A school bus driver strike is over in northwest Georgia, but school bus routes won’t be going back to normal for the last week of school. Unionized bus drivers on Friday voted to accept a new contract with the private company that runs school buses for the Dalton school district after a five-day strike. Members of Local 1212 of the Amalgamated Transit Union say they won higher wages, paid vacation days, a retention bonus, a new grievance procedure and improvements to seniority, The three-year contract is with Cincinnati-based First Student. The 7,500-student district and First Student say a limited system of consolidated bus stops will continue until class ends Friday.
The independent bookselling community continues to grow, with membership in the American Booksellers Association reaching its highest levels in more than 20 years. Three years after the pandemic shut down most of the physical bookstores in the U.S. and the independent community feared hundreds might close permanently, the ABA has nearly 300 more members (under stricter rules for membership) than it did in 2019, the last full year before the spread of COVID-19. Allison Hill, CEO of the trade association, says “It speaks to a sea change coming out of the pandemic. Some new owners cite the rise in book bannings as the reason they went into bookstore ownership.
A new trial has been ordered for a man who spent more than a decade and a half on Ohio’s death row in the 2006 death of the 3-year-old son of his former live-in girlfriend. Fifty-four-year-old Lamont Hunter was convicted of aggravated murder, child endangering and rape in the death of Trustin Blue. Prosecutors agreed to a new trial after the deputy coroner who initially ruled the boy’s death a homicide changed that opinion two years ago, saying the cause of death was undetermined. She also said injuries she had attributed to sexual assault were accidentally inflicted at the hospital.
A new batch of states are looking to legislate the level of informed consent when it comes to medical students performing pelvic exams for educational purposes on unconscious patients. At least 20 states already have consent laws for this practice. Montana’s governor signed a bill in April, Missouri has legislation that needs the governor’s signature to become law and Ohio lawmakers are also considering it. Colorado lawmakers want to go a step further. That state's bill would require naming the involved students ahead of time and introducing them to the patients. Colorado’s proposed law wouldn’t allow others to step in if the other students were not available.
Authorities say a Fort Wayne man has died in an industrial incident at a northeastern Indiana steel plant. The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office says investigators believe Kevin Hartsock was working on machinery at the Heidtman Steel plant in Butler when he became pinned inside it. First responders say Hartsock was pronounced dead at the scene. The sheriff's officec says the incident occurred around 2 a.m. Friday. The cause of death hasn't been released. A receptionist at the plant says the Toledo, Ohio-based company has no immediate comment due to the pending investigation.
Manufacturers in Cleveland and other cities, including Buffalo, Chicago, and Milwaukee, are dealing with a retiring workforce that’s left thousands of jobs unfilled. Nationally, the industry’s job gap is projected to hit 2 million by 2030, according to the National Association of Manufacturers. And now with $5 million in federal stimulus money, they expect to help create thousands of new manufacturing jobs over the next few years. Philanthropy is investing millions of dollars in the Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network, a Cleveland nonprofit consulting group that’s leading the hiring push. The Cleveland Foundation has given $2.5 million as a capital building grant to the nonprofit and to help it set up the internships.
Police in Ohio say a man was killed and a second victim was wounded in a shooting at an auto plant Thursday night. Police Sgt. Andrew Parish says police and firefighters responded just after 9 p.m. to a report of an active shooter at the facility in Moraine operated by DMAX Ltd. Parish says a male suspect “targeted” and shot two people. One victim died at the scene and the other was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Parish says the male suspect also shot himself and was transported to a hospital for treatment. The DMAX plant in Moraine is a General Motors subsidiary providing diesel engines for pickup trucks.
A ballot question aimed at making it harder to amend Ohio's constitution has been cleared for an August vote. The Ohio Ballot Board voted Thursday to certify the question and assigned teams of Republican and Democratic lawmakers that will write pro and con arguments, respectively. Issue 1 will ask voters whether to raise the threshold for passing future constitutional amendments from a simple majority to 60%. Backers made clear during debate the higher bar is intended to vex a November issue that would enshrine a constitutional right to abortion access. Opponents call the higher threshold undemocratic.
A year and a half after the fatal shooting of its cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, the Alec Baldwin Western “Rust” is back on the market at the Cannes Film Festival, shopping for international buyers. Last month, “Rust” resumed shooting in Montana to finish the independently financed production that shut down following Hutchins’ death in October 2021. The Cannes film market is where “Rust” was first formed as a production in 2000. Goodfellas, a sales company formerly known as Wild Bunch International, is handling sales. “Rust” still lacks North American distribution.
School bus drivers are on strike in the northwest Georgia city of Dalton, leaving parents and school officials scrambling to take students to and from school. Bus drivers began manning picket lines on Monday, attacking what they say are anti-union actions by First Student, the Cincinnati-based company that contracts with Dalton schools to run buses. The district taught its 7,500 students online on Monday. On Tuesday and Wednesday, it held class in person but ran buses for only two of its 10 schools, where students were taking state-mandated tests. The company and union have been bargaining over wages, vacation time and insurance.
A bill that would ban nearly all diversity and inclusion training requirements at Ohio’s public colleges and universities has cleared the GOP-dominated Ohio Senate. The legislation approved Wednesday with a 21-10 vote also would prohibit faculty strikes and bar public universities from taking stances on “controversial” topics. Republican Sen. Jerry Cirino has said it is meant to promote “intellectual diversity” in colleges and universities. Opponents say the measure micromanages higher education and would create more censorship. The legislation also would require faculty to be evaluated on whether their classrooms were free of bias and bar state institutions from having financial relationships with Chinese universities. The bill goes next to the House.
Two New York Police Department officers ambushed and killed responding to a 911 call and the rookie cop who took down the gunman are among those who will be honored Wednesday by President Joe Biden with the Medal of Valor, the nation’s highest honor for bravery by a public safety officer. NYPD officer Wilbert Mora and his police partner Jason Rivera were shot Jan. 21, 2022, while responding to a call about a family dispute in a Harlem apartment. A rookie, Sumit Sulan, shot and killed the gunman, ending the deadly encounter moments after it began. Biden will also honor officers from Colorado, Ohio and Texas and three members of the FDNY.
Vending machines that have long been stocked with snacks are getting repurposed to distribute life-saving supplies to fight the opioid epidemic. A growing number of cities and local governments are using vending machines to distribute the overdose-reversing drug naloxone. The machines are often set up at libraries, post offices and other public buildings. They dispense naloxone and other items for free, including first aid kits. Vending supplier Shaffer Distributing is one of the companies that sells machines that have been redesigned to dispense naloxone and other public health items.
A Michigan prison inmate who was transported to an Ohio court has been missing for nearly two months after being mistakenly released from a jail there. Christopher Bibbs Jr. has an arm tattoo that says “only the strong survive.” Michigan authorities say Bibbs was “incorrectly released” from the Warren County, Ohio, jail on March 23 after being transported to face a criminal case. Authorities believe the 21-year-old Bibbs is in the Detroit area. Bibbs was serving a minimum sentence of four years in prison for carjacking. He was taken to Ohio for a different criminal case.
After decades of supporting poor, young baseball players as they began their professional careers, minor league host families have officially been phased out. As part of their first collective bargaining agreement with Major League Baseball this spring, minor league players negotiated an end to the practice. Players are now guaranteed furnished housing, something they are celebrating as a more professional arrangement. Many players are also sorry to see host family programs end. So are the families. One former host family organizer told The Associated Press that “when you open your home, you’re opening your heart. I’m so sad it’s not continuing.”
Dartmouth College says it has found the partial skeletal remains of 15 Native Americans housed in its anthropology department. The discovery in November set in motion efforts to repatriate the remains to the appropriate tribes. It is also sparking a larger conversation between the college and Native American students and alumni about why the remains sat for so long, how the college acquired them and who is to blame for the oversight. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires federally funded institutions, such as universities, to return remains and cultural items to the appropriate tribes.
Ohio has joined a growing number of Republican-led states moving to restrict citizens’ ability to bypass lawmakers through ballot initiatives. A resolution passed last week will ask Ohio voters in August to boost the threshold for passing constitutional amendments to 60% instead of a simple majority. Voters in Idaho, Missouri and North Dakota also could see Republican-backed ballot questions that seek to limit direct democracy next year. It's part of a trend that took off as left-leaning groups began increasingly using the initiative process to force public votes on issues opposed by GOP lawmakers but popular with voters, such as ensuring abortion rights.
A man has been charged in the death of a woman gunned down while walking her dog in a city park on the west side of Cleveland more than four years ago. Cuyahoga County prosecutors last week announced a grand jury indictment of 22-year-old DaJuan Evans in the January 2019 murder of 58-year-old Sheila Wallace in McGowan Park. Prosecutors allege that video evidence shows Evans and another male crossing paths with the victim, and him then turning and firing four shots. Evans is being held in lieu of $1 million bail on aggravated murder and other charges. Messages seeking comment were sent Sunday to his defense attorneys.
A federal jury has convicted a Roman Catholic priest of five sex-trafficking counts in the alleged molestation of three boys he met at a Toledo preschool. Prosecutors say he coerced them to continue sexual activity as adults. Prosecutors said Zacharias paid them "to engage in sex acts with him" using their fear of serious harm. The Toledo Blade reports that the 56-year-old defendant was taken to Lucas County jail to await sentencing. Defense attorneys had denied any sexual contact when the three were minors and said contact after that was consensual. The diocese of Toledo, which suspended him in 2020, said his status as a priest will be decided under church law.
Two men who admitted stuffing fish with lead weights and fish fillets in an attempt to win thousands of dollars in an Ohio fishing tournament last fall have been sentenced to ten-day jail terms and other penalties, including the forfeiture of a boat valued at $100,000. The cheating allegations surfaced in September when the Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament director became suspicious of fish turned in by Jacob Runyan, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, and Chase Cominsky, of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, were significantly heavier than typical walleye. A crowd of people at Gordon Park in Cleveland watched as Fischer cut the walleye open, and found weights and walleye fillets stuffed inside. The two men were sentenced Thursday.
The panel that will decide how Ohio distributes more than half the money from a settlement regarding the opioid addiction crisis must make its records publicly available. That's the unanimous decision issued Thursday by the state Supreme Court. The justices rejected OneOhio Recovery Foundation’s claim that it's a private nonprofit corporation and therefore not subject to the state’s open public records law. The justices found the foundation “misstates its function.” They noted that the panel isn't responsible for providing treatment, education or prevention services. Instead, its role is to give settlement money to those who provide such services. The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit by a drug policy reform group.
Officials say nine railcars from a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in Pennsylvania, with no hazardous chemicals on board and no reported injuries. The rail company said in a statement that the derailment happened late Wednesday outside of New Castle. It says crews responded immediately and are actively working at the site. The New Castle Fire Department said that at least some of the cars that derailed contained paraffin wax, which is used to make candles, and soybeans. New Castle is about 50 miles northwest of Pittsburgh near the Pennsylvania-Ohio state line.
A single legislative vote is all that stands now between a proposal aimed at making it tougher to amend Ohio’s constitution and a statewide vote. The politically fractured Ohio House has scheduled a vote Wednesday on a resolution that would ask voters to decide whether to raise the threshold for passing future amendments from the simple majority in place since 1912 to a 60% supermajority. Backers’ immediate goal is to thwart a constitutional amendment planned for November that would guarantee access to abortion in Ohio. Whether the proposal has the three-fifths majority vote required is yet to be seen.
A ban on transgender student-athletes playing girls’ sports in Ohio has cleared a House education panel along partisan lines. Wednesday's vote advances the latest attempt at such a measure. The proposal would require K-12 schools and universities to designate separate teams for male and female sexes. Supporters say the proposal is about fairness. However lawmakers have not been able to point to specific instances in Ohio where transgender participation has been an issue. Opponents say the possible ban is cruel, and Ohio's Republican governor has questioned the need for it. The full House could vote on the measure next week.
Norfolk Southern has recommitted to setting up a fund for East Palestine, Ohio residents whose homes have declined in value since a train derailment there earlier this year. CEO Alan Shaw said in a letter on Tuesday that while the company has total accrued charges of almost $400 million for the derailment, that amount doesn’t include expected costs for funds tied to falling property values, long term health care or water treatment. Shaw said the company was “undertaking these efforts and expenses without any judicial or investigatory finding of fault.”
An increasingly unpopular effort by a group of Ohio Republicans to make it harder to change the state constitution by direct voting faces a critical juncture this week. Secretary of State Frank LaRose says Wednesday is the deadline to pass the proposal. It would require a supermajority of voters to pass future constitutional amendments, including efforts to keep abortion legal and restrict guns. State anti-abortion and pro-gun rights groups are pressuring lawmakers to support a special August election and a resolution placing the 60% question on that ballot. The fate of both are uncertain amid Republican concerns and growing opposition.
The Navy has commissioned the USS Cooperstown, named for the New York state village where the Baseball Hall of Fame is located and honoring the 70 members who served in the military during wartime. Hall of Famers Joe Torre and Johnny Bench took part in the ceremony in New York City on Saturday. Torre delivered remarks and Bench presented a long glass, a nautical telescope. The littoral combat ship was built in Wisconsin and christened in 2020. It was delivered to the Navy in September and is based in Mayport, Florida.
Ohio will have until the end of June to finish a plan to aimed at combating toxic algae blooms that have flourished in Lake Erie since the late 1990s. The deadline is part of settlement agreement approved by a federal judge on Thursday. The consent decree also calls for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to either approve the plan or come up with its own if it determines the state’s proposal isn’t strong enough. The agreement brings an end to a lawsuit seeking to force mandatory pollution rules for the lake following algae outbreaks that have fouled drinking water.
When Julia and Robert Jones discovered that a judge from the Akron Municipal Court in Ohio was officiating “Star Wars”-themed weddings on May the Fourth — essentially a holiday for fans of the franchise — the couple felt the force calling them to commit to the ceremony. They joined six other couples in having 15-minute wedding ceremonies at the Highland Universal Gathering Spot in Akron on Thursday. Most of the newlyweds dressed in more traditional wedding attire, but the Joneses wore long tunics for the theme — Julia resembling a member of the Sith, and Robert looking like a Jedi.
A man who pleaded guilty in the 2017 slaying of a southeastern Michigan woman who was fatally shot after being bound with holiday lights has been sentenced to 15-25 years in prison. A Wayne County judge sentenced 34-year-old Shane Lamar Evans on Thursday. The Detroit News reports Evans is one of three men who were charged in the murder of 27-year-old Egypt Covington. He pleaded guilty in April to second-degree murder in her killing. Covington was found dead in June 2017, inside her home southwest of Detroit. Her hands were bound with holiday string lights and she had been shot in the head.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A summer day camp designed to help kids develop resiliency and healthy social-emotional skills returns to five northcentral West Virginia counties this summer. Camp Mindful Warriors, a program presented by the West Virginia University Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute’s …
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