A Chinese man who entered the U.S. illegally has been indicted by a Coshocton County grand jury on 309 felony charges related to a gift card counterfeiting scheme, according to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office.
Ming Xue, 32, of Hunan, Fujian – a province on the southeastern coast of China – faces 308 counts of counterfeiting and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, according to Yost’s office.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Thursday the Department of Justice (DOJ), three states, and the District of Columbia all joined his antitrust lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Transfer Eligibility Rule this week.
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An investigation conducted by the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force has resulted in six alleged members of a violent crime ring in south Columbus being indicted on a combined 124 felony charges, according to Attorney General Dave Yost’s office.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Thursday his rejection of a proposed constitutional amendment that would amend Ohio’s constitution by rewriting election rules.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Monday that 160 individuals have been arrested as a result of a week-long human trafficking crackdown across the state.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is urging Ohioans to take caution as Carfentanil, a lethal synthetic opioid, has reemerged in several drug cases across the state.
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The Ohio Ballot Board approved new ballot language for State Issue 1 following an Ohio Supreme Court ruling that the board rewrites the proposal to address issues in the ballot text of the previously approved version.
The new version approved by the Ballot Board in a 3-2 vote split down party lines summarizes for voters what State Issue 1 would do if passed, updated a section of text that the state Supreme Court said misrepresented the new threshold of voter signatures that amendment campaigns must amass from each Ohio county to be eligible for the ballot and removed the term “any” from the title of the ballot wording.
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On Monday, The Ohio Ballot Board unanimously certified that the proposed constitutional amendment that would raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour called “Raise the Wage Ohio Amendment” incorporates only one constitutional amendment and therefore advances.
The Committee to Represent the Petitioners including Prentiss Haney, Taneisha Latoya Head, Kandiss Bondurant, Mary Jo Ivan, Diane Morgan, and Andrew Ritterman must now gather over 413,000 signatures from registered voters in at least 44 counties, which equals 10 percent of the votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election before July 5th. The number of signatures must equal at least 5 percent of the votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial race in each county.
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State Representative Scott Wiggam (R- Wayne County) sent a letter on Tuesday to moderate Republican House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) urging him to move the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment to the House floor as soon as it passes out of committee for an August election.
This follows Stephens removing Wiggam from his position as chair of the House Constitutional Resolutions Committee and the committee all together due to Wiggam signing a discharge petition last week to accelerate the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment, also known as House Joint Resolution (HJR) 1, which aims to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments.
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A Republican lawmaker introduced legislation to improve protections for Ohio businesses from fraud, theft, and scams.
Senate Bill (SB) 98, sponsored by State Senator Michael Rulli (R-Salem), contains solutions Rulli says will allow Ohio businesses to combat those issues.
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The Ohio Attorney General’s Office certified the petition summary on Thursday for “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety,” a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize abortion throughout the state. The amendment would add Section 22 to Article 1 of the state Constitution.
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A coalition of abortionists and pro-choice activists have announced their intent to file a ballot initiative to insert legalized abortion in the Ohio Constitution.
The group called Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom is a group formed by the left-leaning organizations the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio, Abortion Fund of Ohio, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, and others.
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The Ohio House passed a bill Wednesday, with bipartisan support, that would decriminalize Fentanyl testing strips, pushing forward with a proposal that supporters claim will help prevent fatal overdoses and save lives.
In the state of Ohio Fentanyl drug testing strips are considered drug paraphernalia and it’s illegal for someone to be in possession of them.
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A curfew imposed in downtown Akron, OH on Monday, July 4, continues in the aftermath of the death of Jayland Walker by police gunfire.
The curfew applies during the hours between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. It resulted in the cancellation of fireworks to celebrate July Fourth at several sites in the city. Municipal officials noted that although protests in response to the shooting were peaceful early on Monday, evening demonstrations turned violent and resulted in serious damage to businesses on Main Street.
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After the top attorneys in Texas, Montana and Missouri announced that they would be leaving the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), Ohio appears poised to remain part of the group.
“The attorneys general of Texas, Missouri and Montana have decided to withdraw our states’ membership from NAAG,” said a letter penned by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R).
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A failed candidate for Ohio Attorney General and former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Monday was tapped by President Joe Biden to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
“Today, to lead and support the dedicated men and women of the ATF, I’m proud to nominate Steve Dettelbach,” Biden said during a Rose Garden speech, apologizing for mispronouncing his pick’s last name. “Steve is immensely qualified. He served the Department of Justice for two decades. He worked side by side to support the work of federal, state and local law enforcement, including ATF agents. One of the cases he personally tried as a U.S. Attorney were the serial arsonists who firebombed the courthouses and police headquarters in Mansfield, Ohio.”
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – A bill drafted in the Ohio House of Representatives that would remove penalties enforced on businesses for COVID violations may have a rallying point after two separate videos were sent to The Ohio Star – in them tipsters allege Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Director Stephanie McCloud and her husband are both spotted on separate occasions inside a Columbus area establishment where there appear to be violations of statewide COVID regulations.
According to information obtained from the Ohio Investigative Unit (OIU)– the officials who go undercover in bars and restaurants – the establishment where both McClouds are seen had not received a citation for violating COVID orders between March 2020 and March 2021.
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Columbus Division of Police released body camera footage Tuesday night showing the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant that occurred earlier in the day. Wednesday afternoon, police released additional body cam recordings and two 911 calls.
Interim Chief of Police Michael Woods said it’s uncommon for information to be provided this soon, but officials understand the public’s need, desire and expectation to have transparency about what happened.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said he wants the public to weigh in on the question of whether internet search engines should be “allowed to favor their own products and services in search results.”
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Steven Dettelbach, former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio and 2018 Democratic attorney general candidate, joined nearly 800 U.S. Department of Justice alumni in suggesting that President Donald Trump obstructed justice in a Monday letter. “Each of us believes that the conduct of President Trump described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting president, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice,” the letter begins. It goes on to state that the “Mueller report describes several acts that satisfy all of the elements for an obstruction charge.” These acts include, according to the letter, conduct “that obstructed or attempted to obstruct the truth-finding process.” The letter claims that the “evidence of corrupt intent and connection to pending proceeding is overwhelming.” It discusses in detail the “attempts to fire Mueller and then create false evidence,” the “attempts to limit the Mueller investigation,” and the evidence of “witness tampering and intimidation.” “As former federal prosecutors, we recognize that prosecuting obstruction of justice cases is critical because unchecked obstructions—which allows intentional interference with criminal investigations to go unpunished—puts our…
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