Ohio News Briefs

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Ohio Patrol: Man fatally shot by trooper a homicide suspect

VANDALIA, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Highway Patrol says a trooper fatally shot a knife-wielding man suspected of homicide after he had rammed his car into the rear of a patrol vehicle.

Patrol Lt. Robert Sellers says the shooting was just after 1 a.m. EDT Tuesday in Vandalia, just north of Dayton. He says the trooper had made a traffic stop shortly before his vehicle was rammed.

Sellers says the driver of the ramming car got out holding a knife and moved toward the trooper. He says the trooper fired after the man refused commands to drop the weapon. Emergency vehicles were called, but the man died at the scene.

The man has been identified as 36-year-old Dana Dubose. Authorities say he was suspected in the slaying of a woman late Monday.

Auditor to look into school’s claims on critical ad

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s auditor says his office plans to “get to the bottom” of where funding came from for an online charter school’s television ad attacking Ohio’s effort to have the school repay $60 million.

Auditor Dave Yost has warned the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow that it’s not allowed to fund such advertising with taxpayer dollars intended for education. A response from ECOT’s superintendent says the ad stopped airing last week. He says it wasn’t funded by the school, contradicting an ECOT spokesman’s earlier explanation reported in The Columbus Dispatch.

Yost says in a statement emailed Tuesday that his office will looking into the conflicting information.

ECOT is locked in a multi-pronged legal battle over how Ohio officials tallied student log-ins to determine funding.

Anti-tax group urges Ohio against health insurer hike

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A conservative group wants Ohio lawmakers to let stand Gov. John Kasich’s veto of a proposal to increase taxes on health insurers that would have sent money to counties and regional bus services.

State lawmakers proposed the idea to offset lost revenue from a sales tax being discontinued by the federal government on Medicaid-managed care organizations. Kasich administration officials say he vetoed the $207 million tax increase proposal because it would’ve risked losing a bigger chunk of money and created a $615 million loss for Medicaid.

Anti-tax activist Grover Norquist wrote Tuesday for his Washington-based Americans for Tax Reform urging legislators to reject any efforts to override the veto on raising health insurer taxes. He says asking Washington for a tax hike “is not a good look for Ohio.”

Another university in Ohio bans use of tobacco on campus

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Another university in Ohio is now officially tobacco-free.

The Dayton Daily News reports that Wright State University’s new policy took effect Saturday at the school’s campuses in Dayton and Celina. The policy prohibits smoking and the use of other tobacco products.

The University of Akron and Kent State University also have bans on tobacco products that took effect Saturday. Ohio State University and Miami University already were tobacco-free.

Wright State made the decision to ban tobacco products last November. The policy was approved about five years after the school first considered the move.

The state’s higher education department recommended in 2012 that all public universities in Ohio be tobacco-free.

Akron officers to join list of police wearing body cameras

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Police in a northeastern Ohio city will begin wearing body cameras later this month as the Akron department trains its officers to use that technology.

The Akron Beacon Journal reports that the city plans to start using 145 police body cameras, which will be worn on the officers’ chests. Another 100 cameras are expected to be added in August.

Deputy Police Chief Ken Ball says the department is in the process of identifying which officers will be trained initially. They will then help train colleagues about how to use the devices and when to turn them on.

Ball says the department will phase out decade-old vehicle dashboard cameras that don’t have audio recording capability and capture only a limited slice of what’s happening.

Ohio schools advised after court’s student search ruling

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An association representing Ohio school boards is offering advice to districts following a court’s decision upholding the constitutionality of a student’s backpack search.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in May that the search furthered the “compelling governmental interest” in protecting students from harm.

A Columbus city high school security official searched the backpack in 2013 after it was found on a bus. The official conducted a second search after he recalled the student had alleged gang ties.

That search led to finding a gun on the student.

The Ohio School Boards Association is reminding districts to have strong policies and procedures in place when dealing with searches of student belongings.

The association says employees should be trained on those policies before the need arises to implement them.

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