Here are your morning headlines for Tuesday, October 26:
- Ohio adjusts quarantine guidance for students
- Ohio AG sues Biden over abortion referral rule
- Mason city council votes to ban abortions
- Ohio reports more deaths than births; experts cite pandemic
- Ohio printed 35,000 wrong Wright Brothers license plates
- More lawsuits over sex abuse by Ohio State doc are dismissed
- 7 tornadoes confirmed last Thursday
- CWRU to $16M federal grant to study HIV and substance use
Ohio adjusts quarantine guidance for students
(WKSU) -- The Ohio Health Department has issued new guidelines for what to do if a student comes in contact with someone who’s tested positive for COVID. Officials are calling it Masks to Stay and Tests to Play. Students and staff who are exposed to the virus are encouraged to wear a mask for 14 days unless they test negative for COVID 5 days after exposure, which means they can take the mask off after seven days. For student athletes, the state is recommending testing right away, and then again after five days. Masks are recommended while around other students but not on the playing field until the second negative test. A positive result means the student needs to isolate for 10 days. The guidance is optional for schools.
Ohio AG sues Biden over abortion referral rule
(AP) —Ohio’s top lawyer has filed suit against the Biden administration over a rule allowing family planning clinics that provide abortion referrals to receive federal funds. The action by Attorney General Dave Yost comes weeks after officials reversed a 2019 policy under former President Donald Trump that barred Title X recipients from directing patients to abortion services. The Title X program cannot be used to directly pay for abortions. It’s used to provide low-cost reproductive health care services like screenings for breast cancer and sexually transmitted diseases. The lawsuit says the change “will allow abortion providers like Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio to re-enter the program, meaning Ohio will face greater competition for Title X funding.” Yost’s action was joined by 11 other states.
Mason city council votes to ban abortions
(WVXU) -- A city council in a Cincinnati suburb has voted to ban abortion. WVXU reports Mason City Council voted 4-3 on the ban that goes into effect in 30 days. However, people opposed to the ordinance are planning a referendum, which requires almost 1,500 signatures. Over a hundred people protested before and during last night’s meeting. The city council in Celina near Dayton also had an abortion ban before last night’s council agenda. In May, Lebanon, Ohio, became the first Ohio city to pass such a ban. Northeast Ohio Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan issued a statement last night saying he would continue to defend Roe vs. Wade if he’s elected to the Senate next year.
Ohio reports more deaths than births; experts cite pandemic
(AP) — For the first time in state history, Ohio recorded more deaths than births last year, a development experts say was expedited by COVID-19. The Columbus Dispatch reports that roughly 143,000 Ohioans died last year while about 129,000 were born. That's according to data from the Ohio Department of Health. So far in 2021, Ohio has logged more than 107,000 deaths and more than 100,000 births. In the 112 years since statewide record-keeping began, data shows deaths never previously surpassed births despite countless wars, economic downturns, and disease. The newspaper compiled the data along with the Ohio History Connection.
Ohio printed 35,000 wrong Wright Brothers license plates
(AP) — Ohio printed out 35,000 new license plates before realizing a banner depicted on the plate was attached to the wrong end of the Wright Brothers’ historic first plane, the Wright Flyer. State officials acknowledged the error immediately after the new plates were unveiled on Thursday and released a photo of the corrected plate. But WBNS-TV reports a state spokesperson said on Friday that 35,000 plates had already been printed. The new license plate includes an illustration of a banner, which should have been trailing behind the plane but is instead attached to its front. The corrected plates are scheduled to be released Dec. 29.
More lawsuits over sex abuse by Ohio State doc are dismissed
(AP) — A federal judge has dismissed more of the unsettled lawsuits filed by men who say Ohio State University officials failed to stop decades-old sexual abuse by now-deceased team doctor Richard Strauss. U.S. District Court Judge Michael Watson's rulings Monday weren't much of a surprise, because he'd previously dismissed related cases for the same reasons. In rulings, Watson acknowledged Strauss abused hundreds of young men while Ohio State officials turned a blind eye, but he ruled the legal window for such claims has passed. Lawyers for the plaintiffs plan appeals. OSU has apologized publicly and previously announced settlements with some of the other survivors.
7 tornadoes confirmed last Thursday
(WKSU) -- The National Weather Service has confirmed that seven tornadoes touched down in the region over a roughly two-hour span last Thursday. The strongest hit Stark County’s Jackson Township with winds as high as 110 mph, with the weakest in Aurora with 75-mph winds. Others were confirmed in Hinckley, Wickliffe, Hudson, and Mecca and Johnston Township in Trumbull County. The National Weather Service in Cleveland issued 11 tornado warnings, the most in a single day since 2005.
CWRU to $16M federal grant to study HIV and substance use
(WKSU) -- Case Western Reserve University is getting a $16 million federal grant to launch a center to study the relationship between substance use and HIV. The five-year grant comes from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health. Researchers say more than 30% of people with HIV have multiple substance use issues but it’s not fully understood how these substances might combine with the HIV virus to further endanger and damage human health. Case says work will begin in December.
