Births

ProMedical Toledo Hospital

Katelynn Marble, of Toledo, twin girls, Oct. 19.

Michelle and Douglas Kemerer, of Antwerp, Ohio, boy, Oct. 22.

Tyasiya Schaber, of Toledo, boy, Oct. 22.

Alizabeth Ward, of Toledo, girl, Oct. 22.

Carlee and Troy Wight, of Erie, Michigan, girl, Oct. 22.

Morgan Coffman and Conor Hill, of Toledo, boy, Oct. 23.

Vanessa and Jared Dawson, of Erie, Mich., boy, Oct. 23.

Karina Kranwinel, of Bryan, girl, Oct. 23.

Elena Moore-Bonomo and Jordan Bonomo, of Perrysburg, boy, Oct. 23.

Jessica and James Wilson, of Ada, Ohio, boy, Oct. 24.

Mercedes and Ryan Strausbaugh, of Perrysburg, boy, Oct. 26.

Divorces granted

Lucas County

Amanda Kamann from Matthew Kamann,

Jenyl Linkey from Yaya Kobo.

Kedric Vo from Aaliyah Campbell.

Alvin Willis, Jr., from Laura Mora.

Loren Shaffer III from Brittany Wietrzykowski.

Cecelia Dahn from Marcus Dahn.

April Black from James Davis.

Brooke Broughton from Michael Broughton.

Loren Underwood, Jr., from Melissa Traver.

Alford Brown from Jennifer Brown.

Darlene Goatley from Richard Wheeler.

Terri Benson from William Benson.

Darrick Harris from Charlotte Ash.

Lisa Wilson from Roosevelt Wilson.

Daphne Katafiasz from Todd Cherry.

Click on icons in the map to find details of reported crimes. For a full list of all reported crimes in Toledo this week, consult the table below.

Two years from now, Metroparks Toledo hopes to open a new Metropark along the Maumee River in the heart of Toledo’s historic Vistula District.

The future park’s working name is Vistula Meadows Metropark, said Jennifer Van Horn, Metroparks Toledo chief planning and construction officer.

Its goal is to provide “clean, safe, natural spaces” in one of Toledo’s oldest neighborhoods, and to “connect the Toledo community back to the waterfront,” she said.

The Metroparks Toledo Board of Park Commissioners got an update on the $23 million project at its monthly board meeting at Brookwood Area in South Toledo on Wednesday but did not vote on the name.

It will decide at a later date whether to go with that name or something else, Ms. Van Horn said.

Vistula Meadows Metropark is a nod to environmental characteristics that were once along the river’s shoreline.

The future park’s planning and design were authorized by the park board at its February meeting.

Design is now 60 percent completed.

The park will be mostly along Water Street, north of Toledo Pickle Co., between Olive and Magnolia streets.

Improvements to a smaller site near the Martin Luther King, Jr. Bridge will be part of the project.

The board’s presentation was delivered by three people working with Ms. Van Horn’s staff on the project: Ryan Bunch, Toledo Design Collective studio director; Timothy Bockbrader, a principal with Edge landscape architecture urban design and planning; and Andy Langenderfer, Tetra Tech vice president.

The trio said the project has a common theme of making the Maumee River more accessible to visitors for recreation and inspiration as the downtown era continues to transition away from its industrial past.

One of the biggest features will be a waterfront playground, with a boardwalk along the shoreline. Other features will include a trail designed for people with disabilities and large green spaces where festival tents and portable music stages can be set up.

Plans also call for a large crosswalk to be created across Summit Street so residents from the Vistula neighborhood can access the site more safely on foot, the group said.

The future park is one of the larger projects in the Glass City Riverwalk being built along both sides of the Maumee River.

“What this project has done, along with the other Riverwalk projects, is really carry on this community vision to give people back access to water and the riverfront,” Mr. Bunch said. “This is why this is so important.”

During the presentations, data was presented on greater challenges faced by many residents of the Vistula neighborhood because of a lack of services there.

The belief is that more recreational opportunities provided by a new Metropark could help improve their physical and mental health to some degree, while also providing a chance for more face-to-face socialization.

Signage will be installed to help educate people about the riverfront’s natural history.

The judge overseeing the death penalty case in Kei’mani Latigue’s killing agreed Wednesday to postpone three unrelated rape trials against Darnell Jones until after his capital case is tried.

Judge Michael Goulding also agreed that all four cases should be reassigned to the same judge after his expected resignation from Lucas County Common Pleas Court following his likely election to the Ohio 6th District Court of Appeals bench.

Jennifer Liptack-Sutphin, chief of criminal prosecution for the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office, told Judge Goulding that publicity surrounding the three rape cases for which Jones, 35, of the 600 block of Willard Street, was indicted in early August could taint his pending trial for the March, 2025, death of his daughter Kei’mani, 13.

She noted in particular that evidence from the rape cases also pertains to the sexually violent predator specification attached to several counts in his indictment for Kei’mani’s death, including one of the capital specifications attached to his four alternative counts of aggravated murder.

Ronnie Wingate, Jones’ defense lawyer in the rape cases, joined the prosecution’s request to delay those trials and agreed with Ms. Liptack-Sutphin that the same judge should preside over all four cases.

Judge Goulding said he expected to issue an order either later Wednesday or first thing Thursday morning directing Lucas County Children Services documents relating to one of the alleged rape victims be provided to case attorneys on an “attorneys-only” basis. 

The prosecutor said all other evidence discovery had been provided to Mr. Wingate, who then said he is working through the “voluminous” information.

Still pending from the judge is a ruling on a defense motion in Jones’ capital case to suppress statements Jones made to Columbus police after his March 25, 2025, arrest there the day after Kei’mani’s body was found in an abandoned East Toledo house. Jones was in a Columbus hospital at the time, receiving treatment for a gunshot wound to one of his legs during his arrest.

Judge Goulding set Nov. 23 as the date of the next pretrial conference for all of his pending cases.

Springfield schools will have to cut an estimated $500,000 even if voters approve an income tax levy Tuesday, but that figure could rise to $2.5 million if the levy fails, Superintendent Matt Geha told the board of education.

“We have made cuts already in the last two years,” Mr. Geha explained. “If the levy fails, we will have to make $2.5 million in cuts prior to the fall of 2027.”

The district has a 0.5 percent income tax on the ballot. The five-year tax would generate an estimated $4.5 million annually. 

The district projects deficit spending of $3.4 million this fiscal year and a cash deficit of $923,548 by fiscal year 2029, an amount equal to 2.1 percent of projected revenue.

“There will have to be cuts in food service, health, classes, secretarial, staff, extracurricular activities, and transportation services,” Mr. Geha said on Wednesday. “Cuts will have to be made across all departments. It will affect the opportunities we give kids if the levy does not pass.”

The district eliminated 11 teaching positions through a work force reduction in February. One high school counselor and nine teachers moved into new positions for the 2026-27 school year. An additional four teachers and an eighth-grade football coach either resigned or were terminated.

Mr. Geha attributed the deficits to changes made in the state’s biennial budget in July, 2025, as well as increased operating costs and higher costs for required student services.

“The Fair School Funding Plan has not changed since 2022,” he said. “In 2022 we received 26 percent of funding from the state. This year we got 10 percent.”

Mr. Geha said that 131 districts across the state have a levy on the ballot. Ninety-six of the districts’ ballots are operational, like Springfield’s, he said.

Mr. Geha said the income tax is not a “golden ticket” for Springfield even if it is passed.

“Because it is an income tax, the money won’t come in all at once in January,” he said. “We will get some in 2027, but we will get the full amount in 2028.”

The district will have to make cuts before July 1 regardless of the levy outcome, Mr. Geha said.

“We will have to have tough conversations regardless,” he said. “We have to wait to see who the governor is and then we have to put pressure on politicians in January through March to get them to work with the Fair School Funding Plan.”

Board member Ken Musch said the levy is very important.

“It is a very stressful time right now,” Mr. Musch said. “We need the money; it is as simple as that. Regardless, our kids, teachers, staff, and administrators are doing wonderful things.”

Mr. Musch said the board tried to be fair and protect senior citizens and those on fixed incomes by placing the earned income tax on the ballot.

“Property taxes are hard on seniors,” he said. “This levy is only one half of 1 percent. And it is not charged to pensions, Social Security, or annuities. We tried to keep it as low as we could. The state of Ohio is trying to destroy public education.”

Board President Sherri Koback said the district has tried to trim what it could.

“It is a tough time for public education,” Mrs. Koback said. “Taking care of the kids, educating them, is important. This is not just Springfield making bad decisions. It is across the state and the loss of Fair School Funding.”

After the meeting, Mr. Geha elaborated on the cuts that would be necessary even if the levy passes.

“We are probably looking at $500,000,” he said. “We are encouraging those who can retire to really consider doing so. We will know more when we hear from the state next year.”

A “technology outage” that disrupted internal data systems at the CSX Transportation railroad sharply curtailed its operations in its second day Wednesday, including in the Toledo area.

Austin Staton, CSX’s director of media relations, said the company’s security team had confirmed that the failure of computer networks for crew management and shipment tracking and billing “was not a cyberattack and there has been no associated data breach.”

But the breakdown was blocking CSX’s interchange of freight traffic with most other railroads, which among other things made it unable to exchange railcars with the railroad that provides switching service at Stellantis’ Toledo Assembly Complex.

CSX’s technology section “is working diligently to correct the outage, and systems are coming back online on a rolling basis,” Mr. Staton said, “but not all functions are fully restored.”

The computer problems did not extend to the systems used by dispatchers who control train movements on CSX tracks nor to the Positive Train Control system that enforces safe train operations. Nor are any systems belonging to other railroads or CSX customers affected, the spokesman said.

“We remain focused on moving freight safely while restoring the systems that support our operations,” he said.

The outage does compromise CSX’s ability to assign crews to trains, to create documents that give trains procedural authority to operate, and to create freight waybills for shipments originating at online shippers or from other railroads.

“Limited interchange” was occurring with Conrail, which operates certain lines in the Detroit area and in and near New Jersey, and with the Belt Railway of Chicago using those companies’ documents and procedures, Mr. Staton said.

“Crew calling requires significant manual work, which is contributing to a slower pace of operations,” the spokesman said. “We are in regular communication with the other railroads and with the Federal Railroad Administration and the Surface Transportation Board.”

Besides handling some of Stellantis’ rail shipment of Jeeps, CSX in Toledo handles coal and iron ore shipments at the Port of Toledo, petrochemicals and other freight at the Cenovus Toledo Refinery in Oregon, and numerous other northwest Ohio customers including GM Powertrain in Defiance and an array of agricultural businesses.

CSX also interchanges freight shipments with the Canadian National railroad in Toledo and operates a major intermodal freight terminal in North Baltimore, Ohio.

The railroad’s overall network stretches from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Ocean and from central Michigan and Maine to southern Florida and New Orleans.

A statewide effort to mobilize Black voters stopped in Toledo, rallying turnout ahead of a close midterm election by knocking on doors, parading through the city, and promoting events.

The Black Voters Matter bus was joined on Wednesday by the Ohio Unity Coalition and local organizers, who encouraged eligible Black voters to go to the polls on Nov. 3 or vote early at a free event Saturday.

Anita Madison, the Ohio Unity Coalition’s Toledo coordinator, said Black voters are frustrated, but they need to voice their frustrations at the polling booth.

“Here in Toledo, we often hear conversations about the issues affecting our community: the economy, the cost of living, public safety, education, housing, opportunities. But here’s the question I want to ask today: Are we making our voices heard where decisions are made?” she said. “We cannot afford to become disconnected from the democratic process simply because we’re frustrated, disappointed, or feel that our voices don’t matter.”

Shayla L. Davis, president and CEO of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus Foundation, cited a report estimating that 33,000 eligible Black voters in Lucas County didn’t cast a ballot in the last midterm election. Across the state, 603,000 didn’t vote, which represents a large bloc of voters with the ability to sway upcoming midterm elections.

“What our research found was these voters ... are not disinterested, they are disengaged,” Ms. Davis said. 
“Our people are not being asked to vote during midterm election season because no one is putting money into our communities but Black organizations and entities.”

Crystal Taylor, executive director of Hope Connections, a community nonprofit, said many Black voters don’t think their vote makes an impact. While knocking on doors at the John Holland Estates in central Toledo, she said it is hard to convince people otherwise when local officials ignored their neighborhoods for years and left them struggling. 

“It’s a constant mistrust. The city comes in and they say these great things are going to happen, and they don’t happen,” she said. “After a while, you just recognize that [voting] is another process that’s not necessarily in anybody’s favor that lives here.”

One of the bus’s stops was a voter rally at Scott High School. MiKayla Evans, the senior class vice president who attended the event, said she’s encouraged friends and classmates to vote.

“I tell them, vote whatever you think is best for our future, for our now, for our present, for our everything. It dictates who we are today, who we are tomorrow, who we are next week,” she said. “The things that are happening right now; we need a change”

Several community organizations are hosting Soles to the Polls at the Ottawa Park Amphitheater and will offer rides to the early voting center Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event also includes free food and activities for children and adults, karaoke, entertainment, food trucks, a bounce house, and table treats.

Festival Park in downtown Toledo will be transformed into a science and nature lab free for all to explore and learn.

The new Outdoor STEAM Lab, which will focus on science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics, was announced Wednesday by Imagination Station, which is spearheading the $1.1 million project.

“We’re reimagining Festival Park, this beautiful piece of property in downtown Toledo,” Lori Hauser, chief executive officer of the science center, said during a news conference at the park. “We’re creating a space to embrace science and nature.”

The project is expected to be completed in three phases. The first is fully funded by the state and by private donors, she said. Fund-raising for the other phases will commence soon.  

Talk about an outdoor science and nature lab at Imagination Station has been ongoing for about 10 years, Ms. Hauser said. First there was the center’s KeyBank Discovery Theater project, which redefined the face of Imagination Station and created an entrance on Summit Street. Then came delays with the pandemic. 

“We’re thrilled to see it come to reality,” Ms. Hauser said. 

A spring groundbreaking is anticipated, with construction completed in fall 2027, said Matthew Willbur, architect and senior project manager of the Collaborative. The architectural firm is designing the project, which will be constructed by the Rudolph Libbe Group. 

The lab will “strengthen the community and create a gateway along the downtown riverfront,” said Bill Rudolph, chairman of the construction company. “I’m really impressed by the vision.”

Its design will be accessible to all and “based on a science of nature philosophy,” Mr. Willbur said. 

People will be able to climb on, splash in, and find shade there with the art and sculpture, he said.

“Native plants and habitats will change with the seasons,” Mr. Willbur added.

The ever-changing physical environment is ideal for educational programming, said Sloan Eberly Mann, Imagination Station’s chief education officer. 

From the young explorers program to summer camps and science story time, the nature-based play area and outdoor lab will offer expanded opportunities, she said. As an example, she cited connecting to the river with water quality testing once things are established.

The Outdoor STEAM Lab creates “a space where science concepts become tangible for young learners. Research also shows that natural play environments increase creativity, independence, cooperation, and discovery, which are all skills that STEAM careers rely on,” Ms. Eberly Mann said. 

Ms. Hauser reiterated that point.

“By introducing foundational concepts at the earliest stages of development, the new learning lab will strengthen Toledo’s educational and work force pipeline and help prepare the next generation of innovators and problem solvers,” Ms. Hauser said. 

During the news conference, Metroparks Toledo CEO Dave Zenk joked that his 7-year-old daughter, who goes to Imagination Station every other weekend, is finally proud of him. 

“According to her, this is the most meaningful day of work in my entire life,” he said.

Metroparks’ Glass City Riverwalk is adjacent to the site, and the STEAM Lab will be “another regional destination,” Mr. Zenk said. 

Ms. Hauser said she’s excited about the expansion project.  

“We have wanted to expand our campus and experiences, and the Outdoor STEAM Lab takes what we do inside Imagination Station and sets it free,” she said, “because science is always all around you.”

Summit Street’s ongoing reconstruction in North Toledo will result in two new detours Thursday, the Toledo Department of Transportation announced.

Eastbound Galena Street will close at Summit and southbound Summit will close on the southeast side of the Galena intersection, both for four weeks.

Eastbound Galena will be detoured via Champlain and Lagrange streets to Summit, while southbound traffic on Summit will be detoured via Galena, Greenbelt Parkway, and Cherry Street to reach downtown Toledo.

Utility work that closed Superior Street between Buckeye Street and Galena on Wednesday, meanwhile, will be finished Thursday, officials said.

And on Thursday, State Street will close at Spielbusch Avenue during window maintenance at a building. Access to State will be maintained via Canton Street, the city said.

Toledo could lay off 73 employees, eliminate its police and fire recruitment classes in 2027, and end curbside recycling and other city services if voters reject a proposed income tax increase next week.

Those are among the potential consequences outlined by city officials as they prepare two versions of the city’s 2027 budget, one anticipating passage of Issue 16 and the other contemplating its defeat.

Issue 16 asks Toledo residents to approve a temporary 0.25 percent income tax levy for neighborhood safety expenditures. If approved, the city anticipates collecting approximately $25 million a year in new revenue.

If the levy fails, the city is considering cuts to the fire investigation unit and police gang task force, along with layoffs in both departments.

“I think one of the biggest impacts of this scenario is that it contemplates 73 layoffs, and roughly half of those coming from the police and fire departments,” Deputy Mayor Abby Arnold said.

Other potential cuts include eliminating youth programming, reducing blight removal services, ending the nuisance mowing program, eliminating the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, and ending business incentives such as the Vibrancy Initiative.

The city also could close the Clean Toledo Recycling Center and eliminate curbside recycling.

“I think we’ve been predicting this moment for some time, and the moment we’ve been predicting is here,” Ms. Arnold said.

Ms. Arnold emphasized that the proposals are preliminary and that additional discussions are taking place. No final decisions have been made.

The city has not yet introduced its proposed 2027 budget to Toledo City Council. Under the city charter, the administration must submit it by Nov. 15.

Because voters will decide the levy Nov. 3, city officials have prepared budgets for both possible outcomes.

If the levy passes, the additional revenue would allow the city to double the size of its police and fire recruitment classes. Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz previously promised classes of 40 recruits each for the next four years if voters approve the tax increase.

The city also could expand its fire investigation unit and police gang task force, increase funding for demolishing abandoned buildings, and develop its first residential speed enforcement program.

But even passage of the levy would not resolve the city’s financial problems.

The city is operating with a roughly $50 million structural deficit, and Toledo City Council passed a resolution last year encouraging the administration to reduce the 2027 and 2028 budgets by $10 million annually.

As the administration continues preparing its budget proposal, Ms. Arnold said officials are considering consolidating management positions, eliminating vacant positions, reviewing fees against the cost of providing services, and identifying new revenue opportunities.

The possibility of layoffs has also drawn attention from the city’s firefighters union.

On Tuesday, Joe Cira, president of Toledo Firefighters Local 92, sent a letter encouraging members to volunteer at the polls and support Issue 16.

In the letter, Mr. Cira said he had received a call from Assistant Chief John Kaminski, who told him layoffs might be necessary if the levy fails.

On Wednesday, Mr. Cira said he had not been notified that any layoffs would occur and emphasized that the letter was intended to encourage union members to support the levy.

“At this point, I have not been given any information on layoffs,” he said. “I’ve been given no information on who might be laid off, who could be laid off, or what the number looks like.”

If layoffs occur, the union will fight to preserve every job, Mr. Cira said. But he emphasized that the need for additional firefighters goes beyond the possibility of job cuts.

“The important part of this levy is not whether or not the city needs to lay off employees. The factor for us is the amount of runs we’re taking in the city right now has grown substantially in the last 40 years,” Mr. Cira said. “We’re three to four times the number of runs in the city of Toledo that we were taking 40 years ago, and our staffing is roughly the same.”

Mr. Cira said the union is working with the mayor’s administration to encourage voters to approve Issue 16.

Ms. Arnold said the administration remains hopeful the levy will pass but must prepare for either outcome because of the tight budget timeline.

“The timing is the reason why we have to really prepare for both,” she said. “It’s not because we are making predictions one way or the other, but we just have to be prepared.”

If approved, Issue 16 would increase Toledo's municipal income tax rate from 2.5 percent to 2.75 percent, placing it among the highest municipal income tax rates in Ohio.

The city's existing income tax consists of a permanent 1.5 percent tax, a temporary 0.75 percent tax, and a temporary 0.25 percent tax dedicated to road improvements. Issue 16 would add another temporary 0.25 percent tax for public safety.

Next time you throw a used pizza box into a recycling bin, think about whether it’s an acceptable item.

The wrong decision can cost tens of thousands of dollars to the community.

“We are committed to making recycling accessible to all residents in Lucas County,” Lucas County Commissioner Anita Lopez said. “Our network of recycling drop sites give residents additional options for recycling accepted materials like paper, cardboard, and cans. Access is important. But so is knowing what belongs in the recycling bins.”

Ms. Lopez joined Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, Toledo City Councilman Nick Komives, and Keep Toledo/Lucas County Beautiful Executive Director Adam Cassi at the Clean Toledo Recycling Center Wednesday morning to talk about the importance of recycling correctly. They declared November as Correct Recycling Month.

Items that are not recyclable are getting mixed in with acceptable items, costing the public thousands of dollars.

“Toledo buries about a quarter of a million tons of refuse every year at the Hoffman Road landfill,” Mayor Kapszukiewicz said. “The city pays $2.20 per ton for the generation fee, but almost another $5 per ton fee for everything that is buried. If we had to pay a company to do that, it would be between $32 and $40 per ton. So we’re saving money on one end. And that’s just for the refuse we put in the landfill.

“The reality is we have to transport our recyclables about 90 miles out of this region to be processed. Contaminated loads make that trip more expensive.”

The city is charged for rejected loads containing items like stained pizza boxes, the mayor said.

Every percentage point of contamination represents about 200 more tons in the landfill that shouldn’t be there, he said. 

“For every one percentage of recyclables we put in our recycling that shouldn’t be there — whether it’s smeared pizza boxes or textiles — it costs the taxpayers $10,000; 2 percent is $20,000,” Mr. Kapszukiewicz said. “Pretty soon, you’re talking about some real costs.”

Mr. Komives, chairman of council’s Sustainability & Beautification committee, said some people “treat the blue bins as if they’re garbage cans.”

“These resources are finite; there’s not an infinite amount of petroleum to create plastic and things to turn into other consumable items we use all the time,” the councilman said. “We have to do our part to recycle, upcycle, and reuse all of these items. We are simply asking people to think about what they’re putting in their recycling. Commit to recycling properly.” 

Mr. Cassi urged the public to reduce waste, especially around the holidays, when garbage and recycling bins at the curb are often overflowing.

“During the holidays, we do see a 30 percent increase in the amount of waste American households are creating,” Mr. Cassi said. “Recycling is our easiest and best tool as an American household to reduce your environmental impact. Recycling is important, it reduces how much waste we’re sending to the landfill.”

About 40 percent of people who are concerned about the environment put things in the recycling bin that don’t belong there, Mr. Cassi said.

“It makes them feel better; they don’t want it to go to the landfill,” he said. “But that’s not how that works. It is contamination. Only put things in your recycling bin that you know belong there.”

Ben Pushka, sustainability coordinator with the Lucas County commissioners, said bulk items like toilets and couches have been left at drop-off sites.

“These aren’t just items that can’t be recycled there,” Mr. Pushka said. “They create extra work and expenses to clean up. Recycling bins aren’t a catchall.”

Residents can drop off items that are typically harder to recycle during the Nov. 7 Sustainability Summit at the Franciscan Center.

Acceptable items include hardbound books; plastic bags; candy wrappers; clean white packaging Styrofoam (no food containers or packing peanuts); certain electronics and media including CDs, DVDs, VHS, and cassette tapes; vapes; batteries; campaign signs; greenhouse pots and trays; artificial Christmas trees; and holiday lights.

Members of the Toledo Police Department’s SWAT Team rappelled down the side of Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Toledo on Wednesday, giving patients and families a fun superhero show.

Click through the images above to view the full gallery.

With no incumbent on the ballot for Ohio’s 44th House District, residents in the uniquely drawn region will have new representation in the next General Assembly, and three candidates are making their cases for the job.

Northwood Mayor Ed Schimmel, a Republican, Democratic attorney David Fournier, and Sylvania City Councilman Lyndsey Stough, an independent, are all vying for the seat currently held by state Rep. Josh Williams (R., Sylvania Township).

Mr. Williams decided not to run for re-election, instead jumping into a crowded Republican primary for Ohio’s 9th congressional district, but he came up short in the primary election.

Mr. Fournier, who is a full-time attorney, is the only candidate in the race who has not held an elected office.

“My approach to the campaign has been trying to be myself,” he said. “Just kind of putting my positions out there unambiguously.”

A key component of his campaign has been sharing his platform through casual, conversational videos on Facebook. Mr. Fournier often films the videos outside his Whitehouse home, breaking down his policy positions on school funding, the Local Government Fund, and affordability in just a few short minutes.

If elected, Mr. Fournier said he would prioritize updating the cost inputs for the Fair School Funding Plan and working with his colleagues to finish phasing it in to fully fund public schools. He also supports restoring the Local Government Fund to prerecession levels and reinstating funding for the state’s public libraries.

When it comes to data centers, Mr. Fournier said he does not want to turn investment away from Ohio but acknowledged that the state needs to develop them in a responsible way.

“I do support a moratorium until we’ve established at least certain guidelines and threshold requirements for putting these large facilities in place,” he said. “And that would include things like independent monitoring of noise, water usage and discharge, air pollution, or other environmental concerns.”

Mr. Schimmel, who has been the mayor of Northwood since 2016, said he would not support a statewide moratorium on data center developments but agreed that the state needs to look at regulating them. 

“I think that if localities want to do [a moratorium], a temporary one ... so they can get their zoning in line with how they want their master plan to look, how they want their community to look, I would be in favor of localities doing that,” he said.

Mr. Schimmel, who is also a full-time attorney, said he thinks the state should look at requiring data centers to recycle water and produce their own electricity, as opposed to relying on the public grid.

“I think the state needs to do more funding for brownfield cleanup, whether it be grants or low-interest loans through the Ohio EPA,” he said. “And then once we get those brownfields cleaned up, that’s where the data centers need to go.”

If elected, Mr. Schimmel said he would prioritize funding the U.S. 23/I-71 connector in the state’s transportation budget, expanding the Homestead Exemption on property taxes for seniors or people living with disabilities, and producing more energy, whether it is nuclear, natural gas, or solar. Mr. Schimmel is endorsed by Mr. Williams.

Ms. Stough, an independent candidate, is hoping her experiences on Sylvania City Council will prove to voters she has what it takes to represent the area in Columbus.

City council members are nonpartisan in Sylvania, and Ms. Stough said she is tired of the two-party system.

Ms. Stough, who is a full-time architect, said she supports “practical solutions over partisan gridlock.” She has never been involved in either major party, although she voted in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.).

The councilman said she supports open primary elections, ranked choice voting, and the state’s petition process, but she acknowledged the challenges independent candidates face when running for office.

Independent candidates often have less funding and less media coverage, and they typically have to collect more signatures than a major-party candidate to get on the ballot.

If elected, Ms. Stough said her priorities are focused on lowering everyday costs, restoring money to the Local Government Fund, fully funding public schools, reducing hyper-partisanship, and demanding accountability for corruption.

“We had the largest corruption scandal less than a decade ago, and since then there has not been any ethics legislation passed to help make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” she said. 

Ms. Stough has spent the past six years in elected office, building up her name recognition, but she is also the daughter of former Sylvania Mayor Craig Stough, who led the city for 29 years before retiring in 2024. 

“I grew up getting to see my city as a place of involvement but also getting to see behind the scenes,” she said. “To understand how to keep a level head while hearing very emotional, passionate things sometimes, or very mundane things at other times.”

Ohio’s 44th House district is known for its unusual shape. It includes parts of Sylvania, Sylvania Township, Berkey, and Richfield Township in western Lucas County before following the Maumee River into northeastern Wood County and extending into the Clay Center and Genoa areas of western Ottawa County.

Mr. Williams won the district in 2024 by 15 percentage points, but President Trump won the district by only 10 percentage points the same year.

Voters can get free rides to the polls on Election Day, Tuesday, courtesy of the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority.

“It’s our way to removing barriers to having everyone’s voice be heard,” said TARTA CEO Laura Koprowski. “We don’t want the cost of transportation be something that stops people from taking part in this very important process.”

All of TARTA’s fixed route, paratransit, and on-demand services will be free Nov. 3, the transportation agency said.

At tarta.com, passengers can find their polling place and which routes take them there.

Regular fares are in effect for early voting, which runs through Sunday at 3737 W. Sylvania Ave. Routes 3, 17, and 19 reach the early vote center, officials said.

Lucas County is one of seven counties where the Ohio Traffic Safety Office is offering rideshare credits to discourage impaired driving around Halloween.

Project Plan Ahead provides up to $15 in credits for Uber or Lyft rides. Credits can be redeemed between 5 p.m. Thursday and 3 a.m. Monday and must be used for trips originating or ending in one of the seven counties in which Ohio’s major cities are located.

Eligible rides must be reserved at the time of travel, with a code provided when the reservation is made. Riders must pay any cost beyond $15.

Ohio introduced the program on Memorial Day weekend, when more than 1,200 rides were taken. The Ohio State Highway Patrol later reported the lowest number of traffic deaths for that holiday weekend in 18 years. Of six fatalities, none were believed to be OVI-related.

A Labor Day repeat of the program generated similar results.

Nineteen people were killed in crashes during the five-day Halloween reporting period last year in Ohio, and 13 of the 19 crashes were deemed OVI-related.

A concerned Toledo Public Schools mother has reiterated her concerns to the school board about a lack of paraprofessionals at Beverly Elementary School. 

Katie Mattimoe Heffernan told board members Tuesday to “do better” after returning to inform them that little has changed to help address concerns related to her daughter Elinor, 6, who has Down syndrome. Ms. Heffernan attended a board meeting in September, raising concerns that the elementary school had only one paraprofessional.

“To date, there’s still one assigned building-wide paraprofessional,” she told the board.

“To date, my daughter has been forced to wet her pants three times because of the lack of adult support in the building. To date, I have received one email response from an administrator in the special ed department, and in that email, the writer referenced my son, which tells me my daughter and her needs are clearly not a priority.” 

Ms. Heffernan told school board members that her daughter was given a substitute paraprofessional on Oct. 20, which was “great until this week,” she said. 

She said since then, Elinor was paired with a male paraprofessional, leaving the girl without a viable option to go to the restroom.

“I really cannot fully convey my profound disappointment and anger with the priority of the Toledo Public Schools Board of Education administration,” Ms. Heffernan said. 

Hawkins STEAM Academy parent Theresa Weidner offered similar testimony at the meeting.

She said she took her son Gabriel, 8, out of autism learning centers to enroll him in Toledo Public Schools. But now “our family is struggling to know if that was the right choice for us,” she said. 

“It’s tough because I know enrollment is declining and we wanted to be a part of the solution, but we don’t know if we’re making the right choice for our son,” Ms. Weidner said. 

She said Gabriel can use the school’s adaptive playground only once a week because of a lack of paraprofessional support. Ms. Weidner said she and another parent have started volunteering on Fridays to help supervise students on the adaptive playground. 

“Every other day of the week, my 8-year-old son is stuck on the kindergarten playground,” she said. “He’s an 8-year-old kid. He wants a full swing. He wants a big slide. That’s not fair to him.” 

She also said she objects to her son and his classmates being “segregated” from other students during lunchtime.

“They sit in a corner facing the wall when they eat,” Ms. Weidner said. 

Ms. Weidner and Ms. Heffernan both stressed they did not blame the staff at those schools. They said their frustration is with the school board. 

“I can’t fault the teacher,” Ms. Heffernan said. “It’s not the teacher’s fault.”

School board members assured the pair that conversations were being had in regard to their concerns. 

Board member Polly Taylor-Gerken said she was informed by the district’s human resources department that efforts were being made to “alleviate” the paraprofessional shortage.

She also stressed the importance of individualized education program, or IEP, which is tailored to each student depending on their diagnosis. 

Ms. Taylor-Gerken told the parents the teachers union and the school district’s human resources department are working to “expedite getting paraprofessionals in the needed positions.” 

“We always want to hear from parents when their families’ needs are not being met,” Ms. Taylor-Gerken said. “While we look for systems-level solutions, we also need to zero-in on individual family needs and usually the pathway to that is the individual education plan.”

Board President Bob Vasquez echoed Ms. Taylor-Gerken’s statement committing to a resolution.

“We certainly have issues,” he said. “We have some issues I have to solve and I hear that.” 

When asked how they felt about the response of board members, the pair said they weren’t sure if any meaningful change would be sparked from the meeting. 

“Do I think that was the expected response? Sure,” Ms. Heffernan said. “Was it the preferred response? Absolutely not.” 

MC Tank Transport has established a claims reporting line for individuals and businesses that suffered losses from the Oct. 20 gaseous chemical leak from its property at 1266 Progress Ave. in North Toledo.

The number to call is 888-271-0577, the company said.

“All claims will be given serious consideration and review,” MC Tank Transport said in its fourth news release since the incident.

The company also offered another apology.

“We know this incident has disrupted lives, raised concerns and affected residents and businesses throughout Toledo,” it said. “We sincerely apologize for the worry and hardship this has caused.”

MC Tank Transport said it is committed to working with officials on providing regular updates on cleanup progress.

The Environmental Protection Agency's response to the disastrous 2023 East Palestine train derailment will be investigated after local residents of the small town on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and Vice President JD Vance pressed for the review.

The Inspector General of the EPA announced the investigation Tuesday to assess the agency's response to the worst rail disaster in more than a decade and the subsequent health and environmental concerns that have developed despite the EPA's assurances to the public that no toxic levels of chemicals lingered in the community weeks and months later.

An assortment of chemicals spilled and caught fire after the failed bearing sent the Norfolk Southern train careening off the tracks late one Friday night in February 2023. Residents evacuated as officials decided three days later to blow open five rail cars and burn the vinyl chloride inside.

The National Transportation Safety Board determined the “vent and burn” move that generated a massive black plume of smoke and sent chemicals drifting across several states was unnecessary. But at the time, the officials in charge of the emergency response worried the tank cars might explode and do even more harm.

Jami Wallace and other East Palestine residents have been pushing for this investigation — much like they pressed the EPA initially to test for whether cancer-causing dioxins were released in their hometown — so she said “I'm going to cry” when she heard the news. Since the derailment, Wallace has kept track of more than 80 people who live in the area and have developed cancer, although it's difficult to prove that every illness is directly linked to the derailment.

“It’s like we’ve had to push them along the way for every single thing they did, and then they didn’t even do it right,” said Wallace, who promised never to give up the fight. “We’re not going to stop when you poison our kids.”

The recent request from Vance and the head of the EPA helped get the investigation started. But multiple complaints from residents and whistleblowers have also been made in the years since the derailment.

The Inspector General's office said this investigation will determine whether the EPA fulfilled its responsibilities and whether the EPA had “sufficient data to support the agency's public communications” assuring residents they were safe to return home and live in the small town. Testing experts questioned whether the test data EPA shared with the public obscured the risks and whether the agency could determine just how dangerous it is to be exposed to this cocktail of chemicals. Health standards are generally based only on exposure to a single chemical.

Wallace said she's not sure how much good might come out of this investigation, but it will continue to put a bit of light on the lingering concerns around East Palestine.

“If nothing else, at least we’re getting attention again,” Wallace said. “And people know that we’re here and that we are not OK.”

Norfolk Southern agreed to a $600 million class action settlement with residents, but that money has been largely tied up in the courts and questions about the initial settlement administrator mishandling the funds. A group of residents has also sued because they argue the class action attorneys misled them and pressured them into signing the deal.

A separate federal settlement that includes a $15 million fine for the railroad and $55 million to pay for decades of medical exams and groundwater testing has been under review for more than two years without a judge approving it.

Norfolk Southern is seeking to merge with Union Pacific and create the nation's first transcontinental railroad. But that $85 billion deal still faces an extensive review by the Surface Transportation Board.

Births

ProMedica Bay Park Hospital

Nicole and Brad Amborski, of Perrysburg, girl, Oct. 26.

Malinda Szkatulski and Joseph Graser, of Toledo, girl, Oct. 27.

Marriage licenses

Lucas County

Oct. 23, 2026

Justin Strole and Khyra Henry, both of Ohio.

Daniel Fowle and Jacqueline Pool, both of Ohio.

Dominic Smith and Kathern Baldridge, both of Ohio.

Simon Martinez III and Angel Gingrich, both of Ohio.

Andrew Blose and Shelby Simmons, both of Ohio.

Fabian Kennedy, of Georgia and Tiara Smith-Davis, of Ohio.

Sherie Ellison and Curtis Houston III, both of Ohio.

Brandon Saenz and Erin Chicho, both of Ohio.

Richard Russell and Julie Page, both of Ohio.

Alex Ferris and Alexa Evarts, both of Ohio.

Derek Koester and Mackenzie Spradlin, both of Ohio.

Charles Johnson II and Nicole Wilson, both of Ohio.

Kwame Sylvester and Heather Ragan, both of Michigan.

Caleb Atwood and Tanyaa Baker, both of Michigan.

Marquita Gilmer and Jakayla Hawkins, both of Ohio.

Bobby Bell and Marquita Slater, both of Michigan.

Oct. 26, 2026

Kevin Sweeney and Elizabeth Crowe, both of Ohio.

Keith Derring and Kevona Peurie, both of Ohio.

Joshua Marks and Lindsay Klees, both of Ohio.

Marcus Walker and Javay Johnson, both of Michigan.

TJ Keller and Natasha Dos Santos Oliveira Vieira, both of Ohio.

Sean Ogle and Abigail Scott, both of Michigan.

James Gloriani and Annabelle Alejandro, both of Michigan.

Peyton Pawlaczyk and Tori Wright, both of Ohio.

Alvis Owen and Ebony Kelly, both of Michigan.

Tyrian Sutton and Lilly Lukasik, both of Ohio.

John Baxley, Jr., and Lisa Drebes, both of Ohio.

Two class-action lawsuits have been filed in response to last week’s massive chemical plume, and questions are being raised about which residents will be left out.

Take Joshua Van Buren, 42, of West Toledo.

He and his parents live in a house on Georgetown Avenue, near Douglas Road, about five miles from the release site at MC Tank Transport, 1266 Progress Ave.

Their home is outside of the three-mile zone where a shelter-in-place order was in effect while the headline-grabbing crisis played out on national television.

But Mr. Van Buren, who has asthma, said Tuesday he’s been having a hard time managing his health since the industrial chemical known as glycidyl methacrylate, or GMA, began escaping into the air from a compromised tank about 9:20 p.m. Oct. 20.

For many people within that three-mile radius, the release prompted immediate complaints of burning eyes and shortness of breath.

In Mr. Van Buren’s case, it landed him in ProMedica Flower Hospital for two days.

Asthma exacerbated

In an interview Tuesday, shortly after being released, Mr. Van Buren said he is convinced the gaseous plume full of GMA badly exacerbated his underlying asthma diagnosis.

He said the first couple of days after the plume formed were rough on him, but that he thought he could manage with his prescribed inhaler.

Last Saturday, though, things took a turn for the worse.

While attending his grandmother’s 94th birthday celebration, he clutched his chest, was unable to breathe adequately, and was taken to a ProMedica urgent care facility on Secor Road by his father. That urgent care facility sent him to the emergency room at Flower Hospital, where he said he incurred a $735 copay.

He was admitted for two days of treatment.

He said he hasn’t seen the bills from his emergency room and two-day hospital stay, but knows they will be substantial.

Adding to his bills will be a scheduled visit to a pulmonologist in December for additional treatment.

“There are a lot of people out there who were affected by this. I mean, people are running up bills,” said his mother, Deanne Van Buren, who added that other relatives within her family experienced symptoms.

“For people who have asthma and breathing problems, this was a major thing,” Mr. Van Buren said, adding that his breathing “just got worse as the days went on.”

Since Friday, two separate cases have been filed in which attorneys are seeking class action certification from a judge for thousands of people and dozens of businesses impacted by the crisis.

As it stands now, Mr. Van Buren would be one of those left out.

The latest lawsuit, announced late Tuesday by two major law firms, is built around claims made by a plaintiff named Heather Keyes, a Toledo woman and her 13-year-old son, who has asthma.

Ms. Keyes contends she received no warning about the plume from the defendants, MC Tank Transport and the company that purchased it in 2025, Kenan Advantage Group.

She is represented by Bryson Harris Suciu and DeMay, and by DannLaw.

Another plaintiff, who has COPD, states that she was hospitalized with pneumonia.

“Residents of Toledo deserve better from their corporate neighbors,” said DannLaw partner Marc Dann. “An entire community has been disrupted, elderly homeowners, including our clients, have ended up in the hospital, and everyone who lives in the impacted area deserves fair compensation.” 

The first case

The earlier case, filed late Friday, names the two corporate entities as defendants along with Albert R. Dudek, plant manager at MC Tank Transport. 

In that case, a 15-page request is before Judge Michael R. Goulding. It calls for the aggrieved class to begin with all 49,527 residents and 389 businesses and facilities within three miles of the Progress Avenue site in North Toledo.

Mark A. Skeldon, one of four plaintiff attorneys, said that a request may eventually be made to extend the class of affected residents and businesses further out.

The case was filed on behalf of Todd M. Hartford of Toledo and his business, Hartford’s Fencing & Landscaping LLC of 528 E. State Line Rd., which was forced to temporarily close. 

The three-mile radius the judge has been asked to consider includes all residents and businesses that were immediately placed under a shelter-in-place order. That includes 1,379 people living in 581 housing units within a mile of the site who were ordered to evacuate. That one-mile evacuation zone also included 35 businesses, the complaint states.

MC Transport and the company that acquired it in 2025, Kenan Advantage Group of North Canton, Ohio, have not responded to the lawsuit.

The two companies have said in prior statements that they regret the incident and are cooperating with authorities.

Company spokesmen did not respond to a request for comment.

If Judge Goulding agrees the case should proceed as a class action case, the line that is drawn for determining who is allowed into that class could be crucial for people such as Mr. Van Buren.

Although the Lucas County Emergency Management Agency sent text messages to people within the three-mile zone as the event played out, Mr. Van Buren and his mother said they believe communication was lacking for people like him who live just outside of it.

“The facts are still developing,” Mr. Skeldon said when asked about the geographical boundaries for the class action lawsuit.

“We thought this was important to get this on file, because it was clear this was having far-reaching effects across all sorts of people and businesses,” he said. “It was clear there was going to have to be accountability for that.”

He acknowledged the class as currently written would not include Mr. Van Buren.

“However, that class has not been certified yet,” Mr. Skeldon said. “What ultimately the class ends up being could change with developing facts.”

Both of the class-action lawsuits have been filed in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.

EPA says its work is done

In a related development Tuesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it has finished its air sampling and turned the scene over to its state counterpart, the Ohio EPA.

The Ohio EPA will be in charge of monitoring cleanup efforts by MC Tank Transport’s three contractors.

“Air monitoring and sampling data have not shown detections of glycidyl methacrylate or other hazardous chemicals above screening levels,” the U.S. EPA said. “After reviewing all data and consulting with state and local partners, EPA determined the air monitoring and sampling would not need to continue and stopped air monitoring and sampling [Monday] night at 11 p.m.”

Sampling data from its highly specialized Trace Atmospheric Gas Analyzer mobile unit, or TAGA, will be posted to its website, the agency said.