Ohio News Briefs

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Ohio House sets days for possible veto override votes

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio House has scheduled session dates next week to consider overriding one or more vetoes by Gov. John Kasich.

A spokesman says sessions scheduled by Republican House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger for Wednesday and Thursday are only tentative.

The Legislature is awaiting decisions on a slew of bills it sent to the Republican governor during its lame duck session. Kasich faces a Tuesday deadline.

The governor is widely expected to veto a bill that would make Ohio’s renewable energy targets optional for three years. Kasich supported a compromise that had frozen the mandates for use of solar, wind and other alternative energy while lawmakers studied the matter. He said he’d veto an extension of the freeze.

Lawmakers also may try to reverse Kasich’s veto of a heartbeat abortion ban.

Highway Patrol: Woman’s body found near I-71 in Ohio

DELAWARE, Ohio (AP) — Authorities are investigating the death of a northeast Ohio woman whose body was found near an interstate highway in central Ohio.

The State Highway Patrol says the body of 60-year-old Elizabeth Kurish was found lying near the southbound lanes of Interstate 71 in Delaware County around 9:30 Thursday night. The statement says evidence at the scene indicates that Kurish was struck by an unknown motor vehicle, but the patrol’s investigation is continuing.

Authorities say the body was found not far from a rest area. Troopers report that a car registered to the Lorain woman was found parked at the northbound rest area.

The patrol says it hadn’t immediately identified any witnesses.

Audit finds closed Ohio charter school didn’t repay $478,000

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s auditor says a now-closed charter school in Columbus failed to repay nearly $478,000 in state foundation overpayments after overstating enrollment.

Thousands more dollars in expenses are considered questionable in the closeout audit of the ScholArts Preparatory and Career Center for Children, which closed in February 2013. Auditor Dave Yost’s office says it had trouble getting complete records from school management.

The findings about the failed repayment will be referred to prosecutors for possible legal action.

Yost says there wasn’t enough documentation to determine ScholArts’ compliance with federal expenditure requirements, so auditors also questioned about $648,000 in costs associated with federal programs.

Yost says the school and its sponsor, Kids Count of Dayton, didn’t follow closing procedures required by Ohio law.

A message was left seeking comment from Kids Count.

Hunters harvest over 9,000 deer during 2-day Ohio gun season

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The state says hunters harvested more than 9,000 deer during Ohio’s two-day deer-gun hunting season.

Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources says the 9,228 deer checked over the weekend of Dec. 17 through Dec. 18 was slightly lower than the 9,447 deer harvested in last year’s two-day season.

Hunters will have more opportunities to hunt deer this winter in Ohio. Muzzleloader season is Jan. 7 through Jan. 10. The archery season remains open through Sunday, Feb. 5.

Ohio’s Division of Wildlife says the goal of the state’s approach to deer management is to provide a deer population that maximizes recreational opportunities and minimizes conflicts with landowners and motorists.

The state says Ohio ranks fifth nationally in resident hunters and 11th in the number of jobs associated with hunting-related industries.

Libertarians sue Ohio elections chief for party status

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Libertarians in Ohio have sued the state’s elections chief alleging he’s refused to recognize them as an official political party and grant them the ballot access privileges that go along with that.

The Libertarians filed the lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court this week. Their lawsuit argues that presidential nominee Gary Johnson secured more than the 3 percent of the vote in November needed to qualify the Libertarians as a party under Ohio law.

Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted disagrees. His office says Johnson’s candidacy can’t establish party status for the Libertarians because Johnson ran as an independent and not as a Libertarian.

Party designation makes it easier for future candidates to run for office.

More than 60 apply to become Ohio college’s 7th president

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — A southwest Ohio college has more than 60 applicants seeking to become its seventh president.

The Dayton Daily News reports Wright State University’s search committee will begin interviewing about a dozen semifinalists from that pool after the holidays.

The committee will then narrow that group down to about two or three candidates who will be invited to campus to meet with faculty and student groups. The committee will announce the names of the finalists.

Search committee chairman and university trustee Doug Fecher says the committee is pleased with the quality and diversity of its applicant pool. Officials say the group includes internal and external candidates.

Current President David Hopkins is stepping down next June after 10 years.

The board of trustees plans to name a new president in April.

Police: Officer’s 2-year-old son fatally shot with dad’s gun

CLEVELAND (AP) — Police say a Cleveland police officer’s 2-year-old son has died after apparently shooting himself with his father’s police service weapon.

A Cleveland police statement says officers responded to the shooting at a home in the northeast Ohio city around 10:30 a.m. Friday. Police say the child was taken to a hospital where he died from his injury.

The names of the child and the father weren’t immediately released.

The police statement says preliminary information indicates that the child obtained his 54-year-old father’s gun and shot himself. Police say they are continuing their investigation.

They say the officer was hired by the department in 1993.

Ohio firefighters called about trash blaze find burning body

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Columbus police say firefighters who were called about an apparent trash fire in a neighborhood alley discovered a burning body in the middle of the night.

Investigators have determined that it is the body of a black female, but they say they couldn’t further identify her early Friday under the circumstances.

Homicide and arson investigators are trying to determine who she is and what happened to her.

Police say firefighters didn’t realize there was a body until they extinguished the small fire behind a home in a residential area of the city’s Hilltop neighborhood.

Ohio cop rescues woman from fire, suffers smoke inhalation

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Neighbors say a central Ohio police officer heroically rescued a woman from the second floor of a burning duplex, then collapsed on the street and had to be treated for smoke inhalation.

The Columbus Dispatch reports the officer arrived before firefighters and broke down the door on the vacant side of the duplex to rescue the woman when she had trouble escaping through a second-floor window.

A police spokeswoman told the Dispatch that the officer was treated at a hospital and released. His name wasn’t immediately released because his family hadn’t been notified.

No one else was hurt in the fire on the city’s south side Thursday night. Neighbors helped catch five young children who jumped from the porch roof before firefighters arrived.

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