A veteran Ohio lawmaker has filed paperwork to challenge U.S. Sen. Rob Portman in 2016, citing the Republican’s opposition to background checks for gun buyers.
State Rep. Robert Hagan, a Youngstown Democrat, said Tuesday he has submitted the necessary paperwork to allow him to raise money for the campaign.
Portman has said that the gun vote was based on principle, not politics.
Hagan will retire from a 26-year career in the state Legislature next year due to term limits. He says he wants to remind Portman over the next three years that he’s not voting the way Ohioans would like him to vote.
A Portman spokesman says the senator will continue to focus on ways to create jobs in Ohio while fighting what he called “Washington’s out-of-control spending.”
COLUMBUS
Youth coach charged in sex sting
Prosecutors in central Ohio say a 43-year-old youth-sports coach has been charged after being caught in an Internet sting trying to arrange a sexual encounter with a 12-year-old boy.
The Franklin County prosecutor’s office said Ross Shane was indicted Monday on one count of attempted rape.
The prosecutor’s office said Shane coaches a youth football team in the Columbus suburb of Dublin and is an assistant baseball coach.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that Shane is accused of engaging in online conversations with an investigator who was posing as the father of a 12-year-old boy. He was arrested when he showed up at what was supposed to be the meeting site.
Attorney information for Shane couldn’t be found Tuesday.
COLUMBUS
Groups get $255K in hunger-relief grants
Three food banks and six partner agencies in Ohio are getting hunger-relief grants totaling $255,000.
That’s part of $3 million being distributed to organizations around the country by Feeding America through a Walmart initiative called Fighting Hunger Together. Walmart says the public voted online last month to choose the 40 Feeding America food banks and 60 partner organizations receiving grants.
The Cleveland Foodbank, the Mid-Ohio Foodbank outside Columbus and the West Ohio Food Bank in Lima each will get $45,000.
Grants worth $20,000 will go to the Steven Hunter Hope Fund in Portsmouth, the Inter Parish Ministry and the Madisonville Education and Assistance Center in Cincinnati, and three Columbus-area organizations. Those are the Westerville Area Resource Ministry, Broad Street Presbyterian Church in Columbus and Lutheran Social Services in Worthington.
COLUMBUS
Gas prices up from last week
Ohio motorists are paying more for gas this week.
A gallon of regular gas in Ohio was listed at an average of about $3.68, according to a survey from auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That’s 12 cents lower than last week’s average of $3.56.
Experts say a better-than-expected jobs report last week and other factors pointed to growth, which pushed oil prices higher.
The Ohio price this week is 16 cents higher than the national average.
The state average is a dime higher than this time last month — but a dime lower than at the same time in 2012.
The lowest average price in the state Monday was about $3.63 in the Akron and Canton areas.
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