investments and solutions are put in place.”
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Ohio’s issues with mail theft and violence against postal workers do not appear to be slowing, as postal workers in Cleveland are taking extraordinary measures to keep thieves from stealing mail.
Just a week after The Ohio Star reported on a string of robberies of postal workers in the Columbus area, Cleveland’s United State Postal Service (USPS) employees have been forced to tape shut their ubiquitous blue mailboxes to prevent thieves from breaking in and stealing mail, according to reports.
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“The Postal Inspection Service data revealed that mail theft reports soared by 600% over three years, from about 25,000 in 2017 to roughly 177,000 through August of 2020,” Frank Albergo said. “But when asked to explain the apparent explosion in mail theft, the Inspection Service backtracked and said the figures might be inaccurate.”
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Columbus is facing a United States Postal Service (USPS) challenge as several mail carriers have now been robbed at gunpoint and their universal mailbox keys stolen.
“A gunman held up a letter carrier on Partridge Place in north Columbus on Jan. 27 when he was in the middle of his delivery route,” WTTE reported.
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Cleveland’s last homicide in a record-setting 2021 occurred when an off-duty police officer was shot and killed during a carjacking on New Year’s Eve.
“Preliminary investigation indicates that a suspect approached the victim in the parking lot of the apartment building with a gun, a struggle ensued and the victim was shot twice by the suspect,” Cleveland police said in a statement. “The suspect then fled in the victim’s vehicle. The victim was conveyed to Fairview Hospital by Cleveland EMS where he was pronounced deceased.”
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As central Ohio sees crime rates soar, one prosecutor is working to reign in police departments.
In a shocking interview with WBNS, Franklin County Prosecutor Gary Tyack said his office is working to protect the African American community from police, and that it is focused on prosecuting police officers.
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Of the $6.6 billion given to Ohio cities in federal pandemic relief funds, much of the money has been allotted for projects unrelated to COVID-19, or has not been allotted for spending at all.
The American Rescue Plan was signed into law in March, providing a total of $1.9 trillion in federal funds for pandemic relief. That money was spread around the country, and cities were supposed to report their expenditure plans to the federal government by Oct. 31.
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The forensic pathologist hired to perform an autopsy on Andrew Brown Jr., a black man sheriff’s deputies killed in North Carolina earlier this month, resigned under scrutiny as a county medical examiner in 2013 and had his medical license temporarily suspended in 2018, according to filings with the North Carolina state medical board.
Brent Hall, who runs an autopsy-for-hire company called Autopsy PC, said in his autopsy report that Brown was shot five times, including once in the back of the head.
Brown’s family members and their legal team, led by Benjamin Crump, hired Hall to perform a private autopsy on Brown. They cited the autopsy results as evidence that Brown was executed by police.
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Sunday night, CBS’ “60 Minutes” chronicled the struggle in the city of Columbus, especially among young people, during the COVID-19 lockdowns that cost many their livelihoods.
The center of the segment was 23-year-old Courtney Yoder, who before the pandemic was homeless, and had almost saved enough money from working to be able to move off the streets before the birth of her first child.
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Two Ohioans filed lawsuits this week challenging Ohio tax law that allows cities to tax income of workers who, the lawsuits say, do not live in nor work in the municipalities.
The Buckeye Institute, an independent research and educational group, filed the lawsuits on behalf of Eric Denison and Josh Schaad against the cities of Columbus and Cincinnati. The lawsuits ask the court to declare unconstitutional Ohio law that allows cities to tax workers who do not live in and have not been working in those cities.
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Former Columbus Police Officer Adam Coy has been indicted on murder charges following the death of Andre Hill, the Ohio attorney general’s office announced on Wednesday.
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Officer Adam Coy has been fired from the Columbus Division of Police in Ohio after he fatally shot Andre Hill, a Black man, officials announced on Monday after a disciplinary hearing.
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With Ohioans facing an ongoing curfew and continued pressure from Gov. Mike DeWine to stay at home, the state’s largest city plans to take steps to help both restaurants and their customers.
In an effort to help small businesses and the restaurant community, the Columbus City Council announced plans for legislation to cap third-party delivery services, according to President Pro Tem Elizabeth Brown and Council President Shannon G. Hardin.
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A series of marches supporting President Donald Trump and to demand election integrity are being held throughout the country at noon local time on Saturday.
The March for Trump will be held in every state capitol as well as at Freedom Plaza, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C., according to the event website. The website links to America First Projects.
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A statue of Christopher Columbus will not be removed from the grounds of the Ohio Statehouse until at least 2025, officials said Thursday.
The 9-foot-tall, copper statue of Columbus, in place since 1932, will remain erected in front of the Statehouse in the largest city that bears the explorer’s name until a formal process for removal is undergone by the agency that manages the grounds.
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The Buckeye Institute said that it and three employees filed a lawsuit over the taxing of workers’ income in Columbus since they do not live in the city and were not allowed to work there during Ohio’s Stay-at-Home order.
The lawsuit, which is available here, was filed in the Court of Common Pleas in Franklin County.
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Two Republican state senators asked the Minnesota Historical Society to repair and restore a Christopher Columbus statue that was torn down outside the Minnesota Capitol three weeks ago.
Although the incident took place in broad daylight and was recorded by countless news stations and reporters, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said last week the investigation remains ongoing.
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Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) announced he is looking into whether the Ohio Capitol can be annexed from the City of Columbus’ city limits as a result of the city not protecting the Capitol from recent protests.
“We’re researching it currently. If Columbus isn’t interested in protecting state property we need to consider removing Cap Square from the City,” he said in an emailed statement.
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Ohio House Democrats unsuccessfully attempted last week to ban the sale, display, possession, or distribution of Confederate flags at county and independent fairs.
During a Thursday night debate on House Bill 665, a bill related to agricultural societies and public safety, Democrats introduced two amendments in an effort to crack down on Confederate memorabilia.
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The Franklin County Democratic Party has decided that the local Fraternal Order of Police does not need to endorse any of its candidates.
Party Chairman Michael Sexton informed the FOP Capital City Lodge #9 of the decision in a letter, available on the Democratic chapter’s Facebook page here from a Friday post.
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The protesters and activists who tore down a statue of Christopher Columbus outside the Minnesota Capitol Wednesday faced virtually no resistance from state leaders or law enforcement.
In fact, after the statue was toppled over, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said Minnesota “is long overdue for a hard look at the symbols, statues, and icons that were created without the input of many of our communities.”
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The Ohio Legislative Black Caucus announced Friday that it plans to introduce legislation to declare racism a “public health crisis.”
“Our citizens of color have been subjected to the effects of racism since the founding of the State of Ohio in 1803. Since that time, Ohioans of color have endured unequal education, unsafe work conditions, inadequate health care services, subpar housing and an unjust criminal justice system, based on policies that were rooted in a belief that people of color are not worthy of the American Dream,” said a statement from the caucus sent to every member of the Ohio General Assembly.
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Ohio Democrats said they were “outraged” by Gov. Mike DeWine’s proposal for addressing the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Ohio’s black population.
African Americans make up 14 percent of Ohio’s population, but represent 26 percent of positive COVID-19 cases, 31 percent of COVID-19 hospitalizations, and 17 percent of COVID-19 deaths.
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Gov. Mike DeWine said he is prepared to “pull back” on Ohio’s reopening.
The governor made the remark Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
”Candidly, we’ve worked with the attorney general … and we’re going to do what we have to do if these things in fact occur across Ohio.”
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Protesters gathered outside the Ohio Statehouse in downtown Columbus Friday to protest Gov. Mike DeWine’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic for at least the second time this week.
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Approximately 150 people gathered outside the State Capitol in Columbus Monday to tell Gov. Mike DeWIne and Health Department Director Amy Action that it’s past time to reopen the state.
Tom Zawistowski, president of Ohio Tea Party group We the People Convention, estimated the attendance, in an interview with The Ohio Star. This was the second such protest since last Thursday.
Many of the protestors called out, “You’re getting a paycheck, we’re not,” Zawistowski said.
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An illegal immigrant who was helping imprisoned members of MS-13 in Columbus, Ohio was sentenced to 10 months in prison last week.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio said Wednesday that Fabian Posadas-Mejia will receive a year of supervised release after his prison term and will be subject to deportation upon completing his sentence.
Authorities said they first encountered Posadas-Mejia nearly 25 years ago when he was ordered to be removed from the United States. He was then deported twice in 2014 and once in 2017, meaning he illegally reentered the country at least three times.
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