Ohio to auction off items from abandoned safe-deposit boxes
NEWARK, Ohio (AP) — Ohio will hold an auction of items that were taken from about 1,000 abandoned bank safe-deposit boxes and turned over to the state.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that it will be the first such auction Ohio has held since 1998.
The two-day auction is set for Feb. 23-24 at the Apple Tree Auction Center in Newark. Among the items up for bid are U.S. gold coins, silver dollars, foreign coins and currency and 38 100-ounce silver bars. The state has owned some of the items since 1968.
The auction center will earn 15 percent of the proceeds. Co-owner Sam Schnaidt says he expects 40 to 50 bidders to attend the auction while another 150 or so will register to bid online.
Kasich says phasing out Obamacare ‘makes no sense’
MUNICH (AP) — Ohio Gov. John Kasich says he supports repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act but thinks a plan floated by Congressional Republicans last week to phase out the expanded Medicaid program that’s providing health care coverage to previously uninsured Ohioans is a “very bad idea.”
Kasich’s comments came during an appearance Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” broadcast from Munich, where he’s attending an international security conference.
He says one-third of the 700,000 Ohioans who have gotten medical coverage under the expanded program have mental health and substance abuse problems and “to turn our backs on them makes no sense.”
Kasich also defended the role of the free press two days after President Donald Trump called the news media “the enemy of the American People!” on Twitter.
Public can see presidential aircraft at Ohio museum
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Former Air Force One crew members and security personnel along with other experts will be on hand to talk with visitors at an Ohio museum’s collection of presidential planes.
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force says a retired pilot and flight attendant are among those who will interact with visitors Monday on Presidents Day. The museum near Dayton includes aircraft dating to those used by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Visitors can board and walk through the famed plane that served eight presidents. The SAM 26000 carried President John F. Kennedy’s body back to Washington after Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the new president aboard the plane following Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
3 Democrats vie in Ohio city’s mayoral race
CINCINNATI (AP) — It’s an all-Democrat field for Cincinnati’s mayoral election.
Two Democrats and no Republicans have filed to challenge Democratic incumbent John Cranley, who is seeking a second four-year term.
Cranley will face City Councilwoman Yvette Simpson and former University of Cincinnati board Chairman Rob Richardson Jr. in the city’s May 2 primary. The top two finishers advance to the Nov. 7 general election.
Republican Councilman Charlie Winburn considered running for mayor in the Democrat-dominated city, then decided against it just before the Feb. 16 filing deadline.
Officers nab bank robbery suspect after spotting gun tattoo
CLEVELAND (AP) — The FBI says vigilant police officers working security at the entrance to Cleveland City Hall have arrested a suspect in a pair of bank robberies after spotting a gun-shaped tattoo on the man’s face.
Cleveland.com reports the 31-year-old man was arrested Friday after he tried to enter City Hall to get a copy of a birth certificate. Online court records don’t indicate whether he’s been charged in bank robberies in Cleveland from Jan. 30 and Feb. 13.
An FBI spokeswoman says officers recognized the man and the gun-shaped tattoo beneath his eye from a photo the FBI released early last week after issuing a warrant for his arrest.
2 Ohio counties plan to use electronic poll books this year
CLEVELAND (AP) — Election officials in two major metropolitan areas in northern Ohio plan to begin using electronic poll books this year, joining more than two-thirds of Ohio’s 88 counties in making the switch from paper lists to check in voters.
The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections recently voted to purchase 1,450 electronic poll books from a Florida company. The board plans to phase-in the use of poll books starting with the May 2 Primary Election.
The Lucas County Board of Elections is set to vote March 3 on which of two computer tablet vendors it will use for its 550 computer tablets. The board aims to use the machines in the Toledo municipal primary Sept. 12.
Sixty-one of Ohio’s counties have implemented electronic poll book technology so far.
Cleveland couple pleads not guilty after child overdoses
CLEVELAND (AP) — A suburban Cleveland couple whose child overdosed on heroin and survived have pleaded not guilty to child endangering and drug possession charges.
The boy was resuscitated and rushed to a hospital from his Berea home Jan. 11 after his father called 911 and reported that the child had stopped breathing. Cleveland.com reports hospital staff found a baggie of heroin and prescription pills tucked in the boy’s sock.
There were conflicting reports about the boy’s age on whether he is 7 or 8.
Police say the boy’s father admitted using drugs earlier in the day. The parents, both 31, were arrested at the hospital.
They entered their pleas Friday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
Central Ohio man killed in skiing accident
MANSFIELD, Ohio (AP) — Authorities say a 59-year-old central Ohio man has been killed in a skiing accident.
The Mansfield News Journal reports that John Carney of Gahanna was pronounced dead from his injuries Friday at a hospital after being transported from the Snow Trails resort by the Washington Township fire department.
Witnesses told authorities that Carney hit a pole at high rate of speed while trying to avoid two other skiers.
Snow Trails general manager Scott Crislip said the staff offered its condolences to Carney’s loved ones.
