Ballot board to take up Ohio payday lending proposal
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A ballot proposal to cap Ohio’s interest rates on payday loans and impose additional regulations on the industry is advancing to its next step.
The state Ballot Board is set to consider the “Short-Term Loan Consumer Protection Amendment” Tuesday. The panel must determine whether the proposed language represents a single issue.
The board’s approval would allow the gathering of signatures to begin. The Ohio Attorney General’s office certified a petition summary last week.
The Ohio CDC Association, which works to improve neighborhoods, is pushing the measure. It aims to reduce some of the nation’s highest interest rates on short-term loans by capping them at no more than 28 percent.
Ohio voters approved payday lending limits in 2008, but the industry has found ways to bypass those restrictions.
Ohio court’s visitor center adds plaster cast of Harding
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A plaster cast used to create a sculpture of President Warren G. Harding found at the Ohio Supreme Court is on display in the building’s visitor education center.
The likeness was donated by the former president’s family.
It was used to create the sculpture of Harding, a Marion native. It has hung in the building that now houses the state’s highest court since its construction more than 80 years ago.
The fragile plaster cast is housed in an elevated glass enclosure.
Harding was the 29th president and one of eight born in Ohio, earning the state the nickname “Mother of Presidents.”
Shelter to adopt out puppy found with ‘FREE’ written on fur
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (AP) — An animal shelter in Ohio says dozens of people are offering to adopt a puppy found in a cage with “FREE” scrawled on her fur.
The Ross County Humane Society says the 5-month-old female mixed lab was found in a Chillicothe park last week
Director Jenn Thomas says it appears that whoever left the dog used a permanent marker to write “FREE” and “GOOD HOME ONLY” on its fur.
She says there were other markings on the dog that she couldn’t make out. The shelter says the puppy has been cleaned up to remove the writings.
Thomas says the shelter has received nearly 100 applications to adopt the dog named Marvella.
She says the puppy will be available for adoption starting Wednesday.
NAACP to push for November vote on Dayton’s traffic cameras
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — The NAACP in Dayton says it will begin collecting signatures to put an issue on the November ballot aimed at shuttering the city’s traffic enforcement cameras.
The chapter’s president tells The Dayton Daily News the organization voted unanimously to pursue a ballot initiative last week.
Cincinnati-based attorney Christopher Finney argues the cameras disproportionately affect poor residents and violate constitutional due process.
Assistant Police Chief Chief Matt Carper says the cameras have improved safety in areas where they’re installed. He says people can appeal tickets without paying a bond.
The city revived its traffic camera program last year after the Ohio Legislature in 2015 approved a law restricting how cameras could be used.
Dayton police say the city experienced a 200 percent increase in red light violations during the program’s pause.
Man arrested in stabbings that killed his dad, hurt his mom
MACEDONIA, Ohio (AP) — Police say they arrested a 28-year-old man suspected of stabbing his parents at an Ohio home in an attack that killed his father and wounded his mother.
Emergency responders found the couple Monday morning in a bedroom of a home in Macedonia, roughly 15 miles southeast of Cleveland. Police say the 62-year-old man died at the scene, and the injured 58-year-old woman was taken to an Akron hospital.
The son was arrested Monday afternoon to the southeast in Columbiana County.
Police didn’t immediately share the names of the victims and suspect, citing pending notification of their relatives.
They also didn’t say what might have motivated the attack, which remains under investigation.
