Category Archives: Ohio

Ohio Republicans accused of trying to mislead voters with abortion ballot wording

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New lawsuit accuses ballot board of presenting voters with a confusing summary on November ballot about access to abortion

Abortion rights advocates in Ohio filed a lawsuit on Monday, claiming that state Republican leaders are trying to confuse voters on a ballot measure about access to reproductive healthcare.

Last week, the Ohio ballot board – led by the Republican secretary of state, Frank LaRose – approved the wording of Issue 1, a November ballot measure that will ask voters if the state constitution should guarantee a right to abortion, contraception, fertility treatment and miscarriage care.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene’s campaign manager to pay $25k over Ohio train derailment scam

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Isaiah Wartman and two others ordered to pay restitution over role in fraudulent fund claiming to help East Palestine victims

The manager of the 2020 campaign that launched the far-right politician Marjorie Taylor Greene to Congress has been ordered to pay $25,000 for his role in a charity scam aimed at capitalizing on the East Palestine train crash.

Isaiah Wartman and his business partner Luke Mahoney must each pay $22,000 in restitution as well as $3,000 in investigative costs and fees as part of a settlement with the Ohio attorney general’s office, which prosecuted the case. Meanwhile, the settlement calls for a co-founder of the fake charity, Michael Peppel, to pay a $25,000 civil penalty and be banned from starting, running or soliciting for any charitable organization in the state.

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Win for reproductive rights as Ohio voters reject effort to make it harder to amend state constitution

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Proposal would have made it considerably harder to amend state constitution as voters give verdict on Issue 1

Ohio voters on Tuesday rejected a proposal that would have made it considerably harder to amend the state constitution in a major win for reproductive rights and democracy advocates in the state.

The result means that Ohio will keep its current process for amending the state constitution in place. The procedure first requires voters to collect a certain number of signatures from at least 44 of the state’s 88 counties to send an amendment proposal to the ballot and then a simple majority to pass it.

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In America’s ‘Voltage Valley’, hopes of car-making revival turn sour

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EV manufacturer Lordstown Motors, lauded by Trump in 2020, has gone bankrupt – what now for the once-proud auto-making region?

When Lordstown Motors, an electric vehicles (EV) manufacturer in Ohio’s Mahoning Valley, declared bankruptcy last month, it was the latest blow to a region that has seen decades of extravagant promises fail to deliver.

The 5,000 new jobs executives vowed to create in 2020 generated fresh hope for the shuttered General Motors Lordstown plant, which once functioned as an economic engine for the area and a critical piece of the nation’s industrial heartland.

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Floods, tornadoes, heat: more extreme weather predicted across US

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Over a third of Americans under extreme heat warnings as Vermont, still recovering from historic flooding, prepares for more storms

The US is bracing for more extreme weather from coast to coast, with a heatwave hitting California, tornados in the midwest and the east expecting more rain as it continues to reel from historic flooding.

Residents of Vermont, still suffering from an onslaught of dangerous weather in recent days, are preparing for another round of severe storms in the area beginning as early as Thursday night.

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Man gets life sentence for raping girl, nine, forced to leave Ohio for abortion

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Gerson Fuentes found guilty in case that dominated headlines when girl had to travel to Indiana for procedure banned in Ohio

The man found guilty of raping and impregnating a nine-year-old Ohio girl who later traveled to Indiana for abortion has been sentenced to life in prison.

On Wednesday afternoon, 28-year-old Gerson Fuentes appeared at the Franklin county court of common pleas in Columbus, Ohio, where he entered a plea agreement which will allow him to be eligible to seek probation after 25 years. If granted parole, Fuentes would also have to register as a tier 3 sex offender and will have a lifetime of in-person verification every 90 days.

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Ohio police continue search for fugitive who escaped prison last week

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Safecracker James Lee was apprehended last Wednesday, while convicted killer Bradley Gillespie is still on the lam

Authorities on Sunday were searching for a convicted killer who escaped an Ohio prison by hiding in a trash container.

The manhunt for Bradley Gillespie began last week when he and another man incarcerated at Allen-Oakwood correctional institution in Lima, Ohio, James Lee, were discovered missing, according to reports.

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Wendy’s to test AI chatbot that takes your drive-thru order

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US fast-food chain says pilot program ‘seeks to take the complexity out of the ordering process’

The next time someone asks for fries with their shake, they might be talking to a robot. At least, that’s what the US fast-food chain Wendy’s has planned.

Next month, Wendy’s will be testing an artificial-intelligence-powered chatbot with the capability to speak with customers and take their orders.

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Colorado River snaking through Grand Canyon most endangered US waterway – report

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Unique ecosystem on the brink of collapse due to climate crisis and mismanagement, says conservation group American Rivers

A 277-mile stretch of the Colorado River that snakes through the iconic Grand Canyon is America’s most endangered waterway, a new report has found.

The unique ecosystem and cultural heritage of the Grand Canyon is on the brink of collapse due to prolonged drought, rising temperatures and outdated river management, according to American Rivers, the conservation group which compiles the annual endangered list.

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Levels of carcinogenic chemical near Ohio derailment site far above safe limit

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EPA scientists assessed a dioxin cancer risks threshold in 2010, but a federal cleanup is only triggered at far higher levels

Newly released data shows soil in the Ohio town of East Palestine – scene of a recent catastrophic train crash and chemical spill – contains dioxin levels hundreds of times greater than the exposure threshold above which Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists in 2010 found poses cancer risks.

The EPA at the time proposed lowering the cleanup threshold to reflect the science around the highly toxic chemical, but the Obama administration killed the rules, and the higher federal action threshold remains in place.

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‘Send a chopper’: zebra almost bites farmer’s arm off in Ohio

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Stallion zebra, which was behaving ‘erratically’, shot dead by police after attacking Ronald Clifton, 72

A midwestern farmer called emergency services, shouting: “Come before it gets me again!” after he was attacked by his pet zebra at a farm in Circleville, Ohio.

The zebra, which bit Ronald Clifton, 72, on the arm, partially severing it, was the only stallion in a small herd of four or five mares.

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Sherrod Brown in tough election fight as Ohio crash tests Democrats’ chances

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Leftwing senator has bucked trend of statewide Democratic losses but derailment in East Palestine set to test re-election hopes

US Senator Sherrod Brown has survived a decade of statewide Democratic losses in Ohio by building a reputation as the rare person in his party who can still connect with the white working-class voters who have increasingly shifted to Republicans.

But as he heads into what could be a tough re-election campaign, Brown is facing a critical test in the aftermath of the train derailment in the eastern Ohio village of East Palestine.

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What’s in the air in East Palestine, Ohio? – podcast

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When a train derailed in a small town in Ohio last month, it shed its toxic load, spewed smoke and set off a political firestorm that is still raging

On the evening of 3 February, a train made up of 149 carriages and more than a mile long came off the rails in the small Ohio town of East Palestine. No one was injured but the train shed its cargo, which included toxic chemicals including vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen.

The Guardian’s Nina Lakhani has been reporting from East Palestine where residents have returned to their homes after those within the disaster’s exclusion zone were forced to leave the area. She tells Michael Safi that local people are furious about the way the accident happened – and how the cleanup has been handled.

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Ohio rail crash: toxic waste removal suspended amid contamination fears

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Environmental Protection Agency orders rail company to ‘pause’ shipments from site pending a review of plans to dispose of waste near Houston and Detroit

Federal environmental authorities have ordered a temporary halt in the shipment of contaminated waste from the site of the train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month, amid fears of further harm from the toxic waste.

Hazardous waste disposal facilities near Houston and Detroit are planning to receive most of the contaminated water and soil from the East Palestine train wreck site, raising the risk that some of the dangerous chemicals could end up in the environment elsewhere.

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‘Be vigilant, hold your ground’: Erin Brockovich rallies Ohio town after train disaster

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Celebrated whistleblower and activist assures residents of East Palestine they are not alone, but also that a long road lies ahead

Every seat was taken in the East Palestine high school auditorium on Friday night as America’s most famous environmentalist took to the stage to address a community left traumatised, angry and confused by a railroad disaster that has upended their sleepy little town.

“Good evening, thank you for being here. My name is Erin Brockovich, not Julia Roberts,” she said, triggering a collective roar of laughter.

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Trump’s environmental rollbacks in focus on visit to Ohio toxic train site

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Former president criticizes Biden administration’s response to train derailment in East Palestine as he visits town

Donald Trump’s record of rolling back environmental protections was highlighted by critics on Wednesday as the ex-president visited the town of East Palestine, Ohio, and called the federal response to the toxic train derailment there earlier this month a “betrayal” .

Trump’s administration, which rolled back more than 100 environmental rules in total, watered down several regulations at the behest of the rail industry.

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Pro-choice advocates file paperwork for Ohio referendum on abortion

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Coalition of lawyers, doctors and activists hope to put the question of abortion directly to state voters after toppling of Roe v Wade

Today, reproductive health advocates in Ohio are handing in language to the state’s attorney general, looking to bring a ballot initiative on abortion to voters in November 2023.

Following the US supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade last summer – which had secured a federal right to abortion – an Ohio ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy immediately came into effect. That ban was then put on hold by an Ohio judge in October 2022, restoring abortion rights in the state up to 22 weeks of pregnancy until further notice.

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Ohio train derailment: EPA takes control of response and clean-up efforts

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EPA orders Norfolk Southern to clean up site in East Palestine, Ohio, as residents demand answers about health risks

Federal environmental regulators on Tuesday took control of the clean-up from the derailment of the train carrying huge quantities of toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month, and ordered the railroad company Norfolk Southern to foot the bill.

Amid growing fear and frustration among residents about safety and transparency, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will now take control as the fallout from the 3 February train disaster moves from emergency response to the clean-up phase.

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Ohio senator blasts train operator and lobbyists over toxic derailment

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Democrat Sherrod Brown says derailment, which released toxic chemicals, was caused by Norfolk Southern

The Ohio senator Sherrod Brown had harsh criticism on Sunday for corporate lobbyists and Norfolk Southern, the Atlanta-based operator of the train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, two weeks ago while carrying toxic chemicals.

Speaking on Sunday to CNN’s State of the Union, the Democrat said the derailment, which released toxic chemicals including the carcinogenic vinyl chloride, was an episode of “the same old story”, and that Norfolk Southern “caused it”.

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‘Trust the government’: EPA seeks to reassure Ohio residents near toxic spill

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People in East Palestine demand answers from Norfolk Southern railroad, which skipped meeting due to staff safety concerns

The head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got a first-hand look on Thursday at the toll left by a freight train derailment in Ohio, where toxic chemicals spilled or were burned off, leaving the stench of fresh paint nearly two weeks later.

The EPA’s administrator, Michael Regan, walked along a creek that still reeks of chemicals and sought to reassure skeptical residents that the water was fit for drinking and the air safe to breathe around East Palestine, where just less than 5,000 people live near the Pennsylvania state line.

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