Toledo joins list of cities suing drugmakers over opioids

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s fourth-largest city is joining several cities and counties around the state by filing its own lawsuit against prescription drugmakers and distributors.

Toledo Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson said Monday that drug companies need to be held accountable for their role in the opioid abuse crisis.

The lawsuits being filed by Toledo and other places accuse the drug companies of intentionally misleading the public about the dangers of opioids.

The companies have denied wrongdoing in response to similar lawsuits filed around the country.

Toledo’s mayor says the city has spent more than $400,000 for firefighters to respond to opioid-related emergency calls this year.

Ohio capital creates legal-defense fund to help immigrants

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s capital city is setting aside money to support legal help for immigrants facing deportation.

Columbus City Council voted Monday to provide $185,000 for three groups that will help immigrants and their families. The Columbus Dispatch reports that a national nonprofit policy organization, the Vera Institute of Justice, will provide $100,000 more.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Brown has been pushing for the funding this year.

The nonprofit Advocates for Basic Legal Equality Inc. will receive the biggest share, over $157,000. Brown says it will be used to educate detained immigrants on their rights and to represent people from Columbus facing deportation.

Brown says the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Catholic Social Services’ Our Lady of Guadalupe Center will gets smaller grants supporting efforts to educate immigrants about their rights and responsibilities.

Teen’s bond posted using slain dad’s life insurance payment

HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio teenager accused of fatally shooting her father is free on bond that was posted using his life insurance payment.

Police say the then-14-year-old girl shot 71-year-old James Ponder in the head at their Hamilton home in February and called 911 to report it. A judge has kept the aggravated murder case in juvenile court.

The Hamilton-Middletown Journal-News reports an affidavit filed in court shows Ponder’s wife received $250,000 in life insurance benefits and used $30,000 to post the teen’s bond last month. The affidavit says those benefits also are paying for the girl’s legal defense.

She was put on electronic monitoring at her grandmother’s home.

Authorities haven’t said why she shot her father.

The Associated Press generally doesn’t name juveniles charged with crimes.

Charges say man had silencer, stolen missile warning system

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — A former Ohio air base employee has been indicted on federal charges alleging he had an unregistered firearm silencer and a stolen missile warning system that is used on aircraft.

The Dayton Daily News reports the charges against Joel Montgomery are tied to search warrants from 2015, after he was terminated from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The jailed 48-year-old man pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Cheryll Bennett, says he denies allegations in the indictment.

The newspaper reports Montgomery’s Spring Valley home was raided again Oct. 19, after an informant told the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that Montgomery had hundreds of weapons and bomb-making materials and that his drinking was of concern.

A defense attorney argued in court that many of those items found at his home are legal.

Judge says man shouldn’t be exhumed twice, buried thrice

FINDLAY, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio judge says a man’s remains should stay where they were reburied rather than being exhumed and returned to a family plot.

The Courier in Findlay reports the unusual case in Hancock County stemmed from a disagreement between relatives of the deceased man, William Eisaman Jr.

He died in December and was buried at a family plot at a cemetery in Arcadia. His wife had the remains moved to a cemetery near Van Buren after learning last summer that she couldn’t be buried beside him in Arcadia.

Eisaman’s sister wanted the remains returned.

A probate judge has denied that request, citing the law’s preference for a surviving spouse, as well as public policy on exhumations occurring for only the most compelling reasons.

An attorney says Eisaman’s sister will appeal.

Man dies at museum construction site

MASSILLON, Ohio (AP) — A man has been killed at a museum construction site in Ohio after he was pinned underneath the wheel of a semitruck.

The Repository reports the man was identified as 76-year-old Robert Halter. Police say Halter was either loading or fastening chains on a semitrailer at the Massillon Museum site Monday when the driver pulled away and struck him.

First responders were called to the scene around 8:30 a.m. and worked to free the man from the truck. He was eventually taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Officials say Halter had been at the construction site delivering equipment so demolition could begin.

The museum’s Executive Director Alexandra Nicholis Coon has sent sympathy for the man’s family, but is declining to comment further.

Ohio VA center plans open house to showcase services

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — The Dayton VA Medical Center is offering an open house Wednesday to showcase the services available to veterans.

The three-hour open house that begins at 10 a.m. also offers community engagement with the facility that’s celebrating its 150th anniversary. It saw its first patient in 1867.

The center just west of downtown Dayton in southwest Ohio offers a full range of health care with medical, surgical, mental health, home and community programs to veterans. There will be representatives of services that also include chaplain, hospice and weight management.

The open house is free and open to the public.

Inmate gets parole over objections of 2 he helped convict

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A man who has served nearly three decades in prison for a 1988 murder will be granted parole over the objections of two men who say he’s responsible for them being wrongfully imprisoned in the case.

The Akron Beacon Journal reports the Ohio Parole Board heard those arguments before deciding that 50-year-old Troy Busta will be released from custody April 1.

Busta was convicted of killing Connie Nardi, of Randolph Township. Nardi’s mother and Portage County prosecutors supported Busta’s latest bid for parole.

It was opposed by Bob Gondor and Randy Resh, who were convicted in 1990 after Busta implicated them as accomplices. They were freed in 2007 and argued that Busta hasn’t accepted full responsibility for the slaying.

Busta’s attorney thanked the board and declined to comment further.