US Supreme Court declines to hear Ohio Libertarians’ lawsuit

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined without comment to hear a long-running ballot access lawsuit brought by the Libertarian Party of Ohio.

The high court’s action came Monday. It’s a victory for Ohio’s elections chief and a voter sued by Libertarians for their roles in disqualifying Libertarians’ gubernatorial candidate from 2014 fall ballots.

The party sued Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted and voter Greg Felsoci, alleging they were part of a scheme to selectively enforce Ohio election law to help GOP Gov. John Kasich’s (KAY’-sik’s) re-election bid. At the time, the third-party gubernatorial candidacy of Charlie Earl was seen as potentially drawing votes from Kasich, who later easily won re-election.

The lawsuit alleged improperly singling out the party’s candidates violated the Constitution’s First Amendment and Equal Protection Clause.

Ohio officer gives her GPS to lost driver

CINCINNATI (AP) — A Cincinnati police officer concerned about a lost driver trying to get to Florida gave the woman her personal GPS navigation system to help.

Officer Virginia Villing says Shirley McKeown was driving from Lynn, Indiana, to Venus, Florida, to spend Christmas with her daughter and other family when she pulled up to the officer and asked for help. The officer tells WXIX-TV McKeown had highlighted maps, but was lost with 1,000 miles to go.

She says McKeown reminded her of her own mother, and she would have wanted someone to help her mom.

McKeown last week mailed the GPS back and sent a thank you note. She said Villing was “just a sweetheart.”

Villing’s supervisor says she has a reputation for going out of her way to help people.

Bus service employees go on strike in Dayton

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — The union representing drivers and mechanics who work for the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority is on strike after negotiations broke down.

Bus drivers and mechanics walked picket lines Monday morning. The Dayton Daily News reports that Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1385 strike involves more than 460 workers.

The metro area’s bus and trolley system serves about 30,000 riders a day. Dayton school officials say they are trying to line up alternatives for high school students who use the bus service.

Union officials have said the sticking points in the negotiations are back pay, working conditions and proposed changes to health care plans.

It has been decades since the union went on strike or authorized doing so.

Service set for Ohio dad, daughter who were on missing plane

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A memorial service is scheduled for an Ohio father and daughter who were among six people on a plane that disappeared over Lake Erie and is believed to have crashed.

The Columbus Dispatch reports a service is scheduled Sunday at a church in Delaware, Ohio, to celebrate the lives of 50-year-old Brian Casey and 19-year-old University of Wisconsin nursing student Megan Casey.

The plane disappeared Dec. 29 shortly after takeoff from Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland. Searchers in the water have found the cockpit voice recorder, pieces of the plane’s tail and a seat from the aircraft with possible human remains.

The travelers were returning to Columbus after attending a Cleveland Cavaliers basketball game. Also onboard were the pilot, businessman John Fleming, and his wife and two teenage sons.

Number of homicides in Dayton last year highest in a decade

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Police say the number of homicides reported in Dayton last year matches a 16-year high for the western Ohio city.

The Dayton Daily News reports the number of homicides that occurred in Dayton jumped from 29 in 2015 to an unofficial count of 42 in 2016. The city also recorded 42 homicides in 2002 and again in 2006.

Chief Richard Biehl says there were a total of 46 homicides in Dayton last year, although four have already been ruled justifiable killings.

Three other homicides may also get that distinction once the cases are closed. Only criminal homicides are recorded as part of the official year-end tally.

Biehl says 37 of the 46 slayings have been cleared by his department. All but four of Dayton’s homicides in 2016 involved guns.