Here are your morning headlines for Monday, May 10:
- Cuyahoga Falls-based televangelist Ernest Angley dies
- State distributing naloxone as overdose deaths climb
- Hundreds of Youngstown inmates to be relocated
- Man convicted of attempted kidnapping in alleged ambush plot
Cuyahoga Falls-based televangelist Ernest Angley dies
The longtime head of a megachurch based in Cuyahoga Falls has died. Ernest Angley was 99. He started with hosting tent revivals in the Akron area before founding Grace Cathedral in 1957. He bought Cuyahoga Falls television station WBNX in 1985 and opened a 5,000-seat venue nearby in 1994, purchased from fellow televangelist Rex Humbard. Angley gained an international following through his controversial faith-healing services and syndicated broadcasts. The Beacon Journal reports attendance at the cathedral has dropped in recent years, likely attributed to an investigative series in 2014 in which 21 former church members detailed accusations of wrongdoing by Angley. His cathedral buffet and TV station have also faced a number of lawsuits, including one from an energy company for failing to pay a loan, and others from employees who say they weren’t paid and for violating child labor laws.
State distributing naloxone as overdose deaths climb
About 60,000 doses of the opioid-reversal antidote naloxone are being distributed to ZIP codes in 23 Ohio counties with the most need. Cleveland.com reports the state is using $2.5 million to make sure areas in the state have enough for the spring and summer. The website reports more than 3,400 naloxone doses will be distributed in Northeast Ohio, with the most going to Cuyahoga, Lake, and Summit counties. Drug overdoses killed at least 5,000 Ohioans in 2020, the most in 14 years, according to a Columbus Dispatch analysis of Ohio Department of Health data.
Hundreds of Youngstown inmates to be relocated
Hundreds of inmates awaiting trial in Youngstown will be moved out of state following a Biden Administration call to end all contracts with private prisons. Cleveland.com reports there are currently 350 inmates being held at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown, a pretrial facility for inmates awaiting sentencing in federal courts in Akron, Youngstown, and Cleveland. That facility is ending its private contract with CoreCivic. The inmates will be relocated in the next few weeks to a facility five hours away in Pennsylvania. About 250 other inmates will be relocated to jails across northern Ohio.
Man convicted of attempted kidnapping in alleged ambush plot
A Cleveland man has been convicted in an alleged plot to ambush and kidnap law enforcement officers responding to a false distress call. A federal jury convicted Christian Ferguson, 21, of two counts of attempted kidnapping. He was arrested last May after authorities alleged that he spoke in a chat room about the plot and later accompanied informants on a “dry run" in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. His attorney asked that with the case pending, that his client be able to get counseling and mental health assistance. He’ll be sentenced in August.
