Statewide News

Ohioans can cast an early ballot for the Nov. 8 election starting Tuesday. 

Voters this fall will decide whether the state should toss out a law governing public employee unions that was passed this spring. The measure limits the collective bargaining abilities of more than 350,000 teachers, nurses, firefighters, police and other public workers around the state.

Another question facing voters is whether the state's constitution should be amended to prohibit governments from requiring Ohioans to buy health insurance.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A $16 million federal grant allows eight Ohio police departments to rehire officers laid off due to budget cuts.

The grant from the U.S. Department of Justice allows 67 laid-off Ohio police officers to resume their jobs for at least three years.

The money will cover full salary and benefits for the rehired officers.

The biggest winners in Ohio are Cincinnati and Cleveland which received $6.8 million and $5.8 million respectively to recall 25 police officers each.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Nine condemned Ohio inmates are once again asking a federal judge to find the state's rules for carrying out executions unconstitutional.

Attorneys for the death row prisoners say the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction continues to use an arbitrary process with under-trained executioners and potentially cruel and unusual injection methods.

The prisoners argued in a 102-page court filing Wednesday that the process still gives the state too much discretion to abandon its rules at the last-minute during an execution.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Forty-one undocumented immigrants with criminal backgrounds were arrested in Ohio as part of a nation-wide enforcement effort.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested 2,901 such illegal immigrants with criminal records throughout the nation in a seven-day enforcement operation.

The immigration enforcement agency reports that of the total arrested, 42 were gang members and 151 were convicted sex offenders. The agency says the effort is the largest of its kind.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The Ohio Senate has approved a bill that contains new requirements before a minor can be allowed to have an abortion without her parents agreeing to it.

Under the bill, a judge considering whether to let a girl bypass the state's parental consent requirement would have to ask if she understands the physical and emotional impacts of having an abortion. The judge also must ask the girl if she was coached on how to answer such questions.

The Senate passed the measure Tuesday on a 23-8 vote.