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Ohio site allows searches of
before- and
after-school care
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Ohio is reminding parents it has a website where they can search for before- and after-school care.
ChildCareSearch.Ohio.gov is coordinated by the Ohio Departments of Job and Family Services and Education.
Families can search the site by county, city, ZIP code and program type, or using a five-star-tiered Step Up to Quality rating and improvement system. The system recognizes programs that exceed minimum health and safety standards and promote children's learning and development.
ODJFS Director Cynthia Dungey says the site can make a difficult decision easier. It includes listings for home-based care, school-based care and child care centers.
Listed programs serve children of all ages, including infants and preschoolers.
Ohio requires licenses for all programs serving more than three children under two, or more than six older children.
Bankruptcy ruling could lead to higher Ohio
electric prices
AKRON (AP) -- Millions of Ohio electricity customers could end up paying more for power because of a recent decision in a key regional power company's bankruptcy case.
U.S. Judge Alan Koschik last week approved a motion to allow FirstEnergy Solutions to leave a multi-company power agreement that required the participating companies to help keep older Ohio-area coal plants running until the year 2040.
FirstEnergy Solutions, American Electric Power, Duke Energy, Dayton Power and Light and customers of the state's electric cooperative all share ownership and costs for the Ohio Valley Electric Corp., which oversaw the agreement and management for the plants.
Ohio Valley operates two coal-fired plants along the Ohio River -- the Kyger Creek plant in southeast Ohio and the Clifty Creek plant in Indiana. Ohio Valley is required to keep these plants running until 2040.
The Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel is worried about what the bankruptcy filing means for power customers throughout the state if the decision isn't reversed on appeal. First Energy Solutions leaving the agreement could result in the other companies raising rates for customers to offset costs, the office said.
FirstEnergy Solutions filed for bankruptcy protection on March 31. The subsidiary runs nuclear and coal-fired power plants for FirstEnergy Corp. based in Akron.
The subsidiary, which has been saddled by mounting debt, previously said in a statement that it was seeking bankruptcy protection to "facilitate an orderly financial restructuring" and that it believed the filing was in the best interests of the company and creditors.
The bankruptcy filing includes FirstEnergy Solutions along with all FES subsidiaries and FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co.
As of Dec. 31, Ohio Valley's debt totaled $1.4 billion, according to the Ohio Consumers' Counsel. FirstEnergy is responsible for nearly 5 percent of the debt, or $67.9 million.
FirstEnergy first warned that it could be forced to close its power plants in Ohio four years ago when it sought to change how it is paid for electricity.
It also has been unable to get financial help from federal and state leaders to keep its nuclear plants operating.
FirstEnergy supplies electricity to about 6 million customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York.
Final vote
checks begin in deadlocked Ohio US House race
COLUMBUS (AP) -- The window has opened for county election boards to begin the official count in Ohio's deadlocked special congressional election.
Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted says Saturday is the first day that official canvassing can begin. The formal tally must be wrapped up by Aug. 24.
The Aug. 7 contest between Republican state Sen. Troy Balderson, of Zanesville, and Democrat Danny O'Connor, the Franklin County recorder, remains too close to call. Balderson leads O'Connor by less than a percentage point with thousands of ballots potentially left to be counted.
If the vote total remains within half a percentage point, an automatic recount will be triggered.
The two seek an open U.S. House seat made available by Republican Pat Tiberi's retirement in January.
Minnesota Dems endorse Ellison amid abuse claims
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Minnesota Democrats are standing behind U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison and his bid for state attorney general, with the state party giving him an endorsement Saturday amid an allegation of domestic abuse from an ex-girlfriend.
Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement that Ellison "will be a champion for families and fight to hold powerful interests accountable."
Ellison received 326 votes, or 82 percent of delegates on hand at the party's state executive committee meeting Saturday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
The endorsement comes after Ellison won the Democratic primary just days after Karen Monahan said Ellison had once dragged her off a bed by her feet while screaming obscenities. Ellison has denied the allegation. Monahan has said she has video footage of the 2016 encounter, but has declined to release it. Ellison says the video does not exist.
The National Organization for Women has called for Ellison to quit the race in which Ellison faces Republican Doug Wardlow.
In a speech to a packed auditorium of delegates Saturday, Ellison again denied abusing Monahan.
"Despite everything, I still care about her as a person and I don't want anybody to say anything insulting to her at all," Ellison said. "I want you know that I am committed to listening to all of the voices of every victim of abuse. I recognize and hear those voices of so many women who were silenced when they needed to be heard."
About a dozen protesters gathered outside before the meeting, hoisting signs and shouting, "Ellison beats women," to people filing inside.
Former UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan
dies at age 80
ACCRA, Ghana (AP) -- Kofi Annan, a charismatic global diplomat and the first black African to become United Nations secretary-general who led the world body through one of its most turbulent periods, died early Saturday at age 80.
Tributes flowed in from around the world after his foundation announced his death in the Swiss capital, Bern, after a short and unspecified illness. The statement remembered the Nobel Peace Prize winner as "radiating genuine kindness, warmth and brilliance in all he did."
He died "peacefully in his sleep," the president of Ghana, where Annan was born, said after speaking to his wife.
At U.N. headquarters in New York, the U.N. flag flew at half-staff and a bouquet of flowers was placed under Annan's portrait. Reflecting the widespread regard that won him a groundbreaking uncontested election to a second term, leaders from Russia, India, Israel, France and elsewhere expressed condolences for a man Bill Gates called "one of the great peacemakers of our time."
Annan spent virtually his entire career as an administrator in the United Nations. His aristocratic style, cool-tempered elegance and political savvy helped guide his ascent to become its seventh secretary-general, and the first hired from within. His two terms were from Jan. 1, 1997, to Dec. 31, 2006, capped nearly midway when he and the U.N. were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.
US school
districts weigh duty to youth
migrant shelters
When San Benito, Texas, school leaders learned of an influx of children to a migrant shelter in their small town near the U.S.-Mexico border, they felt obliged to help.
The superintendent reached out and agreed to send 19 bilingual teachers, mobile classrooms and hundreds of computers to make the learning environment resemble one of his schools.
While a government contractor bears responsibility for educating children at the highly guarded center, local officials say they stepped up partly because of a law that calls on school systems to educate any child, anywhere within their district.
"This is not a political issue. This is not a racial issue. This is a moral obligation, and actually our legal obligation," said Michael Vargas, who leads the board of the San Benito Consolidated Independent School District.
San Benito is one of a small number of U.S. school systems that are preparing for the first day of school on both their public campuses and in new classrooms set up at nearby federal youth migrant shelters.
In neighboring Brownsville, Texas, the superintendent is working on an agreement to deploy teachers and services to help educate 800 children housed in federal facilities in her district.
When Ms. Franklin calls: Reporter
reflects on
Queen of Soul
NEW YORK (AP) -- When I got the chance to interview Aretha Franklin for the first time in 2001, I was already a bundle of nerves: Even though it was just over the phone, I'd be talking to THE Queen of Soul! You could get no closer to rock 'n' roll royalty than the Queen herself.
So my trepidation was magnified when a colleague told me not to expect much: Franklin was famously guarded and known for giving short, to-the-point answers and little in the way of introspection.
Sure enough, when we spoke on the topic at hand -- a VH1 Divas concert honoring her music -- Franklin didn't offer much at first. But then, I remembered that she was a huge "The Young and the Restless" fan, and in particular, of Victor Newman, as was I.
So we chatted about that. And before long, she opened up a bit more, and while I didn't get any big scoops that day, I got a bit of her flair, her personality and her regalness -- when I asked her if she thought she was the ultimate diva, she retorted, "What do YOU think?"
Over the years, we'd have many more conversations. Sometimes, I'd get a note from her publicist, Gwendolyn Quinn, who'd let me know that Franklin would like to talk to me; she sometimes rang me on her own. She called me Ms. Moody, and I of course called her Ms. Franklin (though sometimes, just "Aretha" would pop out, revealing my lack of home training).
In some ways, our conversations weren't particularly deep: She didn't expound on the kind of life experiences that allowed her to convey emotion on a track like no other; we didn't delve into the magic behind classics like "Ain't No Way" or "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."
Another trial looms for ex-Trump campaign chairman Manafort
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- As jurors weigh Paul Manafort's fate in a sprawling financial fraud case, the former Trump campaign chairman still has another trial looming in the nation's capital -- and prosecutors there have a whole new set of charges and a huge volume of evidence.
The trial now underway in Alexandria, Virginia, is the first case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller to go to trial. The jury will return Monday to begin a third day of deliberations on 18 counts, including tax and bank fraud and failure to disclose foreign bank accounts.
In the District of Columbia, Manafort is scheduled to go on trial in September on charges including conspiracy to defraud the United States, failing to register as a foreign agent, money laundering, witness tampering and making false statements.
Neither case involves allegations of Russian election interference or possible coordination by the Trump campaign, which are at the heart of Mueller's larger investigation. But President Donald Trump has expressed a keen interest in Manafort's fate as he seeks to publicly undermine Mueller's probe.
The charges in D.C. could result in an even lengthier sentence than what Manafort faces in Virginia. In a status report filed back in February, prosecutors did a preliminary calculation of how federal sentencing guidelines would apply to Manafort if convicted on all charges.
In Virginia, they calculated a sentence of roughly eight to 10 years on the tax fraud charges plus an additional four to five years on the bank fraud. In the District, they calculated a guidelines range of 15 to 20 years, and that was before prosecutors brought the witness tampering charge.
Dead suspects in father's death called reclusive, paranoid
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Two adult brothers suspected of being involved in the fatal shooting of their physician father before turning guns on themselves during a SWAT standoff were reclusive, paranoid and likely mentally ill, a suburban Cleveland police chief said.
Authorities have said Richard Warn, 59, was found shot multiple times Aug. 9 by police officers at his home in the upscale suburb of Beachwood last week after his wife reported she couldn't get inside upon her return from a European vacation.
Warn had flown with his wife to Newark, New Jersey, for an overseas connection but then decided not to travel because of motion sickness and drove home in a rental car.
A SWAT team accompanied detectives to a modest home in South Euclid that Warn had bought for his sons, 31-year-old Michael Warn and 29-year-old Mark Warn, in 2011 out of foreclosure.
The SWAT team breached the front door of the home with an armored vehicle and was met by high-powered rifle fire that shattered the vehicle's ballistic glass window. The SWAT team returned fire and then waited 12 hours before going inside and finding the brothers dead from what a medical examiner has ruled to be self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
Beachwood Police Chief Gary Haba has said it's unclear whether one or both of the brothers killed their father.
South Euclid Police Chief Kevin Nietert told The Associated Press on Friday that he could only speculate why the Warn brothers would have wanted their father dead.
"In this case, we're going to struggle to get conclusive answers," Nietert said.
It appeared that the brothers relied on Richard Warn for financial support, Nietert said.
They had no jobs, no apparent presence on social media, and drove an older model sedan their father bought for them.