Patrol investigating how inmate got prison passwords
COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio authorities are investigating how an inmate obtained a list of prison administrators’ usernames and passwords.
Prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith says the list was discovered during a random search at Lebanon Correctional Institution on July 10.
Smith said Thursday the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction put security measures in place afterward but there was no evidence of a data breach.
The State Highway Patrol says it is investigating the possibility of criminal violations while the prisons agency is trying to figure out how the inmate got the information.
The prisoner was put in segregation during the investigation. Officials haven’t publicly identified the inmate.
Teens charged in fatal shooting have initial hearings
CINCINNATI (AP) — A 14-year-old and a 17-year-old charged in the shooting death of a man in Cincinnati are set for juvenile court hearings in July.
Court officials say the boys are charged with aggravated murder and aggravated robbery and were in court for initial hearings Thursday. They are due back in court July 28.
Police said they arrested the 17-year-old Wednesday on warrants charging him in the death of 39-year-old Suliman Abdul-Mutakallim, who was found June 28 by police responding to a report of a person shot.
Police say they arrested the 14-year-old boy July 2 on the same charges.
An attorney for the 14-year-old declined to comment Thursday. The older teen’s attorney didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.
The Associated Press is withholding the teens’ names because of their ages.
Governor signs bill handing over Youngstown schools to CEO
COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio’s governor has signed into law a plan that would place a CEO in charge of running Youngstown’s beleaguered city schools.
Legislation that Republican Gov. John Kasich signed Thursday allows the state superintendent to appoint three of five members of a new academic distress commission for the district. The commission would then pick a CEO to have full reign of the schools.
The chief executive will have the authority to replace school administrators, determine class sizes and curriculum, replace teachers and set compensation.
Democrats criticize the plan, saying it was hastily pushed through and will change the face of the city’s schools.
GOP Sen. Peggy Lehner has said the continued failure in Youngstown schools led to a sense of urgency to pass the legislation.
Kasich details barrier proposal for Buckeye Lake dam
COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio officials say the proposed design for a barrier in front of the deteriorated Buckeye Lake dam could save money and accelerate the project.
That’s optimistic news for area residents and businesses disappointed by the lake’s water level being kept low as a precaution this summer. It limits boating and water activities, upsetting locals who say the economy and tourism there are taking a big hit.
Gov. John Kasich announced a design Thursday that would use compacted soil and cement columns to reinforce the existing 4.1-mile earthen dam. A designer for the detailed plan hasn’t been chosen yet.
The nearly 180-year-old structure has been weakened by several hundred homes, docks and other structures built into it. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers concluded it’s at risk of failing.
Man indicted on charge alleging Islamic State support
CLEVELAND (AP) — A suburban Cleveland man has been indicted on a charge alleging he provided material support to the Islamic State group.
A 28-count indictment was filed Thursday against 38-year-old Amir Said Rahman Al-Ghazi, of Sheffield Lake. Authorities say he was arrested June 19 after he tried to buy an assault rifle from an undercover FBI agent.
Twenty-five counts against him are related to his alleged sales of marijuana.
Authorities say Al-Ghazi, who changed his name from Robert McCollum, pledged his support to the Islamic State group online and tried to recruit others to join the cause. A criminal complaint detailed how those potential recruits were sources working for the FBI.
Al-Ghazi remains in federal custody. His attorney didn’t immediately return telephone messages seeking comment on Thursday.
Attorney general orders probe of Planned Parenthood
COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio’s top law enforcer says he’s investigating whether Planned Parenthood may have violated its nonprofit status and made money from the sale of organs from aborted fetuses.
Attorney General Mike DeWine said Thursday his charitable-law section is reviewing activities of three Ohio locations of the abortion and reproductive health services provider.
The Republican’s announcement follows an anti-abortion group’s release of a secretly-recorded video showing a Planned Parenthood official discussing the disposal of body parts from aborted fetuses. Three congressional committees are investigating the matter.
DeWine says if money was made from the practice it might be illegal.
Planned Parenthood says it legally helps women desiring to make not-for-profit donations of their fetus’ organs for scientific research. A spokeswoman says none have occurred in Ohio, where tissue donations are illegal.
7 wounded in drive-by shooting
CLEVELAND (AP) — Police say seven people were shot in an overnight drive-by shooting near a park in Cleveland but none were critically wounded.
The victims of the Wednesday night shooting include two women, ages 44 and 21, and five men who range in age from 31 to 21.
A statement issued by Cleveland police Thursday says the victims told officers that a van pulled up and people inside it began shooting. A police spokesman says the stolen van was later found abandoned in East Cleveland. No suspects have been arrested.
The spokesman says it’s unclear if the drive-by has any connection to two homicides that occurred on that same street earlier this year.
Supervisors disciplined for not vetting officer who shot boy
CLEVELAND (AP) — Two Cleveland police officers have been disciplined for failing to thoroughly check the background of a white rookie patrolman who fatally shot a 12-year-old black boy holding a pellet gun.
Northeast Ohio Media Group (http://bit.ly/1TEHeJr ) reports that one officer received a two-day suspension and the other a written reprimand.
The officers were accused of failing to check Timothy Loehmann’s personnel file at a suburban department before his hiring in Cleveland last year. An evaluation in the file said Loehmann had dismal handgun performance and was emotionally immature.
Loehmann has been on limited duty since shooting Tamir Rice in November within two seconds of a cruiser skidding to a stop near the boy. Prosecutors say a grand jury will determine if criminal charges should be filed against Loehmann.
Man admits to posing as army sergeant amid water crisis
TOLEDO (AP) — An Ohio man previously discharged from the military for possessing child pornography has pleaded guilty to posing as an Army sergeant during Toledo’s water crisis last year.
Twenty-seven-year-old Richard Newberry of Toledo pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday.
Prosecutors say Newberry identified himself as an Army sergeant, wore a camouflage uniform and handed out bottled water in Toledo last August when algae-induced toxins from Lake Erie contaminated the drinking water for 400,000 people in parts of Ohio and Michigan.
The Blade newspaper reports (http://bit.ly/1fLElIy ) Newberry was convicted in 2011 of possessing child pornography, leading to his discharge from the Army.
He pleaded guilty to false personation of an officer, dealing in firearms without a license, possessing a firearm despite his felony conviction and failing to register as a sex offender.
16-year-old fatally shot; 2 arrested
COLUMBUS (AP) — Police say a man and woman have been arrested on murder charges in the shooting death of a 16-year-old in Columbus.
Officers responded to a report of a shooting on the south side of Columbus around 5 p.m. Tuesday, where they found a 16-year-old boy. Police say the teen was transported to a local hospital, where he later died.
Police say 22-year-old Dustin Parsley and 21-year-old Alexandria Bowen have been arrested on murder charges.
The exact motive wasn’t immediately known, but police say initial information indicates the shooting was part of an ongoing dispute.
