Groups get about $2M to help enroll Ohioans in health plans
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Federal officials are awarding nearly $2 million to organizations that will help enroll Ohioans in health coverage through the federal marketplace.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently announced that those receiving the funds are the Ohio Association of Foodbanks and HRS/Erase, Inc.
The food bank association will get about $1.7 million to help sign people up. The group will walk people through the process of enrolling or re-enrolling in health insurance. It’s expected to focus its outreach efforts on consumers in rural or underserved communities, along with vulnerable populations.
HRS/Erase was awarded about $274,000 and is expected to focus on minorities and uninsured people.
Ohio is one of the states using the federal website, HealthCare.gov. Enrollment for 2017 plans starts Nov. 1.
Ohio Statehouse, air base plan Sept. 11 memorial events
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The board that oversees the Ohio Statehouse will mark the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by again installing 2,977 U.S. flags on the Statehouse lawn.
The panel says the flags being installed Thursday evening represent the victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and United Airlines Flight 93. Those sites are reflected in the layout of the flags. From above, the exhibit is designed to look like the twin towers, with a space shaped like the Pentagon and a strip representing the Pennsylvania field where Flight 93 went down. The flags will remain through Monday.
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in southwest Ohio plans a memorial event, too. Staff, contractors and their relatives will participate Friday in a “Run for the Fallen.”
4 teens flee Ohio treatment center, fracture employee’s neck
CANTON, Ohio (AP) — Authorities in northeast Ohio say an employee at a treatment center for juveniles had his neck fractured when he and a colleague were beaten as four teenagers escaped the facility.
The Repository reports the boys who fled the secured residential facility near Canton on Sunday night were caught nearby by law enforcement within a couple of hours. They’re expected to face charges related to the assault and escape.
The 59-year-old assistant supervisor who suffered the neck fracture says he and his co-worker were attacked as they conducted a nighttime check of two wings of the facility.
The head of the juvenile system that oversees the center says it will review what happened and how, but no immediate changes are being made because of the incident.
Man gets at least 25 years in prison for home invasion death
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years for a central Ohio home invasion robbery in which his accomplice was strangled during a brawl with the home’s occupants.
The Columbus Dispatch reports 33-year-old Michael Long was sentenced Wednesday.
Long maintains his innocence. His attorney says Long plans to appeal the conviction.
Long was convicted in August of charges including murder, aggravated robbery and kidnapping in connection with the July 2015 home invasion in Columbus.
Trial testimony indicated Long and Clement Cooper entered the house to steal guns. One occupant was beaten unconscious and tied up, and another was shot. A third who was repeatedly stabbed killed Cooper during a melee.
Some items saved after Hopalong Cassidy museum fire in Ohio
CAMBRIDGE, Ohio (AP) — The founder of an Ohio museum dedicated to fictional cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy says some of its memorabilia was saved from a fire, but estimates at least half of its photographs and games are damaged beyond repair.
A building housing the museum and an antique mall caught fire Saturday. No injuries were reported. A cause hasn’t been determined.
Laura Bates tells The Daily Jeffersonian in Cambridge that firefighters rescued a statue, carved figures, a bicycle and other items.
The “Hoppy Museum” honored the character created in 1904 through short stories by Clarence Mulford. Radio and television shows, movies and an amusement park followed.
Much of the museum focused on William Boyd, the Hendrysburg native who played Hopalong in movies.
Bates is searching for a new home for the memorabilia.
Ohio’s Edison statue to be packed up for move to US Capitol
MILAN, Ohio (AP) — Thomas Edison is getting ready to leave Ohio and take his spot at the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall.
A bronze statue of the inventor holding a light bulb has been displayed at the library in his hometown of Milan ahead of its installation in Washington. A member of the state’s Edison statue commission tells the Sandusky Register that the figure will be packed up Friday to start the trip.
The formal installation is Sept. 21.
Each state can display two notable figures. Ohio officials decided in 2010 to replace a statue of former Gov. William Allen, who supported Southern slave owners. Ohio voters choosing his replacement selected Edison over other historical figures, such as Wilbur and Orville Wright.
Ohio’s other statue is former President James Garfield.
