Officials: Ohio to ease seaplane landing rules at lakes

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A state agency wants to expand the number of Ohio lakes where seaplane pilots can take off and land.

The Columbus Dispatch reports the expansion would allow pilots to use certain lakes without first obtaining state permits.

Grand Lake St. Marys is the only Ohio lake where permits aren’t required.

Republican state Sen. Bill Coley of Butler County’s Liberty Township is pushing for the expansion. Coley, a licensed pilot, says he wants to enhance travel and tourism in Ohio.

An Ohio Department of Natural Resources spokesman says the agency will ask the Federal Aviation Administration to designate Buckeye Lake, Indian Lake, Long Lake and Salt Fork Reservoir as seaplane bases for pilots to use freely.

It’s unclear when the changes would take effect.

Historic lighthouse returns to Lake Erie after renovations

PORT CLINTON, Ohio (AP) — A historic lighthouse has been renovated and returned to the Lake Erie waterfront after being floated across the Portage River.

Hundreds gathered last week to watch the Port Clinton Lighthouse moved from a marina to a Port Clinton city park along the lake. The 26-foot-tall wooden lighthouse was originally built in 1896, decommissioned in the early 1950s and then moved to a marina, where it deteriorated over the next 60 years.

The Port Clinton Lighthouse Conservancy began restoring it five years ago. A crane lifted the 12,000-pound lighthouse onto a barge for the river crossing last week before it was set on the back of a trailer and moved to Waterworks Park.

The conservancy group hopes to make the lighthouse a museum.

Ohio health centers to get $3.1M in grants to improve care

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio is getting more than $3 million in federal grants to improve services and conditions at state health centers.

The 41 awards were recently announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The agency says the health centers are getting the money based on performance measures that include enhancing access to care and delivering value.

The source for the money is the Affordable Care Act’s Community Health Center Fund.

More than $100 million in grants were awarded nationally to 1,304 health centers.

AG says killers in Pike County familiar with victims, area

WAVERLY, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio attorney general says whoever killed eight members from the same family in southern Ohio were familiar with the victims, their homes and the surrounding area.

Attorney General Mike DeWine has also told the Cincinnati Enquirer that the FBI, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Department of Homeland Security have worked with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and other agencies on what’s become a months-long investigation.

Eight members of the Rhoden family were found shot to death in four Pike County homes in April. No one has been arrested for the slayings.

DeWine told the newspaper that people living in the area know more than what they’ve told investigators.

The Pike County sheriff has said more than one person was involved in killing the Rhodens.