Columbus only Ohio city to make short list for Amazon 2nd HQ
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Columbus is the only Ohio city still in competition for Amazon’s multibillion-dollar second headquarters.
The online retailer announced Wednesday that it has narrowed its list of possible locations to 20 metropolitan areas. Cleveland and Cincinnati also put in bids for the planned headquarters, but didn’t make the cut.
Amazon said 238 cities submitted proposals for the project. The Seattle-based retailer has said the new headquarters could lead to a $5 billion investment and 50,000 new jobs.
Some of the remaining contenders include Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Miami and Los Angeles.
Amazon plans to make its decision this year.
Ohio’s congressional delegation had made a bipartisan pitch to Amazon CEO Jeffrey Bezos. It didn’t single out any one Ohio city, but touted the state’s central location and other factors, including its workforce.
Bill would require clinics to bury or cremate fetal remains
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Republic-controlled state Senate has approved a bill along party lines that would require Ohio abortion clinics to either bury or cremate fetal remains.
The Columbus Dispatch reports the legislation sponsored by Republican Sen. Joe Uecker, of Miami Township, would make violations of the law a first-degree misdemeanor. Uecker says he wants to “promote and honor the dignity of the unborn.”
The Senate previously passed a similar bill along party lines the Republican-controlled House never acted on. Current Ohio law says fetal remains must be disposed of humanely.
Democratic senators and abortion rights groups criticized the bill as another attempt to impede women from seeking legal abortions.
A federal judge in September struck down a similar provision enacted by Indiana’s legislature while Vice President Mike Pence was that state’s governor.
US agency reverses course on Lake Erie toxic algae decision
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it shouldn’t have approved Ohio’s recommendation not to declare Ohio’s western end of Lake Erie impaired by toxic algae.
The agency’s reversal didn’t go as far as ordering the lake to be designated as an impaired watershed. But the EPA’s reversal sent in a letter to Ohio officials last week said the state’s list of impaired waters was incomplete and didn’t properly evaluate the lake’s waters.
Several environmental groups have sued EPA saying the lake should be classified impaired because algae blooms are preventing the waters from meeting basic quality standards.
The designation would pave the way for increased pollution regulations in the shallowest of the Great Lakes. Algae outbreaks have fouled drinking water in recent years and are a threat to wildlife.
Accreditation program begins for investigators, guards
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The state is launching a voluntary accreditation program for Ohio’s licensed private investigators and companies that provide security services.
The program’s standards were developed last fall by the Department of Public Safety’s Private Investigator Security Guard Services unit.
Brandon Gardner, the unit’s executive director, says the goal is to raise standards in a profession often tasked with protecting major facilities including sports arenas.
The standards include use of force policies for firms that employ armed guards and conducting fair and professional employee recruiting.
Other standards require companies to evaluate employees properly and regularly to reduce the field’s high turnover rate and to maintain proper bookkeeping.
The International Foundation of Protection Officers will help participating companies meet the standards.
Ohio has about 25,000 security guards and private investigators.
Ex-assisted living facility head sentenced to 3 years prison
PAINESVILLE, Ohio (AP) — The administrator of a now closed Ohio assisted living facility has been sentenced to three years in prison for causing the death of an elderly resident by stuffing eggs and medication into her mouth.
The News-Herald reports a Lake County assistant prosecutor said in court Wednesday that 55-year-old Alice Ramsey might not have been held accountable for the death of 85-year-old Mary Srpan if a new employee hadn’t gathered evidence of mistreatment.
Ramsey previously pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and patient abuse.
Srpan died last January, two weeks after suffering respiratory distress at the Madison Township facility.
The employee used her cellphone to take photos of bruises on Srpan’s neck and to record Ramsey verbally abusing her.
Ramsey apologized in court, saying she wasn’t careful enough.
Attorney: Slain Ohio teen grew upset when arrest threatened
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The lawyer for a 16-year-old boy fatally shot by a deputy in an Ohio courtroom says the teen grew upset when the deputy threatened to arrest him.
Attorney Jennifer Brisco told The Columbus Dispatch a scuffle broke out when her client, Joseph Haynes, resisted the deputy.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien told the newspaper the teen was also upset by a judge’s order that he continue to wear an electronic monitoring device.
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office says Haynes was shot once in the abdomen after a Juvenile Court hearing in Columbus. He died minutes later at a downtown Columbus hospital.
The boy’s grandmother told the newspaper the deputy should have used a stun gun.
Woman indicted in ‘07 slaying of husband returned to US
WARREN, Ohio (AP) — Authorities say a woman who fled to her native Brazil after fatally shooting her husband more than 10 years ago has been brought back to northeast Ohio.
The Vindicator reports 53-year-old Claudia Hoerig was booked into the Trumbull County Jail early Thursday. She was indicted in April 2007 on an aggravated murder charge in the slaying of Karl Hoerig, a 43-year-old United Airlines pilot and major in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, at their Newton Falls home.
Authorities say Claudia Hoerig fled to Brazil the day of the slaying on March 12, 2007.
She was arrested in 2016 when the Brazilian supreme court revoked her citizenship and then voted last March to send her back to the U.S.
Hoerig is expected to be appointed an attorney during an arraignment Friday.
Ohio man found guilty of killing ex-fiancee’s young son
FINDLAY, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio jury has found a man guilty of killing his fiancee’s 2-year-old son in 2016.
The Blade reports jurors deliberated less than a day before finding 29-year-old Brent Houdeshell, of Arlington, guilty Wednesday of murder, endangering children and tampering with evidence charges in Hancock County.
Houdeshell’s attorney argued at trial that Breydon Ferrell vomited in his crib and hurt himself after trying to get out. Attorney Adam Newman said Houdeshell changed the bedding and bathed the toddler after he fell out of the crib and later found him unresponsive.
Prosecutors said Breydon had a fractured skull, a broken leg, brain contusions, a lacerated liver and other internal injuries. A medical expert said bruises on the toddler’s face indicate that he’d been slapped.
A sentencing date hasn’t been scheduled.
4-year-old boy killed in 3-vehicle crash
CANTON, Ohio (AP) — A 4-year-old Ohio boy has died after the vehicle he was riding in was hit by two pickup trucks.
The Canton Repository reports that Zayne Paulik was pronounced dead Wednesday of injuries suffered in the crash Tuesday night in Canton.
Police say the boy’s mother and his 2-year-old sister suffered minor injuries. One of the other drivers was also hurt.
Police continue to investigate the crash. No charges have been filed.
