Ohio News Notebook

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OSHA investigating worker’s death

COLUMBUS — Workplace safety investigators are looking into the death of a man who was crushed by granite slabs at a stone distribution company in Ohio.

Police said Wednesday that 55-year-old Robert Schofield was killed when multiple slabs toppled on top of him Tuesday at Unique Stone Concepts in Columbus.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation, which is expected to take up to six months.

A Department of Labor spokeswoman says the company has no prior history with OSHA.

Police: 70 guns stolen from home

GARFIELD HEIGHTS — Police are investigating the theft of about 70 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition from a suburban Cleveland home.

Garfield Heights police say the thieves likely targeted the home because of the large firearms collection.

The resident reported that he was awoken by a gunshot last week and confronted by two men who demanded to know where his guns where.

He said the thieves grabbed the guns and ammunition from a safe and stuffed them into pillow cases before they escaped.

No arrests have been made.

State has tested 13,000 rape kits

COLUMBUS — The state says forensic scientists from its Bureau of Criminal Investigation have now tested more than 13,000 rape kits submitted by law enforcement agencies around Ohio to check for possible DNA matches.

Attorney General Mike DeWine released the latest numbers on Wednesday. Officials have said that testing has helped identify hundreds of alleged attackers.

DeWine launched the initiative in 2011 to check previously untested kits for evidence. Authorities from nearly 300 law enforcement agencies have submitted over 13,900 rape kits, including some that were decades old. As of Oct. 1, the state had tested 13,145 of those kits.

An Ohio law that went into effect in 2015 requires that any newly collected rape kits be turned over within 30 days after an agency determines a crime has been committed.

School district losing $4.6M

OAK HARBOR — A northwestern Ohio school district stands to lose nearly a quarter of its yearly revenue after a nuclear plant saw its tax value lowered by the state.

The devaluation will cost the Benton-Carroll-Salem school district near Toledo $4.6 million from its annual funds.

In all, the plant will pay $6.7 million less in taxes.

The Ohio Department of Taxation reduced the value of the Davis-Besse nuclear plant for state tax purposes from $184 million to $49 million.

A spokeswoman for Akron-based FirstEnergy says the company sought the change to reflect its fair market value. The company has said it’s considering closing the plant.

The school district says it’s waiting to see if it will get any help from the state and whether it will need to seek a levy.

McKinley’s memorial vandalized again

CANTON — A memorial in Ohio honoring former President William McKinley has been vandalized again.

The Canton Repository reports someone unbolted two bronze window covers from the base of the McKinley National Memorial in Canton over the weekend. A facilities manager at the memorial for the 25th president says the vandals left the heavy covers behind.

The memorial has been damaged and vandalized numerous times in recent years. Workers found a water bottle jammed in bronze scrollwork above the memorial’s 96-foot-high doors several months ago.

Facilities Manager Ronald Hermann says skateboarders continue to damage marble and concrete along the memorial’s base and steps.

The memorial contains the remains of McKinley, his wife and their two daughters. McKinley was assassinated in 1901 during his second term.

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Associated Press

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