The state of Ohio has received a $2.1 million federal grant to improve criminal background checks for those home health care workers who directly serve the disabled and elderly.

The money means more thorough reviews for more than 100,000 workers who provide direct care to patients in Medicaid- and Medicare-funded settings.

Gov. John Kasich's administration says Ohio also will provide $700,000 in state funds to bolster background checks.

The money will help the state to extend the use of the attorney general's fingerprint database to direct-care providers. State officials say the electronic system will make post-hiring background checks timelier and less burdensome.

Officials say drilling in Ohio's Utica shale region nearly doubled the output of oil and natural gas there since 2011.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources announced Thursday that the drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the shale region of eastern Ohio increased the oil output by 93 percent and the natural gas output by 80 percent in that time.

The agency said that during 2012, 87 Utica wells - representing less than 1 percent of all oil and gas wells in the state - produced 12 percent of Ohio's total oil production and 16 percent of the total gas production for the year.

State officials say scammers are trying to steal Ohioans' personal information by claiming to be representatives of the new online insurance marketplaces under the federal health care law.

Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, who is also the state's insurance director, is issuing a consumer alert after reports of scammers offering to help navigate consumers through the so-called health insurance exchanges.

Taylor says the scammers are trying to capitalize on confusion around the federal Affordable Care Act.

Open enrollment in the exchanges does not begin until Oct. 1. Taylor says marketing of plans offering coverage through the exchange hasn't started.

She's urging Ohioans not to provide Medicare, Social Security or bank account information.