Ohio utility regulators to review smart grid technology

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s utility commission is launching an exploration of prospective high-tech improvements to the state’s electricity grid and what regulatory and policy changes are needed to capitalize on them.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio initiative, called PowerForward, is set to begin next month.

Chairman Asim Haque says the effort could be revolutionary. He says it will include input from national experts knowledgeable in the evolving power delivery sector, which is working to modernize in such areas as two-way communication, automation and computer processing.

PowerForward kicks off with a three-day event April 18-20. The series will feature presentations on the technologies currently affecting electricity distribution, the benefits to smart grid technology and technological innovations currently in development.

The event will be live-streamed on the commission website.

Consultant sues Ohio school after presidential debate moved

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio school that said it backed out of hosting the first presidential debate last year because of increasing security costs is being sued by a consultant who alleges the university lost the event because of infighting and incompetence by staff.

The Dayton Daily News reports Wright State University officials declined to comment Tuesday. The school is seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed in Greene County court.

The lawsuit was filed by John McCance, who was hired to help Wright State land the debate and then was terminated when it backed out of the event. He alleges breach of contract and wrongful termination and is seeking $1 million in damages.

Wright State lost over $1.7 million on the September debate, which was moved to Hofstra University in New York.

State lawmaker’s son to challenge US Rep. Latta in Ohio

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — The son of a former state lawmaker says he’ll challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Latta next year in the congressional district covering much of northwestern Ohio.

The Blade in Toledo reports 65-year-old J. Michael Galbraith, of Maumee, plans a Democratic campaign in the 5th Congressional District.

The first-time candidate runs an investment fund and teaches personal finance at Bowling Green State University. His father, Republican John A. Galbraith, served in the Ohio Legislature from 1967 to 1986.

Galbraith says he’d advocate for strong protections for Lake Erie and favors a federal single-payer health care plan such as universal Medicare.

Latta has repeatedly been re-elected since 2007, when he won a special election for the seat.

His challenger last year, James Neu Jr. of Perrysburg, also plans to run again.

Ohio community college cancels classes after report of gun

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A community college in Ohio’s capital city has closed for the day after reports of a man on campus with a gun. No injuries or shots were reported.

Authorities were searching for the subject after Wednesday’s report.

Columbus State Community College also sent employees home for the day.

The incident began around 10 a.m. with reports of a man with a gun at the college’s Center for Teaching and Learning.

The school’s Columbus campus is on the eastern edge of downtown.

Ohio prison system mistakenly releases inmate ID data

MANSFIELD, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio prisons system says it’s looking into identity theft monitoring services for inmates after the agency accidentally released about 2,000 prisoners’ social security numbers.

The information was mistakenly included on a list of inmates at Chillicothe Correctional Institution provided in a records request to an ex-offender who regularly requests such rosters.

The Mansfield News Journal reports 43-year-old Lonny Bristow turned the information over to the newspaper Tuesday, a day after receiving the records.

Bristow’s past convictions include credit card scams committed while serving previous sentences. Bristow said he didn’t plan to use the information because his criminal life is over.

Prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said the agency takes the situation seriously.

Police: Suspected murder-suicide kills pregnant Ohio woman

MEDINA, Ohio (AP) — Police say a northeast Ohio man apparently fatally shot his pregnant girlfriend at her home before killing himself, leaving a gruesome scene discovered by the woman’s mother and son.

Medina police say 36-year-old Julie Young and 43-year-old Cedric Jones were found dead Monday afternoon.

Police Lt. Dave Birckbichler tells the Akron Beacon Journal that the pair reportedly had a volatile, on-and-off relationship and investigators were trying to figure out where that stood. Birckbichler says the deaths left Young’s family with many questions, but it’s basically a closed case for police.

Young’s father, Philip Duke, tells Cleveland.com that his daughter was a caring mother of two boys from a previous relationship and that her boyfriend didn’t want to have a baby.

Ohio man charged in beating death of girlfriend’s son, 3

CANTON, Ohio (AP) — A man accused of beating to death his girlfriend’s young son last year has been indicted on murder and child endangering charges in northeast Ohio.

The Repository in Canton reports 3-year-old Owen Buggey died in October after he was taken to a medical center unconscious and covered in bruises.

A family services complaint indicated his mother initially said Owen was hurt in a playground accident but later acknowledged that the couple invented that explanation. The records say the mother said the boy was wounded in September but she didn’t seek medical help because she didn’t want her other children to be taken away.

An indictment was made public Tuesday in Stark County against her jailed boyfriend, 26-year-old Brent Fields. A message was left Wednesday for his public defender.

Authorities say child shot 1-year-old girl in Cincinnati

CINCINNATI (AP) — Authorities say they suspect that another child shot and wounded a year-old girl in a Cincinnati home.

An assistant prosecutor told a judge that the children’s mother said there were guns in the house and that one of the other children must have found a loaded handgun and accidentally shot the girl. The girl was hospitalized in critical but stable condition after being hit in the torso Monday.

Her father, 27-year-old Cortez Reed, is charged with child endangering, tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, and receiving stolen property. Police say he put a handgun in a box and left it in the woods after the shooting.

His attorney said in court that Reed has no felony record.

Reed was jailed Tuesday on bonds totaling $145,000.