Ohio News Notebook

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Columbus creates legal-defense fund for immigrants

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s capital city is setting aside money to support legal help for immigrants facing deportation.

Columbus City Council voted Monday to provide $185,000 for three groups that will help immigrants and their families. The Columbus Dispatch reports that a national nonprofit policy organization, the Vera Institute of Justice, will provide $100,000 more.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Brown has been pushing for the funding this year.

The nonprofit Advocates for Basic Legal Equality Inc. will receive the biggest share, over $157,000. Brown says it will be used to educate detained immigrants on their rights and to represent people from Columbus facing deportation.

Brown says the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Catholic Social Services’ Our Lady of Guadalupe Center will gets smaller grants supporting efforts to educate immigrants about their rights and responsibilities.

Toledo suing drugmakers over opioids

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s fourth-largest city is joining several cities and counties around the state by filing its own lawsuit against prescription drugmakers and distributors.

Toledo Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson said Monday that drug companies need to be held accountable for their role in the opioid abuse crisis.

The lawsuits being filed by Toledo and other places accuse the drug companies of intentionally misleading the public about the dangers of opioids.

The companies have denied wrongdoing in response to similar lawsuits filed around the country.

Toledo’s mayor says the city has spent more than $400,000 for firefighters to respond to opioid-related emergency calls this year.

Feds indict ex-air base employee

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — A former Ohio air base employee has been indicted on federal charges alleging he had an unregistered firearm silencer and a stolen missile warning system that is used on aircraft.

The Dayton Daily News reports the charges against Joel Montgomery are tied to search warrants from 2015, after he was terminated from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The jailed 48-year-old man pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Cheryll Bennett, says he denies allegations in the indictment.

The newspaper reports Montgomery’s Spring Valley home was raided again Oct. 19, after an informant told the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that Montgomery had hundreds of weapons and bomb-making materials and that his drinking was of concern.

A defense attorney argued in court that many of the items found at his home are legal.

Teen’s bond posted using insurance payment

HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio teenager accused of fatally shooting her father is free on bond that was posted using his life insurance payment.

Police say the then-14-year-old girl shot 71-year-old James Ponder in the head at their Hamilton home in February and called 911 to report it. A judge has kept the aggravated murder case in juvenile court.

The Hamilton-Middletown Journal-News reports an affidavit filed in court shows Ponder’s wife received $250,000 in life insurance benefits and used $30,000 to post the teen’s bond last month. The affidavit says those benefits also are paying for the girl’s legal defense.

The teen was put on electronic monitoring at her grandmother’s home.

Authorities haven’t said why she shot her father.

The Associated Press generally doesn’t name juveniles charged with crimes.

Man gets 30 years for child’s beating death

CANTON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man convicted of murder in the beating death of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old son has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The Repository reports a judge sentenced 27-year-old Brent Fields to a 30-years-to-life term Monday while criticizing his “total indifference” to the boy’s death.

A jury deliberated for two hours last week before finding Fields guilty in Owen Buggey’s death last October. A medical examiner had ruled the boy died from septic shock caused by blunt force trauma to the abdomen.

Fields often cared for Owen and his four siblings at his girlfriend’s house in Canton. The woman, Ruth Buggey, has pleaded guilty to complicity to child endangering and obstruction of justice for lying about what happened to Owen.

Inmate serving time for murder granted parole

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A man who has served nearly three decades in prison for a 1988 murder will be granted parole over the objections of two men who say he’s responsible for them being wrongfully imprisoned in the case.

The Akron Beacon Journal reports the Ohio Parole Board heard those arguments before deciding that 50-year-old Troy Busta will be released from custody April 1.

Busta was convicted of killing Connie Nardi, of Randolph Township. Nardi’s mother and Portage County prosecutors supported Busta’s latest bid for parole.

It was opposed by Bob Gondor and Randy Resh, who were convicted in 1990 after Busta implicated them as accomplices. They were freed in 2007 and argued that Busta hasn’t accepted full responsibility for the slaying.

Busta’s attorney thanked the board and declined to comment further.

Pro Football HOF offers veterans free admission

CANTON, Ohio (AP) — The Pro Football Hall of Fame says veterans and active military members will receive free admission to its museum in Ohio during November as part of an effort to honor the military.

The offer comes amid debate over NFL players kneeling during the national anthem to protest social injustices, particularly against African-Americans.

The hall in Canton says the offer of free admission for each veteran plus one guest is funded through support from The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, based in nearby Akron.

The hall says the free admission special is in line with its mission of promoting the game’s values.

Its Veterans Day event on Saturday includes a special exhibit to profile the military and football careers of several athletes.

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Associated Press

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