About 100 dogs seized from home; woman charged with cruelty
COOLVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Authorities have seized about 100 dogs from a southeastern Ohio home and charged a 76-year-old woman with misdemeanor animal cruelty, alleging she kept animals in unsanitary conditions.
The Athens Messenger reports a dog warden removed the animals last week from a home in the village of Coolville, roughly 80 miles (129 kilometers) southeast of Columbus.
Athens County officials say they received complaints but hadn’t realized how many dogs were there. Dog Warden Mary Beth Brown says the local humane society sent a mobile clinic to the home last fall, expecting to spay and neuter about 18 animals, but ended up doing that for over 40 creatures brought out of the home then.
A not-guilty plea was entered Friday for the resident, Bernice Robertson. Court records listed no attorney for her.
Officials want aviation hall of fame ceremony back in Ohio
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio community where the National Aviation Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony was held for decades before moving to Fort Worth, Texas, last year is seeking the return of the event.
The Dayton Daily News reports Dayton is one of five contenders for this year’s ceremony. The hall of fame hasn’t announced the other contenders.
Executive Director Amy Spowart says the organization will make a final decision in the upcoming weeks.
Except for last year, the annual ceremony has been held in Dayton since 1962, drawing astronauts and Hollywood stars to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
Tony Sculimbrene, of the nonprofit National Aviation Heritage Alliance, says he thinks there’s no better place for the ceremony than the museum in Ohio.
Ohio to widen part of Interstate 70 starting this summer
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (AP) — A 3-mile section of the interstate that cuts across Ohio’s midsection will be widened in a project expected to start this summer, ahead of schedule.
Scott Schmid, of the Clark County-Springfield Transportation Coordinating Committee, tells the Springfield News-Sun that the construction on Interstate 70 in Springfield will start in July.
The $52 million project involves adding a lane on the highway, redoing the existing lanes and replacing six bridges. The first phase was completed in fall 2015.
Schmid says the project will help reduce congestion during rush hour and improve traffic safety.
Schmid says construction originally was supposed to start in 2019, but the state Department of Transportation moved up the schedule.
The project is expected to be complete in 2021.
Invasive hemlock-killing insect found in 3 Ohio counties
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — State officials say an invasive hemlock-killing insect has been found recently in three Ohio counties.
Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources and Department of Agriculture say that the hemlock woolly adelgid has been found in Lake and Geauga (jee-AW’-guh) counties in northeast Ohio and in Athens County in southeast Ohio.
The small, aphid-like insect native to Asia threatens two hemlock species in the eastern United States, where it was first reported in 1951 near Richmond, Virginia. Officials say it’s now established in parts of 20 states.
The pest was first detected in Ohio in 2012.
State officials say Lake, Geauga and Athens counties will be included in Ohio’s hemlock quarantine. That restricts movement of hemlock materials from infested counties into non-infested counties, among other requirements.
