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The regional governing body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and representatives of the Stow Presbyterian Church have reached an agreement that allows the local congregation to keep the church property. The pact comes after 18 months of discussions between the Stow church and the Eastminster Presbytery, according to the Rev. Dan Schomer, who leads the Mineral Ridge-based presbytery, which includes 55 churches in Summit, Portage, Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties. ''The action to dissolve the congregation effectively severs the ties of the church to the denomination and permits it to continue its ministry as an independent congregation,'' Schomer said in...

McCain speaking at Columbus Convention Center on Thursday May 15, 2008. Doors open at 8am, speech at 10am. Anyone going?

COLERAIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio — A southwest Ohio man who planned to be buried next to his mother found someone else already in his grave. David L. Bingham says someone who shares his name has taken over his final resting place in Colerain Township.

Attorney General Marc Dann is expected to make a statement on his political future around noon today. Although it's widely speculated that Dann will step down from the office he's held since January 2007, his spokesman, Jason Stanford, wouldn't preview his statement.

Brian Gegner was sentenced to 180 days behind bars because his daughter was unable to complete her G-E-D.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Even by tough, urban-crime standards it was a grisly attack: Up to 15 people chased a man, then kicked and beat him to death on the street. Before police arrived, one attacker urinated on the victim's head. When the crime-hardened neighborhood awoke later that morning, two people reported a man lying on the pavement, his clothes being dragged off by his assailants. "You got a male being assaulted by 15 other guys. He's laying on the street," one 911 caller said. The April 27 attack on Charles Gooden Jr. happened in the most murder-ridden neighborhood in one...

We live on a corner lot in Anderson Twp. Ohio. Five years ago we bought this house, built in 1953, which had been vacant for around 10 years. We divided our time and money between fixing up the outside and fixing up the inside. When we purchased the house we intended to put up a 6 ft cedar privacy fence in the back yard and herein begins our tale.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A Democratic political consultant is questioning why Governor Strickland and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown voted against impeaching President Clinton, but are now seeking to force out state Attorney General Marc Dann. Consultant Jerry Austin of Cleveland notes that Strickland and Brown both voted against impeaching President Clinton while they were serving in the U.S. House 10 years ago. Like Clinton, Dann is a Democrat who has admitted to an extramarital affair with a subordinate and is being challenged for inconsistent statements made under oath. Austin says every case is different and perhaps Strickland and Brown should...

Impeachment recommendations for AG Marc Dann coming Friday at earliestKim Wendel Updated:5/7/2008 2:49:43 PM COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio House Republicans say recommendations on how an impeachment process against Attorney General Marc Dann would proceed won't be coming until Friday, at the earliest. Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted has asked state Rep. Bill Batchelder, a former appeals court judge, to review the process and determine the standards that are necessary for an impeachment. Ohio House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty has also appointed three Democrats to look into a possible impeachment. Lawmakers on both sides say they are proceeding cautiously because Ohio...

The state is smoking out Ohio smokers who evaded cigarette taxes by shopping online between July and March. Nearly 5,500 buyers should expect a bill for unpaid excise and use taxes on cigarettes purchased during that nine-month period, the Ohio Department of Taxation announced Monday. The combined tab? More than $2.15 million, including nearly $370,000 owed to Cuyahoga County. The largest bill -- $2,700 -- belongs to a Huron County resident who bought 2,160 packs from out-of-state Internet vendors. Most bills are less than $600. They must be paid within 30 days, according to the department, which did not release...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Risking impeachment, Ohio's attorney general on Monday refused demands from the governor and other fellow Democrats that he resign over a sexual harassment scandal in his office and an affair with a subordinate. Gov. Ted Strickland told reporters that Democrats will begin drafting an impeachment resolution against Attorney General Marc Dann right away. Republican House Speaker Jon Husted said Monday that his chamber — which takes the first step in any impeachment — was already reviewing the process. Virtually every state-level Democratic officeholder urged Dann to resign in a letter late Sunday after Strickland tried twice during...

<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and other Democratic leaders are calling on scandal-scarred Attorney General Marc Dann to resign.</p> <p>Dann's response to his fellow Democrats is that he is staying on the job.</p> <p>Strickland, Sen. Sherrod Brown, other Democratic state officeholders and all Democratic state legislators sent Dann a letter Monday saying his actions hurt his ability to do his job.</p>

CHRIS RUSSELL | dispatch Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann said he is "disappointed" and "heartbroken" over his behavior and took full responsibility. But he refused to resign. The ensuing scandal first reported by The Dispatch last month cost four people their jobs, including two of Dann's closest friends from Youngstown. Shaken but still defiant, Dann, a Democrat elected in 2006, said he would not resign -- and said he never considered doing so -- despite the expanding fallout from a sex scandal that has rocked his office for the past month.

A representative from Students for Concealed Carry on Campus argued for a more sensible policy for carrying concealed handguns on college and university campuses at Walter Hall last night. “It’s hypocritical to say you can bring a gun into a 300-person movie theatre but not a 300-person lecture hall,” said Stephen Feltoon, Midwest regional director of SCCC. Feltoon, a 2007 graduate of Miami University of Ohio, spoke for a 40-person group as part of the SCCC’s weeklong protest of concealed carry laws across the nation that forbid concealed handguns on college campuses. The OU Second Amendment club — comprising about...

Fight at scene of crash tragic, Circleville official says Dad charged with misconduct for wrestling with deputy as crews worked to extricate son Tuesday, April 22, 2008 7:52 PM By Randy Ludlow The Columbus Dispatch Adam Carter Adam Carter It unfolded March 25 along London Road in Pickaway County. Sixteen-year-old Adam Carter was driving to school when his car crossed the centerline and collided head-on with a dump truck. Paul Carter soon arrived. As he ran toward his son's crushed car, he was intercepted by Sgt. Cory Bachnicki. Bachnicki said he told the man to stay back, to let the...

COLUMBUS — Anthony Gutierrez turned in his state-owned SUV with unexplained damage on Oct. 10, roughly the same time frame that his employee, Cindy Stankoski, claims Gutierrez pressured her for sex and told her he got so drunk that he fell asleep at the wheel and awoke only when he hit a guardrail. The 2004 Chevy Suburban came into the state shop needing repair to the right front fender, right front and rear doors, and right quarter panel. Gutierrez, who managed the attorney general's vehicle fleet, did not fill out the required damage report, according to Ted Hart, a spokesman...

NORTH ROYALTON -- "City has gone too far," one protester said while lighting up cigar in the city parking lot Thursday afternoon. Last week, the North Royalton City Council voted to outlaw outdoor smoking on city-owned property, going beyond the state's indoor public smoking ban. The new ordinance in North Royalton applies to public parks, playing fields, parking lots and outdoor seating areas. It does not include sidewalks. Mayor Robert Stefanik said the ban was proposed as a response to smoking at Little League baseball games. On Thursday morning, more than 40 protesters showed up to light up cigarettes and...

NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio -- A local community is breathing a little easier after a new crackdown on smoking is approved, NewsChannel5 reported. North Royalton has banned smoking in parks, fields, parking lots and outdoor seating areas or on any city-owned land. That means there's no smoking at places like the local ballpark, and the new ordinance takes place just in time for little league season. Council members said they were just exercising the will of the people who want to curb the amount of second-hand smoke they have to breathe. "We just don't like the cigarette butts laying all over...

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Federal immigration authorities raided seven Mexican restaurants in four states Wednesday, arresting 56 people, including 11 accused of conspiring to harbor illegal immigrants. The immigrants were primarily undocumented Mexicans forced to staff the restaurants for long hours with little pay to work off smuggling fees and rent, authorities said. Ten individuals were arrested in Mentor and Willoughby in northeast Ohio, at Jalapeno Loco Mexican Restaurant and two houses, said Greg Palmore, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Two face charges of conspiring to harbor illegal immigrants and the rest face immigration violations. The arrests began at...

COLUMBUS - Ten years ago, Ohio won the tobacco lottery. It was among 46 states to join a lawsuit accusing tobacco producers of using unfair advertising to get smokers addicted to nicotine. Smelling bankruptcy, 11 tobacco companies and industry trade groups agreed to a settlement, promising the states $260 billion in payments spread out over 25 years. Bob Taft, as the newly elected governor, convinced the state legislature to budget nearly half of Ohio's $10 billion share of the settlement for school construction projects - the state was entangled in a major lawsuit over school funding at the time -...

Hillary Clinton has added three superdelegates... One... is Sophie Masloff, the former mayor of Pittsburgh. The other two, are Rep. Jackie Speier of California...Bill Burga of Ohio, an AFL-CIO poobah.

Clinton scores a Hat Trick TRIBUNE-REVIEW BY: Salena Zito When it rains it pours, and Thursday it rained superdelegates for Hillary Clinton. Clinton scored a Hat Trick Thursday by picking up former Pittsburgh Mayor Sophie Masloff, former president of the Ohio chapter of the AFL-CIO Bill Burga and Jackie Speier, who took over the late Tom Santo's seat in Congress this week.

The parents of a soldier listed as missing-captured in Iraq for nearly four years will continue their work at an organization that has sent thousands of goody packages to soldiers, even though the reality is beginning to sink in that the Army has declared him dead. Keith and Carolyn Maupin and numerous volunteers have sent more than 9,600 boxes of donated toiletries, magazines and treats to soldiers in Iraq through the Yellow Ribbon Support Center, along with photos of Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin and a plea to help find him.

So that no Ohio Freeper would miss it, just wanted you all to try to get a glimpse of Voinovich's questioning of General Petraeus today. He was every bit as bad as Levin, Kennedy, Feingold...if not worse. There is no way that I will vote for that man in the future. None. I don't care who he's running against. Hopefully, we'll put an American up against him in the primaries when his turn comes up next. (2010?)

Proposed Law Would Ban Outdoor Smoking POSTED: 10:56 am EDT April 7, 2008 UPDATED: 11:37 am EDT April 7, 2008 NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio -- Some people in North Royalton are fuming over a proposed ban on outdoor smoking. The proposed law would make it illegal to smoke in parks, fields, parking lots and outdoor seating areas. Council members said the outdoor ban is in response to complaints about people smoking around children during youth sports games. The city's safety committee will hold a hearing on the issue on April 15.

Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher today announced the opening of the Ohio Department of Development's new international office in Beijing, People's Republic of China. The next site will cost taxpayers $50,000 a year.

The bill would require all parents to volunteer 13 hours each school year, either in the lunchroom, chaperoning field trips, or wherever the district needs help. -snip The bill's incentive is a $100 fine for parents who don't fulfill the requirement. -snip According to the bill, if a parent doesn't fulfill the requirement and refuses to pay the fine, the money would be taken out of the parent's state tax refund. House Bill 519 is sponsored by Sandra Williams (D-Cleveland) from District 11.

Apologies for the vanity, but I've been trying to find some more information on being charged with menacing, AFTER pleading guilty to disorderly conduct for the same incident. Timeline: 1) Person A gently brushes Person B's car; they both exit their vehicles, examine for damage, and find little to none, and an officer arrives at the scene. 2) Person B starts getting lippy, cursing at Person A and is charged with disorderly conduct, pays $125 fine. 3) Everything appears to be done - case-closed. 4) Three-four weeks pass and Person A comes back and files a menancing charge for the...

Think your credit score only matters when you want to purchase a home or car? In the very near future, it may also affect your medical care. The health industry recently revealed their plans to create their own score to judge patients' ability to pay. The new medFICO score is being designed by Healthcare Analytics, a Massachusetts-based health technology firm, along with the financial assistance of Fair Isaac Corp. of Minnesota and Tenet Healthcare Corp. of Texas. Additionally, venture capital firm North Bridge Venture Partners, also of Massachusetts, is chipping in on the project. Each of the partners have put...

Limbaugh safe from voter-fraud charges Radio host encouraged fans to vote Democratic Friday, March 28, 2008 2:59 AM By Mark Niquette THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh has been telling his audience for days now that he could be indicted for encouraging Ohio Republicans to take a Democratic ballot in the March 4 primary in what he calls "Operation Chaos." Could that actually happen? Not likely, Ohio officials say. "We have no intention of prosecuting Rush Limbaugh because lying through your teeth and being stupid isn't a crime," said Leo Jennings, a spokesman for Democratic Attorney General Marc...

The President travelled to Ohio today and delivered a speech on the war on terror at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton. Later he met privately with a group who includes our very own Dr Deb - we await her report of the event. Pray for President Bush -- Day 2751 Today Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, met with Haitian Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

Former U.S. Rep. John R. Kasich says he's prepared to leave a lucrative private-sector career and run for the Republican nomination for governor in 2010. Kasich, 55, said yesterday he will make a final decision early in 2009, but he is paving the way now for a gubernatorial bid. "The important thing for people to know is that the success I've had in the private sector is not going to keep me from doing this," said the former congressman from Westerville. Since launching a short-lived presidential campaign in 2000 and then leaving the House in 2001 after 18 years, Kasich...

Wife of man killed in ’07 crash hopes legislation will close loophole "Last June, Juan Us Ralios, a 23-year-old illegal immigrant, was charged with vehicular homicide after being involved in a crash on Rt. 250 west of Strasburg in which John R. Barr, 42, of Dover was killed. Originally, Us Ralios, a Guatemalan native, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, a third-degree felony. However, that charge had to be lowered to a first-degree misdemeanor because he did not have a driver’s license, according to Tuscarawas County Prosecutor Amanda Spies."....

By The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio Mar. 23--The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections' investigation of 16,000 Republican voters who switched parties to vote Democratic in the March 4 primary is wrongheaded. As Ohio's elections chief, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner should say so and call on the Cuyahoga board to stop. Brunner told The Dispatch on Friday that she believes the board is on sensitive ground because voting is the the form of free speech that enjoys the greatest constitutional protection. All the more reason why she should communicate this message forcefully to Cuyahoga County officials. After all, she has not...

$15 will buy a bus tour of about a dozen foreclosed northeast Ohio properties. ReMax realtor Al Stasek drives past handsome Tudor homes in Rocky River. Several on the block have "For Sale" signs in front of them. He stops at one that has been foreclosed. He's planning to include it on a foreclosure bus tour through the western suburbs. "Instead of shining a negative light on (foreclosed homes), we want to get good people into these homes and raise the values of our neighborhoods back up," he says. He's doing the kind of foreclosure tours that are already happening...

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- A father who forgot to kiss his son goodbye ended up saving his family’s lives. Kevin Roy said he was pulling out of his driveway Tuesday morning when he realized he hadn’t kissed his 1-year-old son, Koby, and worried how he might feel if something had happened. “I just wanted to tell him I loved him before I left,” Roy said. “I pulled up to the end of the driveway and thought, ‘I want to go in and tell him bye,’ because I normally do. It's just something I do on a daily basis, so I...

Keno machines would come from Rhode Island company. COLUMBUS) - The Ohio Lottery plans to spend almost $18 million on equipment to operate its new keno games. The Ohio Lottery commission is asking a legislative panel that approves unbid contracts to release the money at its meeting next monday. The contract would go to Rhode Island-based GTECH Corp., which provides the machines for current lottery games. The state anticipates making $73 million a year off the new game and putting that toward reducing an anticipated $733 million shortfall in the state budget. Critics characterize the keno game as similar to...

What happens if the presidential election comes down to the state of Ohio again this November, just like in 2004? Democrats seem stumped in the south, and Florida might be completely out of the running. As weak as the Republican Party is at this point in history, it hasn't seemed to translate to John McCain. It appears that he may have bucked the Republican Party enough that he seems to come off as just clean enough in the minds of many voters that are fed up with the GOP. Add to that the fact at least half the country despises...

I was asked the other day by a reporter if NAFTA had been a good thing or a bad thing for America. I said that both the proponents and opponents of NAFTA had no legitimate, unassailable or even suggestive, statistical evidence on their side. I said it was absurd to think that in a $14 trillion economy, you could tease out the impact of increased trade with Mexico and Canada and disentangle it from the thousands of other changes going on. I suggested that anyone who provided an empirical case for or against the agreement was essentially being dishonest--using statistics...

Nothing in Ohio law stops companies from firing people because they are gay, just as there is nothing to stop landlords from refusing to rent to homosexuals. Past legislative efforts to add protections for sexual orientation into state law have gone nowhere. That leaves people such as Jimmie Beall without a remedy from the state when they are fired for reasons they believe are directly related to their sexual orientation. Beall was a teacher with the London City Schools in 2003. Her past reviews were excellent and she had been told by the administration that they planned to offer her...

Family members speak with 13 News IRONTON -- A pedestrian is killed after a crash involving an Ironton Police Department Cruiser Saturday night. The Ironton Police Department said the crash occurred around 9th and Jefferson Streets just before 10 p. m. The Ohio Bureau of Investigations has been notified and the Ironton Police Department has asked them to conduct an independent investigation. The victim's family tells 13 News, the victim is Guy Thomas, 46, of Ironton. Family member said Thomas was at the American Legion and left to walk home around 9:30 p.m. From there, family members said information is...

Record snow buries Columbus By MATT LEINGANG, Associated Press Writer 52 minutes ago Snow plows and clean-up crews were to continue working overtime Sunday to dig out of a record-setting snow storm that buried Ohio's capital city and many parts of Ohio and Indiana. The heavy winter storm dumped more than 20 inches of snow on Columbus on Saturday, while blizzard conditions shut down highways and stranded air travelers in the region. The storm eventually swept into the East Coast, battering Pennsylvania and New Jersey with a line of thunderstorms. By early Sunday, tens of thousands were left without electric...

The Muslim Brotherhood’s “Grand Jihad” in Toledo   By Patrick PooleFrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, March 10, 2008 It might only be the shores of Lake Erie, but the Muslim Brotherhood has established an invasion beachhead in Toledo. The most recent landing by the international Islamic extremist organization was last weekend when the Muslim American Society (MAS) – the ideological arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in the US, identified as such by the Department of Justice in a court filing back in December – held a conference at the University of Toledo. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the Department of Homeland...

By winning Ohio decisively and squeaking by in Texas, Hillary Clinton managed to resuscitate her campaign if only in the sense that she buys herself more time. Even after her victories in Rhode Island, Texas and Ohio, she still trails in the pledged delegate count and few would dispute the fact that, even though her campaign is alive, it is still very much on life-support. But make no mistake, by her victory speech in Ohio late last night, Hillary made it clear that she is not going anywhere anytime soon. If she has no prospect of ever winning a sufficient...

Ohio aftermath by Jerome Armstrong, Wed Mar 05, 2008 at 07:19:32 AM EST The rout in Ohio happened. Obama has a huge electability problem in the state. He took a total of 5 counties, and lost in 82 counties. Even though he's able to rack up a large number of urban black voters he did terrible among white voters, winning just 34 percent. You don't win a general election in Ohio if you can only win in 5 counties. I realize I'm speaking out against the other members in my tribe, the wealthy post-graduate male clique of punditry, in...

Clinton, Obama camps see voting problems The campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are complaining about problems at the polls in Ohio. Clinton's camp said it has received “troubling reports of irregularities and inappropriate behavior by Sen. Obama’s campaign across the state,” including a certified Obama poll watcher being removed by the presiding judge in an Akron precinct for “aggressively challenging voters.” There also were reports in Cincinnati of Obama poll watchers being reprimanded after wearing campaign paraphernalia into polling places, a violation of election law, Clinton state director Robby Mook said in a news release.

Dennis Kucinich, the liberal Ohio politician who made two failed White House campaigns, fought Tuesday in the Democratic primary to keep his seat against the toughest, best-financed challenger in his 12-year congressional career. For years, the 61-year-old Kucinich has won re-election by margins of up to 75 percent in a reliably Democratic district. But after sensing early that Joe Cimperman was a formidable opponent, Kucinich abandoned his presidential campaign on Jan. 25, months earlier in the race than he did in 2004, when he also was polling in low one-digit numbers. Joe Cimperman, a Cleveland City Council member and former...

Save for a few sputters in troublesome Ohio, voting appeared to run smoothly in four state primaries that could decide whether Hillary Rodham Clinton abandons her quest to be the first female president. A bomb threat stopped voting at a middle school in one northeast Ohio precinct for about 90 minutes. After trained dogs found nothing, the polls were reopened. Heavy rain, sleet and ice forced at least 10 precincts to request permission to move, and a few polling spots were running on generators because of power outages. But election advocates worry that final counts from primaries held Tuesday —...

Didn't see one poted yet, and Early exit polling is already out. Let's all watch and enjoy as the Democrats continue to rip each others throats out!