Ohio News Briefs

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Cincinnati-area authorities say spike in overdoses continues

CINCINNATI (AP) — Cincinnati-area authorities say a spike in overdoses continues as investigators try to determine what drug is causing the increase and identify its source.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Cincinnati police and emergency crews responded to 39 overdoses from Monday through 1 a.m. Wednesday. Police and the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition estimate that brings the total number of overdoses since the spike began Aug. 19 to an estimated 270.

Investigators believe heroin involved in some of the overdoses was mixed with another drug such as a powerful painkiller or animal tranquilizer. Officials have said previously that it’s likely that not all the overdoses involve heroin.

Officials in Union Township in Clermont County, east of Cincinnati, reported six overdoses Monday. That compares with a typical day of no overdoses or one.

Eligible Ohio voters encouraged to register before election

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — More than 1.6 million eligible voters who have yet to register in Ohio will soon hear from the state’s elections chief.

Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted says his office is mailing unregistered voters details about how to sign up to cast a ballot this fall. Cards containing the information were to be sent starting Friday.

The outreach program comes after a partnership with the Electronic Registration Information Center, which helped to identify the eligible voters.

Ohioans who wish to vote in the Nov. 8 presidential election must register to do so by Oct. 11.

Ohio is a perennial presidential battleground state. It’s been carried by every winning candidate for president since 1964.

Man shot in hand when his gun goes off during dental work

NEW CARLISLE, Ohio (AP) — Authorities say a patient at an Ohio dentist’s office was shot in the hand when his gun went off while he was having dental work done.

The Springfield News-Sun reports the man was taken to a hospital for treatment of the injury, which wasn’t considered serious. No other injuries were reported.

Sgt. Chad Brown of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office says it’s not clear why the gun fired during a dental procedure Wednesday at a dentist’s office in New Carlisle, about 10 miles northeast of Dayton. Brown says the patient has a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

No other injuries were reported.

Additional 14 people indicted in city of Dayton theft scam

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — A prosecutor says an additional 14 people have been indicted for their roles in a scam that cost the city of Dayton about $385,000.

Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. said Wednesday the defendants face theft and other charges.

The indictments bring to 45 the number of people implicated in the scheme dating to 2009.

A former law director’s office employee at the center of the scam was sentenced last year to five years in prison.

Authorities say Christen Turner approved false claims between 2009 and 2013 that she and others created against Dayton in friends’ names, with conspirators splitting the money.

Heck says that previously another 19 people were prosecuted and 11 were allowed to enter a program that helps individuals avoid prosecution by paying fees and taking classes.

Ohio police: Officers shoot, kill man who ran down officer

SYLVANIA, Ohio (AP) — Police in suburban Toledo say officers shot and killed a suspect after he ran down an officer.

Authorities in Sylvania Township say two officers were hurt early Tuesday, but they’re expected to be OK.

A deputy police chief tells WTOL-TV in Toledo that one of the officers was in a driveway trying to detain the man when he hit him with a car.

He says the suspect tried to hit the officer again and that the officers felt they were in danger.

Ohio woman sentenced to 13 years in bicyclist’s death

CINCINNATI (AP) — A woman who pleaded no contest to charges in the hit-and-run death of a bicyclist in southwestern Ohio has been sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Melinda Woodall was sentenced Wednesday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. She earlier pleaded no contest to charges including aggravated vehicular homicide, failing to stop after a crash and drug possession in 42-year-old Michael Prater’s death.

A no-contest plea isn’t an admission of guilt, but is treated similarly to a guilty plea for sentencing purposes.

Woodall read an apology to Prater’s family in court.

Authorities say the 35-year-old Amelia woman’s SUV struck Prater while he was riding his bicycle Jan. 31 in suburban Cincinnati. He died the next day.

Sheriff’s deputies have said Woodall failed to call 911 and left the crash scene.

Driver in crash that killed Ohio firefighter pleads guilty

CINCINNATI (AP) — A man accused of striking and killing a Cincinnati firefighter who was driving to work has pleaded guilty to a charge of vehicular homicide.

Court records show that Patric Tucker pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge this week in Hamilton County Municipal Court. Police said the 24-year-old Springdale man was driving the car that struck firefighter Jordan Pieniazek (puh-NAY’-zek) on May 1. Authorities say the firefighter was traveling to work on a motorcycle when Tucker’s car went left of center and hit Pieniazek head-on.

Police said drugs and alcohol weren’t factors in the crash.

Tucker’s attorney, Clyde Bennett II, also has said that Tucker wasn’t impaired and that he wasn’t using his cellphone at the time of the crash.

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