News

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A state lawmaker says he plans to introduce a bill that would require all Ohioans on public aid pass drug testing - and foot the bill.

Sen. Tim Grendell (grehn-DEL') says taxpayers shouldn't have to finance the illegal habits of people receiving public dollars.

His proposed legislation would require people to pay for their own testing. They would be reimbursed if they pass. If they fail, they could keep their aid by attending state-approved treatment services.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The mayor of Ohio's capital city is calling for an end to a recent spike in violence against police locally and nationally.

Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman said Tuesday that anyone who pulls a gun on officers should expect police to respond with deadly force.

Coleman says suspects pointed guns at Columbus police six times in August, and two suspects fired. Police shot and killed two young men last week in separate incidents. No officers were hurt.

Poor Will’s Almanack for the fourth week of Late Summer

After a cool wave came through my yard last night, I walked outside into the breeze, and I suddenly became aware of the disconcerting power of Late Summer. I was disoriented and restless, filled with a sentimental confusion of sadness and excitement.

The morning wind was telling me stories, this cool wave predicting transformations, the unavoidable coming of fall, the inner changes I will undergo, the exterior, dramatic alterations destined in the trees and…my life.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The state has confirmed this year's first two human cases of West Nile virus in Ohio, amid a sharp increase in mosquitoes found carrying West Nile.

The Ohio Department of Health said Tuesday that a 19-year-old woman has been hospitalized in Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH'-guh) County with meningitis related to the potentially dangerous virus.

Officials also said a 14-year-old boy in northwest Ohio's Putnam County has been confirmed with a West Nile fever.

The department said in a statement that both teens are recovering.

CLEVELAND (AP) - Ohio's governor plans to hire a consultant to look at whether the state should let a private operator run the Ohio Lottery.

A spokesman for Gov. John Kasich says his administration wants to find out the full value of the lottery and whether it makes sense to let an outside operator take over.

Kasich already is privatizing Ohio's job creation operation and some state prisons. He also wants to explore leasing the Ohio Turnpike.