Program expands helping homeless Ohio vets needing homes

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A program that provides apartment deposits to help homeless veterans get into homes is expanding in Ohio.

Veterans Matter started in Toledo six years ago when Ken Leslie, a former homeless man, secured a donation to cover deposits for 35 homeless Toledo-area veterans.

The organization has now served 2,144 former military personnel in Toledo, Dayton and Cincinnati. The Columbus Dispatch reports a University of Toledo fundraiser this spring raised enough money to expand the service to the Cleveland and Columbus areas.

The program provides homeless vets with a deposit and share of first-month’s rent if necessary while vets await rent vouchers through a U.S. Housing and Urban Development program.

About 40,000 U.S. veterans are homeless, with about 800 in Ohio.

Top Ohio wines are recognized by state agriculture director

REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio agriculture director has honored the state’s top wines as evaluated by a panel of judges in an annual event.

Agriculture Director David Daniels announced the Director’s Choice recipients last week at a Statehouse event for retailers, distributors, restaurateurs and winery owners. The judges evaluated nearly 20 wines.

The recipients are eligible for the Ohio Quality Wine designation, which was created in 2007 by the Ohio Grape Industries Committee and is assigned to wines made from at least 90 percent Ohio-grown grapes.

The Ohio Grape Industries Committee is housed at the Ohio Department of Agriculture. It helps wineries market their top-quality wines against California and European wines.

Suspect dies in struggle with bystanders who chased him down

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Police in Ohio say a suspected robber has died after a struggle with a group of bystanders who witnessed the robbery and chased him down.

Investigators say the bystanders pursued the man Sunday after seeing him rob a woman at a Columbus gas station. Police and medics arrived later to find the man critically injured in the parking lot of a nearby hotel. He was taken to a hospital, where he died. Authorities did not specify the nature of his injuries.

In a news release, police described the men who confronted the suspect as “good Samaritans.” It is unclear if criminal charges will be filed.

Police have not released the names of the man who died or the men who confronted him.

Child service testimony opposed in death of 4-year-old girl

EUCLID, Ohio (AP) — Prosecutors oppose allowing children service workers to testify in the case of an Ohio woman and her boyfriend charged in the death of the woman’s 4-year-old daughter.

A medical examiner says Aniya Day-Garrett died in March in Euclid from a stroke caused by blunt impacts to her head.

Her mother, Sierra Day, and Day’s boyfriend, Deonte Lewis, have pleaded not guilty and remain jailed on bonds of $1 million.

The Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services has said investigators never found enough evidence to remove the girl from her home.

The News-Herald reports the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office says investigatory records of possible child abuse or neglect are confidential under Ohio law.

Prosecutors argue in-person testimony from child welfare investigators is also prohibited.