Columbus news

• Columbus will host 2020 NAGAAA gay softball world series

  02-09-2018 22:11
  
  COLUMBUS – The largest annual, LGBT single-sport, week-long athletic competition in the world is returning to Columbus.For the third time in 10 years, delegates of the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance (NAGAAA) selected Columbus as the host city for the Gay Softball World Series (GSWS). The 2020 event will take place Aug.24-29. Delegates made the decision during NAGAAA’s annual meeting in Tampa on Sunday.Columbus hosted the GSWS in 2010 and 2015. Linda Logan, executive dir
  
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• Licking County Sheriff involved with chase, arrest after armed robbery

  02-09-2018 21:20
  
  The Licking County Sheriff's office said it arrested a Columbus man after a short chase after he allegedly robbed a convenience store in southern Licking County Sunday.A release from the sheriff stated the man, Herman Byrd, 27, robbed the Duke Gas Station at State Route 310 and Interstate 70. Byrd was described as a black male wearing all black and a ski mask, fled the scene in a GMC Envoy.A short time later Licking County Sheriff’s Deputy Dirk Williamson spotted the suspect vehicle travel
  
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• Chinese billionaire Liu of JD.com arrested in Minneapolis

  02-09-2018 20:22
  
  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Chinese billionaire Liu Qiangdong, also known as Richard Liu, the founder of the Beijing-based e-commerce site JD.com, was arrested in Minneapolis on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct, jail records show.Liu, 45, was arrested late Friday night and released Saturday afternoon pending possible criminal charges, Hennepin County Jail records show. The jail records don’t provide details of the alleged incident.Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder said Sunday that h
  
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• Pentagon decides not to release $300M in aid to Pakistan

  02-09-2018 20:14
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says it’s taken final steps to cancel $300 million in planned aid to Pakistan.The move earlier this summer reflects the Trump administration’s dissatisfaction with Pakistan’s commitment to assisting the U.S. strategy for pressuring the Taliban, whose leaders use Pakistan as a sanctuary.Pentagon officials say a request was submitted to Congress this summer for authorization to use the $300 million for other purposes. The request has not yet b
  
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• Private service for McCain before burial at Naval Academy

  02-09-2018 20:05
  
  ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — John McCain's final journey from his Arizona ranch is ending on a grassy hill at the U.S. Naval Academy within view of the Severn River and earshot of midshipmen present and future, and alongside a lifelong friend.A private memorial service at the academy's chapel followed by a procession to the burial site was to mark the farewell Sunday to a man who lived a very public life. Invited along with family and friends were members of McCain's Class of 1958, military leade
  
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• Father of slain Iowa student decries using her as ‘pawn’

  02-09-2018 19:05
  
  BROOKLYN, Iowa (AP) — The father of slain Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts in a Saturday opinion piece spoke out against using his daughter’s death in support of “views she believed were profoundly racist,” a call that comes after President Donald Trump and others seized on the suspected killer’s immigration status to argue for changes in U.S. immigration laws.Authorities have said the University of Iowa student was abducted while she was out for an evening run
  
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• 2-vehicle crash leaves a man dead, 4 injured in southeast Ohio

  02-09-2018 18:37
  
  MCARTHUR, Ohio (AP) — Highway Patrol troopers in southeast Ohio are investigating a two-vehicle crash that left one man dead and sent four people to hospitals.The Patrol says Delbert Trout Jr. of Londonderry, Ohio, was dead at the scene Saturday afternoon. They say Jerry Stout of Harrisonburg, Virginia, was driving a 2011 Chevrolet Volt eastbound on U.S. 50 in Vinton County when his vehicle crossed left of center and struck Trout's 2011 Chevrolet HHR station wagon.Two others were taken to
  
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• TV talk show host Jerry Springer to speak at Ohio Labor Day picnic

  02-09-2018 18:24
  
  CINCINNATI (AP) — Long-time TV talk show host and former Cincinnati mayor Jerry Springer will highlight this year's AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic at Coney Island near Cincinnati.Several Democratic nominees for the November election are also slated to speak Monday. Thousands of union households attend the annual picnic at the amusement park along the Ohio River.The 74-year-old Springer's namesake, raucous "The Jerry Springer Show" has halted filming new episodes, after making some 4,000.Also a f
  
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• Widow of slain reporter spreads his ashes at Nationals Park

  02-09-2018 17:58
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The widow of a slain Maryland newspaper reporter has spread his ashes at Nationals Park.The Baltimore Sun reported that Andrea Chamblee placed the ashes of John McNamara in a planter of begonias at the park Saturday. The planter is located where the stands meet the left-field wall.The 56-year-old McNamara covered news and sports at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis. He was one of five staff members killed when a gunman entered the newsroom in late June.The baseball stadium
  
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• Indiana wrong-way crash leaves 4 dead, including child

  02-09-2018 17:15
  
  Four people were killed, including a child, in a wrong-way crash Saturday morning on Indiana Toll Road near Gary, state police said. Three children are critically injured. According to CBS Chicago, a driver in a Toyota with no headlights was heading west in the east bound lane of the Indiana Toll Road here near Grant Street in Gary. The Toyota slammed into a Jeep with a father, mother and four children inside, police said. The victims in the Jeep have been identified as Octavio Chavez-Renovato,
  
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• 4 missing, 10 hurt after 2 boats collide, sink on Colorado River

  02-09-2018 16:58
  
  MOABI REGIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) —The search continues for four people missing after two boats crashed and sank on the Colorado River, ejecting more than a dozen people, authorities said.A recreational boat carrying 10 people and another vessel with six people on board collided head-on Saturday night on a well-traveled stretch of the river that marks the border between California and Arizona, the Mohave County Sheriff's Office said.Both boats sank, and passing boaters pulled crash victims
  
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• 13 hurt and 4 missing after boats collide on Colorado River

  02-09-2018 16:58
  
  MOABI REGIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Two recreational boats collided head-on Saturday in a stretch of the Colorado River marking the California border with Arizona that was crowded with people enjoying the Labor Day weekend, sinking one boat and leaving 13 people injured, authorities said. Another four people were missing.None of the boaters were wearing life vests when the collision occurred, said Anita Mortensen, a spokesperson for the Mohave County Sheriff's Office.The crash happened in M
  
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• 13 hurt and 2 missing after boats collide on Colorado River

  02-09-2018 16:58
  
  MOABI REGIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Two recreational boats collided head-on Saturday in a stretch of the Colorado River marking the California border with Arizona that was crowded with people enjoying the Labor Day weekend, sinking one boat and leaving 13 people injured, authorities said. Another two people were missing and "presumed submerged."The crash happened in Moabi Regional Park, a popular water recreation area along the border about 290 miles (467 kilometers) east of Los Angeles.Eri
  
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• Dog killed by a bear saves his North Carolina family

  02-09-2018 16:29
  
  BLACK MOUNTAIN, S.C.- A Black Mountain North Carolina woman said her family dog saved them from a bear Friday.Tiffany Merrill told WLOS she looked outside before letting her dog out and leaving the door open, not seeing anything unusual. Seconds later, however, she saw a bear walk into her house. Merrill said she yelled for her children to shut their doors. That's when 'Pickle,' the family dog, ran in.Pickle distracted the bear, leading it outside and away from his family. The brave five-pound d
  
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• Opinion: What the Art Tax Means To Columbus’ Black Art Scene

  02-09-2018 16:00
  Speaking on the proposed 7 percent User Fee tax — or as I like to call it to keep things honest, the “Art Tax” — presented by the Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC), I want to focus briefly on an angle that hasn‘t come up in any of the discussions I’ve seen so far: how […]
  
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• Long-serving Ohio prisons director, Gary Mohr, steps down

  02-09-2018 15:44
  
  COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The state's long-serving prisons director has stepped down after almost eight years.Gary Mohr has been director of the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction for almost all of Gov. John Kasich's (KAY'-sikh) two terms. He oversaw more than 12,000 employees and close to 50,000 inmates. His last day was Friday.Mohr made attempts to reduce the prison population one of his top priorities, with some success. The overall prison population was about 49,500 last month, co
  
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• Paul McCartney talks of psychedelic experience in interview

  02-09-2018 14:32
  
  LONDON (AP) — Former Beatle Paul McCartney has told a British newspaper he believes he once saw God during a psychedelic trip.The 76-year-old star told The Sunday Times he was "humbled" by the experience.He said that "it was huge. A massive wall that I couldn't see the top of, and I was at the bottom. And anybody else would say it's just the drug, the hallucination, but we felt we had seen a higher thing."The Beatles' music was heavily influenced by psychedelic drugs in the band's final ye
  
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• Racist calls mock Florida's black Democratic candidate

  02-09-2018 13:39
  
  Racist phone calls mocking Florida's black Democratic gubernatorial nominee appear to be from a white supremacist podcast that has also taken credit for inflammatory robocalls in Iowa and California.In the recorded calls, someone falsely identifying himself as Andrew Gillum speaks in a racist, old-time minstrel dialect while asking voters for their support. The calls, which according to the Gillum campaign started Friday, are said to be paid for by The Road to Power — an Idaho-based video
  
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• Funeral held for slain pregnant mom, 2 daughters

  02-09-2018 13:09
  
  PINEHURST, N.C. -- Shanann Watts will be remembered as a "woman of love" and her two young two daughters as being filled with life and joy, a priest said Saturday during a funeral service for the slain Colorado family found at an oil work site. The hour-long service in Pinehurst, North Carolina, included no reference to 33-year-old Christopher Watts, the husband and father charged in the killings.Police say he killed his 34-year-old pregnant wife and their daughters, four-year-old Bella and thre
  
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• Police identify Canal Winchester man killed in motorcycle crash in east Columbus

  02-09-2018 12:21
  
  COLUMBUS, Ohio - Columbus Police are investigating a fatal motorcycle crash early Sunday morning.Police received calls reporting a crash at 5:45 a.m. near the intersection of East Livingston Avenue and Rhoads Avenue.First responders arrived on the scene to find a motorcycle crash and pronounced the driver, Bradley Bethel, 25 of Canal Winchester, dead at 5:49 a.m., according to police.According to a press release, Bethel ran a stop sign, hit a curb and then hit a building. This is the 52nd traffi
  
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• 1 killed in motorcycle crash in east Columbus

  02-09-2018 12:21
  
  COLUMBUS, Ohio - Columbus Police is investigating a fatal motorcycle crash early Sunday morning.Police received calls reporting a crash at 5:45 a.m. near the intersection of East Livingston Avenue and Rhoads Avenue.First responders arrived on the scene to find a motorcycle has crashed and pronounced the person dead at 5:49 a.m., according to police.Authorities say they do not know the identity of the person killed and the accident remains under investigation.East Livingston Avenue is closed in b
  
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• Fans react to first game without Urban Meyer

  02-09-2018 05:15
  Despite a lack of gameday guidance from head coach Urban Meyer, the Ohio State Buckeyes picked up a win against Oregon State in the first game of the season.Meyer is suspended for the first three games of the 2018 season. The suspension came following the investigation into Meyer’s knowledge and handling of abuse allegations against former assistant coach Zach Smith.Fans were able to witness success without head coach Urban Meyer early in the game and after the win, many expressed support
  
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• Dramatic video shows Austin bombing suspect detonating final explosive as police close in

  02-09-2018 01:27
  AUSTIN, Texas -- The first publicly released video of Texas police closing in on the suspect in a series of deadly Austin package bombings shows officers approaching his SUV before the vehicle explodes. But still investigators still have not released a 25-minute cellphone recording by Mark Conditt in which he allegedly confessed.Aerial footage released Friday by the Texas Department of Public Safety comes five months after police say Conditt, 23, blew himself up inside the SUV along an interstat
  
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• Gymnastics coach fired after contacting Aly Raisman about Larry Nassar

  02-09-2018 00:53
  
  INDIANAPOLIS -- USA Gymnastics has parted ways with recently hired coach Mary Lee Tracy because Tracy tried to contact Aly Raisman, one of Larry Nassar's most outspoken victims. Only three days after being hired as the program's elite development coordinator, Tracy posted on social media Friday that she was asked to resign after trying to contact Raisman to apologize, and in the hopes "we could work together to make our sport better and learn from all the mistakes of the past."USA Gymnastics sai
  
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• John Kasich: There will "never be another John McCain"

  02-09-2018 00:35
  
  Ohio Gov. John Kasich said that there will "never be another John McCain" in an interview with "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan on Saturday. He discussed McCain's deep faith, both in God and in his country."He had great faith and great trust in the Lord," said Kasich, who attended McCain's funeral at the Washington National Cathedral Saturday morning. He referred to McCain's five years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, and how he kept his faith even in dire circumstances."
  
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• Judge orders man to forfeit home and pay child porn victims

  02-09-2018 00:00
  
  RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge has ordered a North Carolina man to forfeit his home and pay $250,000 to a child he used for producing pornography.The News & Observer in Raleigh reported Friday that 33-year-old Adam Geoffrey Frankel had created multiple videos involving underage girls in his Cary home. Police said he persuaded them to perform sexual acts on video. Investigators also said they found at least 136,350 images of child pornography.Chief United States District Judge Jam
  
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