Ohio News Briefs

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Patrol: Driver in fatal crash under influence of marijuana

XENIA, Ohio (AP) — The State Highway Patrol says an 18-year-old man who was driving a car that crashed and killed two teenage passengers in western Ohio was under the influence of marijuana.

Lt. Matt Schmenk of the patrol’s Xenia post says Trey Blevins has been charged in Greene County Common Pleas Court with aggravated vehicular homicide and operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol in the Aug. 20 crash. Schmenk said the Enon man was arrested over the weekend.

Court records don’t indicate an attorney for Blevins.

The patrol says Blevins lost control of the car, which hit a tree before rolling over. The crash killed 17-year-old David Waag and 15-year-old Connor Williams.

Troopers say Waag and Williams were in the back seat and weren’t wearing seat belts.

Fire marshal’s office: House fire that killed 4 accidental

KETTERING, Ohio (AP) — The State Fire Marshal’s Office has ruled a residential fire that killed four people four years ago in southwest Ohio was accidental and related to cooking.

The Dayton Daily News reported Monday the fire also had no indicators of any criminal intent. Police responded to the home in Dayton suburb of Kettering on Dec. 12, 2013, to find the house and a vehicle engulfed in flames.

Kettering is about 50 miles (81 kilometers) north of Cincinnati.

The four people killed in the blaze were identified as 76-year-old Forrest Carroll, 36-year-old Alicia Carroll-Mobley, 4-year-old Shaun Mobley Jr. and 2-year-old Jacob Mobley.

The fire marshal’s office says the investigation was officially closed on Aug. 15, 2017.

Pilot dead after small plane crashes into deck, backyard

RAVENNA, Ohio (AP) — Authorities say the pilot of a single-engine airplane is dead after it crashed into the deck and backyard of an Ohio home, where the residents later found the wreckage.

They weren’t home when the crash occurred. It was discovered Sunday evening at the property in Shalersville Township, roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Cleveland.

State Highway Patrol Sgt. Scott Louive tells WOIO-TV that the debris indicates the aircraft didn’t descend at an angle but “dropped straight down.” The cause of the crash is under investigation.

An autopsy was planned for the pilot. Authorities identified him as 60-year-old Stephen Paulus, of Rootstown. No one else was hurt.

Authorities say Paulus may have crashed while returning to the nearby Portage County Regional Airport.

Contest winners will visit workshop named for Erma Bombeck

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Two writers who won a contest will get a trip to a writers’ workshop named for late humorist Erma Bombeck and a two-week stay at a hotel in her Ohio hometown to work on their proposed books.

The University of Dayton’s Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop on Monday announced inaugural winners of “A Hotel Room of One’s Own: The Erma Bombeck/Anna Lefler Humorist-in-Residence Program.”

The winners are Samantha Schoech, a writer, copywriter and editor from San Francisco, and Karen Chee, a comedy writer and performer in New York.

About 400 writers had applied to win the hotel stay and trip to be guests at the writers’ workshop scheduled in April.

Bombeck was a Dayton native who gained fame with her humorous books and nationally syndicated column. She died in 1996.

Environment groups appeal approval of FirstEnergy rate plan

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Environmental groups objecting to a utility’s electricity rate increases totaling more than $600 million over three years have appealed state regulators’ approval of that plan to the Ohio Supreme Court.

The Ohio Environmental Council, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Environmental Law and Policy Center have appealed last year’s ruling by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. The groups’ statement Friday said the commission’s ruling amounts to a bailout of Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp.

The groups say regulators agreed to a plan that subsidizes old and expensive plants provides no benefits to customers.

The commission estimated that a household using an average of 750 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month would see monthly bills increase $36 a year.

A commission spokesman said Monday that it doesn’t comment on pending court cases.

Police seek 1 of 3 vehicles that struck pedestrian who died

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Police in central Ohio say a pedestrian died after being struck by three different vehicles, and they’re seeking one of those vehicles after it left the scene.

Columbus police say 40-year-old William Ray Johnson was hit as he crossed a road at an intersection early Saturday morning. When the first vehicle hit him, he was thrown into another lane and was struck by two more vehicles.

Police say one of those drivers left the scene before officers arrived. Investigators didn’t have a description of that vehicle.

Johnson died at the scene. The crash remains under investigation.

Kids among at least 4 hurt when Amish buggy and car collide

AMANDA, Ohio (AP) — Authorities say a car collided with a horse-drawn Amish buggy in central Ohio, sending at least four people to the hospital.

Investigators say children were among those hurt when the vehicles collided after nightfall Sunday on state Route 159 in Fairfield County near the village of Amanda, roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Columbus.

Emergency responders say none of those injuries appeared to be life-threatening. One of the horses pulling the buggy was euthanized.

State troopers are investigating what caused the crash.

WSYX-TV reports the driver of the car was taken into custody, but there was no immediate word on any charges.

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