COLUMBUS — As many as 10,000 third-graders could be held back next school year if they fall short of new minimum scores set for the state reading test. The Columbus Dispatch reports that the state Board of Education set the new standard during its meeting yesterday. The “third-grade guarantee” was approved last summer by Ohio [...]

Jurors following the law and with newly discovered evidence available to them wouldn’t convict Alfred Cleveland if he were tried again for the 1991 murder of Marsha Blakely, a federal appeals court has determined. In a decision handed down Monday, Cleveland’s 43rd birthday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that “Cleveland has presented [...]

ELYRIA — If you called and called and only got a busy signal in some county offices Thursday, there’s a reason. There was a problem with the phones in the Lorain County Administration Building at 226 Middle Ave., according to County Commissioner Tom Williams. For most of Thursday, county employees could call out, but not [...]

DAYTON — Police say robbers who held up an Ohio man at gunpoint gave him back enough money for bus fare before running away. It happened at a Dayton bus stop on Tuesday morning. The Dayton Daily News reports that two men walked up, and one of them put a gun to the victim’s forehead [...]

CARLISLE TWP. — Three teenagers are in critical condition at Cleveland MetroHealth Medical Center following a crash Saturday morning. At 6:37 a.m., troopers were sent to Middle Avenue north of Butternut Ridge Road for a 2005 Chrysler PT Cruiser that had struck a building, causing a gas leak. According to a news release, the vehicle [...]

ELYRIA — The list of people who want to see a wrecking ball slam into 352 S. Maple St. is long. Neighbors think the home on the city’s south side, which was boarded up in 2007 following a drug bust and is now falling apart, is a shining example of the kind of blight that [...]

LORAIN — Spitzer Management Inc. has filed a lawsuit claiming that a local tax consultant did not file the auto dealer’s tax returns and has not accounted for more than $700,000. Spitzer Management’s attorney, Anthony Giardini, said Spitzer Management began a contract with Benjamin Franklin Payroll Service, located at 405 Broadway, in January 2011 for [...]

Lorain police Friday, August 24 1:52 a.m. – 3700 block Oberlin Ave., Willie Ramos, 42, 1000 block of Tower Boulevard, arrested and charged with disorderly conduct persisting, disorderly conduct intoxicated, criminal damaging, criminal trespass, possession of cocaine, drug paraphernalia and conveyance of an illegal substance. Customers at Mutt & Jeff’s Bar said Ramos was intoxicated [...]