Glass City Jungle

The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) endorsed Strickland in 2006, as pointed out in the link to 2006 FOP endorsements included in the below release from the O’Shaughnessy for Ohio Secretary of State campaign. Two releases are below, one from the re-election campaign of Governor Ted Strickland and one from Attorney General Richard Cordray [...]

A reader of the Jungle wrote me an e-mail asking basically where was Ohio education funding at since it had been declared unconstitutional over a decade ago. She suggested it might be an interesting topic to cover here, and I agree. It’s actually been covered recently in some of the media outside of [...]

The Sandusky Sheriff department was contacted by the family of Bryan Jones because he was under the influence of alcohol, had at least one weapon and had threatened to kill his mother. After Jones refused to come out of the house, a flashbang device was set off and when the SWAT team entered the [...]

As an update to those of you following this story, reported by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, (link):
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Daniel Burns, former chief operating officer of the Cleveland school district, was sentenced this morning to six years in prison.
He also was ordered to pay more than $223,000 in restitution and fines
Burns was convicted in June [...]

For those of you who are a bit younger, a quick refresh on how the whole expletive issue became an issue. In 1960, Congress authorized the FCC to impose civil forfeitures for violations but the FCC did not make an “indecent but not obscene” finding until 1975. George Carlin’s “Filthy Words” monologue, a [...]

For a personal perspective on why one person believes Garner deserves the death penalty and some information about the case I recommend reading My Side of the Puddle. The Clemency report can be read here and a statement from the office of Governor Ted Strickland is below. Garner was convicted of killing five [...]

13abc reports on a story (link) covered back in February 2010 (link).
David Millhoan, Sr was the commissioner of the S.T.A.R.S. League (South Toledo Area Recreation Society) and the coach for the Colts team, which recruited players from Jones Jr. High and the Jones elementary feeder schools. He was indicted on nine charges, 3 [...]

On June 16 it was reported that the Ohio Republican Party chairman Kevin DeWine filed an election complaint with the Ohio Supreme Court against Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Brown, Dayton Daily News link. Earlier today a release was sent out by the Ohio Democratic Party stating that Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern [...]

Former Ottawa Hills Police officer Thomas White was sentenced to ten years in jail today for shooting Mike McCloskey. White did not begin the prison process today though, an appellate bond in the amount of $100,000 was set by Common Pleas Judge Judge Gary Cook. FOX Toledo reported what White stated when he [...]

Two releases in today from the office of Representative Barbara Sears:
Rep. Sears: Bill Would Protect Motorists from Unfounded Traffic Violations
Columbus—State Representative Barbara Sears (R-Maumee) recently introduced a measure that, if enacted, would require a police officer to use more than a visual estimate in order to arrest, charge or convict any individual of a speeding [...]

For those of you following the Dan Burns Cleveland case, this article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer may interest you:
Briggle faced an all-out assault on his character from McCaffrey, who portrayed him as a high-living double-talker and noted Briggle has been indicted in a similar case involving Toledo Hospital.
Burns, 54, resigned in January 2009 after [...]

I learned earlier today that Justice Judith Lanzinger has created a blog, Justice Judy. It is now listed on the sidebar links of “Local Blogs of NWO” and there was a release put out on June 2, on the Supreme Court website.
Justice Lanzinger’s blog is the first of it’s kind, according to [...]

This in via e-mail from the office of Governor Ted Strickland, recent coverage of the Ohio Parole Board decision reported in the Cleveland Plain Dealer (link):
Governor’s Statement on Parole Board Recommendation Regarding Richard Nields
Columbus, OH – Governor Ted Strickland today issued the following statement regarding the pending clemency application of Richard Nields:
“As a result [...]

A reader sent me a link this morning to a Columbus Dispatch article (link) that reports the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled, “a trained officer’s visual judgment is enough to cite a driver for speeding”.
If you want more details after reading the article? The full Ohio Supreme Court opinion can be found here. [...]

Reported a few minutes ago by FOX Toledo (link):
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WUPW) – John Briggle pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of stealing $155,000 from the Cleveland Public School District.
Briggle pled guilty to five felonies, which include tampering with evidence and theft.
The 56-year-old ran Superior Offset Supplies, an office supply company in Toledo, and was accused of [...]

Back in April the settlement discussion before Toledo City Council related to Jeffrey Sauger and Jim West, was the focus of one of my Shredding the Curtain columns for the Toledo Free Press, (link). A short time ago I received a Press release from attorneys connected to the case:
Lawsuit Settlement Brings Fairness [...]

I read about the fight breaking out while FOX Toledo reporter Sharia Davis was covering the murder of 16 year old Deshaun Lee on Facebook earlier today. The video to the story is now up on the FOX Toledo website, (link).
While the FOX story does not reference the time, WTOL is reporting [...]

This in via e-mail from the Ohio Investigative Unit (OIU):
OIU REMINDS OHIOANS OF UNDERAGE DRINKING LAWS
COLUMBUS– This is an exciting time for high school seniors, as well as friends and family, taking part in all of the festivities surrounding graduation. This time of celebration can easily turn to a time of tragedy because of [...]

Back in February, the family of Ronnie Miller spoke out about their concerns about the media coverage appearing to be sympathetic to Terri Camp Kruse who was given a lifetime suspension of driving privileges for driving while under the influence of alcohol and causing the death of 14 year old Ronnie Miller, (link)..
Kruse [...]

I read this as a Facebook news item from FOX Toledo just moments ago:
A Lucas County Common Pleas jury deliberating since 1:15pm Friday and have returned a GUILTY verdict in the case of Ottawa Hills police officer Thomas White. Guilty on felonious assault and guilty on a gun specification.

Most of our local television stations have updates from the second day of the trial of officer Thomas White who was charged with felony assault charge with a gun specification for shooting Michael McCloskey in the back on May 23, 2009. Here’s the links so far for those of you who want to follow [...]

This in via e-mail from the State of Ohio, it’s not local but if you check out the pdf link there was one Toledo location that was cited on 5/8 – the Ninjas Motorcycle Club on Sylvania, it’s also a heads up for those of you under the age of 21 that may be thinking [...]

There are some similarities to the current case of John Jones and Matthew Stein. Both were suspected/accused of harming a biological child, both biological children ended up on life support from the injuries, legal custody of the child was not with either the mother or the father and the Court system was asked to [...]

The Toledo Journal has an article about the lawsuit that Gary Daugherty lost last week, with some interesting observations that suggest questions in the jury decision against Daugherty (link). The payout for the services of Fritz Byers totaling $125,000 was recently before Toledo City Council at the last Agenda Review and is expected to [...]

We discussed this story frequently, to the point there’s a category on the blog called “The Danning” so it would have not been appropriate to not include what may be the final chapter in the legal trials and tribulations of Marc Dann. According to the Columbus Dispatch (link):
He pleaded guilty to failing to disclose [...]

This in via e-mail from the Foreclosure Defense League, they held a press conference on Sunday May 2nd, at 6:00 p.m., in addition to the below release, FOX Toledo reported on this story (link) and updated to include coverage from WTOL that is now online (link):
On Monday May 3rd, Keith Sadler of [...]

As promised, an update on the earlier story of a complaint filed against retired judge and judicial candidate Steve Yarbrough in the form of a release from election ethics advocate Dave Schulz via e-mail tonight:
Probable Cause Found By Supreme Court Commission On Grievances
Schulz Calls On Yarbrough Committee To Follow Through On Their Promise To [...]

Alexis Means of WTVG, posted the following information on Facebook a short time ago:
A local Pastor is sentenced for child endangering. Bishop Lawrence Hancock Sr. was accused of beating a 4yr old with a belt several times leaving bruising all over the child. According to court documents a judge sentenced Hancock to 180 days in [...]

After reading the Blade article, (link) on two indictments being charged against local businessman Thomas Cousino by the State of Ohio claiming state sales tax was not collected, I headed over to the online Lucas County Court system docket.
On October 6, 2009 the Ohio Department of Taxation filed six tax lien cases for the following [...]

This in via e-mail from election ethics advocate Dave Schulz:
Steve Yarbrough Engaging in Misleading Campaign Tactics
Elections Complaint Filed Today – Adds to Yarbrough’s Long History of Shady and Unethical Behavior
Today, Ben Howard, citizen of Toledo, filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission alleging violation of ORC 3517.21(B)(1).
(B) No person, during the course of [...]