The Lake Erie Inquiry — full articles

The Block family is selling The Blade. What’s left?

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 08:27:43 -0400

The Block family is selling The Blade. What’s left?

The family behind The Blade also owns Buckeye Broadband and other communications businesses. Its Pittsburgh newspaper already has a new owner.

A Blade delivery truck at a loading dock of the newspaper’s building on North Superior Street in downtown Toledo, Sept. 12. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry.

▶ Watch the video · 32 sec

The Block family, which owns The Blade and Buckeye Broadband, could stop delivering Toledo’s newspaper and keep delivering its internet.

The family’s Block Communications owns Buckeye Broadband, Telesystem and MaxxSouth Broadband. The Blade is one part of that business, and the part facing a Dec. 31 shutdown unless a buyer emerges.

The filing The Inquiry reported Saturday puts 116 jobs at risk and lists a possible sale among the ways to avert or soften the shutdown. The closing plan itself dates to September. What comes next would change a century of Block ownership without ending the family’s business presence here.

What they still sell

Buckeye Broadband sells internet, television and phone service in the Toledo and Sandusky areas and southeast Michigan; its BCSN channels carry local sports. Telesystem sells business connections, phone systems, cybersecurity and managed technology services. MaxxSouth serves customers in Mississippi and parts of Alabama.

Block Communications is privately held. The Inquiry could not find current revenue or profit figures for its businesses.

Pittsburgh found a buyer. Toledo is still waiting.

The nonprofit Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism acquired the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette May 4. Two days later, Gray Media completed an $80 million purchase of Block television stations in Lima, Louisville and Springfield-Decatur. Adams Outdoor bought the Toledo-Detroit Outdoor billboard business in 2025; The Blade reported in 2021 that Block owned it.

That leaves a precedent for saving a Block newspaper, but no announced rescue for Toledo. As we reported in September, the Columbia Journalism Review asked Venetoulis chief executive Bob Cohn about The Blade. He said the organization was focused on Maryland and western Pennsylvania. Friday’s notice names no buyer and gives no sale terms.

The brothers behind the name

Twin brothers Allan and John Robinson Block have held different roles: Allan runs the communications company as chief executive; John is The Blade’s publisher and editor-in-chief and a company vice chairman. They have also disagreed over its direction. CJR reported in September that their 2024 dispute over a potential sale ended in an amicable resolution later that year.

John told CJR in 2022 that he would never consider selling the newspapers: “It’s just what we do.” He acknowledged his brother might feel differently. Asked about The Blade’s closure this September, Allan told CJR: “I’m not at liberty to talk about that now.” John did not respond to that article’s requests for comment.

Allan’s wife, Susan Allan Block, died in April 2025 at 58. She had joined the company’s board in 2018. Her public comments that year showed a much less sentimental view of the newspaper. In a July Facebook post quoted by CJR, she wrote: “We run it like a charity for the benefit of the community.” She also expressed indifference about saving The Blade and said it was more trouble than it was worth.

The family’s relationship with its newsrooms has sometimes been openly hostile. In 2019, Pittsburgh union witnesses described John shouting and threatening jobs during a newsroom confrontation; one of them said he appeared intoxicated. In a statement, Allan blamed “an unfortunate exchange” on frustration over “financial and other challenges in the newspaper industry.” The company said it regretted it if anyone took what happened as anything but support for the Post-Gazette.

A century of Blocks, a longer history of The Blade

The Blocks did not found The Blade. It began as a four-page weekly on Dec. 19, 1835, roughly nine decades before the family bought it from the Lockes in 1926. Its history includes vanished rivals, the move online and a 2004 Pulitzer Prize for exposing U.S. Army atrocities in Vietnam.

Timeline sources: The Blade; 1848; Toledo History Box; Pulitzer (2000, 2004, 2006); 2019; 2026.

What the notice means for workers

The Oct. 23 notice filed with Ohio calls the planned closure permanent and places layoffs in a 14-day window beginning Dec. 31. It says the 116 affected employees have no right to take a less-senior colleague’s job or to be recalled if a job reopens.

It names three unions: the Toledo Newspaper Guild, CWA Local 34043; Teamsters Local 20; and IBEW Local 8. Together, their listed work ranges from reporting and advertising to circulation, driving and maintenance. The public two-page filing does not include the attachment breaking down the affected jobs.

The company cites financial losses without putting a number on them. It lists bargaining over the effects of the shutdown, severance and a possible sale as ways to mitigate or avoid the closing. For workers and readers, the unanswered question is whether that sale becomes a deal before the deadline.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Oregon’s 12 Flock cameras: more than 11 million searches in 17 months

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 06:12:53 -0400

Oregon’s 12 Flock cameras: more than 11 million searches in 17 months

Oregon’s own officers ran 13,216 searches over nearly the same span.

The Oregon Police Division’s building at the city’s municipal complex on Seaman Road, Sept. 19. The cameras on the wall are the building’s own security cameras, not plate readers. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry

▶ Watch the video · 42 sec

FIRST OF FOUR PARTS

This is the first of a four-part series examining the use of Flock license plate cameras in Oregon, Ohio, drawn from the records the city’s police division released this month.

Thursday: the cameras, who searches them, and what the city’s own officers did with them.
Friday: the 19 words Ohio added to its records law last year, and the department that handed the records over anyway.
Saturday: the 1,482 agencies the vendor says can see Oregon’s data, and the 3,724 that searched without being on the list.
Sunday: what Oregon’s council is asked when it meets Monday night.

The City of Oregon approved 12 Flock Safety license plate cameras in January 2025, at $78,300 for two years. By March, its officers were already looking through other cities’ cameras on the vendor’s network; Oregon’s own cameras went up in June. The logs of every search that has touched them since came to this paper this month under Ohio’s public records law.

Between March 2025 and Aug. 11, 2026, the network logs record 11,129,743 searches that reached the city’s cameras, nearly all of them from police agencies outside Oregon. The logs name 5,149 of those agencies. Oregon’s own officers, over nearly the same span, ran 13,216.

The outside agencies are local, state and federal, from every part of the country. About one search in eight came from an agency with an Ohio name. The heaviest searchers were the Houston Police, the Louisville Metro Police in Kentucky and the sheriff’s office in Hillsborough County, Florida; the FBI ran 80,950. The reasons most often given were drugs, wanted persons and stolen vehicles. Traffic Infraction, a use the division’s published policy prohibits, was given 545,785 times.

Flock Safety, the private company that sells the system, keeps a public page for the Oregon Police Division, as it does for Toledo’s and Akron’s departments. The page reports a count of searches, says images are kept 30 days, and lists, under the division’s name, the uses the division prohibits. Two of the five are immigration enforcement and traffic enforcement.

The records the division released show searches made for both. The most common reason an Oregon officer gave for a search was Traffic Infraction, entered 2,051 times, more than any other category. Over the same period, 8,191 searches giving an immigration-related reason reached Oregon’s cameras from police agencies in other states.

On Sept. 16, this paper sent Oregon Police Chief Brandon Begin eight questions about the records, including why searches were run under a use the division’s published policy prohibits. By press time he had not answered. His answers will run if and when they come.

The ordinance and the vendor’s order form and the minutes of the night council passed it are on this paper’s records page.

The 12 cameras Oregon bought from Flock Safety, at the intersections named in the company’s own installation record, all listed as installed as of July 20, 2026. Cameras 7 and 11 and 8 and 10 share a dot: each pair stands within a few hundred feet on the same road, reading opposite bounds.

Wheeling St at Curtice Dr
Oakdale Ave at Blandin St
Wheeling St at Seaman St
Navarre Ave at Munding Dr
Corduroy Rd at N Yarrow St
Woodville Rd at Pickle Rd
Starr Ave at I-280
Navarre Ave at S Lallendorf Rd
Navarre Ave at Isaac Streets Dr
Navarre Ave at Lallendorf Rd
Starr Ave at Earlwood Ave
Millard Ave at Otter Creek Rd

Drawn by this newspaper from the vendor’s coordinates; base geography, Census TIGER and USGS.

Who has been searching

The heaviest users are nowhere near Lucas County.

Searches by outside agencies that reached Oregon’s cameras, March 2025 through Aug. 11, 2026, from the division’s network audit logs, deduplicated by search identifier.
agency	state	searches	on the published list
Houston Police	Texas	169,530	no
Louisville Metro Police	Kentucky	165,301	yes
Hillsborough County Sheriff	Florida	139,904	yes
Palm Beach County Sheriff	Florida	115,465	yes
Texas Department of Public Safety	Texas	115,458	yes
Dallas Police	Texas	99,144	no
Lake County Sheriff	Indiana	94,211	yes
Missouri State Highway Patrol	Missouri	91,488	yes
Kansas Highway Patrol	Kansas	82,687	yes
Michigan State Police	Michigan	81,120	yes

Oregon’s own officers do the same thing outward. A third of the division’s searches swept 1,000 camera networks or more at a time; the typical search touched about 500. Oregon did not so much buy 12 cameras as buy into a national system, and the paperwork says so. The order form the chief signed lists a “Nationwide Network” among the features, “a nationwide system boasting 10 billion additional plate reads per month.” The same form includes “Community Network Access,” the ability to request feeds from privately owned Flock cameras “in neighborhoods, schools, and businesses in your community.” A permit agreement he signed with the state transportation department in March 2025, for the cameras standing in state right of way, commits the city and the vendor to share the data “upon request, with any other law enforcement entity” that shows compliance with the law.

That was a choice, and not every department made it. In September, Sandusky’s police chief told a resident asking about his city’s cameras that the department “does not participate in the nationwide Flock Safety sharing network,” while participating in Ohio’s statewide one. That letter is a public record the City of Sandusky released.

Discrepancies between Flock and Oregon police

Flock’s page for Oregon also publishes, by name, every organization “granted access to Oregon OH PD data.” The list runs 1,482 organizations long. Only 328 have an Ohio name.

Oregon’s own search logs name 5,149 outside organizations that actually searched. Matched against the published list name by name, 1,425 of them appear on it and 3,724 do not. Those unlisted agencies ran 3,881,545 searches, 35 percent of every search that reached Oregon’s cameras.

The heaviest user of Oregon’s data is among the missing. Houston police do not appear on the list, and neither do Dallas, Columbus or Oklahoma City. Federal agencies absent from it include the U.S. Border Patrol, the ATF, Homeland Security Investigations and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, several now marked inactive in the records. The four federal names the page does carry are the FBI, the Postal Inspection Service, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and a National Park Service office on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi.

The likely explanation is the contract’s own “Nationwide Network” line: the published list describes direct sharing, and the logs describe a larger tier that requires no agreement with Oregon at all. On Sept. 16, this paper sent Flock Safety’s press office seven questions, including why agencies missing from the published list can search Oregon’s cameras. By press time it had not answered. Its answers will run if and when they come.

The reasons people typed

Across 17 months, 8,191 searches from 425 agencies gave an immigration-related reason. The agencies typing them include West Chicago police in Illinois, the Florida Highway Patrol, the sheriff’s office in Lowndes County, Georgia and Warren police in Michigan.

The five most common immigration-related reasons typed by outside agencies whose searches reached Oregon’s cameras, March 2025 through Aug. 11, 2026. A reason is a menu choice or free text by the person searching, not a verified fact.
reason as typed	searches
HSI	1,129
Immigration (criminal)	641
ICE	505
Immigration (civil/administrative)	411
Deportation Warrant	83

One search stands apart, and it is the sidebar below: on May 9, 2025, a sheriff’s office in Texas searched 6,809 camera networks for a woman who, the reason box said, “had an abortion.” Oregon’s 12 were among them.

What Oregon’s own officers searched for

Oregon’s officers ran 13,216 searches covering 1,316 license plates between March 27, 2025 and July 20, 2026, the span of the division’s own exports. Ninety-seven percent carry no case number. In nine of 10, the reason field holds a menu category with nothing typed after it, or nothing at all. Flock’s own access policy, on the same public page, says “all system access requires a valid reason and is stored indefinitely.”

The most common category is Traffic Infraction, with 2,051 searches. One officer, Samuel McClurg, accounts for 1,987 of them. Eight of the 2,051 carry a case number.

Those searches cover 219 vehicles, and 406 of them swept 1,000 or more camera networks: a record of where a car had been across much of the country, filed under a traffic heading. Six are logged “learning flock, recent pursuit.” Thirteen are logged “school bus violation.”

The menu offers no obvious entry for a hit-skip or a reckless driving complaint, and a category is not a conclusion. But Traffic Infraction is the most common thing Oregon officers wrote down, on a system whose published policy lists traffic enforcement as a prohibited use and which a councilman described to the public as not for traffic enforcement.

One license plate appears 407 times in Detective Michael Worden’s searches, on 62 separate days between July 21, 2025 and April 15, 2026. The reason given was usually a single word: “Investigation.” Most of those searches swept 1,000 networks or more. None carries a case number. A second plate appears 309 times over 26 days.

A caution on counting. The figures in this story count lines in the division’s search log, and the log records every query the system ran, not every time an officer sat down to look. The two are not the same, and the difference runs in one direction: the log can only overstate. One decision to check a plate can become many lines. A search run again with a wider date range is a new line. The same plate checked again an hour later is a new line. Each carries its own identifier, and each counts here as a search. Flock’s own public page for Oregon uses a different measure, “search sessions,” and the gap between the two can be large. On one night in March 2026 the log holds 184 entries for a single plate inside 13 minutes: one officer, one car, one reason given. What the officer’s phone did in those minutes the log does not say; it says only that the query ran 184 times. By Flock’s measure that is one session. By the log’s, it is 184 searches.

So the counts in this story are counts of queries, and a query is not a person deciding to look. The sturdier figures are the ones a repeated query cannot inflate: the number of different plates the division searched, 1,316, and the number of separate days on which a plate was looked up, 62 in the detective’s case. The 13,216 is the number of queries the system logged. The outside-agency figures are counted the same way, from the lines of the network log, and the same caution applies to them.

When Flock came to Oregon

The cameras came to Oregon on a single night. A council committee met at 6 p.m. on Jan. 27, 2025 and heard a presentation from a Flock Safety representative. At 7 p.m. the full council took up Ordinance 008-2025, which was not on the published agenda. Councilwoman Kathleen Pollauf moved to add it from the floor, and it passed 6-0 as an emergency measure, effective immediately, “to permit the order to be placed immediately, due to contract pricing.”

Seven members were present. The three items voted immediately after the cameras each drew seven yeas, and the signed ordinance records no abstention on the cameras. The minutes do not list yeas by name, so the seventh vote cannot be accounted for from the document.

That night council authorized $78,300 for two years. Oregon paid Flock $42,300 on Feb. 19, 2025 and $36,000 on June 10, 2026, both checks drawn on the same city police account. Begin told the committee in January 2025 that the city was “using grant funding for the purchase,” and the ordinance says the division had been awarded a federal COPS technology grant that listed the cameras as an approved line item. The same ordinance says council had “provided funding in the 2025 Budget” for them. No grant fund appears on either payment, and nothing in the release says whether federal money ever came back. Finance Director Nick Roman was asked on Sept. 16 and had not answered by press time.

The motion was seconded by Councilman Steven R. Salander. Nine months later Salander was elected mayor, unseating Michael Seferian, who signed the ordinance. The contract Salander seconded renews on its own unless the city gives notice 30 days before the term ends, which makes the councilman who seconded the purchase the mayor who now decides whether to keep it. Salander was sent five questions on Sept. 16 and had not answered by press time.

The committee minutes record Begin saying the cameras “would not be monitored,” would be used “only for investigative purposes,” that images are held 30 days, and that there is “an audit trail so that activity can be monitored.” At the council meeting that followed, Councilman Paul R. Drake III asked if there was an option of facial recognition. The minutes record the answer: “they do not use that due to privacy concerns.”

Councilman Steve Hornyak offered a clarification for the record. “This is not for traffic enforcement,” the minutes record. “This is a reporting service.” He also said council had spoken about the cameras over the years, so this was not a purchase nobody saw coming.

Council members asked how many cameras there would be, how long the equipment lasts, whether fog or dirt would stop it, and whether it worked with I-Pass. According to the minutes of both meetings, no one asked who else would be able to search the data. Hornyak had not been reached by press time; his answer will run when it comes.

Begin signed the vendor’s order form four days after the vote. The 12 cameras went up between June 4 and June 27, 2025, by the vendor’s own installation record. Oregon’s officers had been searching the network since late March 2025, more than two months before the city had a camera of its own.

The order form sets the clock the mayor now faces. The two-year term begins with the first installation, so it runs to June 2027, and unless one party gives notice 30 days before that, it renews for another two years. Nothing in the release records a decision either way. The second year’s invoice arrived at the finance department on June 9, 2026 and was paid the next day.

Nobody ever looked

On Sept. 16, Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson issued a statement defending the technology. “License plate recognition systems are tools of identification designed to assist in criminal investigations,” he wrote. “They are not tools of surveillance.” He called misuse rare and asked the General Assembly to make it a felony, and he credited departments with catching their own problems: the cases that drew attention were ones “law enforcement agencies themselves, as part of their internal auditing process, identified.”

The next morning the Oregon Police Division answered a records request for any discipline, counseling or internal review arising from its use of the system since January 2025. The division has no records responsive to that item. In 16 months, 13,216 searches and one plate looked up on 62 days, nobody ever looked.

Wilson’s office is among the searchers. The Ohio Attorney General’s Office ran 11,595 searches that reached Oregon’s cameras over the 17 months, and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which the attorney general oversees, ran 6,766. The State Highway Patrol ran 30,647. The attorney general’s press office was sent six questions on Sept. 16 and had not answered by press time.

The yardstick down the road

In August, after five Flock cameras were vandalized between East Toledo and Oregon, Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken called for a pause and an outside audit, and released a policy paper setting minimum conditions if the system stays: a valid case number on every search, a purpose chosen from a closed list, supervisor approval for out-of-jurisdiction queries, national lookup and federal access off by default, and an express prohibition on immigration-only and reproductive-care searches.

Measured against that list, Oregon’s logs show no case number on 97 percent of its own searches, national lookup used as a matter of routine, and thousands of immigration-reason searches arriving from elsewhere.

On Tuesday, Toledo City Council voted 9-0 to put its own cameras in front of the city auditor, which this paper reported in No. 56. Oregon’s council meets Monday.

How this was reported

The Oregon Police Division released the records under Ohio’s public records law: the contract and ordinance, permits, invoices and canceled checks, a deployment tracker listing all 12 cameras, and about 2.5 gigabytes of search logs. The redaction sheet on the release is dated May 29, 2026; the division had assembled the package for an earlier requester, and an Oregon resident, Austin Gray, described these logs at a Toledo hearing on Sept. 17, before this paper did. The counts above are this paper’s own.

The logs come in two kinds: Oregon’s own searches, and searches by outside agencies that reached Oregon’s network. Duplicate exports were removed by matching each search’s unique identifier. Immigration-related searches were counted by matching the reason field against terms including immigration, deportation, ICE, HSI, CBP and Border Patrol; the count is of reasons typed by officers, not of confirmed immigration cases. The division’s own exports run through July 20, 2026, and no export covers July 21 to 31; the outside-agency exports run through Aug. 11. On Sept. 17 the division released a second set of exports, covering its own searches for August and Sept. 1 to 17, 2026, and outside searches through Sept. 17. Every count here was made from the first package, before that set arrived, and does not include it. A recount with the full release is under way, and any change will be reported. No license plate, plate read or case number from the records is printed here.

Requests for comment went on Sept. 16 to Chief Begin, Mayor Salander, Finance Director Roman, the Ohio attorney general’s press office and Flock Safety, each with a deadline of Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 5 p.m. None had answered by that deadline or by press time.

Tomorrow: Ohio quietly shielded license plate data last year. Oregon handed it over anyway, and a city an hour east said no such records exist.

SIDEBAR

A Texas sheriff searched for a woman who had an abortion. The search reached Navarre Avenue.

On the evening of May 9, 2025, someone at the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, about 30 miles south of Fort Worth, opened Flock Safety’s license plate system and typed a reason for the search they were about to run.

The reason, recorded in the log at 6:49 p.m.: “had an abortion, search for female.”

The search went out across 6,809 camera networks and looked back over the previous 30 days. It was reported nationally last year and became one of the most cited examples in the argument over license plate readers.

Records released by the Oregon Police Division show that it reached Oregon: the city’s 12 cameras, on Navarre Avenue, Starr Avenue, Wheeling Street, Corduroy Road, Woodville Road, Oakdale Avenue and Millard Avenue, were among the networks that search swept. Any Oregon plate that had passed one of those cameras in the previous 30 days was inside it.

Johnson County has not stopped looking at Oregon. Its searches reached the city’s cameras 5,423 times between March 2025 and August 2026, and the pace has climbed: 14 searches in March 2025, 661 in January 2026, 846 in July 2026.

There is no indication the search turned up any evidence of the woman here; the log records the search, not its result. And under the way the network is built, Oregon had no part in running it.

Flock’s public page for the Oregon division does not list reproductive care as a prohibited search.

Sources: Oregon Police Division public records release (R.C. 149.43); City of Oregon Ordinance 008-2025, with the council and Safety Committee minutes; Flock Safety’s transparency portal for the Oregon division; City of Sandusky public records release; the Ohio attorney general; Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken’s policy paper; Toledo City Council R-398-26.

CORRECTION — FOUR SEARCH COUNTS. The first printing of this story (No. 57, Sept. 24) gave four counts that were too high. The agencies missing from Flock’s published list ran 3,881,545 searches, 35 percent of every search that reached Oregon’s cameras, not 4,034,020 and 36 percent. The Ohio Attorney General’s Office ran 11,595, not 11,722. The Bureau of Criminal Investigation ran 6,766, not 7,155. The Johnson County, Texas Sheriff’s Office ran 5,423, not 5,914, and 846 in July 2026, not 1,337. Oregon’s monthly search logs overlap, so the same search can appear in two files. Every other count in this story was made after those repeats were removed; these four were made before, and this paper did not recount them before printing. The total of 11,129,743 searches and the story’s other figures are unchanged. Corrected in a second printing of this edition, Friday, Sept. 25.

Disclosures: Requests for comment on the Oregon records went out Sept. 16 with a Sept. 22 deadline to Chief Brandon Begin, Mayor Steven R. Salander, Finance Director Nick Roman, the Ohio attorney general's press office and Flock Safety; none had answered by press time. Not reached by press time: Councilman Steve Hornyak; Law Director Chynna Fifer, who took office after the purchase; the Johnson County, Texas Sheriff's Office. The two Oregon officers named in the lead were not written to directly; the questions about their searches went to the chief. The officer-side figures cover the division's own exports, March 27, 2025 through July 20, 2026; the outside-agency figures cover the network exports through Aug. 11, 2026. A reason in the logs is a menu choice or free text entered by the person searching; the immigration count is of reasons typed, not of confirmed cases. A resident of Oregon described these logs publicly before this paper reported them; the counts printed are the paper's own, and a second resident who had the records first asked not to be named and is not.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Ohio picked its US 23 connector route. Now comes the hard part

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 06:28:48 -0400

Ohio picked its US 23 connector route. Now comes the hard part

US 23 · I-71 · DELAWARE, MARION AND MORROW COUNTIES · ODOT

Ohio transportation officials have settled on where they think a new freeway between US 23 and Interstate 71 should go.

▶ Watch the video · 29 sec

Now the state would have to find roughly $1 billion to build it, acquire more than 1,000 acres, overcome widespread opposition and decide whether the time and safety benefits are worth what the road would take.

The Ohio Department of Transportation and Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission sent lawmakers their final feasibility study Sept. 30 for a new US 23-to-I-71 connector, meant to improve the notoriously slow trip between Toledo and Columbus.

The preferred route would run about 18.2 miles from US 23 north of Waldo to I-71 near State Route 521, crossing Marion, Morrow and Delaware counties. It would be a four-lane, limited-access freeway with interchanges at US 23, US 42 north of Ashley and I-71.

The study does not authorize the road, and ODOT says it is not a commitment to build one. Instead, it gives lawmakers their clearest accounting yet of what a connector could accomplish, and what it would cost.

If construction began in 2035, ODOT estimates the preferred route would cost about $890 million. If an additional lane in each direction is also needed on I-71 between US 36/State Route 37 and I-270, that would add about $236 million, bringing the total to roughly $1.1 billion.

ODOT’s benefit-cost analysis nevertheless concludes the project would produce benefits worth substantially more than its cost, estimating a benefit-cost ratio between 5-to-1 and 6.4-to-1.

What drivers would get

By 2055, ODOT projects about 21,900 vehicles a day would use the connector if it were free.

The effect of charging drivers is stark. With a toll, projected traffic falls to about 8,500 vehicles a day.

And tolling would not come close to paying for the highway. The final study estimates toll revenue could cover operating and maintenance expenses and about 17.8% of estimated project costs. Substantial funding from somewhere else would still be required.

The study recommends that ODOT, rather than the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission, develop the road if the state decides to proceed.

For Toledo-area drivers, the most tangible benefit is time.

ODOT estimates that by 2055 the trip between I-475 in the Toledo area and I-270 in Columbus would be about 6 minutes shorter in free-flowing traffic and about 22 minutes shorter during the morning peak.

There is an important condition attached to those numbers: The calculation assumes the existing configuration of US 23 but adds another lane in each direction on I-71. ODOT says other planned or potential projects on I-71 could independently provide that additional capacity.

The agency also projects fewer crashes. Crash savings and travel-time savings make up most of the estimated benefit, and about three-quarters of it, $3.26 billion of $4.33 billion over 20 years, would come on local and collector roads. Those benefits are what drive ODOT’s conclusion that the project is economically justified.

What it would take

Of the roughly 1,050 acres of right of way the preferred route would need, about 871 are farmland.

It would take eight homes, three farm structures and two other buildings. The new limited-access highway would also leave about 246 acres of farmland and 118 acres of forest without road access.

The route would bisect the Poston Preserve, held by the Appalachian Ohio Alliance, where 3.6 acres are subject to an environmental covenant.

It would pass about half a mile from Recreation Unlimited, a facility serving people with disabilities and health concerns, which has raised concerns about the route’s proximity and its potential noise and visual effects. The alignment also crosses a known fault line.

Those aren’t necessarily fatal obstacles. The feasibility study comes before the detailed environmental review and engineering that would accompany an actual highway project. But they are among the issues the state would have to resolve if lawmakers decide to advance it.

The comments

Public opposition has followed the connector throughout the study.

ODOT received nearly 3,800 comments over the course of the process. About 94% expressed concerns about the project, about 2% supported it and roughly 4% were neutral.

Support stayed near 2% in both rounds. In the spring, more than 2,200 comments came in and 44 supported the road. During the summer round, more than 1,500 comments were submitted and 34 supported it.

The final report doesn’t simply record that opposition. It identifies “organized public opposition” itself as a project risk, with the potential to increase the time and cost required to develop the road and lead to legal action.

That leaves Ohio with a preferred route, but not yet a highway project.

The final study says advancing the connector would require additional funding before it could enter formal project development. That would bring further engineering, environmental review, public involvement and property acquisition before construction could begin.

There is currently no construction timeline.

For now, the decision moves back to the Legislature: whether to put money behind a road ODOT says would improve safety and cut as much as 22 minutes from a peak-hour Toledo-to-Columbus trip, but would cost about $1 billion, consume hundreds of acres of farmland and proceed in the face of concerns from nearly everyone who commented on it.

Sources: Ohio Department of Transportation and Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission, US 23/I-71 Connector Joint Plan, Final Report, executive summary, sections 2 to 8 and appendices; ODOT’s US 23/I-71 Connector Feasibility Study page.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Same blood test: $313 cash at ProMedica, under $36 at Mercy

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 06:06:47 -0400

Same blood test: $313 cash at ProMedica, under $36 at Mercy

HOSPITAL PRICES · TOLEDO · BOWLING GREEN · LIMA · DETROIT

Hospitals have to post their prices. Comparing them takes some digging.

Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center, on Cherry Street in Toledo, photographed Sept. 8. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry

▶ Watch the video · 42 sec

A patient who pays cash for one of the most common blood tests, a comprehensive metabolic panel, is charged $313.30 at ProMedica’s Toledo Hospital and Flower Hospital. At Mercy Health’s St. Vincent, St. Anne and St. Charles hospitals, the same test is $33.60 to $35.40.

Federal rules have required hospitals since 2021 to post files online listing what they charge. The Lake Erie Inquiry read the files of 18 hospitals in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan and looked up eight common tests and scans at each. Seven of the hospitals are in the Toledo area: ProMedica Toledo Hospital and Flower Hospital, which share one price list; Mercy Health St. Vincent, St. Anne and St. Charles; the University of Toledo Medical Center; and Wood County Hospital in Bowling Green.

The files hold several kinds of prices, and most of them can’t be fairly compared from one hospital to the next. One can: the cash price, what a hospital says it charges a patient who pays without insurance. Every hospital must post one, and it doesn’t depend on which insurance plan a patient has.

No hospital was cheapest for everything

Among the seven Toledo-area hospitals the Inquiry checked, Mercy had the lowest cash prices for both blood tests and the chest X-ray. Wood County had the lowest for a screening mammogram, $170, and for a CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis, $1,092. UTMC was the most expensive for both CT scans and the lower-back MRI. ProMedica was the most expensive for the blood tests, the chest X-ray and the mammogram.

The gaps were widest for the least expensive services. ProMedica’s $132.60 for a complete blood count is six times the $21.60 at Mercy St. Anne and St. Charles. Its $440.70 for a two-view chest X-ray is almost seven times the $63.60 at Mercy St. Charles. A CT scan of the head ranged from $511.20 at St. Anne and St. Charles to $1,251.60 at UTMC, about two and a half times as much.

Every price, for every hospital the Inquiry checked: The Numbers › Hospital Prices.

Prices also differed inside one system. Mercy St. Charles listed the chest X-ray at $63.60, about half the $129 at St. Vincent and St. Anne, but listed the abdominal CT at $1,920, about $450 more than the other two.

In Lima, Mercy Health’s St. Rita’s Medical Center lists the metabolic panel at $420.60 for cash patients, more than any of the seven Toledo-area hospitals the Inquiry checked, and a head CT at $1,009.20. Lima’s other hospital, Lima Memorial, is a story of its own (see sidebar).

For these services, ProMedica’s cash price is 35% off its full charge, and Mercy’s and UTMC’s are 40% off. Wood County Hospital lists no cash discount for any of the seven; its cash price is its full charge.

Prices moved both ways

UTMC’s price file from December 2024, saved by the Internet Archive, lists five of the seven services about 5% lower than its current file. The head CT rose from $1,192.20 to $1,251.60 and the metabolic panel from $100.80 to $105.60. The blood count and the mammogram did not change. Older files for three other hospitals, also saved by the Internet Archive, show a mixed picture. Wood County’s 2023 file and Mercy St. Vincent’s and St. Charles’s files dated Dec. 31, 2023, list most of these services at the same price or higher than today: Mercy St. Charles has since lowered five of its six, and Wood County its two blood tests. Mammograms went up at all three. The paper could not find a complete older file for ProMedica or Mercy St. Anne.

The spread was wider across the Detroit area. Henry Ford Health lists the metabolic panel at $14.57 for cash patients. The Detroit Medical Center’s Sinai-Grace Hospital lists $687, 47 times as much. For a head CT, Henry Ford lists $143.75; DMC’s Detroit Receiving Hospital lists $3,630.75.

Why the cash price

Most of what the files contain is the rates hospitals have negotiated with insurers, and those were far harder to compare.

The Inquiry first checked 120 hospital-and-service pairs, eight services at each of 15 hospitals. Only 16 of the 120 held an insurer rate that could be fairly set beside another hospital’s: Corewell Health’s hospitals in Dearborn and Royal Oak, which list the same kind of Blue Cross Blue Shield rate for all eight services. Their rates were nearly identical; the head CT is $153.60 at Dearborn and $152.01 at Royal Oak.

A third Corewell hospital, in Trenton, the closest to Toledo, lists the same kind of Blue Cross rate under the same plan label, but about 12% lower for all eight services: $134.59 for the head CT, $18.72 for the metabolic panel against Dearborn’s $21.37. Its cash prices are identical to the other two.

In 96 cases, the service was in the hospital’s file, but no insurer rate could be matched to another hospital’s. Some files listed no insurer rate for the service at all. Others listed rates set a different way: a flat dollar amount at one hospital, a percentage of the bill or a formula at another, for different insurance plans, or for a whole visit instead of a single test. In the other eight cases, the file did not list the service under that code, which does not mean the hospital doesn’t offer it.

Insurer rates can swing widely inside one hospital, too. ProMedica’s file lists what different insurance plans pay for the metabolic panel, from $5.66 under some Medicaid plans to $482, its full undiscounted charge.

What Medicare pays

Medicare, the federal health insurance program mainly for people 65 and older, sets its own rates, and they are far lower. Medicare’s rate for the metabolic panel is $10.56, about a thirtieth of ProMedica’s cash price. For a head CT, it pays a hospital about $107, adjusted up or down for local costs.

What it means for a patient

The prices cover the hospital’s own charge only. A radiologist’s reading of a scan, or a doctor’s fee, can be billed separately. Insured patients pay what their plan has negotiated, subject to their deductible and coinsurance.

Under the federal No Surprises Act, patients who are uninsured, or who choose not to use their insurance, are entitled to a written good-faith estimate. Hospitals and doctors must provide one when care is scheduled at least three business days ahead, or within three business days of a patient’s request. Patients with low incomes may qualify for free or reduced-price care under each hospital’s financial assistance policy.

At one Lima hospital, even the cash price isn’t one price

The cash price is supposed to be the simple number in a hospital’s price file: what a patient who pays without insurance is charged. At Lima Memorial Health System, it isn’t simple.

Lima Memorial’s file, dated April 1, lists two to four cash prices for each of the seven services the Lake Erie Inquiry compared, each on a separate line of its price list. The lines are marked only with internal labels such as “Std Price” or “Radlab On Fsprice,” and the file does not explain them or say which one a patient would pay.

Lima Memorial Health System, cash prices listed for the same service, from its price file dated April 1, 2026.
Service	Lowest cash price listed	Highest cash price listed
Metabolic blood panel	$12.60	$452.70
Blood count (CBC)	$9.00	$74.70
Chest X-ray, 2 views	$101.70	$894.60
Screening mammogram	$133.20	$406.80
Head CT, no contrast	$137.70	$1,539.00
CT abdomen/pelvis	$462.60	$5,037.30
Lumbar MRI	$289.80	$5,141.70

The highest listed price for the metabolic panel is 36 times the lowest. For the lower-back MRI it is nearly 18 times.

The head CT appears at $137.70 on one line and $1,539 on another, both labeled “Std Price.” Each line takes the same 10% off its full charge, the smallest cash discount among the hospitals in the Inquiry’s review that offer one.

A patient who wants to know can ask the hospital for a written good-faith estimate. Federal law requires one for patients who are uninsured or not using their insurance.

Source: Lima Memorial Health System’s standard-charge file, dated April 1, 2026, limamemorial.org.

How we did it: The Lake Erie Inquiry read the federally required price files of 15 hospitals in full, twice, for eight services: a comprehensive metabolic panel (CPT code 80053), a complete blood count (85025), a two-view chest X-ray (71046), a screening mammogram (77067), a head CT without contrast (70450), a CT of the abdomen and pelvis with contrast (74177), a lumbar MRI without contrast (72148) and a diagnostic colonoscopy (45378). Cash prices are each hospital’s listed “discounted cash price” for the single outpatient item. Prices for a whole visit were left out, which is why colonoscopy is not compared. ProMedica’s, UTMC’s and Wood County’s files were downloaded again Oct. 5 and matched the copies the paper read. Mercy’s figures come from its files dated April 1, 2026, downloaded from Mercy’s website Oct. 5; they matched the copies the paper read. Medicare figures are from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ October 2026 payment files. St. Rita’s, Lima Memorial and Corewell Trenton were added Oct. 5 from the files each hospital system lists in its federally required index; UTMC’s December 2024 file and the older Wood County and Mercy files are the Internet Archive’s copies. All 18 hospitals’ prices are in the paper’s tracker at lakeerieinquiry.org/hospital-prices.

Sources: ProMedica (March 25, 2026) · Mercy Health St. Vincent, St. Anne, St. Charles (April 1) · UTMC (March 31) · Wood County Hospital (Dec. 31, 2025) · Henry Ford Health (June 28) · DMC Detroit Receiving (April 7), Sinai-Grace (April 8) · Corewell Dearborn, Royal Oak (May 1) · Mercy Health St. Rita’s (April 1) · Lima Memorial (April 1) · Corewell Trenton (May 1) · UTMC, Dec. 27, 2024 · Wood County, 2023 · St. Vincent, Dec. 31, 2023 · St. Charles, Dec. 31, 2023 (Internet Archive) · CMS OPPS · CMS lab fee schedule. These links download large spreadsheet files, not web pages. Mercy’s return an error to some connections.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

County board blasts Prosecutor Bates for skipping budget hearing

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 07:17:51 -0400

County board blasts Prosecutor Bates for skipping budget hearing

LUCAS COUNTY · THE 2027 BUDGET · THE PROSECUTOR · THE COMMISSIONERS

The prosecutor’s 2027 request runs about $1.45 million over the 13% cut the county set for her office, and the commissioners spent Tuesday’s hearing on her empty chair.

▶ Watch the video · 43 sec

Lucas County Prosecutor Julia R. Bates was on the commissioners’ agenda Tuesday afternoon to defend her office’s 2027 budget. Nobody from her office came. Commissioner Lisa Sobecki, the board’s president, said Bates had sent “a handwritten note last week indicating that she was choosing not to attend.” Then the three commissioners spent the hearing on the empty chair.

Lucas County has asked all its departments to cut at least 13% next year to close a $27 million shortfall the commissioners project for 2027. Budget Director James E. Hayes went through the prosecutor’s request without her. The prosecutor’s 2026 budget is $7,494,749, and the office is projected to spend $75,000 more than that. For 2027 it asked for $7,966,731, about $472,000 or 6.3% more than this year. The target the commissioners set in July, a 13% cut, is about $6.5 million, which puts the request roughly $1.45 million over it.

Most of the increase is pay, the budget office said: about $412,000 more in salaries and benefits, driven by raises the office gave in the middle of 2026, and part-time wages. The county budgeted $279,000 for the office’s part-time help this year; it is on track to spend more than $500,000, and it asked for $590,000 next year. About $60,000 more in other costs came from moving expenses onto the general fund from what the budget office called the prosecutor’s “depleted Bitcoin settlement fund.” To reach the target, the budget office said, the office would have to cut staff.

“I think that’s despicable”

The commissioners cut their own budget by 16%, Sobecki said; the county’s August draft shows their offices asking for 19.4% less than this year. “Unfortunately, we have followers. Followers that aren’t following directions. Followers that won’t show up to a hearing so that we can be transparent with taxpayer dollars to have that discussion, and I think that’s despicable.”

Commissioner Pete Gerken asked three times whether anyone from the prosecutor’s office was in the room. “We have lots of vacant chairs here and no prosecutors,” he said. “How do you prosecute anything in court if you can’t even come in for a board of commissioners and prosecute your case for what your budget needs? That’s lacking in integrity.”

He read from a letter Bates sent the board Sept. 28, in which she wrote that she was “ready to sit down to review the line items together and find a realistic middle ground that honors your budgetary goals while maintaining the public safety infrastructure.” Gerken said she wanted “closed-door meetings to do the let’s make a deal, let’s do the plea bargain thing that she’s so good at.” He said “nobody’s seen her in a courtroom in 15 years,” that her office cannot cover its payroll this year, and that it gives “salaries in secret.”

Gerken said Bates came back “with a $1.4 million increase.” That is how far her request runs over the 13% target; over what her office has this year, the increase is about $472,000. The budget office described the 2026 raises as mid-year increases; it did not say they were secret.

Commissioner Anita Lopez said three elected officials had skipped their hearings that day: Domestic Relations Judges Lisa McGowan and Karen Connelly, and Bates. “Today we have three individuals who are acting as if they are queens or a king,” she said. She praised Auditor Katie Moline and Treasurer Lindsay Webb, “because they did make the 13% cut”; the county’s August draft shows both offices at exactly 13% below this year.

What Bates says

Bates answered after the hearing with a written statement. She had already told the commissioners in an Aug. 10 letter that a cut that size “is entirely unacceptable and legally impermissible,” and that Ohio courts have repeatedly held that county commissioners must fund a prosecutor well enough to carry out the duties the law requires. “This could mean losing 10 to 13 prosecutors,” Tuesday’s statement said, and “the job performed by our team is more important than funding festivals.” She accused the board of “name-calling, petty criticism and abusive and disrespectful characterization of my background, my competence and my 30 years of elected tenure.”

The prosecutor is not the biggest gap

In the county’s first draft of the 2027 general fund, dated Aug. 18, departments together asked for $122.8 million against targets totaling $105.4 million, $17.4 million over. The sheriff’s offices account for $10.46 million of that, about 60%. Juvenile court was $1.84 million over and common pleas court $1.67 million; the prosecutor, at that point, $1.35 million.

The offices that did show up Tuesday made their cases in person. Sean McNulty, who runs the public defender’s office at the Toledo Legal Aid Society, presented a request he said was 12% below his office’s first ask, a cut that he said had already taken two attorneys out of Toledo Municipal Court. Recorder Michael Ashford came in the morning; his office asked for $981,435, against $945,808 this year and a target of $822,853.

Sobecki said the board would hold a special meeting if Bates wants one. The hearings stay open, and the commissioners next meet Oct. 13 at 11 a.m.

Sources: Board of Lucas County Commissioners, recording of the Oct. 6 budget hearings · Lucas County, 2027 General Fund Budget by Elected Official, Draft #1 · Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney, letter of Aug. 10 and statement of Oct. 6

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

No ODOT rule covered I-75 construction fencing, so ODOT cannot be sued

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 07:17:51 -0400

No ODOT rule covered I-75 construction fencing, so ODOT cannot be sued

COURTS · TOLEDO · INTERSTATE 75 · THE COURT OF CLAIMS

Marquise Byrd died in 2017 when a sandbag came off the Indiana Avenue bridge. His estate had won at the court of appeals. On Tuesday the Ohio Supreme Court ordered the case thrown out.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled 6-1 on Tuesday that the Ohio Department of Transportation cannot be sued over the death of Marquise Byrd, a passenger struck by a sandbag dropped from a bridge the department was rebuilding over Interstate 75. The court reversed a judgment the dead man’s estate had already won and sent the case back to the Court of Claims with instructions to dismiss it.

ODOT is immune, the court held, because it had no policy requiring anti-vandal fencing on a bridge while that bridge is under construction. With no rule to apply, the choice belonged to ODOT’s engineers. A choice like that, the court said, is a “basic policy decision” the state never agreed to be sued over.

What happened on Dec. 19, 2017

Toledo police were called that day to southbound I-75 near the Washington Street 201A exit. The passenger-side windshield of the only car involved was shattered, sand was over the outside of the car and inside it, and Marquise Shawndell Byrd was unconscious in the front passenger seat. He never woke up and died at the hospital. The officer who arrived, Jonathan Curtis, wrote it up as a felonious assault. A detective collected two sandbags, one off the southbound roadway and one from the car’s back seat.

Police stopped a group of juveniles walking east across the Indiana Avenue bridge toward 15th Street. One of them told police another had said, “I’m going to throw this over the bridge and run because the cops are going to come.” Four juveniles were adjudicated delinquent for vehicular vandalism, three for involuntary manslaughter and one for murder.

The boys were 13 or 14 at the time, and prosecutors did not try to move them to adult court. In Lucas County Juvenile Court, the one who dropped the sandbag that killed Byrd, who was 13, admitted to murder, felonious assault and vehicular vandalism; the other three admitted to involuntary manslaughter and vehicular vandalism. On April 6, 2018, Judge Denise Navarre Cubbon committed the 13-year-old to the Ohio Department of Youth Services until he turned 21 and the other three for three years, then suspended all four commitments and sent the boys to the county’s Youth Treatment Center instead, with 30 hours of community service each. “This was not a prank,” she said. Byrd’s family walked out of the courtroom before she finished.

The fencing was there until the job took it down

Anti-vandal fencing, which ODOT calls vandal-protective fencing, is the tall mesh screen that curves over a bridge sidewalk to stop people dropping or throwing things onto the traffic below. Before the rebuild started in August 2017, the Indiana Avenue bridge had three traffic lanes, sidewalks on both the north and south sides, and that fencing on both sides.

In the first phase, the north side of the bridge came out: roadway, sidewalk and its existing anti-vandal fencing with it, and 42-inch concrete barriers closed it off. What stayed open was on the south side: one lane of traffic and the sidewalk, where the fencing was still standing. ODOT did not put up temporary fencing along the concrete barriers. Mark Mondora, ODOT’s area engineer on the job, testified that temporary fencing was unnecessary because the north side was closed to pedestrians.

ODOT’s own 2017 bridge-design manual required anti-vandal fencing “on all bridges over vehicular traffic except as noted,” and on existing bridges when new or refaced concrete barriers went in. David Slatzer, then ODOT’s deputy director of engineering, testified that the manual governed the “permanent condition of the structure” and did not apply to structures under construction. That reading is what left the gap the immunity ruling now fills.

The contractor, Kokosing Construction Company, had proposed closing the bridge for the whole project and rebuilding it in one go. ODOT weighed that and decided instead to keep one traffic lane and one sidewalk open, because Indiana Avenue is one of the main arteries into downtown Toledo and the city had said pedestrians needed to keep crossing.

The estate lost at trial and won on appeal

Patricia Wilkes, representing Byrd’s estate, sued ODOT for wrongful death in the Court of Claims, the only court where the state can be sued. That court rejected ODOT’s immunity claim but found the estate had not proved liability. The Tenth District Court of Appeals agreed ODOT had no immunity, went further, held ODOT liable and sent the case back for damages to be worked out. Tuesday’s decision erases both of those findings on a question neither lower court had decided in ODOT’s favor: whether the Court of Claims had any jurisdiction at all.

Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy wrote the opinion, joined by Justices Patrick DeWine, Joseph Deters, Dan Hawkins and Megan Shanahan. “Byrd’s death is tragic,” the opinion says, but the General Assembly, in the Court of Claims Act, “necessarily had to draw lines regarding which claims may be pursued against the State and which claims may not.” Under R.C. 2743.02 the state consents to be sued as a private party would be, but a 1984 decision, Reynolds v. State, carved out basic policy decisions made with “a high degree of official judgment or discretion.”

The dissent: a technical call, not a policy call

Justice Jennifer Brunner dissented. She wrote that she accepts the Reynolds rule but that the court is not following it: “this court should not shield from private redress behavior by government officials that is careless, callous, fraudulent, or negligent by framing that behavior as discretionary decision-making.” Not erecting the fencing, she wrote, “made a technical decision, not one subject to discretion.” Her warning is about reach: “The precedent set in this case will allow essentially any decision of the State and any consequences that flow from that decision to be insulated from judicial redress by discretionary immunity.” She also pointed to Reynolds itself, where the state was immune for its decision and still paid damages for how the decision was carried out.

Justice Patrick Fischer agreed with the outcome but wrote separately to question Reynolds, saying it was decided without a proper reading of the statute the whole doctrine rests on. Brunner said she shares several of those concerns.

The case is Wilkes v. Ohio Dept. of Transp., No. 2025-0632, Slip Opinion No. 2026-Ohio-3897. It was argued on Jan. 8 and decided Oct. 6, almost nine years after Byrd died. The court’s case announcements for Oct. 6, cited as 2026-Ohio-3929, record the judgment; the opinion itself carries the lower number.

Sources: Wilkes v. Ohio Dept. of Transp., Slip Opinion No. 2026-Ohio-3897 · Supreme Court of Ohio case announcements, Oct. 6, 2026 · Wilkes v. Ohio Dept. of Transp., 2025-Ohio-1030 (10th Dist.) · R.C. 2743.02 · The Blade, on the juvenile court sentencing. The facts and all testimony here are taken from the Supreme Court’s opinion; the sentencing is from The Blade’s coverage of the hearing. This paper’s earlier reporting on ODOT: Aug. 21.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

UToledo committed millions to stop its enrollment slide. Can it grow again?

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 06:31:04 -0400

UToledo committed millions to stop its enrollment slide. Can it grow again?

UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO · ENROLLMENT · THE POWER TO DO · THE MONEY

The University of Toledo has 14,029 students this fall, against 20,648 ten years ago.

▶ Watch the video · 38 sec

In the fall of 2016 the University of Toledo enrolled 20,648 students. This fall it enrolled 14,029, by the university’s own census counts. That is 6,619 fewer students, a drop of 32% in ten years, and most of it came in the four falls from 2019 to 2023.

The university has spent the last two years trying to stop the slide, and has committed several million dollars to the effort. In September it said the effort had started to work. “This year’s fall enrollment is the clearest sign yet that our more focused approach to recruitment and marketing is paying off,” President James Holloway said in the university’s Sept. 15 release, headlined “UToledo Reports Positive Momentum in Fall 2026 Enrollment.”

The gains behind that statement are real, and they are small: 61 more new students than a year ago. Beneath them, the university’s core kept shrinking. Its domestic college students, the count left after setting aside international students and high schoolers taking college classes, fell 2.9% this fall and are down 23% since 2021, by this paper’s arithmetic from UToledo’s own figures.

Whether the gains mark the start of a recovery, a floor or a pause before more decline is a question the next few falls will answer.

Why the count matters

Each student is tuition, and fewer students means less of it. The shrinking has already reshaped the university. In June 2023 UToledo cut $28 million from its operating budget, including $16.6 million from academic affairs, and eliminated some filled positions. It said it was adjusting “to match current and projected student enrollment” as colleges contend with “a declining population of high school graduates entering college, difficulties retaining current students and rising financial costs of operations,” according to its budget announcement.

The cuts reached the course catalog. Since 2024 UToledo has stopped admitting new students to programs from foreign languages to industrial engineering, and in April 2025 to 21 more degrees: nine undergraduate programs that Ohio’s Senate Bill 1 forced out for awarding too few degrees, and 12 from the university’s own review of low-enrollment programs.

The pressure has not let up. In April, Matt Schroeder, the university’s chief financial officer, told Faculty Senate that UToledo faced a structural deficit of about $16 million and that tuition and fees were running about $6.7 million behind the year before.

Not everyone is shrinking

Falling enrollment is a worry across higher education, where colleges have braced for years for an “enrollment cliff” as the number of 18-year-olds drops. Around Toledo, the slide has not been the rule.

Bowling Green State University, about 20 miles south, reports 20,799 students this fall, its fourth straight year of growth and its largest enrollment in nearly two decades. UToledo was the larger school until 2019; Bowling Green now has 6,770 more students. The University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus reports a record 54,181, including more than 5,000 new students from Michigan.

Fall enrollment, 2021 and this fall, as each university reports it; Eastern Michigan’s from the Michigan Association of State Universities, whose latest is fall 2025. The counts are not all built the same way.
University	2021	This fall	Change
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	50,278	54,181	+7.8%
Bowling Green State	19,597	20,799	+6.1%
Michigan State	49,659	50,941	+2.6%
Ohio State, all campuses	67,772	68,183	+0.6%
Wayne State	24,931	24,182	−3.0%
University of Toledo	17,070	14,029	−17.8%
Eastern Michigan	15,370	12,176 (2025)	−20.8%

The schools serve different students in different markets, and each counts its own way. UToledo’s total includes high school students taking its classes; Bowling Green does not say whether its total does. The figures are context, not a measure of the same thing.

What UToledo is paying to turn it around

The university hired BVK, a Milwaukee advertising agency, in late 2023 to build a new brand, under a $585,000 contract, The Collegian reported in October 2024. The research behind it included 26 interviews with people inside and around the university, more than 1,600 survey answers and several focus groups, the university said at the launch.

In June 2024 the trustees authorized $3,396,050 more for BVK, from the university’s local funds: $1,827,500 for creative work such as video, photography and ads, and $1,568,550 over two years to manage the media strategy and carry out the campaign. The board split it between the academic university, $1,662,400, and UToledo Health, its hospital and clinics, $1,733,650. The resolution gave the purpose as raising awareness, improving perception and driving enrollment and health care revenue, and said the advertising vendors BVK replaced had cost $716,766 in fiscal 2024.

What UToledo’s trustees approved for the turnaround, by the board’s own actions. These are ceilings, not bills paid; the university has not published what it has paid.
Firm	For	University	UToledo Health
BVK	Creative: video, photo, ads (June 2024)	$886,250	$941,250
BVK	Managing media strategy and the campaign, two years (June 2024)	$776,150	$792,400
Capture Higher Ed	Recruiting prospective students, three years (June 2025)	$1,031,820	—
myFootpath	Bringing back students who left (2024)	33% of tuition, proposed	—

The brand, “The Power To Do,” launched July 16, 2024, and its first wave was aimed at recruiting students, with video, digital and outdoor advertising. Its billboards pull TO DO out of UTOLEDO: “To Do What Makes a Difference.” Its anthem film is on the university’s YouTube channel.

In June 2025 the trustees approved a three-year agreement worth $1,031,820 with Capture Higher Ed, a recruiting firm, to find prospective students and turn them into enrolled ones, with an option to leave after the first year.

A 2024 arrangement with myFootpath goes after people who were admitted or enrolled and never finished. The board’s April 2024 materials put that pool at about 126,000 people and projected that bringing back 2% to 3% of them over five years could produce more than $30 million in net tuition, under proposed terms giving UToledo 67% of the tuition and the firm 33%.

In November 2025, Meghan Cunningham, the university’s vice president for marketing and communications, told Faculty Senate the campaign targets people by stage, from first awareness to applying to the students and parents already deciding, reviews results monthly and replaces ads that are not working. For 2025-26, she said, it added ads for health care, business and engineering programs, began targeting online and transfer students and promoted UToledo’s Michigan tuition rates. A one-year survey of the brand was being finalized, she said.

The trustees’ figures are ceilings. The university has not published what it has actually paid BVK or Capture, how many applications or enrolled students the campaign has produced, or what the brand survey found.

What went up this fall

UToledo enrolled 3,623 new students in degree programs this fall. Its Office of Institutional Research counts 3,562 a year earlier, in its Fall 2026 Student Portrait, so the increase is 61 students, or 1.7%. The Sept. 15 release calls it “more than 2%.” Either way it is the first rise in new students since 2023.

Students coming straight from high school rose for the first time since 2018, from 1,490 to 1,507. New transfer students rose from 595 to 672, up 12.9% by the research office’s counts; the release puts the gain at 17.5%. New graduate students starting their first program rose from 950 to 1,073, and the College of Law’s 375 students are a 10-year high, the release says.

Part of the gain came from outside. Lourdes University in Sylvania ended academic operations with the 2025-26 school year, and UToledo signed on as its main teach-out partner, taking in its students. Minutes of UToledo’s Graduate Council for Sept. 8 put new domestic graduate enrollment up about 6%, roughly 60 students, and about 1% without the former Lourdes students. Both figures set aside a change in how pharmacy doctorate students are classified. The university has not published how many are among this fall’s new undergraduates.

What kept shrinking

Total enrollment still fell 1.8%, from 14,290 to 14,029. The university gives two reasons: more students graduating, and a national drop in international students tied to visa restrictions and federal policy. Its graduation rate, 59.2%, is the highest on record, the release says.

International students fell from 1,370 to 1,175 this fall, down 14%. Another group grew: high school students taking UToledo classes for college credit through Ohio’s College Credit Plus program and similar programs, whom UToledo counts in its headcount. There were 1,048 of them in 2021, 1,284 last fall and 1,558 this fall.

Set those two groups aside and what remains, the university’s domestic college students, went from 14,674 in 2021 to 11,636 last fall and 11,296 this fall, by this paper’s arithmetic from the university’s counts, the decline described at the top of this story.

One market across the state line shows the same pattern. UToledo charges a resident rate to students from Monroe County, Mich. It had 1,056 of them as undergraduates in 2021 and 823 this fall.

What marketing cannot do

Advertising can bring students to campus. Keeping them there is a different job, and on that measure UToledo has been losing ground.

Of the freshmen who started full time in fall 2024, 80.4% came back a year later; for the fall 2025 class the figure is 78.4%, which the university’s research office marks provisional. The release reports a longer measure at a record: 70.8% of freshmen stay through to their junior year.

The U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard, which measures every school the same way, puts UToledo’s most recent rate at 77%, against 82% at Bowling Green and 83% at Wayne State. By that measure, nearly one UToledo freshman in four does not come back for a second year.

How Bowling Green keeps students

Bowling Green has put its effort into that second job. Its Early Alert program once had academic advisers email students who were missing classes or assignments. Now every student is assigned an outreach coordinator, one of about 120 faculty members, program advisers, coaches and staff who already know the student, and the alert goes to that person. A student on the dance team hears from the spirit program coordinator; a student on a Thompson scholarship hears from a Thompson adviser, the university said in October 2025.

“The key to the success of our approach is that the outreach coordinators already have an established relationship with those students,” said Glenn Davis, Bowling Green’s vice president for student engagement and success. The university says first-year retention among students who get an alert has risen 8% since 2021, and that its overall retention reached a record 81.1% in 2024. Every undergraduate can also work one on one with a career and life design coach, it says.

UToledo’s answer, announced this fall, is experience. Under a program called ASCEND, every new undergraduate is to get an applied-learning opportunity such as a co-op, an internship or a research position. “Every student. Every major,” Holloway said.

What will answer the question

Three things will show which way UToledo is headed. The first is next fall’s class from high schools, which will show whether this year’s gain of 17 holds. The second is whether this fall’s new students come back next fall. The third is the money: what the campaign and the recruiters have cost, and what they have produced, which the university says it measures and has not published.

The paper sent the university 11 questions on Oct. 5, among them what it has paid BVK and Capture for the academic campaign and what results the campaign has produced. By press time it had not answered. Its answers will run if and when they come.

Sources: University of Toledo Office of Institutional Research, fall census reports, 2016-2026 and Fall 2026 Student Portrait · UToledo News, Sept. 15, 2026 and July 16, 2024 · UToledo Board of Trustees meeting books, April 24, 2024, June 26, 2024 and June 25, 2025 · Faculty Senate minutes, Nov. 4, 2025 and April 7, 2026 · Graduate Council minutes, Sept. 8, 2026 · UToledo, Lourdes teach-out, March 10, 2026 and re-enrollment dashboard, Fall 2026 · The Collegian, Oct. 2, 2024 · Bowling Green State University, September 2026 · University of Michigan, The University Record, Oct. 5, 2026 · Bowling Green State University, Early Alert · U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard · each university’s own fall count for the regional table, and for Eastern Michigan the Michigan Association of State Universities’ fall 2025 enrollment report

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Cardinal Stritch closes in December, five months before graduation

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 06:10:32 -0400

Cardinal Stritch closes in December, five months before graduation

OREGON · CARDINAL STRITCH CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL · 69 STUDENTS · THE MONEY

The Oregon high school has 69 students in four grades. It had 265 in 2013. Tuition and fees this year run $12,970; Ohio’s voucher covers $8,408 of it.

▶ Watch the video · 43 sec

Cardinal Stritch Catholic High School, which has taught ninth through twelfth grade on a 20-acre campus in Oregon since 1961, will close at the end of December, its officials announced Thursday. The pre-K-through-eighth-grade school on the same campus, Kateri Catholic Academy, will stay open.

The announcement came in a letter and an online video from Principal Malinda Siers and the Rev. Scott Woods, chairman of the school’s board of limited jurisdiction. The board of directors recommended the closing to Bishop Daniel Thomas, who approved it. “Unfortunately, it has become clear, that there is no longer a viable pathway for our high school,” Siers said in the video. The bishop said the decision “was not made lightly.”

Students were called to the gymnasium on Thursday morning and told there. It was Homecoming week.

Why December and not May

The closing falls in the middle of the school year, five months before this year’s seniors would have graduated, and that is the complaint the school’s own community made loudest on Thursday. Asked about it, the Diocese of Toledo said the alternative was worse. Keeping the high school open through May was “clearly not sustainable from a financial perspective,” Kelly Donaghy, the diocese’s senior director of communications, told The Blade. “To keep secondary students through May, significant staffing and programming reductions would have resulted in the elimination of all forms of student life, including campus ministry and athletics.” The decision, she said, was made “in the best interest of our high school students rather than making them suffer through a poor high school experience.”

One form of student life had already gone. The school canceled its 2026 eight-man football season on July 28 for lack of players and parent volunteers, its third canceled season in five years, after 2022 and 2024 at eleven-man. It went 0-10 in 2025, and Plymouth took its place in the Northern 8 conference.

What 69 students looks like against 265

In September 2013, two years into a bet on a science, technology, engineering, math and medicine curriculum, the school counted 265 students and described itself as at about 90% of capacity. Tuition then was $8,350, a third of its students were not Catholic, and 82 students across the high school and the academy were on vouchers.

The state’s own enrollment reports put a middle point on the line. The Ohio High School Athletic Association assigns schools to tournament divisions using the enrollment figures nonpublic schools file with the state for grades 9, 10 and 11. Its 2026-27 basketball division files, which this paper read, list Cardinal Stritch Catholic at 45 boys and 39 girls, or 84 students in three grades as of the October 2025 report. The school now says 69 in all four. That is roughly a quarter of what it taught thirteen years ago. Federal survey figures the school reported put its high school at 356 students in 2005.

The money a family paid, and the money the state sent

The school’s published 2026-27 high school price is $10,970 in tuition plus a $1,750 composite fee and a $250 deposit, or $12,970 for the year. Ohio’s EdChoice scholarship covers up to $8,408 of a high school bill, leaving about $4,562 to a family that qualifies for the full amount. Tuition has risen about 31% since 2013.

What families who have already paid for a full year get back for a spring semester the school will not hold is not addressed anywhere the school has published. Its tuition page says tuition and fees are refundable only if a student withdraws before attending. The school and the diocese have not said, and this paper has not yet asked.

Where 69 students go in January

The letter directs students to Central Catholic High School in Toledo to continue in January “should they choose,” and promises each family individual help wherever it lands. Central Catholic declined on Thursday afternoon to say how it would take on sixty-odd additional students mid-year. Oregon’s public high school, Clay, is the other option inside the district the campus sits in; it has not said publicly what it will tell families who want to enroll in January.

The campus, and who holds the deed

The high school wing is not going anywhere soon, because the academy is staying. The Lucas County Auditor’s record for the parcel at 3225 Pickle Rd., which this paper read on Thursday, describes 20 acres and a school building put up in 1961 with 102,535 square feet of floor space, appraised at $9.17 million, of which $8.4 million is the building and $767,600 the land. The land is zoned R-2, medium-density residential. As a private school it pays no property tax.

The owner of record is not the diocese but three priests acting as trustees, the Rev. Msgr. William J. Kubacki and the Revs. Monte J. Hoyles and Dennis Walsh, under a deed transferring the property for no money on April 13, 2022. The deed they took it from still carried the name of Leonard P. Blair as Bishop of Toledo; Bishop Blair left Toledo in 2013. Whom the trustees hold the campus for, and what becomes of the high school wing once the high school is gone, the diocese has not said.

Sixty-five years

Bishop George J. Rehring broke ground in Oregon on Sept. 21, 1960, on what would be Toledo’s sixth Catholic high school. The first ninth-grade class arrived in the fall of 1961. The school is named for Samuel Cardinal Stritch, Toledo’s second bishop from 1921 to 1930 and later archbishop of Chicago. In May 2011, at its 50th anniversary, it added “Catholic” to its name. Kateri Catholic Academy, formed from merged parish schools in 2009, shares the campus, making the site a rare pre-K-through-12 Catholic campus in the region.

Its best-known graduate is Bryan Smolinski, who grew up in Genoa, went from Stritch to Michigan State and played 1,056 games in the National Hockey League for eight teams, scoring 651 points.

The letter said the rumors about the school’s closing had circulated “for literally decades,” that an Early College Pathways program and “a valiant marketing campaign” had been tried. It thanked the faculty and staff and acknowledged their “many questions and concerns.” How many of them lose their jobs, and when, is not stated.

Sources: Cardinal Stritch Catholic High School, closing notice, tuition and history pages; Ohio High School Athletic Association 2026-27 boys and girls basketball division enrollment files; Lucas County Auditor, parcel 4422883; The Blade, the closing and the reaction, and its 2013 report on the STEMM program; 13abc, parents on the closing.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Five council members call for Toledo to end its Flock contracts

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 09:08:46 -0400

Five council members call for Toledo to end its Flock contracts

TOLEDO · CITY COUNCIL · TMP-12977 · FILED OCT. 9 · ON THE OCT. 20 AGENDA

Their resolution is set for a vote Oct. 20, before the Flock audit council asked for is finished.

A Flock license-plate camera on the traffic-signal mast at Cherry and Page streets in Toledo, one of the locations on the police department’s own camera list. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry

▶ Watch the video · 36 sec

On Sept. 8, three Toledo council members, Mac Driscoll, Erin Kramer and Nick Komives, asked the police to switch off the city’s Flock license-plate cameras while the city auditor looked at them. On Friday, with that audit still under way, they went further. A resolution filed with the city clerk, TMP-12977, asks the city to end every agreement it holds with Flock Group Inc., take down or switch off the equipment and delete the data the cameras have collected. Brittany Jones and Theresa Gadus are its other sponsors, its text shows. It carries an emergency clause and is on the agenda for council’s meeting of Tuesday, Oct. 20.

The timing is the first thing to know about it. Council sent the audit to City Auditor John Rivalsky by a 9–0 vote on Sept. 22, The Blade reported, and its co-sponsor, John Hobbs III, said the report could come as soon as the end of October. If council takes up the resolution on Oct. 20, it will vote before it has the findings it asked for. Komives and Jones were absent that night, and Cerssandra McPherson was out of the room for the vote. Council President Vanice Williams, who wrote the audit legislation and argued on Sept. 8 that council should find out more before pausing anything, is not among the five.

What it would do, and what it would not

Less than its title suggests. It is a resolution, the form council uses to state its will, not an ordinance, which changes the law or spends money. The title promises termination, removal and deletion; the body asks for one thing. Section 3, the only section that asks anyone to act, says council “urges the Mayor terminate and not expand the City’s use of Flock technology by entering into any additional agreements, renewals, or extensions.” The equipment and the data are not mentioned again. Even a unanimous vote would leave the decision with the mayor’s administration, which signs and ends the city’s contracts and had not said, as of this writing, what it would do.

The resolution

What TMP-12977 says, section by section

TITLE: “Requesting” that the city end and not renew every Flock agreement, remove or switch off the equipment and delete the data “consistent with applicable law”; declares an emergency.
SECTION 1: Council states its concern about Flock technology and what it means for privacy, civil liberties, data security, accountability and public trust.
SECTION 2: Plate-reader networks “can provide legitimate investigative benefits,” but also collect information on people suspected of nothing.
SECTION 3: Council “urges the Mayor terminate and not expand the City’s use of Flock technology by entering into any additional agreements, renewals, or extensions.” The only section that asks anyone to act.
SECTION 4: An emergency measure: in force the moment it passes.

The body never mentions removing the cameras or deleting the data. Source: version 1 of the text in the clerk’s system.

Council built the network it now wants ended

The administration signs the contracts, but council voted for each purchase. It approved a free, yearlong Flock trial in February 2022 and the first purchase, $95,000, partly from federal pandemic-recovery money, in October 2022. In December 2024 it approved the company’s FlockOS software and 20 more readers, a three-year deal it raised to $330,000 two weeks later. In 2024 it also bought more readers for $28,000 in April and extended the service a year for $282,000 in November. In November 2025 it passed the largest, $846,000 over three years for 94 readers, 10–1, under Ordinance 512-25. In June 2026 it kept four portable readers for another year, $14,000, 8–4. The resolution itself cites four of council’s Flock ordinances: 591-24, 512-25, 286-26 and 241-26, a $100,000 drone contract. Together the three current plate-reader contracts cost about $406,000 a year from the general fund, according to the records the city released to this paper, and the department counted 115 readers in September.

Not everyone on council wants fewer cameras. Councilman Adam Martinez wants more of them in his district. He sponsors O-307-26, a five-year contract for Flock cameras at 16 District 2 sites, among them schools and school stadiums, which he has called a “Pilot Project to Improve Safety in District 2”; it has been held at second reading since Aug. 25. He told this paper in September that his office is also placing cameras at five intersections with “very little police presence and/or camera coverage.” On Sept. 17, when the police command staff spent most of an hour before council’s public safety committee arguing the cameras’ investigative value, the Common Pleas judge who spoke after them was Martinez’s guest; this paper carried that hearing in full. District 2 had six cameras on the department’s August list, the fewest of the six districts; Williams’s District 4 had the most.

The sponsors’ case

The resolution’s preamble makes it: that money spent on Flock is “not in the best interest of the City”; that the technology “raises significant questions concerning privacy, civil liberties, data security, data retention, accountability, and the appropriate limits of surveillance”; and that it has grown into a network collecting information on vehicles “across municipal and jurisdictional boundaries.” That last point is the hard one for the data. Toledo’s readers have been open to outside agencies through Flock’s sharing network, and records held by other agencies, or entered as evidence in a criminal case, are not the city’s to erase. The title’s deletion request carries the qualifier “consistent with applicable law”; the body drops it.

Around the region, the answer has split. Monroe County’s board of commissioners voted 8–1 on Sept. 1 to stop using the readers its sheriff’s office runs. In Lucas County, Sheriff Mike Navarre has said since August that the county’s readers stay on, the same week Commissioner Pete Gerken called for an independent audit of them. Neither Toledo’s administration nor its police department had responded publicly to Friday’s filing as of this writing. Council meets Oct. 20 at One Government Center.

Sources: City of Toledo, Legistar records for TMP-12977 and its text, O-044-22, O-522-22, O-591-24, O-512-25, O-286-26, O-307-26 and the council calendar; the Flock ordinances, contracts and invoices the city released to this paper; Toledo Police Department, Flock locations sheet; this paper’s own reporting in No. 42, No. 49, No. 51, No. 56, the Sept. 8 evening edition and No. 32.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Most towns facing a data center this year said no or paused

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 07:54:16 -0400

Most towns facing a data center this year said no or paused

DATA CENTERS · THE REGION · BY THE NUMBERS

Since late 2025, most towns weighing new data centers have stopped or paused them, though three of the biggest cleared key votes this year.

Construction on Mercer Road in Middleton Township, Sept. 7, 2026. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry.

▶ Watch the video · 31 sec

Since late 2025, most towns and townships in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan that faced a new data center, one of the warehouse-size buildings full of computers that run websites and artificial intelligence, have said no or put the decision on hold. In 2023 and 2024, local officials voted on three of them and approved all three.

The Lake Erie Inquiry counted 29 projects across the region that have a named company and a known site, and traced the local votes on each. The map shows where each one stands.

The map key: all 29 projects, numbered as on the map, with the company behind each and the company that will use it, where that is public.
#	Company and place	Who will use it	The decisions
Approved, going ahead
1	Meta · Middleton Twp., Wood Co.	Meta	County tax break, Sept. 2023; under construction
2	Aligned Data Centers · Perkins Twp., Erie Co.	Not announced	Township tax-financing deal, Dec. 2023; under construction
3	Google · American Twp., Allen Co.	Google	County tax break and Lima water deal, 2025; under construction
4	MARA · Findlay	MARA (its own bitcoin mining)	Bitcoin-mining center running since 2024; no local vote found
5	QTS · Van Wert	Not announced	Council annexed and rezoned land 6-0, May 2026; petition for a vote fell short
6	Related Digital (Oracle, OpenAI) · Saline Twp., Washtenaw Co.	Oracle, for OpenAI	Board voted no 4-1, Sept. 2025; court settlement, Oct. 2025; tax break 5-0, July 2026, as the settlement required
7	Google · Van Buren Twp., Wayne Co.	Google	Planning commission 5-2, Feb. 2026; county veto override 13-0, Oct. 1
8	University of Michigan and Los Alamos · Ypsilanti Twp.	University of Michigan and Los Alamos	State grant, Dec. 2024; regents bought land, June 2025; township opposed
9	Metrobloks · Southfield	Not announced	Council 5-2, Dec. 2025
Stopped or dropped
10	Microsoft · Perry Twp., Allen Co.	Microsoft	Company dropped the site, Oct. 2024
11	Randee LLC · Howell Twp., Livingston Co.	Not announced	Withdrawn Dec. 2025, after two planning commissions advised against it
12	Cloverleaf Infrastructure · Dundee, Monroe Co.	Not announced	Township took back its approval; withdrawn Oct. 2025; village then voted against supplying water
13	Sansone Group · York Twp., Washtenaw Co.	Not announced	Dropped by April 2026, after the township declined to change a development agreement that bars the use
14	Prologis · Washington Twp., Macomb Co.	Not announced	Withdrawn, May 2026
15	Cloverleaf Infrastructure · Frenchtown Twp., Monroe Co.	Not announced	Board ended talks 6-0, June 2026
16	Solstice Data · Allen Park	Not announced	Planning commission rejected it 7-2, June 2026
17	Thor Equities · Augusta Twp., Washtenaw Co.	Not announced	Board approved rezoning, July 2025; voters overturned it, Aug. 4, 2026
On hold
18	Vantage Data Centers · Oregon	Not announced	Land sale, Nov. 2024; rezoning, Aug. 2025; charter ban on the Nov. 3 ballot
19	Keller and Terredigm · Defiance	Not announced	Six-month moratorium brought as an emergency, Sept. 2; charter ban on the Nov. 3 ballot
20	Smartland Energy · Upper Sandusky	Not announced	Moratorium, July 2026; charter ban on the Nov. 3 ballot
21	Decimal Digital · Monroeville	Not announced	Moratorium, Feb. 2026; advisory vote Nov. 3
22	AVAIO Digital · Oxford Twp., Erie Co.	Not announced	Moratorium, March 2026; no application filed
23	Cervenka Development Partners · Pioneer	Not announced	Six-month moratorium, Sept. 2026
24	Raeden Acquisitions · Gibraltar	Not announced	Moratorium, March 2026; developer suing in federal court
25	Wixom Industrial One · Wixom	Not announced	Council refused to lift its moratorium, July 2026, then replaced it with data-center rules, Aug. 25; developer suing in federal court
No final decision yet
26	OnSite Partners · Allen Twp., Hancock Co.	Not announced	Township limits adopted Oct. 6 exempt planned developments like it
27	Colocation Technology Services · Wapakoneta	Not announced	Six-week feasibility review
28	Verrus · Lyon Twp., Oakland Co.	Not announced	Conditional approval, Sept. 2025; township engineer recommended denial, Sept. 28, 2026
29	Oakland University and Fairmount Properties · Auburn Hills	Oakland University	University board approved a study, June 2026

The early yeses

The first approvals came from county and township officials. In September 2023, Wood County commissioners gave Meta’s land company a 75% cut in property taxes for 15 years on its campus in Middleton Township. That December, Perkins Township trustees near Sandusky approved a tax-financing deal for Aligned Data Centers that puts most of the new property taxes from its buildings back into the project and splits the rest between the township and its schools.

Oregon’s council voted unanimously in November 2024 to sell city land for a data center, and rezoned the site in August 2025 for what is now Vantage Data Centers’ project. Near Lima, Allen County commissioners gave a property-tax break in 2025 to the company assembling land for what proved to be Google’s campus, and Lima’s council voted 6-2 to sell it city water. Southfield’s council approved a data center by Metrobloks in December 2025.

Then the pauses

In October 2025, Dundee Township in Michigan adopted the first moratorium the Inquiry found in the region. Pittsfield and Howell townships followed in November. A moratorium is a temporary ban on approving new data centers while officials write rules for them. By this month, at least 30 towns and townships in the region had adopted one, among them Maumee, Findlay, Lima, Archbold, Dearborn and Warren.

Some places went further and stopped a project outright. Augusta Township’s board approved a rezoning for Thor Equities in July 2025, and voters overturned it this Aug. 4, 2,314 to 269, in unofficial results. Frenchtown Township’s board voted in June to end talks with Cloverleaf Infrastructure over a site near Monroe. That same month, Allen Park’s planning commission rejected a plan by Solstice Data.

Other developers walked away. Cloverleaf withdrew a plan near Dundee in October 2025, after the township board took back its early approval; the village council then voted to stay out of the project and supply no water. Prologis gave up a site in Washington Township, Macomb County, in May; the township supervisor said the company told him DTE Energy could not deliver enough power in time.

Why towns say wait

The towns’ own records say why. Waterville Township’s trustees adopted their moratorium in December 2025 after a trustee read a statement calling electric power “the most immediate and critical constraint” and warning that the cost of grid upgrades could be “shifted to existing ratepayers.” In the moratoriums and rules the Inquiry read, water came up most often, followed by power and noise.

Some towns are writing rules instead. Findlay’s draft would allow data centers only with special approval in its heaviest industrial zone, where no land is zoned today, and would ban pumping groundwater to cool them. Allen Township in Hancock County capped data centers at 10 megawatts of power and 10,000 gallons of water a day on Oct. 6, but exempted planned developments; a zoning commission member said that means the limits will not apply to OnSite Partners’ campus there.

Where the Inquiry could check, the moratoriums leave approvals already given in place. Lima’s, at 18 months the longest the Inquiry found in the region, leaves alone the city’s deal to sell water to Google’s campus, and Lyon Township’s covers only new projects. Whether a pause can stop a plan already on file is now before a federal court, in the Gibraltar case.

Three big projects move ahead

Three of the largest projects cleared votes this year. Van Buren Township’s planning commission gave Google’s campus preliminary approval in February. On Oct. 1, Wayne County commissioners voted 13-0 to override their county executive’s veto and keep the project eligible for a state sales-tax break.

Van Wert’s council voted unanimously in May to annex and rezone land for QTS, and a petition to put that decision before voters fell short. In Saline Township, the board voted in September 2025 against rezoning land for a campus that Oracle and OpenAI will use. A court settlement reversed that the next month. In July, the township board voted 5-0 to approve a tax break for the project, as the settlement required.

One project is going ahead over a township’s objections. The University of Michigan’s computing center with Los Alamos National Laboratory has $100 million from the state and land the university’s regents bought in Ypsilanti Township. The township board has asked the university to move it, but university land is not subject to township zoning.

When the approved ones open

Most of the nine approved projects have no public opening date. Meta’s data center in Middleton Township has been under construction since fall 2024 and was expected to be finished in 2027, according to reports last year; Meta has not published a date. The gas plant being built to power it was expected to run partly by mid-2027 and fully by late 2027, according to a state filing BG Independent News reported.

The firmest dates are in DTE Energy’s filings with Michigan regulators. DTE said the Saline Township campus, where the developers say all three buildings are under construction, would start drawing power in January 2027 and reach full load by December 2027, with up to a year’s delay allowed. It said Google’s Van Buren Township campus, where the Inquiry found no construction on the data center itself, would start in December 2027 and reach full load by December 2028, or as late as mid-2030 under its contract.

QTS says it expects to break ground in Van Wert by the end of this year, open its first building in early 2029 and finish around 2032; its incentive agreement still needs council approval. Aligned has not said when its first building near Sandusky will open, and Google has not announced an opening date for its campus near Lima.

Some may not be finished as planned. Bitcoin miner MARA said its 150-megawatt Findlay site would be powered up by the end of 2025; its annual report shows 28 megawatts running then, and it has given no new date. Metrobloks has no announced customer or full financing, and its Southfield approval expires around June 2027 if construction has not begun, unless the city extends it. The University of Michigan chose its Textile Road site in August but has not said when building will start.

The tax breaks and the promises

Most of the approved projects come with tax breaks. A local abatement cuts the property tax a company owes on its new buildings and equipment for a set number of years. A state exemption lets it skip sales tax on the computers and other gear it buys. Meta holds a statewide sales-tax exemption in Ohio, approved in 2017; the Inquiry has not confirmed whether its Middleton Township campus claims under it.

In Saline Township, the board voted July 14 to base the Oracle and OpenAI campus’s tax break on $4.8 billion, the cost written on the application form attached to the court settlement, then reversed itself days later and approved the developer’s full request after the township’s lawyer said the settlement required it.

The companies promise jobs and payments in return, from 18 jobs committed by Aligned near Sandusky to as many as 200 for QTS in Van Wert; the University of Michigan expects more than 200 research jobs at its center. Several have promised money to schools, fire departments or the town. The table shows what the records say for nine projects.

What nine projects got and promised, from township, county, court and company records. A tax-financing deal sends a project’s new property taxes back into roads and other work for it; a payment in lieu of taxes replaces part of the tax bill with a set payment. “None on record” means the Inquiry found none.
Project	Local tax break	Jobs promised	Payments promised
Meta · Middleton Twp.	75% off property taxes for 15 years (Wood County, 2023)	At least 100	Likely about $1 million a year each to Eastwood and Otsego schools, not before the end of 2030 (county development director’s estimate, 2023)
Aligned · Perkins Twp.	Tax-financing deal (township, 2023)	18	$475,000 once, to Perkins schools, the township and the EHOVE career center
Google · American Twp.	15-year abatement; terms not found	No permanent number given	$250,000 a year to Elida schools for 15 years
QTS · Van Wert	None on record	Up to 200	$3 million over three years to AEP Ohio’s statewide bill-help program
Vantage · Oregon (proposed)	Payment in lieu of 93% of taxes, about $14 million a year at full build-out	More than 30, first building	$20 million in four payments
Related Digital (Oracle, OpenAI) · Saline Twp.	The most state law allows, for 12 years, about half off property taxes (2026)	Not in the court record	$4 million to a farmland trust, $2 million to a township fund, $8 million to three fire departments
Google · Van Buren Twp.	50% for 12 years, worth about $125 million (township, 2026)	None on record	None on record locally
U-M and Los Alamos · Ypsilanti Twp.	None needed; the university pays no property tax. A $100 million state grant	More than 200 research jobs and 30 to 50 technical jobs	None committed
Metrobloks · Southfield	None on record	35	None on record

The developers’ side

Developers have taken towns to court. The company planning a data center on the former McLouth Steel site in Gibraltar says the city passed “an unlawful moratorium in an attempt to circumvent the City’s duty to approve” its site plan. Wixom Industrial One says Wixom’s moratorium was “directed solely at” its project. Both federal suits are pending.

Related Digital’s 2025 suit against Saline Township called the township’s industrial zoning “mere window dressing” because no land had ever been zoned for it. That suit ended in the settlement that put the Oracle and OpenAI campus on the land.

Officials who voted yes point to the future. “We have to consider new technologies, new ideas, because that’s just the way the world is going,” Southfield Council President Pro Tem Coretta Houge said in December, Planet Detroit reported.

The biggest fights

In Augusta Township, where voters overturned the rezoning, organizers have also filed petitions to recall all seven township board members.

Saline Township’s board said no with 59 members of the public in the room, its minutes show. Since the settlement, the state attorney general has appealed regulators’ approval of DTE’s power contracts for the site, a judge turned away a neighbor’s bid to reopen the settlement, and the township treasurer resigned in May, saying she had been threatened.

In Ypsilanti Township, the board has passed resolutions against the University of Michigan’s project, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell said Sept. 15 that she strongly opposes the Textile Road site, and about 225 people came to the university’s Oct. 1 town hall, by U-M’s count. In Oregon, a petition by United Neighbors of Oregon put a ban on large data centers on the ballot.

Voters get their say

Councils, trustees and planners made almost all of this year’s decisions. Voters have decided one project so far, in Augusta Township. On Nov. 3, voters in Oregon, Defiance and Upper Sandusky decide whether to amend their city charters, a city’s local constitution, to ban data centers; in Oregon and Defiance, the ban covers those over 25 megawatts. Monroeville’s voters answer an advisory question on whether to allow them.

Oregon’s ballot question says nothing about a project already approved, and whether a ban would reach Vantage’s campus is a legal question the city has not answered. Vantage has asked the council to approve its development agreement with the city on Oct. 26. The mayor has said that before the vote he will sign nothing that lets Vantage apply for permits and will bring no legislation on it to council.

What comes next

Mon., Oct. 12: Van Wert City Council, 6:30 p.m.
Tue., Oct. 13, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.: a Bowling Green State University town hall on data centers at the Veterans Building, 520 Conneaut Ave., Bowling Green.
Wed., Oct. 14: Van Buren Township’s planning commission is expected to take up Google’s final site plan.
Thu., Oct. 15: University of Michigan regents meet at UM-Flint; the agenda posts Oct. 12.
Wed., Oct. 21: the state of Michigan’s virtual hearing on the Saline Township data center’s wastewater permit, 6 to 9 p.m.
Mon., Oct. 26: the date Vantage asked Oregon’s council to approve its development agreement.
Tue., Nov. 3: Election Day in Oregon, Defiance, Upper Sandusky and Monroeville.

Sources: township, city, county and university minutes, resolutions and agendas; the Washtenaw County Circuit Court consent judgment in the Saline Township case; the Lucas, Defiance, Wyandot and Huron county boards of elections’ ballots; U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, Nos. 2:26-cv-12893 and 2:26-cv-12754, the complaints; the Washtenaw County Circuit Court complaint in No. 2025-001577-CZ; Michigan Public Service Commission orders in cases U-21990 and U-22058; QTS, MARA, JobsOhio and Allen Economic Development Group statements and filings; Meta’s January 2026 letter to the Middleton Township trustees; the University of Michigan’s July 10 letter to Rep. Dingell; Microsoft’s statement of Oct. 16, 2024. Where minutes are not posted, decisions are from BG Independent News, The Blade, 13abc, Hometown Stations, WANE, the Van Wert Independent, the Crescent-News, Crawford County Now, WEMU, Fox 2 Detroit, WXYZ, Planet Detroit, Michigan Advance, Bridge Michigan, Michigan Public, Spectrum News, Eastern Echo, Signal Ohio, the Detroit News, MLive, C&G Newspapers, Crain’s Detroit Business, the Lima News, WFIN, WTOL, the Wapakoneta Daily News, the Bryan Times, the Dayton Daily News and Ballotpedia. Each project’s sources are on the paper’s file and available on request. Map: U.S. Census Bureau county boundaries; Natural Earth.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Recent grocery price changes reflect where you shop

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 05:46:47 -0400

Recent grocery price changes reflect where you shop

THE REGISTER · COST OF LIVING · OCTOBER

The Register’s October comparison finds mostly unchanged prices, with distinct changes by item, chain and location.

The Kroger at Monroe and Secor in Toledo, one of the 12 stores the paper priced in September and again on Oct. 11. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry, Sept. 7, 2026.

▶ Watch the video · 34 sec

Grocery prices in 12 selected stores around Toledo, Ann Arbor and Detroit did not broadly rise or fall between September and October. They moved item by item and store by store.

Most prices stayed put: 327 of 440 comparable item-and-store listings were unchanged, about three-quarters. Sixty-four rose and 49 fell.

Milk moved by geography: it fell at all four Toledo-area stores and all four Detroit-area stores. Around Ann Arbor, it rose at Aldi, Meijer and Kroger, while Walmart fell.
Some changes repeated across a chain: Meijer’s ground beef went from a $4.49 sale price back to its regular $7.49 at all three locations. Its chicken breast also rose at all three. Aldi’s chicken breast and Gala apples fell at all three.
Other changes were local: Kroger chicken breast fell in Toledo but stayed unchanged at its two Michigan stores. Walmart potatoes rose sharply in Toledo but stayed unchanged in Saline and Dearborn.

The Inquiry returned on Oct. 11 to the 12 Walmart, Kroger, Meijer and Aldi locations serving Toledo, Ann Arbor and Detroit and checked the same basket of up to 41 items against September’s recorded products and packages. The counts are of listings, not a measure of how much a family’s grocery bill changed, and this month’s reporting does not establish a new weekly-cart total. Every item, package, store, source and change is in The Register.

One grocer has made a near-term commitment. In a Sept. 23 announcement, Aldi said its fall reductions would last until at least Nov. 3, naming chicken breast family packs at $1.99 a pound, the price found at all three local Aldi stores. The company cautioned that prices and availability can vary by store.

Milk fell in Toledo and Detroit and rose around Ann Arbor

In Toledo, Aldi’s gallon fell 12 cents to $2.41, Walmart’s fell 8 cents to $2.42, Meijer’s fell 12 cents to $2.52 and Kroger’s fell 50 cents to $2.59. Around Ann Arbor, Aldi, Meijer and Kroger each rose 10 cents, while Walmart in Saline fell 4 cents. All four Detroit-area gallons fell.

Store-brand 2 percent milk, one gallon, at the 12 original locations. Prices from Sept. 7 and Oct. 11.
Original location	September gallon	October gallon	Change
Aldi, East Alexis Road, Toledo	$2.53	$2.41	Down $0.12
Walmart, Central Avenue, Toledo	$2.50	$2.42	Down $0.08
Meijer, Oregon	$2.64	$2.52	Down $0.12
Kroger, Monroe-Secor, Toledo	$3.09	$2.59	Down $0.50
Aldi, Dexter Road, Ann Arbor	$2.81	$2.91	Up $0.10
Walmart, Saline	$2.96	$2.92	Down $0.04
Meijer, Ann Arbor-Saline Road	$2.92	$3.02	Up $0.10
Kroger, Washtenaw Avenue, Ann Arbor	$2.99	$3.09	Up $0.10
Aldi, Mack Avenue, Detroit	$2.99	$2.75	Down $0.24
Walmart, Dearborn	$2.64	$2.63	Down $0.01
Meijer, Eight Mile Road, Detroit	$3.08	$2.93	Down $0.15
Kroger, Hazel Park	$3.39	$3.09	Down $0.30

Meijer’s September beef price was a sale, and the sale is over

Meijer’s September advantage on ground beef was a sale, and the sale is over. In September its 80/20 one-pound package was marked down $3, from $7.49 to $4.49, during a holiday-week promotion. On Sunday it was back at $7.49 at Oregon, Ann Arbor and Detroit. That is 66.8% more than the sale price, but it is the same regular price Meijer listed in September, not a price increase. It now costs more than the original choices at Walmart and Kroger in all three markets. Aldi’s 80/20 beef stayed $5.29 a pound, sold in packages of about 2.25 pounds. Kroger’s one-pound roll stayed $7.29. Walmart’s fell 30 cents to $6.93 on Central Avenue and stayed $7.23 in Saline and Dearborn.

Meijer’s family-pack chicken breast rose from $2.29 to $2.69 a pound at all three locations. Aldi’s fell from $2.19 to $1.99. Kroger’s Monroe-Secor store fell from $2.59 to $1.99, while Ann Arbor and Hazel Park stayed $2.59. Walmart stayed $2.23 at all three.

Aldi’s three-pound Gala apples fell from $2.99 to $1.99 in all three markets. Walmart’s same-size bag fell to $2.18 in Toledo and Saline and to $2.72 in Dearborn. Meijer’s stayed $3.79; Kroger’s stayed $4.29 in Toledo and $4.49 in Michigan.

At the Toledo Walmart, five-pound russet potatoes rose from $1.99 to $3.76, multigrain bread rose 14 cents to $2.88 and five-pound flour fell 41 cents to $1.97. One store, three directions. Kroger’s 24-ounce Private Selection multigrain bread fell from $3.49 to $2.99 at all three stores. Toledo’s dozen eggs and every coffee with a September price were unchanged.

Beef and milk face different pressures before the shelf

Beef and milk face different pressures before they reach the shelf. Industry reports explain that backdrop, though not any one store’s price.

In June, Supermarket News reported that the average price of ground beef had risen 11.1%, to $5.88 a pound, in Circana retail data covering roughly the past year. It described tight supplies, shoppers chasing the best deal each week and competition from cheaper proteins such as chicken and pork. That makes sales part of any comparison, as Meijer’s did. Its regular price was the same $7.49 in both months, so these two reads cannot show whether that shelf price has moved with the wider market.

Milk’s farm prices have been falling. Progressive Dairy reported that the simple average of the uniform milk price across the 11 federal milk marketing orders fell 98 cents per hundredweight, or 100 pounds of milk, in August, with declines in nine of the 11. That is what dairy farmers are paid, not the price of a supermarket gallon. A federal milk marketing order is a regulation, not a government purchase: it sets the minimum that regulated processors pay farmers, based on how the milk is used, and pools the money so farmers share in a uniform, or blend, price.

The same chain also charges different prices in different places. Meijer’s October gallon was $2.52 in Oregon, $3.02 in Ann Arbor, $2.93 in Detroit and $3.06 in Sandusky. Local competition, sales and distribution costs are possible reasons; the listings do not say which. Broad markets set the conditions grocers face. They do not, by themselves, explain the price on any one shelf.

Eighteen priced listings were flagged unavailable

Eighteen priced listings at the 12 stores were flagged unavailable: 10 at Meijer, four at Walmart and four at Aldi. Two of the Aldi flags, Ann Arbor rice and tuna, were “likely out of stock” rather than confirmed. Some gaps repeated: Great Value multigrain bread at Saline and Dearborn, Meijer hummus in Ann Arbor and Detroit, Meijer cottage cheese in Oregon and Ann Arbor, and Aldi trash bags at both Michigan stores. One day’s online read does not establish a lasting shortage, and a pickup restriction is not proof of an empty shelf.

Updated Oct. 12, 2026: Rechecked online at the same stores on Oct. 12, nine of the 18 listings showed as in stock at unchanged prices: Meijer hummus in Ann Arbor and Detroit, Meijer cottage cheese in Oregon and Ann Arbor, Meijer oats in Ann Arbor, Meijer shredded cheddar and diced tomatoes in Detroit, Meijer vanilla yogurt in Oregon, and Aldi tuna in Ann Arbor.

No matched package changed size between September and October

No matched package changed size between September and October. Where a store sells a different size than the comparison quantity, The Register converts the price to that quantity and keeps the real package and checkout price visible.

Calculated comparison quantities, not packages sold at the checkout. Aldi’s rice was $2.65 in both months; the comparison value is not a price cut.
Original product	Package price	Comparison value
Aldi long-grain rice, 48 oz	$2.65	$1.77 per 32 oz equivalent
Aldi spaghetti, 32 oz	$1.89	$0.95 per 16 oz equivalent
Aldi ground turkey, 19.2 oz	$4.89	$4.08 per 16 oz equivalent
Meijer pinto beans, 16 oz	$1.19	$2.38 per 32 oz equivalent
Walmart coffee, 9.6 oz	$5.88	$7.35 per 12 oz equivalent

Prices are online listings in pickup mode, or Aldi’s in-store mode, including any sale on the day read. A change is shown only when September has the identical product and package. The prices alone do not show why a price changed.

Sandusky joins The Register, and every gallon there costs more

Sandusky joins The Register this month, bringing the survey to 16 stores in four areas. The same basket of up to 41 items was checked Oct. 11 at Aldi, Walmart and Meijer on Milan Road and Kroger on East Perkins Avenue.

The first read shows again why location matters. A gallon of store-brand 2 percent milk cost more at each Sandusky store than at its Toledo-area counterpart.

Oct. 11 listings; Meijer’s Toledo-area store is in Oregon.
Chain	Toledo-area gallon	Sandusky gallon
Aldi	$2.41	$3.05
Walmart	$2.42	$3.06
Meijer	$2.52	$3.06
Kroger	$2.59	$2.99

With no September read, Sandusky is not part of the 440 matched listings above. It sets the baseline for next month.

Follow each item down the checkout belt: what it costs now, what the same package cost last month, and which store has it.

Sources: the Inquiry’s own price records, the 12 September and 12 October canasta CSVs and the four Sandusky CSVs, with original product and package identifiers, availability flags and retailer source URLs; the published presentation at The Register, generated from register-2026-10.json; this paper’s own September model, “What a week of groceries costs, store by store,” No. 41, Sept. 8, 2026, for the holiday-week Meijer sale; Aldi’s Sept. 23 fall price announcement; Supermarket News, June 4, 2026, on Circana ground-beef data; Progressive Dairy, Sept. 14, 2026, on August’s uniform milk price, checked against the Federal Milk Marketing Order summary. Prices were observed Sunday, Oct. 11. Dollar changes were recomputed with exact arithmetic and the 12-gallon milk table matches all 12 records. The counts are of listings, not weighted spending: this is not a regional inflation index, a weekly-cart total or a chain-wide basket winner. Aldi’s November commitment is the company’s own statement, not a guarantee by this paper.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Judge temporarily bans Oregon City Council member from data-center votes

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 08:12:17 -0400

Judge temporarily bans Oregon City Council member from data-center votes

LOCAL & METRO · OREGON · LUCAS COUNTY

Group wants him off every vote until the case ends

The entrance to Oregon's council chambers on Seaman Road, Sept. 19. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry

▶ Watch the video · 44 sec

A Lucas County judge has barred Oregon City Council Member Dave Andrus from votes on the city's data-center project. A hearing Friday will decide whether the ban lasts longer.

So far the order has changed little. The one council meeting it has covered, on Monday, had no data-center legislation on its agenda.

The group suing the city wants more. It asked the court to keep Andrus from casting any council vote until the lawsuit ends.

The stakes are the data-center deal. Vantage Data Centers wants to build a 316.8-megawatt campus on land the city is selling at Wynn and Corduroy roads. On Sept. 28, it asked a council committee to send the deal to a council vote by Oct. 26. On Nov. 3, Oregon voters decide Issue 25, a charter amendment that would ban data centers over 25 megawatts.

Judge Dean P. Mandros of Common Pleas Court signed the order Oct. 9. Through Oct. 16, Andrus cannot vote on anything “relevant to Data Center matters or Capacity, LLC matters, including zoning issues.” Capacity is the company buying the city's land for the project. His other council votes are not affected.

How it got here

Dec. 8, 2025: Council appoints Andrus, 4-2, to the seat Steven Salander left to become mayor.
Jan. 29: Responsible Government 4 Oregon LLC sues the city and four council members: Andrus, Steve Hornyak, Kathy Pollauf and Dennis Walendzak. It says they settled Andrus's appointment and a payout to former City Administrator Joel Mazur outside public meetings. It asks the court to void the appointment and every vote Andrus has cast.
Feb. 9: Council votes on a six-month extension for the data-center developer. The vote is announced as failed. A week later, the city says it passed, and the minutes are corrected.
March 31: The group adds that vote to the suit and asks the court to void it.
Sept. 25: Pollauf posts the company's requested timeline: council review Oct. 12 or 19, approval Oct. 26.
Sept. 28: Vantage asks a council committee for a council vote by Oct. 26. The mayor says he will bring no legislation before the election.
Oct. 9: The group asks the judge to bar Andrus from all votes. The judge grants the narrower order that afternoon.
Monday, Oct. 12: Council meets. Its agenda has no data-center legislation. Council is told “a mediation” is set for Friday on the order. The court's order sets a hearing, not a mediation.
Friday, Oct. 16, 9:30 a.m.: The hearing on a longer ban.
Nov. 3: Issue 25 is on the ballot.
Nov. 10: The trial date in the court’s May 26 schedule, which the city has asked to push back.

The appointment

Andrus holds the seat Salander gave up to become mayor. The minutes of the Dec. 8, 2025 meeting, filed with the lawsuit, show how he got it: under further business, Steve Hornyak said the city had a vacancy, moved to appoint Andrus to the seat through Dec. 31, 2027, and Kathy Pollauf seconded. The roll call was 4-2. Hornyak, Pollauf, Dennis Walendzak and then-Council President Terry Reeves voted yes; Beth Ackerman and Paul Drake voted no. The meeting adjourned at 8:09 p.m.

The name was new to the two who voted no. “This is the first I’ve heard this name,” Ackerman said, according to a transcript of the meeting the group filed with the court, and she asked to table the motion or discuss it. She then asked the others whether they had heard it before. In the transcript, Reeves, asked whether he was aware, answered, “Yes, I was,” and Walendzak said more than 20 people had contacted him over the month and Andrus was one he spoke with. “That’s four of you,” Ackerman said. “Is that a sunshine violation?” A member on the other side answered that “they would have to meet to violate the sunshine laws.” Another answer in the transcript says Andrus had been on the board of zoning appeals for 14 years.

What the suit wants

Responsible Government 4 Oregon LLC sued more than seven weeks later. The complaint calls it a nonprofit company formed “by concerned residents of Oregon seeking to ensure an open government” and names one member, James Davis, who signed it and had spoken at council about the data center. The city says state records show the company was formed Jan. 7, 2026, 22 days before it sued, with its lawyer listed as its agent. The complaint gives the lawyer’s Maumee office as the company’s address.

The suit says the four council members it names settled three things in private before any public vote: a payout the suit puts at more than $25,000 for City Administrator Joel Mazur, who resigned Nov. 24, 2025; Andrus’s appointment; and, added in March, the revival of the Feb. 9 extension for the data-center developer after the vote had been announced as failed. That, it says, violates Ohio’s Open Meetings Act. The city denies all three. It says a personnel matter needed no council vote, that some members “had discussions about potential candidates” but not a majority of council, and that the Feb. 9 result was “mistakenly announced.” Its lawyers wrote that the council members “take no position” on data centers.

What the group asks for goes well beyond Friday. It wants the court to declare Andrus’s appointment void, to treat every vote he has cast since Dec. 8 as void, to keep him from counting toward a quorum, to order council to fill the seat lawfully, to void the February extension ordinance, and to award the group its legal fees. Its October motion says what it is trying to stop: a council approval of the data-center deal before the Nov. 3 vote, which it says the developer could then claim as grandfathered. It says the council majority wants the deal approved before voters weigh in, and that Andrus’s vote would let that majority override a veto by the mayor. “The bell cannot be unwrung,” its lawyer wrote.

The city’s lawyers call the motion “political gamesmanship” aimed at the election, filed 10 months after Andrus took the seat and meant “to gain some political advantage.” They argue the suit took the wrong legal road: Andrus is at least a de facto council member whose votes count until a separate court action, called quo warranto, removes him, and a suit like this one cannot do that. They also say the city sent the group a settlement offer June 18 with “serious non-monetary proposals which would affect the composition of the Oregon City Council,” and that the group neither accepted nor rejected it. The group’s lawyer replied that the council members had kept up “backroom” talks about the seat since the suit was filed and that the city’s filing was “political grandstanding.”

The court’s May 26 scheduling order set trial for Nov. 10. The city asked in August to push every deadline back 90 days because no discovery had been done, and the group did not object. The city’s lawyers wrote this month that the dates are being extended, with an order expected to follow.

The mayor drew his own line in September. “I will not bring forward any legislation to council for a vote on any items prior to the general election,” Steven Salander told a council committee Sept. 28.

Andrus, his lawyers and the group's lawyer did not respond to emailed requests for comment sent Tuesday afternoon.

Update, Oct. 17: The judge extended his order. Andrus stays off council and committee votes on the data-center project until the judge lifts it. Read the update.

Sources: Lucas County Common Pleas Court case CI2026-00407 — the complaint (Jan. 29), the amended complaint (March 31), the city's answer (March 27), the motion for a temporary restraining order, the city's opposition and the judge's order (all Oct. 9), the minutes of the Dec. 8, 2025 council meeting and the meeting transcript filed as exhibits, the May 26 scheduling order, the city's Aug. 10 motion to extend and the group's Aug. 24 response; City of Oregon council agenda of Oct. 12; The Lake Erie Inquiry, Sept. 29; WTOL.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Toledo prosecutor's dashboard left half its dataset off the charts

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 06:11:07 -0400

Toledo prosecutor's dashboard left half its dataset off the charts

Off the Charts, Part 1: The iceberg

The Toledo prosecutor's dashboard gives the public a look inside the office. The table behind it told the fuller story, until it disappeared.

Toledo Municipal Court, 555 N. Erie St., where the city prosecutor's cases are heard. Photo by the Lake Erie Inquiry, Sept. 12.

▶ Watch the video · 40 sec

From the start of 2023 to early 2025, the median time it took a case to move through the Toledo prosecutor's office was cut in half, from 98 days to 49. That statistic comes straight from the office's public dashboard, which the city revealed on Sept. 16.

That day the office put out an unusual press release. It said the office was opening its books. A new public dashboard offered a look into "nearly 90,000 criminal and traffic cases" from past years, and anyone could sort them to learn the race, gender and age of the people who came through the court, the kinds of charges they faced, and how long their cases took.

"This data dashboard makes information about the work we do, the cases we handle, and the public we serve more transparent and understandable for all," Chief Prosecutor Rebecca Facey said in announcing the dashboard. "We want the community to have access to this information and a better understanding of the work we do in the Prosecutor's Office."

The dashboard was built with two research groups. One is the Institute for State & Local Governance at the City University of New York, called ISLG. The other is the Prosecutorial Performance Indicators project, called PPI: a list of 55 measures of how a prosecutor's office performs, written by researchers at Loyola University Chicago and Florida International University, who help offices build dashboards around them. The release said the project was supported by the MacArthur Foundation and Microsoft's Justice Reform Initiative. The release said Toledo is one of three Great Lakes offices in the project.

There were caveats. The first is the office itself. The city prosecutor works in Toledo Municipal Court and handles misdemeanors and traffic cases. Felonies, homicides among them, are the county prosecutor's and are not here.

The second was the timeframe. The release said the data went back to 2018. The domestic violence pages went back to 2022. The release did not say where the data stopped. Every page of the dashboard's filing and outcome charts says it is "updated through March 31, 2025," and the table behind it ran a month longer, to April 30. Either way, the newest figures were about a year and a half old on the day the dashboard opened. It is a snapshot, not a live count, and nothing on the site says when the next one comes.

And there it would have ended, if the public had stuck to the charts on the page.

Beneath the surface

A dashboard is a set of charts. To draw them, the city posted the table they are drawn from: one line for each case filed in Toledo Municipal Court and in a second, smaller municipal court, with the date, the charge, how the case ended, the sentence, and the defendant's age, race, sex and ZIP code. No names. The charts used part of that table. The rest sat behind them, in the Microsoft Power BI report embedded on the page, where it could be read without a login.

That is how the tool works, and Microsoft says so. Its instructions for the "publish to web" feature the dashboard uses carry a warning that viewing requires no login, that "anyone can access the underlying data in your model" whether or not the report displays it, and that confidential information should not be published this way. [Microsoft Learn, "Publish to web from Power BI."]

Exactly how much of the dataset was meant to be published cannot be said for certain. Eighteen written questions went to the office on Oct. 6, through the city's spokesperson, with a deadline of Oct. 15.

What is known is the order of events. The questions went out on Tuesday, Oct. 6. On Friday, Oct. 9, WTOL 11 posted a story in which, the station reported, Facey encourages residents to explore the dashboard.

But the dashboard she pointed them to had changed that morning. Between about 8:17 and 11:18 a.m., the city refreshed the two data models behind it. The table of individual charges was gone. In its place were totals by year and quarter for 2018 onward, with no ZIP codes, no sentences, no charge codes and no year before 2018. Most of the charts on the page looked the same, and nothing on the site says the table changed.

Anyone watching who wanted to check out the prosecutor's dashboard wouldn't be able to see what we saw on Oct. 3.

So we recreated it.

The copy, saved Oct. 3, holds 543,117 charge records. Every count in this series comes from it.

Below is what the full record looks like.

Five years the charts leave off

The years the pages leave off include the busiest in the record. The press release cited nearly 90,000 cases. Counted the dashboard's way but for Toledo Municipal Court alone, the dashboard's own years, 2018 through 2024, hold 176,933, about twice that. The table behind them held 224,103 more, filed from 2013 through 2017. More than half of the 12-year record comes before the first year on the city's charts.

Filings peaked at 51,532 in 2014. By 2018, the dashboard's first year, they were down to 37,531. In 2024 they were 23,494. Over the dashboard's years, that is a fall of 37%. From the 2014 peak it is 54%. The caseload more than halved in a decade.

The decline began well before the pandemic, and the caseload has not come back to its 2019 level since. The data does not say why. From 2018 through 2024, filings fell 37% and arrests Toledo police reported to the FBI fell 28%. The two mostly rose and fell together, which suggests the prosecutor's caseload follows what police bring in. The office did not answer a question about what explains the decline.

The fall reached nearly every kind of charge. Because the data's offense labels change partway through the record, the table below counts by the law each charge was filed under.

Cases filed in Toledo Municipal Court, by law section, 2014 and 2024

Law section	2014	2024
Speeding (R.C. 4511.21 / TMC 333.03)	5,438	2,644
No valid license (R.C. 4510.12 / TMC 335.01)	5,720	1,781
Vehicle equipment (R.C. 4513 / TMC 337)	6,392	2,670
Disorderly conduct (R.C. 2917.11 / TMC 509.03)	3,928	1,244
Drug possession (R.C. 2925.11 / TMC 513.03)	1,849	24

Counted the way the dashboard counts cases, by the law section of each case's final charge. More charts from the full record.

Domestic violence filings grew while the caseload as a whole fell.

What happened to the cases

The dashboard's outcome page says 65% to 67% of cases have ended in conviction since the pandemic. Its own chart puts 2023 just under that, at 64%. The full record goes back further, and before 2018 conviction rates were higher and dismissals lower. A later part of this series follows how cases ended, year by year.

What the table holds and the pages leave out

The table held more than half a million charge records and fields the pages never display.

Some of what the charts leave off looks worse for the office on its own. Conviction rates were higher before 2018 and dismissals lower, and the gap by race in how cases end is older than the charts. Some looks better. Fewer cases end in jail than a decade ago, and domestic violence cases close in about half the time they took in 2013. Most of it is neither. It is the defendant's ZIP code, the charge a case started with beside the one it ended with, the sentence, and the number that shows when the same person comes back. It fills in who passes through the court and the route each case took.

Years. Every year from 2013, not only 2018 onward.

Sentences. The pages publish no sentence data for any year. The table records each case's final sentence. Cases resolved with jail or other confinement fell from 5,242 in 2015 to 1,699 in 2024, from about 11% of cases to 7.3%. Probation sentences rose 31% in one year, from 2,080 in 2023 to 2,720 in 2024. The detailed sentence fields are filled in for about one case in five through 2018 and far fewer since, almost none in 2020 and 2024. The office did not answer a question about whether its recording of sentence length changed.

ZIP codes. The table lists each defendant's ZIP code. A later part of this series maps them.

The last month. April 2025, a month past the date the dashboard's charts give. The office did not answer a question about when the data will be updated.

The public has the city's charts for 2018 through March 2025. For three weeks after the launch it also had the table behind them, back to 2013 and earlier. It does not have the office's account of why the charts start where they do, why they stop where they do, what explains a caseload that fell by more than half, or why the table came down.

One more thing changed between Oct. 3 and Oct. 9: the median. The dashboard's chart of "Median Days to Disposition" used to plot the true middle case for each quarter, a line that moved between about 43 and 98 days. The refresh replaced the individual records with totals, and an exact median can't be calculated from totals. The number behind the chart now, labeled "Approx Median Days" in the city's own table, is the midpoint of a range of days, and it can take only seven values. The line now steps between 45, 75 and 135 days, and it starts in 2020; on Oct. 3 it started in 2018. The home page still says the median fell from 98 days to 49. The chart now puts the start of 2023 at 135 days and early 2025 at 45.

Medians counted from the Oct. 3 copy never matched the city's exactly. Now the two cannot be compared at all. The city's yearly filing counts barely moved in the refresh, by less than 1% in any year.

One part of the office gets a page of its own. The dashboard's home page says that since 2023 the office "has transformed how the City prosecutes some of Toledo Municipal Court's most complex and sensitive cases – securing more convictions, resolving cases faster, and better serving victims of domestic violence."

Domestic violence is one part of the caseload that grew. Its pages on the dashboard begin in 2022. The table behind them goes back nearly a decade further.

Start the clock in 2022, and the unit's record reads like a turnaround. Start it in 2013, and it reads like something else.

Read Part 2 here.

How this was reported

On Oct. 3, the Lake Erie Inquiry saved a copy of the table the dashboard published through its public Power BI reports, with no login: 543,117 charge records. You can explore our charts of that data here. On Oct. 9 the city removed that table from the site; the Lake Erie Inquiry's copy is the source for every count of those records in this series. Counts follow the dashboard's own rules (misdemeanors, defendants 18 and over, known offense type, one case per final charge) but cover Toledo Municipal Court alone. The city's charts also count the second court's cases, which the table included; with those added back, the table reproduces the city's yearly totals. The figures are totals only; nothing here describes any one case or person, and the Lake Erie Inquiry does not distribute the records. Written questions went on Oct. 6 to the Toledo City Prosecutor's Office, through the city's spokesperson; the CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance; Loyola University Chicago; and the MacArthur Foundation, and on Oct. 10 to Florida International University. None had responded as of press time. Microsoft answered on background.

Sources: the City of Toledo prosecutor's public dashboard and the data models behind it; the Lake Erie Inquiry's Oct. 3 copy of the published charge table (543,117 records), recreated on our own dashboard; the city's Sept. 16 press release, as reprinted by The Sojourner's Truth; Microsoft Learn, "Publish to web from Power BI"; Toledo police arrest counts reported to the FBI; WTOL 11, Oct. 9. Written questions went Oct. 6 to the Toledo City Prosecutor's Office through the city's spokesperson, and to the CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance, Loyola University Chicago and the MacArthur Foundation, and Oct. 10 to Florida International University; none had answered as of press time. Microsoft answered on background.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Toledo prosecutor's domestic violence charts begin at a 12-year low

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 07:40:20 -0400

Toledo prosecutor's domestic violence charts begin at a 12-year low

Off the Charts, Part 2: Where the clock starts

The office says its domestic violence unit is winning more convictions. Measured from 2022, it is. Measured from 2013, the rate has climbed back to where it was in 2018.

Toledo Municipal Court, 555 N. Erie St., where the city prosecutor's cases are heard. Photo by the Lake Erie Inquiry, Sept. 12.

▶ Watch the video · 40 sec

Read Part 1 here: Toledo prosecutor's dashboard left half its dataset off the charts

View the whole dashboard here.

The Toledo prosecutor's office says its domestic violence unit is winning more convictions, and the charts on its dashboard show the conviction rate rising each year from 2022 through 2024. The table behind the dashboard went back to 2013. In it, the rate fell six years in a row to 2022, the lowest year of the 12.

By 2024 the rate had climbed to 45.8%. That is about the same as 2018, and below every year from 2013 through 2017.

Over the same years the caseload grew. Domestic violence filings in Toledo Municipal Court rose 59% from 2017 to 2024, while all filings in the court fell 35%.

What the page says

The Toledo City Prosecutor's Office gives its domestic violence unit a page of its own on its public dashboard. Since 2023, the page says, the office has transformed how it prosecutes these cases, "securing more convictions, resolving cases faster, and better serving victims." Its charts cover three years, 2022 through 2024.

The office says it tried "numerous variations of DV Units since 2013" but could not keep them staffed. In 2023, the page says, the city funded a unit of three full-time prosecutors who handle only domestic violence cases. City Council had added money for a second domestic violence prosecutor and a clerk at the court in its 2022 budget, local news outlets reported at the time.

The page says the office "saw an increase in convictions for domestic violence charges, alongside a corresponding decrease in dismissals," and that cases are "reaching a conclusion more quickly than in previous years." It also counts convictions on what it calls "enhanceable" charges: lesser charges, such as negligent assault, that still let a later domestic violence offense be charged as a felony. Those rose from 252 in 2022 to 336 in 2024.

Its charts put the conviction rate at 36.44% in 2022, 39.86% in 2023 and 43.62% in 2024.

What the chief prosecutor says

On Oct. 9, Chief Prosecutor Rebecca Facey gave the office's account to WTOL 11. Domestic violence, she said, is the most common call to Lucas County 911 and the most common criminal charge in Toledo Municipal Court, about 18% of the court's criminal cases.

The change, in her account, is how the cases are built. Courts have long depended on the victim's testimony to carry a domestic violence case, she told the station. The unit works with police to gather evidence at the scene so a case can go forward whether or not the victim comes to court.

Facey also encouraged residents to explore the dashboard, WTOL reported. That morning, between about 8:17 and 11:18 a.m., the city had replaced the table behind it with yearly totals. WTOL posted the interview at 11:06 p.m.

The longer line

The city’s charts begin in 2022, the lowest year of the 12.

Domestic violence cases closed in Toledo Municipal Court, 2013 to 2024

Year	Cases closed	Convicted	Dismissed	Median days to close
2013	1,055	51.6%	46.3%	92
2014	1,449	53.1%	45.7%	87
2015	1,415	50.7%	48.2%	81
2016	1,279	60.3%	38.6%	80
2017	1,045	59.0%	40.2%	76
2018	1,123	45.7%	53.5%	69
2019	1,147	43.0%	56.5%	63
2020	1,110	40.7%	58.9%	74
2021	1,269	39.6%	60.0%	65
2022	1,411	36.1%	63.7%	55
2023	1,454	39.9%	59.6%	55
2024	1,552	45.8%	53.5%	50

Counted the way the city counts cases, by the year the case closed. The dashboard’s domestic violence charts begin in 2022. “Dismissed” includes cases closed after the defendant completed diversion.

From 2013 through 2017, between 50.7% and 60.3% of the domestic violence cases that closed each year ended in a conviction. The rate dropped to 45.7% in 2018 and kept falling, to 36.1% in 2022. It has risen each year since.

The gain since 2022 is about 10 points: 9.7 more in convictions, 10.2 fewer in dismissals. Measured from 2018, the rate is where it was.

Nearly every domestic violence case ends one of two ways. In 2024, 45.8% ended in conviction and 53.5% were dismissed. Since 2018, between 53% and 64% have been dismissed each year. On the dashboard, "dismissed" also covers cases where the defendant completed diversion, a program that ends in dismissal if the defendant finishes it. Through 2017 the table recorded “diversion” as an outcome of its own, 23 to 58 domestic violence cases a year. Since 2018 it almost never does, so the table does not show how many of the dismissals in the unit's years were completed diversions.

The office's page gives its own account of why these cases are hard to carry to a verdict. Family ties and the "fear that is inherent to domestic violence," it says, "create many barriers to victims feeling safe or comfortable coming to court to testify against their abuser."

The partner on the page

The page names the Family & Child Abuse Prevention Center as the unit's partner, providing victim advocates "every day." On July 23 the center told staff it was ending its advocacy program at Toledo Municipal Court, which served about 2,000 victims a year, citing a lack of funding.

Victim advocates from the Lucas County Prosecutor's Office stepped in at the city court, the city said in August. Facey, in an Aug. 16 letter to The Blade, called the arrangement "not the long-term solution." The dashboard page, launched Sept. 16, still names the center as the unit's partner. It did on Oct. 15.

The center and the YWCA of Northwest Ohio, which runs the county's only emergency domestic violence shelter, did not respond to interview requests sent Oct. 10.

Faster, mostly before the unit

Cases do close faster than they used to. The median domestic violence case took 92 days to close in 2013, 63 days in 2019 and 50 days in 2024. Of that 42-day drop, 29 days came by 2019. Five came after 2022. The median rose to 74 days in 2020, the first year of the pandemic.

The 2024 figures that do not reproduce

The office's 2022 and 2023 figures match the table behind the dashboard: conviction rates within half a point, average days to close within two days. Its 2024 figures do not. Counted the same way, 2024's average time to a final outcome is 118.4 days, against the page's 98.6, and the conviction rate is 45.8%, against the page's 43.62%. The 2024 medians match, at 50 days.

2022 and 2023 agree within two days. In 2024 the page is about 20 days faster than its own table.

Average days from filing to a final outcome, domestic violence cases closed in Toledo Municipal Court

Year	The office's page	The table behind the dashboard
2022	115.05	115.0
2023	110.46	112.0
2024	98.56	118.4

The office’s figures are from its dashboard page; the table’s are counted the same way, by the year the case closed.

More cases in a smaller court

Domestic violence filings in the court were 1,374 in 2013, fell to a low of 1,031 in 2017, and rose to 1,637 in 2024. Domestic violence went from under 3% of everything filed in the court in 2013 to 7.0% in 2024.

The rise began in 2018, five years before the current unit. Toledo police arrests for simple assault rose too, from 2,074 in 2018 to 2,386 in 2024, by the department's reports to the FBI, and both dipped in 2020. The filings rose faster: 46% over those years, against 15% for the arrests.

Her description of the court's caseload holds in the record. Among charges that are not traffic offenses, domestic violence has been the most common in the court every year since 2021; disorderly conduct led before that. Its share of those charges rose from 9.6% in 2018 to 21.4% in 2024.

Her yearly count is a different measure. She told WTOL the court has seen "about 2,000 domestic violence cases every year" for 20 years, the figure she also used in her August letter to The Blade. Counted the dashboard's way for Toledo Municipal Court alone, misdemeanors only, no year from 2013 through 2024 reaches 1,700. Her figure may count cases the dashboard leaves out, such as felonies that begin in the court.

What the public has

The prosecutor's office did not answer written questions sent Oct. 6, among them how it calculated its 2024 figures and why its domestic violence charts begin in 2022. Its chief prosecutor gave the office's account of the unit, evidence gathered at the scene so cases need not rest on the victim, to WTOL 11 on Oct. 9.

The public has three years of the unit's results on the dashboard. The table behind it held 12, and it showed a conviction rate back at its 2018 level and a caseload up more than half since 2017. The public does not have how many dismissals were completed diversions, why cases were dismissed, or how the office reached its 2024 figures.

Off the Charts continues with how a charge becomes a plea.

How this was reported

The Lake Erie Inquiry counted these cases from its Oct. 3 copy of the table behind the dashboard, which the city removed Oct. 9; Part 1 explains how the copy was made and counted. Police arrests are the Toledo Police Department's reports to the FBI.

Sources: the City of Toledo prosecutor’s public dashboard and its domestic violence unit page; the Lake Erie Inquiry’s Oct. 3 copy of the charge table the dashboard published, which the city removed Oct. 9, recreated on our own dashboard; WTOL 11, Oct. 9, Chief Prosecutor Rebecca Facey’s interview; Facey’s Aug. 16 letter to The Blade; the Family & Child Abuse Prevention Center’s July 23 notice to staff; Toledo police arrest counts reported to the FBI; this paper’s Oct. 16 edition, Off the Charts, Part 1. Written questions went Oct. 6 to the Toledo City Prosecutor’s Office through the city’s spokesperson, and Oct. 10 to the Family & Child Abuse Prevention Center and the YWCA of Northwest Ohio; none had answered as of press time.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

How charges change on the way to conviction in Toledo

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 08:01:50 -0400

How charges change on the way to conviction in Toledo

Off the Charts, Part 3: A closer look at convictions

What the data behind the dashboard shows about how cases are decided: in 2024, nearly one conviction in six was for a different charge than the one filed.

Assault. Menacing. Trespass. Obstructing justice. Drug paraphernalia. Picturing them conjures up images of five distinct crimes. In Toledo's city court, thousands of them end as the same one: disorderly conduct. From 2015 through 2024, 8,063 cases filed under other charges ended that way.

Assault, as it is filed in the court, is usually a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable under Ohio law by up to 180 days in jail. When an assault becomes a disorderly conduct conviction, it is usually reduced to a fourth-degree misdemeanor, which carries up to 30 days in jail. Some drop further, to a minor misdemeanor, the lowest level.

Drug paraphernalia became disorderly conduct 1,351 times. Obstructing justice, 1,202. Assault, 754. Drug possession, 680. Trespass, 678. Menacing, 331. Violating a protection order, 160. Endangering children, 141.

▶ Watch the video · 40 sec

Read Part 1 here: Toledo prosecutor's dashboard left half its dataset off the charts

Read Part 2 here: Toledo prosecutor's domestic violence charts begin at a 12-year low

View the whole dashboard here.

Drug paraphernalia is the most common. Paraphernalia cases that keep their charge mostly end as fourth-degree misdemeanors, with up to 30 days in jail. About half of the ones swapped end at that same level as disorderly conduct, with the same possible jail time. For those, what changes is the name on the record: a drug offense becomes disorderly conduct. Nearly all the rest drop to a minor misdemeanor.

Disorderly conduct is one of many swaps, and since 2018 swaps have become more common. In 2024, nearly one conviction in six in Toledo Municipal Court was for a charge other than the one filed, up from about one in eight in 2018 and the highest share of any full year in the record, which begins in 2013. Once a charge is swapped, the case almost always ends in a conviction: 99% of the time or more every year since 2019.

The prosecutor's dashboard counts the convictions. It does not show the swaps, and its charts begin in 2018.

Moving violations, the traffic charges that can put points on a license, are swapped too. About one in six cases filed as a general moving violation ended as a vehicle safety violation, 13,594 times from 2015 through 2024. The swap also matters for the license. Under Ohio law, most moving violations add two points to a driver's record. A violation of a vehicle's fitness requirements, such as its equipment, is not a moving violation under state law and adds none.

A few charges almost never move. Driving under suspension, title or plate violations and domestic violence are almost never swapped. Those cases end either in a conviction on the charge as filed or in a dismissal.

What the dashboard says

The prosecutor's office says on its dashboard that most of its cases, 65% to 67% since the pandemic, end in a conviction. Its glossary describes the deal behind many of them, a plea agreement: "an agreement between the prosecution and the defendant defining the specific conditions and crimes to which a defendant chooses to plead guilty or no contest."

What the dashboard does not show is the charge each case started with next to the charge it ended with. The table behind it did.

The menu

The most common swaps, Toledo Municipal Court, cases resolved 2015 through 2024

Charge as filed	what it became	cases
Moving violation	vehicle safety violation	13,594
Drug paraphernalia, obstructing justice, assault, criminal trespass, menacing, drug possession and other misdemeanors	disorderly conduct	8,063
Theft	unauthorized use of property	1,489

Note: counted with the dashboard's rules, for Toledo Municipal Court alone. A swap is a case whose final charge is a different offense from the one it was filed under. The record's charge names change in 2015, so these counts start there.

Felonies that end as misdemeanors

Some cases start as felonies and are settled in city court as misdemeanors. The dashboard leaves them out of its case counts. There were 11,912 of them from 2015 through 2024.

Felony drug possession is the biggest group, and it almost never keeps its charge: 94.2% of 6,379 cases ended under a different one. Most, 5,174, became "attempt," almost always a first-degree misdemeanor. Another 759 became disorderly conduct.

The charges that do not move

Charge as filed	Cases, 2015-2024	Ended under a different charge	Dismissed
Driving under suspension	53,104	1.0%	46.6%
Title or plate violation	27,837	0.1%	47.5%
Domestic violence	12,804	none	53.5%

Note: counted with the dashboard's rules, for Toledo Municipal Court alone. "Dismissed" includes cases closed after the defendant completed diversion.

Drunk driving comes close. About 3% of OVI cases ended under a different charge. Nine in 10, 90.2%, ended in a conviction as charged.

Why a case was dismissed is rarely written down in the table. The office's glossary lists "a lack of evidence or unavailability of a witness or as part of a plea agreement" among the reasons. Part 2 of this series follows the domestic violence cases.

Racial disparities in case outcomes

Neither group's charges are swapped consistently more often. White defendants' charges changed more often on 13 of the 21 most common charges, among them moving violations (18.0% against 15.3%) and theft (39.0% against 33.0%).

Dismissals are different. On 19 of the 21 most common charges, Black defendants' cases were dismissed more often. The two exceptions were OVI and health code violations.

Dismissed, by the defendant's race, Toledo Municipal Court, cases resolved 2018 through 2021 and 2024

Charge as filed	Black defendants	white defendants
Vehicle safety violation	42.5%	26.8%
Moving violation	20.2%	11.3%
Domestic violence	59.6%	50.7%
Title or plate violation	52.2%	44.5%
Driving under suspension	50.9%	45.4%

2022 and 2023 are left out because thousands of those years' records have no race. "Dismissed" includes cases closed after the defendant completed diversion.

The gap is older than the dashboard. Its charts start in 2018, and the gap is there every year since. The table goes back to 2013, and it was there then too: 31.0% of Black defendants' cases and 22.1% of white defendants' were dismissed, and another 3.4% and 1.1% ended in diversion. In 2024 the figures were 38.6% and 29.1%, with diversion counted inside them.

The number that went missing

Some defendants complete diversion, a program that ends in a dismissal once they meet its conditions. The dashboard counts those as dismissals. Through 2017 the table recorded "diversion" as an outcome of its own, 850 to 1,907 cases a year. In 2018 it recorded 158, and since 2021 fewer than 10 a year. So the table cannot say how many of the dismissals since 2018 were people who finished the program.

If you are charged with … What happened to Toledo Municipal Court cases resolved 2015 through 2024. Past outcomes, not a prediction for any one case.

Charge as filed	Dismissed	Convicted of the charge filed	Convicted of a different charge
Moving violation	15.2%	68.1%	16.6%
Driving under suspension	46.6%	53.0%	0.4%
Title or plate violation	47.5%	52.4%	0.1%
Domestic violence	53.5%	45.8%	none
OVI	6.9%	90.2%	2.8%
Theft	36.4%	30.7%	32.7%
Assault	50.4%	31.4%	16.9%
Drug possession, filed as a misdemeanor	58.3%	33.1%	8.6%

Rows may not add to 100 because of acquittals and rounding. "Dismissed" includes completed diversion.

What the public has

The prosecutor's office did not answer written questions sent Oct. 6, among them whether it has guidance on reducing charges, why cases are dismissed and whether completed diversion can be counted on its own.

The public has the dashboard's count of convictions. It does not have, case by case, what those convictions started as, why a charge was changed or a case dismissed, or how many dismissals since 2018 were people who finished diversion. The table behind the dashboard held the first of those until Oct. 9.

Off the Charts continues tomorrow with where Toledo's defendants come from.

How this was reported

The Lake Erie Inquiry counted these cases from its Oct. 3 copy of the table behind the dashboard, which the city removed Oct. 9; Part 1 explains how the copy was made and counted. A changed charge is one whose final offense differs from the offense the case was filed under.

Sources: the City of Toledo prosecutor’s public dashboard, its Cases Disposed page and its glossary; the Lake Erie Inquiry’s Oct. 3 copy of the charge table the dashboard published, which the city removed Oct. 9, recreated on our own dashboard; Ohio Revised Code sections 4510.01, 4510.036, 2929.24 and 2929.28. Written questions went Oct. 6 to the Toledo City Prosecutor’s Office through the city’s spokesperson; it had not answered as of press time.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Where Toledo's defendants come from

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 05:55:45 -0400

Where Toledo's defendants come from

Off the Charts, Part 4: Where defendants live

Court cases are down across Toledo. But the gap between neighborhoods is enormous.

▶ Watch the video · 40 sec

Read Part 1 here: Toledo prosecutor's dashboard left half its dataset off the charts

Read Part 2 here: Toledo prosecutor's domestic violence charts begin at a 12-year low

Read Part 3 here: How charges change on the way to conviction in Toledo

View the whole dashboard here.

In downtown Toledo, one municipal court case was filed for every five residents in 2024. Across town, in the neighborhoods around Southwyck and Crossgates, it was one for every 39. The divide follows a pattern across the city, with a few exceptions: poorer neighborhoods have far more court cases per resident.

Toledo Municipal Court cases gave downtown's ZIP code, 43604, as the defendant's home 1,845 times that year. Those cases were against 1,181 people, about one for every eight of the 9,600 people who live there.

About half of downtown's residents live below the poverty line. In 43614, about 15% do. Take the 11 residential ZIP codes with the most cases. Rank them by cases per resident, then by poverty, and the two lists nearly match.

Some charges cluster far more than others. Per resident, people from downtown and the North End were charged with criminal trespass about 20 times as often as people from the three ZIP codes with the fewest cases per resident. For moving violations and drunk driving, the gap was two to one.

The table counts charges filed, not crimes committed. It cannot say how much of a gap comes from where police patrol and stop cars, and how much from how often people break the law.

The prosecutor's dashboard shows how many cases the office files and how they end. It has no page for where defendants live. The table behind it recorded a ZIP code on nearly every case filed in 2024. The city took it down Oct. 9.

Find your ZIP code

Toledo Municipal Court cases by the defendant's ZIP code, 2024

ZIP code	Cases	One case for every … residents	Change in cases since 2014	Residents in poverty
43604Downtown, Vistula, Warehouse District, Uptown	1,845	5	-25%	53%
43608North End: Sherman, Polish Village	1,562	9	-66%	43%
43607Junction, Scott Park, Secor Gardens	2,113	9	-63%	31%
43605East Toledo: Birmingham, Ironville, Oakdale	2,126	11	-54%	38%
43609Old South End, Burroughs	1,597	13	-61%	29%
43612Mayfair Park, North Towne	1,802	16	-51%	22%
43606Old Orchard, Ottawa, Lincolnshire	1,337	19	-59%	14%
43611Point Place, Shoreland	784	24	-62%	18%
43613DeVeaux, DeVilbiss, Jackman Park	1,206	26	-53%	16%
43615Reynolds Corners	1,289	31	-60%	16%
43614Crossgates, Arlington, Southwyck	748	39	-60%	15%

Note: cases, not people; one person can have several. Residents and poverty from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 2020-2024. Census ZIP areas and postal ZIP codes do not match exactly, and 43606 and 43615 reach outside the city. 43601 is left out because almost no one lives there; see below.

Downtown is the exception among the residential ZIP codes. Toledo's caseload fell 54% from 2014 to 2024. Each of the other 10 ZIP codes in the table fell by half or more. Downtown's fell by a quarter, from 2,465 cases to 1,845. Downtown's share of all the city's cases rose from 4.8% to 7.9%.

Most of downtown's cases are not traffic cases: 1,066 of the 1,845. Disorderly conduct and criminal trespass alone accounted for 369, a fifth of the city's 1,826. About 3.6% of Toledo's residents live downtown.

Most of the 1,181 people had one or two cases. Thirty-seven had five or more, and between them they account for 226 cases.

One person with a downtown address on file had 10 cases filed in 2024, the most of anyone at a downtown address. Five were for driving with a suspended or invalid license. Two were for domestic violence, two for assault and one was a moving violation. Three of the license cases ended in a conviction. The other seven were dismissed.

About one case in six in the court in 2024 listed a ZIP code that does not begin with 436, Toledo's prefix. Most came from the suburbs and elsewhere in Ohio. Of those cases, 982 were against people with Michigan addresses, most of them for traffic.

What brings people to court

Downtown and the North End are the two poorest of the 11 ZIP codes. Together, about 23,000 people live there. The three ZIP codes at the bottom of the table, 43613, 43614 and 43615, hold about 100,000. In 2024 the two groups had about the same number of cases: 3,407 and 3,243.

Cases per 1,000 residents, 2024, by the charge filed

Charge	Downtown and North End	43613, 43614 and 43615	Times as often
Criminal trespass	8.1	0.4	21
Assault	5.1	0.4	12
Theft	4.2	0.4	12
Disorderly conduct	13.2	1.4	10
Domestic violence	13.8	2.0	7
Driving without a valid license	12.0	2.1	6
Driving under suspension	11.3	2.1	5
Title or plate violation	14.8	3.7	4
Vehicle safety violation	11.9	4.3	3
Moving violation	20.9	10.5	2
OVI	2.1	1.1	2

Note: downtown and North End are 43604 and 43608. Counted by each case's final charge, the dashboard's way. Ratios use unrounded rates.

The widest gaps are in trespassing, assault, theft and disorderly conduct. The narrowest are in moving violations and drunk driving.

The license charges sit in between. The court sees a lot of them, and its dashboard gives them a misleading name: "driving on suspended license." It was the second-biggest category in the court in 2024, 3,478 cases, behind only moving violations. Half of them, 1,780, were not suspensions. They were charged under the state law against driving without a valid license. Downtown, that charge came to 14.5 cases per 1,000 residents. In 43614 it was 1.6.

Two common traffic charges are dismissed more often when the case lists a downtown or North End address. Of moving violations filed from 2018 through 2021 that had ended, 25% from those two ZIP codes were dismissed, against 15% from 43613, 43614 and 43615. For vehicle safety violations it was 29% against 17%.

Not every charge works that way. License, title and plate cases were dismissed about 48% of the time from both. The table rarely records why a case was dismissed.

What the numbers can't explain

Two homeless shelters, Cherry Street Mission's Life Revitalization Center on Monroe Street and St. Paul's Community Center on 13th Street, are in 43604. The Census Bureau's survey counts people staying in shelters among a ZIP code's residents, but not people living outside. Downtown's defendants also move around more: about one in four of the people charged with a downtown address in 2024 gave a different ZIP code on another case in 2023 or 2024, against about one in 10 in 43614. So downtown's rate per resident may run high: people living outside appear in the cases but not in the population count, and some defendants who give a downtown address may live elsewhere.

The post office has a court problem. Almost no one lives in 43601, the ZIP code of the post office on South St. Clair Street. Yet 1,288 cases filed in 2024 listed it as the defendant's home, up from 150 in 2014.

Four in five are traffic cases, led by driving under suspension or without a valid license (326), title and plate violations (278) and moving violations (271).

They are not one small group of people. The 1,288 cases belong to 851 people, and 652 of them appear in the table under another ZIP code in some year, most often one of the city's large residential ones. The table does not say why their cases list the post office.

The prosecutor's office did not answer written questions sent Oct. 6, among them what 43601 means in its records and whether the office looks at its caseload by neighborhood.

The public has the dashboard's count of cases filed. It does not have, on any page, where the defendants live or why so many cases list the post office. The table behind the dashboard held the defendants' ZIP codes until Oct. 9.

Off the Charts continues tomorrow with the people charged again and again.

How this was reported

The Lake Erie Inquiry counted these cases from its Oct. 3 copy of the table behind the dashboard, which the city removed Oct. 9; Part 1 explains how the copy was made and counted. Cases are counted by the ZIP code recorded for the defendant, for Toledo Municipal Court alone. Rates divide 2024 cases by each ZIP code's population in the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey. Only the ZIP codes with the most cases are named.

Sources: the City of Toledo prosecutor’s public dashboard; the Lake Erie Inquiry’s Oct. 3 copy of the charge table the dashboard published, which the city removed Oct. 9, recreated on our own dashboard; the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 2020-2024 five-year estimates (tables B01003, B19013 and B17001); Ohio Revised Code section 4510.12. Written questions went Oct. 6 to the Toledo City Prosecutor’s Office through the city’s spokesperson; it had not answered as of press time.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

One defendant, 110 cases: Toledo's city court sees the same people again and again

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 06:33:00 -0400

One defendant, 110 cases: Toledo's city court sees the same people again and again

Off the Charts, Part 5: The revolving door

Seven in 10 cases filed in 2024 were against someone the court had charged before. More than 7,600 people had 10 or more cases in 12 years.

View the whole dashboard here.

Toledo Municipal Court, 555 N. Erie St., where the city prosecutor’s cases are heard. Photo by the Lake Erie Inquiry, Sept. 12.

▶ Watch the video · 42 sec

The records behind Toledo's prosecutor dashboard don't name defendants. Each one gets a scrambled number in place of a name.

Count how often each number turns up, and you can see who keeps coming back.

From 2013 through 2024, nearly 22,000 numbers turned up five times or more. More than 7,600 turned up at least 10 times.

Eighty turned up 50 times or more.

And one stands apart from all the rest: 110 cases in 12 years.

Disorderly conduct, 51 times. Criminal trespass, 19. Drug paraphernalia, 14. Pedestrian violations, nine.

She was charged at least once every year from 2013 through 2024. In 2018 alone, 21 cases. The last of the 110 came in November 2024: theft. She was convicted and sentenced to jail or other confinement. Later, she was charged with aggravated arson, a first-degree felony, outside the misdemeanor cases the dashboard counts. The Lake Erie Inquiry was unable to find out how that case ended. The table gives the order of the charges, not any link between them.

Sixty-five of her cases ended in a conviction. Forty-two were dismissed. Two ended in acquittal, and one had no outcome recorded. Twenty-six of the convictions ended in jail or other confinement.

She is the extreme. The pattern is not. Seven of every 10 cases filed in Toledo Municipal Court in 2024 were against someone who already had a case there since 2013.

Most of her cases, 70 of the 110, were for disorderly conduct and criminal trespass. Under Ohio law and Toledo's city code, ordinary disorderly conduct and criminal trespass are minor or fourth-degree misdemeanors, with at most 30 days in jail, however many times a person is convicted.

Together, the more than 7,600 people with 10 or more cases account for nearly a third of all the cases counted here in those 12 years.

The dashboard itself counts cases, not people. The table behind it made counting people possible, until the city took it down Oct. 9. This story counts each number as one person. Among people with 10 or more cases, about one number in nine carries more than one birth year, so those counts may run somewhat high.

The street loop

The woman with 110 cases had 56 disorderly conduct or criminal trespass cases from 2015 on, when the record starts numbering these charges under state law. Two people had even more: 89 and 73.

They are three of 182 people with 10 or more of those cases each, 3,299 in all. Those two charges make one loop. Driver's licenses make the other.

Most of the 182 kept coming back for years: 131 had such a case in at least five of the 10 years. Of their cases that had ended, 71% ended in a conviction.

Of those convictions, 47% list a sentence of jail or other confinement in the city's table. For everyone else convicted of the same two offenses, it was 34%. Both figures are shares of convictions, not of all cases filed, so they run higher than the confinement figures in the table further down.

For ordinary charges, that 30-day ceiling holds however often a person comes back. Not every offense is like that. One earlier domestic violence conviction makes the next charge of causing harm a felony. Up to three earlier drunk-driving offenses within 10 years each raise the minimum jail time.

The license loop

Most of the people with 10 or more cases, 86%, were charged at least once with driving without a valid license or on a suspended one.

One driver was charged with it 41 times from 2013 through 2020: 23 times for driving without a valid license, seven for driving under suspension, three for driving under an insurance-related suspension and eight more under other license charges. The same driver had 14 more cases for title or plate violations. Of the 41 license cases, 28 were dismissed, eight ended in a conviction, one went to diversion and four had no outcome recorded.

From 2013 through 2024, 682 people had 10 or more license cases each, 8,898 cases in all. Across the court, 45% of license cases that had ended were dismissed.

Got a suspended license? Here's how to get it back. The steps depend on why the license was suspended, and paying a fee alone may not make it legal to drive again. This summary of the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles' pages and Ohio law is not legal advice.

See what you owe. The BMV lists a driver's reinstatement fees and takes credit cards online at bmvonline.dps.ohio.gov/dl/reinstatement. Deputy registrar license agencies take cash, check, money order or card, with a $10 service fee. By mail, a check or money order to Ohio BMV, Attn: REFEE, P.O. Box 16520, Columbus, OH 43216, with a case or license number; processing takes 7 to 10 days.
Missed a court date on a traffic or license charge? The court can order a license forfeiture suspension. To lift it, the BMV requires an official release from the court and a reinstatement fee.
No proof of insurance at a stop or a crash? That brings a non-compliance suspension. A first offense lasts until the driver carries an SR-22 or bond for one year (three years for a first offense added before April 9, 2025) and pays a reinstatement fee. A driver who was insured at the time can have it removed by sending the BMV proof of that coverage.
Can't pay all at once? A driver who owes at least $150, has met the other reinstatement requirements and shows current proof of insurance can pay at least $25 every 30 days. Enrolling takes the BMV's payment plan application, form BMV 1152, and a first $25 payment; a missed payment cancels the plan.
The fees can shrink. Under the BMV's amnesty program, a driver whose court-ordered suspension ended at least 18 months ago pays half of a single fee, or, for several, the lowest fee or 10% of the total, whichever is more. Proof of SNAP, Medicaid, Ohio Works First, SSI or a VA pension can waive the fees entirely. Eligible drivers are notified by mail, and the BMV asks for current proof of insurance to apply the reduction. Commercial license holders, and offenses involving alcohol, drugs or deadly weapons, do not qualify.
Reinstate before you drive. Driving after a suspension ends, before every reinstatement requirement is met, is its own charge in Ohio: failure to reinstate.

Eighty people. 5,099 cases.

Eighty people had 50 or more cases each from 2013 through 2024, 5,099 cases in all. Their most common charges were license charges (868, under the dashboard's two license labels together), disorderly conduct (837) and criminal trespass (585).

Most of them were in court year after year. Two in three had a case in at least 10 of the 12 years. Fifteen had one every year.

Their cases end differently. Of those that had ended, 49% were dismissed. Jail or other confinement was the sentence in 22% of their cases.

Across the court, the more cases a person had, the more often a case was dismissed, and the more often a case ended in jail. Of the cases that had ended for people with only one case in the 12 years, 18% were dismissed. Four percent of those people's cases ended in jail or other confinement.

Fewer of the 80's cases end in a conviction: 51% of those that had ended, against 82% for people with one case.

And their convictions are far more likely to bring jail: 41% of the 80's convictions list jail or other confinement, against 6% for people with one case.

How cases ended, Toledo Municipal Court, cases filed 2013 through 2024

Group	Cases	Dismissed	Jail or other confinement
People with 50 or more cases80 people	5,099	49%	22%
People with 10 or more cases7,647 people	126,437	44%	13%
Everyone else131,346 people	274,469	28%	7%

Note: "dismissed" is the share of cases that had ended, and includes cases the table marks diversion; confinement is the share of all cases filed. The groups overlap: the 80 are among the 7,647.

Who gets charged again and again

The people who return to Toledo Municipal Court most often are disproportionately Black.

Of the defendants who had 10 or more cases filed against them in Toledo Municipal Court from 2013 through 2024, 76% were Black.

Compare that with everyone who had at least one case filed against them in the same court during those years, whether they had one case or 100: 39% were Black.

In other words, Black defendants made up about two out of every five people charged in the court, but three out of every four people charged at least 10 times.

Black residents make up about 28% of Toledo's population.

These percentages count people, not cases. Each person is counted once, no matter how many cases they had. Race is based on each defendant's most commonly recorded race. Race entries from 2022 and 2023 are set aside because thousands of records from those years lack race information, and people with no recorded race are left out of both percentages.

The records show whom police and prosecutors charged, not who committed a crime. They cannot establish how much of the disparity comes from policing patterns, differences in conduct or other circumstances.

Who the court sees in 2024

In 2024, 2,413 people who already had 10 or more cases in the record were charged again, 4,442 times. That is nearly one case in five. Their most common charges were license charges (940), moving violations (569) and title or plate violations (512).

What the public has

The prosecutor's office did not answer written questions sent Oct. 6, among them whether it has a program for frequent defendants charged with low-level offenses such as disorderly conduct and trespass.

The public has the dashboard's count of cases. It does not have, on the dashboard's pages, how often the same people come back, for what, or how their cases end. The table behind the dashboard made that count possible until Oct. 9.

Off the Charts concludes with its sixth and last part.

How this was reported

The Lake Erie Inquiry counted these cases from its Oct. 3 copy of the table behind the dashboard, which the city removed Oct. 9; Part 1 explains how the copy was made and counted. People are counted by the scrambled defendant number in the table; the office has not said whether one number is always one person. No one is named, and no person is described by age, race or address, or by any date more precise than the month.

Sources: the Toledo city prosecutor’s case dashboard and the case table behind it, vintage Oct. 3; the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates; the Ohio Revised Code; Ohio’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles; Parts 1 through 4 of this series.

Oct. 9 (No. 72). An item said E.T. opened the Maumee Indoor’s free Halloween series on Monday. The series runs Tuesdays, and that showing was Tuesday, Oct. 6.

The first printing of Wednesday’s edition (No. 49, Sept. 16) said Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 311 and House Bill 292 that week, on Monday and Tuesday. He signed House Bill 311 on June 8 and House Bill 292 on July 7, according to the Ohio General Assembly’s record; the lawmakers’ announcements were dated Sept. 14 and 15. The same item said House Bill 311 makes the third week in May EMS Week; the law names the third full week of May. Corrected in a later printing of this edition, Oct. 20.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Same drivers. Same charge. A different shot at dismissal.

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 06:41:45 -0400

Same drivers. Same charge. A different shot at dismissal.

Off the Charts, Part 6: The court next door

How Oregon's court differs from Toledo's.

View the whole dashboard here.

Oregon's municipal building on Seaman Road, home of Oregon Municipal Court. Photo by the Lake Erie Inquiry, Sept. 19.

▶ Watch the video · 54 sec

Get caught driving without a valid license, or on a suspended one, in Toledo, and it is close to a coin flip whether the case gets dismissed. Get caught a few miles east, in Oregon, and the odds drop to about one in four.

Many of those drivers are the same people. From 2018 through 2024, 1,244 drivers had license cases closed in both cities' courts. Toledo Municipal Court dismissed 46% of their cases. Oregon Municipal Court dismissed 18%. On the most common charge alone, driving without a valid license under the same section of Ohio law, it was 42% against 15%.

Drivers are matched by the scrambled number the table behind the dashboard gives each defendant in place of a name. The same numbers turn up on both sides of the city line: of the 13,861 people charged in Oregon's court from 2018 through March 2025, 6,593, nearly half, also had a case in Toledo's. The office has not said whether one number is always one person, and about one in 15 of the 1,244 numbers carries more than one birth year, so a few may stand for two people. This story counts each number as one person, as Part 5 did.

Take one driver who turns up in both courts, whose number carries the same birth year on every case. From 2014 through 2024, the driver was charged nine times with driving without a valid license, under the same section of law: six times in Toledo, three in Oregon. Toledo's court dismissed all five that had ended. Oregon's court convicted the driver all three times, with a fine or a license suspension every time.

The rest of that record reads the same way. All 10 of the driver's cases in Oregon's court, on any charge, ended in a conviction. In Toledo's, 10 of the 18 that had ended were dismissed.

None of this shows up on the Toledo city prosecutor's dashboard. One case in every 10 it counts, 19,883 from 2018 through March 2025, came from Oregon's court. The charts fold them in with Toledo's and never say so.

That moves the numbers. The city's chart says 67% of the cases closed in 2024 ended in a conviction. Toledo Municipal Court on its own: 65%. Oregon's court: 85%.

Nobody mentioned Oregon

The city's announcement and the dashboard's pages never said Oregon's cases were in there. Neither did the institute's write-up.

When the city announced the dashboard in September, it promised a look at “nearly 90,000 criminal and traffic cases prosecuted in Toledo Municipal Court.”
The dashboard's own pages say the office prosecutes cases “in Toledo Municipal Court” and that the dashboard “aggregates data from the Toledo Municipal Court.” Oregon's name appears nowhere on the site.
The City University of New York's Institute for State & Local Governance, which developed the dashboard with the city and a Loyola University Chicago team, describes the project as work with “the City of Toledo Prosecutor's Office.” Its write-up names no court at all.
The Lake Erie Inquiry found nothing from the City of Oregon about the dashboard. Oregon's law director did not answer when asked Oct. 8 whether her office knew its cases were there, or agreed to it.

The data itself kept them apart. All but two of the 543,117 records in the Lake Erie Inquiry's copy carry a court code, one for Toledo's court or one for Oregon's. The charts never sort by it.

Which court hears your case? What Ohio law and the two courts' own sites say. This is a summary, not legal advice.

Where the offense happened decides it, not where you live. Ohio law gives each municipal court the misdemeanor cases committed within its territory (Ohio Revised Code 1901.20). An East Toledo resident charged in Oregon goes to Oregon's court.
Oregon Municipal Court covers the city of Oregon, Jerusalem Township and Harbor View, and Maumee Bay and Lake Erie out to the Michigan line east of Toledo's court's boundary (Ohio Revised Code 1901.02). It is at 5330 Seaman Road, (419) 698-7010, open weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Cases can be looked up at omccaselookup.noris.org. The court's site, oregonmunicipalcourt.us, takes payments online and has a payment-plan request form for traffic tickets.
Toledo Municipal Court covers Toledo, Washington Township and Ottawa Hills. Cases can be looked up and paid at tmc-clerk.com. Payments also go by phone at (419) 936-3650, ext. 3, or at the criminal and traffic counter at 555 N. Erie St., weekdays 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Getting a suspended license back runs through the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles whichever court suspended it. Part 5 of this series has a box on how.

Same charge, different odds

It is not only the drivers who went to both courts. Take every case either court closed from 2018 through 2024: Oregon's court dismissed 17%, Toledo's 37%. No year came close. Oregon never topped 23%. Toledo never dropped below 35%.

Same charge, two courts: share of cases dismissed, cases closed 2018 through 2024

Charge	Oregon dismissed	Toledo dismissed
All chargesOregon 17,343 · Toledo 168,217 cases	17%	37%
General moving violationOregon 4,253 · Toledo 39,448 cases	3%	18%
Driving without a valid license or under suspensionOregon 3,457 · Toledo 31,655 cases	23%	48%
Without a valid license (R.C. 4510.12)Oregon 1,424 · Toledo 18,957 cases	21%	44%
Under suspension (R.C. 4510.11)Oregon 192 · Toledo 7,507 cases	22%	57%
Title or plate violationOregon 1,810 · Toledo 18,796 cases	46%	49%
TheftOregon 959 · Toledo 1,868 cases	13%	54%
Vehicle equipment violationOregon 906 · Toledo 16,525 cases	2%	19%
Drunk or drugged driving (OVI)Oregon 608 · Toledo 3,220 cases	3%	7%
Domestic violenceOregon 536 · Toledo 9,065 cases	39%	58%
Drug possessionOregon 463 · Toledo 3,360 cases	17%	67%
Disorderly conductOregon 402 · Toledo 10,222 cases	15%	21%

Note: "dismissed" includes cases the records mark diversion. Counted with the dashboard's own filters, as in Parts 1 to 5. The license rows are one dashboard category; a smaller, separate "driving without a license" category is not included.

Charge by charge, the pattern holds. A theft case in Toledo's court was dismissed more than half the time. In Oregon's, about one in seven. Drug possession: two in three dismissed in Toledo, fewer than one in five in Oregon.

The same people saw the same split. People charged with theft in both courts had 46% of their Toledo theft cases dismissed and 7% of their Oregon ones. People with cases of any kind in both courts had 58% of their Toledo domestic violence cases dismissed and 24% of their Oregon ones.

Could Oregon just hear different kinds of cases? Not by the charges on the record. Oregon's court sees more theft and less disorderly conduct than Toledo's, but Toledo's court dismisses more of nearly every charge. Give Toledo's court Oregon's exact mix of charges, apply its own dismissal rate to each one, and it still dismisses 36%. Oregon's court dismissed 17%.

That test goes only as far as the charge labels. The table cannot say whether the cases under each label were alike in evidence or seriousness.

Among the charges in the table, title and plate violations come closest: 46% dismissed in Oregon, 49% in Toledo.

In both courts, "dismissed" includes cases that ended after the defendant completed diversion, a program that ends in dismissal if the defendant finishes it. After 2018, the records almost never list diversion as its own outcome.

More convictions in Oregon does not mean more jail. Of the cases each court closed with a conviction from 2018 through 2024, 6% in Oregon ended in jail or other confinement, against 13% in Toledo. Oregon's court put 29% on probation. Toledo's, 14%.

East Toledo is on both dockets

The home ZIP code that shows up most on Oregon's cases is not Oregon's own. It is 43605, East Toledo: 4,058 of the 19,883 cases, or 20%. Oregon's 43616 comes second, at 17%. In 2024, East Toledo outnumbered Oregon on Oregon's own docket, 554 cases to 425.

Which court those East Toledo cases landed in mattered. Their cases in Toledo's court were dismissed 40% of the time. In Oregon's, 16%. License charges alone: 45% against 22%.

All told, about half or a bit more of the Oregon cases that list a ZIP code list a Toledo one, depending on how ZIP codes that cross the city line and the downtown post office ZIP code, 43601, are counted. These are cases, not people.

The second court

Earlier parts of this series said the city's charts also count a second, smaller court. This is that court.

Before the city replaced its data Oct. 9, its chart's four quarters of 2018 added up to 39,912 cases filed. Toledo Municipal Court had 37,531. Oregon's had 2,381. Add them up.

The domestic violence chart comes within a hair. The city's chart data listed 1,756 cases filed in 2023. Toledo's court had 1,679 and Oregon's 83, for 1,762.

When the city replaced the data behind its dashboard on Oct. 9, the new counts for 2023 and 2024 still matched the two courts together, counted the same way, within 11 cases a year.

Oregon's slice grew as Toledo's shrank. Oregon's court files 2,300 to 3,600 cases in most years. Toledo's filings fell by more than half, from 51,532 in 2014 to 23,494 in 2024. Oregon's share of the combined count went from about 6% in 2018 to about 10% to 13% a year since 2020.

There is a hole in Oregon's record, too. From May 2017 through February 2018, most of its cases list no charge at all. The dashboard's rules drop any case without a known offense type, so Oregon's count falls from 3,582 in 2016 to 1,587 in 2017. The drop is in the records, not necessarily in the courtroom. In Toledo's records that year, fewer than 1 in 100 cases list no charge.

What the public has

Oregon has its own prosecutor: Chynna Fifer, the city's law director and prosecutor, according to the city. She did not answer questions sent Oct. 8.

The public has a dashboard that counts two cities' courts under one city's name. The people who can say why are the two cities and the teams that helped build it. None of them has said publicly why Oregon's cases are in Toledo's numbers, or why nothing on the dashboard tells readers they are there.

This is the last part of Off the Charts.

How this was reported

The Lake Erie Inquiry counted these cases from its Oct. 3 copy of the table behind the dashboard, which the city removed Oct. 9; Part 1 explains how the copy was made and counted. Each court was counted with the dashboard's own rules. People are counted by the scrambled defendant number in the table; the office has not said whether one number is always one person. No one is named, and no person is described by age, sex, race, address or any date more precise than the year. The other sources are the dashboard's five pages, the city's announcement as reprinted by the Sojourner's Truth, and the institute's write-up.

Sources: the Toledo city prosecutor’s case dashboard and the case table behind it, vintage Oct. 3; the City of Toledo’s dashboard announcement, as reprinted by the Sojourner’s Truth; the CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance; the Ohio Revised Code; Oregon Municipal Court; the Clerk of Toledo Municipal Court; the City of Oregon; Parts 1 through 5 of this series.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Two votes short, Toledo's Flock resolution waits until Nov. 4

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 06:41:45 -0400

Two votes short, Toledo's Flock resolution waits until Nov. 4

Five council members asked the city to cancel every Flock camera contract, remove or switch off the equipment and delete the data. On Tuesday they could not get the nine votes needed to take the question up.

A resolution asking Toledo to end its business with the license-plate camera company Flock Group Inc. sat on the city council's agenda on Tuesday afternoon and came off it again without a vote on its substance.

The measure is numbered R-435-26 on the city's legislative record. It was filed on Oct. 9, and it asks three things: that the city terminate and decline to renew every agreement it holds with Flock and the company's affiliates, that the equipment be removed or switched off, and that the data the cameras have generated be deleted “consistent with applicable law.”

It also declares an emergency. Voting on it Tuesday, at its first reading, meant suspending the council rule that requires two readings.

The resolution's backers needed nine votes to suspend the rules and take it up Tuesday, and got seven, the city's video of the meeting shows. It was held to the council's Nov. 4 meeting.

Nine is three-quarters of the council's twelve seats, the figure the city's legislative database lists for the body.

TOLEDO CITY COUNCIL · OCT. 20, 2026

Two votes short

Council voted 7–5 to take up the Flock resolution that day. It needed 9 votes.

THIS WAS A PROCEDURAL VOTE, NOT THE FINAL VOTE ON THE RESOLUTION.

7 YES5 NO9 NEEDED

▲ 9 needed

Motion failed · Held to Nov. 4

YES · Take it up now

Mac Driscoll
Theresa Gadus
John Hobbs III
Brittany Jones
Nick Komives
Erin Kramer
Sam Melden

NO · Hold to Nov. 4

Vanice Williams(council president)
Theresa Morris
George Sarantou
Adam Martinez
Cerssandra McPherson

Source: Roll call from the city’s Oct. 20 meeting video, checked against two transcriptions that agree on every vote. Draft minutes do not yet record the vote. Seats and sponsors from the city’s legislative database.

THE LAKE ERIE INQUIRY

The paper read the city's own record on Tuesday night and again Wednesday morning. As of Wednesday the resolution's status there is still “Agenda Ready.” It carries no passage date, no enactment number, and the file's history table is empty. The minutes for Tuesday's 4 p.m. meeting are marked a draft, and the entry for the Flock item records no action, no mover and no vote.

Five members are named as sponsors in the record, in this order: Nick Komives, Mac Driscoll, Theresa Gadus, Brittany Jones and Erin Kramer. The requester listed on the file is the clerk's office.

The arithmetic says something narrow. Seven members were willing on Tuesday to take the question up. That is a majority of twelve, and it is two short of the nine the clerk said were required. The city's written record does not show the vote yet; the meeting video does. Nothing yet shows how many members would vote to cancel the contracts if the resolution reached its merits.

A resolution of this kind asks; it does not order. The text requests that the mayor act. Flock's agreements are the administration's to sign and to end, and the resolution's own words are “requesting” throughout.

Why the wait

Council President Vanice Williams voted to wait. She said the city auditor’s review of the Flock system is due Nov. 4, the day the resolution returns. She gave the auditor 30 working days, she said, and would allow extensions.

Council member Cerssandra McPherson said voting before the audit “would be like putting the cart before the horse.” Williams said she had talked with mothers who lost children and with people whose cars were stolen. “Why can’t we hold this two weeks?” she asked.

Council member Nick Komives, the first sponsor listed, said, “We are essentially tasking ourselves in this moment with solving a problem that is Flock’s problem.” “The first time that we voted on Flock I was the lone no vote,” he said. “Now I know that there are at least four people willing to co-sponsor.”

Council member Mac Driscoll, who voted to take it up, said, “We are not tearing down cameras with this vote.” Council member Adam Martinez, who voted to wait, called the resolution “more symbolic than anything.”

Flock Group Inc. sells automated cameras that photograph passing vehicles and read their license plates, and sells police departments access to the resulting searchable record of where a plate has been seen and when. The company's northwest Ohio footprint has been this paper's subject since August.

The case the sponsors make is on the face of their resolution: the agreements should end, the equipment should be removed or switched off, the data should go. The paper asked none of the five about Tuesday's count before this edition closed, and none of them has given the paper a statement about it. The administration's answer to the resolution is not in the record either.

Next comes a date. The resolution keeps its number and its emergency clause, and the council president said at the meeting that it returns on Nov. 4, the day after the election. That is a Wednesday rather than the council's usual Tuesday, because Nov. 3 is Election Day. The paper will read the city's record for the roll call when the Oct. 20 minutes leave draft.

Sources: the City of Toledo's legislative database, matter 44574 (R-435-26): title, status, introduction date, agenda date, sponsors and the Oct. 20 meeting's item record; the council body record for the seat count; the city's Oct. 20 meeting video (Granicus clip 2397), for the vote, the nine-vote threshold, the two-readings rule and the Nov. 4 date, checked by ear; WTOL 11, Oct. 21, confirming the roll call.

CORRECTION — WHAT THE NINE VOTES WERE FOR The first printing of this story (No. 84, Oct. 21) said the resolution’s emergency clause was why it was not taken up Tuesday, and that nothing in the city’s record showed how members voted. The nine votes were needed to suspend the council rule that requires two readings, as the clerk explained at the meeting, and the city’s meeting video records each member’s vote. Corrected in a later printing of this edition, Wednesday, Oct. 21.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Three Oregon council members had breakfast with Andrus before vote

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 06:50:37 -0400

Three Oregon council members had breakfast with Andrus before vote

The city says three members at a table don’t make a public meeting. The people suing say the appointment was settled out of public view. Hanging over the fight: Andrus’s vote on data centers.

▶ Watch the video · 56 sec

Dave Andrus had breakfast with three Oregon council members on a Sunday. On Monday, those three voted to give him a seat beside them.

All four describe the breakfast in sworn statements the city filed this week. What is in dispute is whether the public was shut out of choosing its next council member.

Councils fill vacancies all the time. This appointment is in court because a citizens group says the choice was arranged privately before the public vote. And the seat carries consequences well beyond who sits at the table: a judge has barred Andrus from voting on data-center matters while the case proceeds. The city wants that restriction lifted.

The breakfast is part of the city’s latest defense. Its lawyers say Ohio’s Open Meetings Act requires a majority of a public body to take part before a discussion counts as a meeting. Oregon has seven council seats. Four would be a majority. Three sitting members attended breakfast with Andrus, who was still a candidate.

How the seat was filled, and where the case stands

Nov. 2025	Two council members telephone Andrus, before Thanksgiving, after a third asks them to.
Dec. 7, 2025	The three eat breakfast with Andrus. Forty-five minutes.
Dec. 8, 2025	Council appoints Andrus, 4–2, after 10 to 15 minutes of discussion.
Jan. 29, 2026	Responsible Government 4 Oregon sues the city and four council members.
Oct. 9, 2026	The judge bars Andrus from voting on data-center matters.
Oct. 19, 2026	The city files three motions: partial summary judgment with five affidavits, and two under seal.
Nov. 10, 2026	Trial is set, 9 a.m., unless the judge decides otherwise first.

Source: the docket in Responsible Government 4 Oregon LLC v. City of Oregon, CI2026-00407, and the affidavits filed with the Oct. 19 motion.

The city is asking Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Dean P. Mandros to decide the appointment claims without a trial. Its Oct. 19 motion includes affidavits from the four people at breakfast and the council president who cast the fourth vote to appoint Andrus.

Those accounts describe how the candidate was recruited, who called him and what happened before his name reached the council floor. They also give readers a chance to compare what officials say now with what they said at the meeting.

Kathy Pollauf says she approached Andrus first. She knew him from the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals, and their children had gone to school together. She asked fellow council members Steve Hornyak and Dennis Walendzak to call him. Both did before Thanksgiving.

Andrus says Pollauf sent him links to city meetings so he could learn the issues.

On Dec. 7, 2025, the four met for breakfast. Pollauf says “the gentlemen discussed mutual friends and sports.” All four say no other council member attended and no other council member was consulted.

The next day, council appointed Andrus, 4–2, to the seat Steven Salander gave up to become mayor. The term runs through Dec. 31, 2027. Beth Ackerman and Paul Drake voted no.

The fourth yes vote came from Terry Reeves, then the council president. He was not at breakfast and is not a defendant in the lawsuit.

In his affidavit, Reeves says Hornyak told him as he entered council chambers on Dec. 8 that a candidate would be brought up. He says he first heard Andrus’s name when Hornyak moved to appoint him.

The meeting video adds an exchange worth putting beside that account.

After the nomination, Ackerman asked Walendzak whether he had known “ahead of this meeting” that Andrus “was in the running for this position.” Then she turned to the council president.

“Mr. Reeves, were you aware?”

“Yes, I was,” Reeves answered.

That answer does not establish when Reeves learned the name or whether he had agreed to support Andrus beforehand. His affidavit puts his first notice of a forthcoming nomination at the chamber door. But the exchange shows that advance knowledge of the choice was already an issue on the night of the vote.

Pollauf, asked earlier whether she knew Andrus would be nominated, had answered: “Yeah, I was.”

She described council members discussing candidates by phone, one at a time, without meeting together. Ackerman objected that if four members reached agreement that way, it was a violation.

There is the dispute beneath the breakfast: how much of the council’s decision had already happened before anyone watching could follow it.

Responsible Government 4 Oregon, the group that sued in January, says the appointment broke Ohio’s Open Meetings Act. The city denies that it did. The breakfast accounts support the city’s argument that fewer than a majority took part; they do not, by themselves, settle the broader dispute over how the appointment was made.

The video also complicates one part of the group’s account. Its complaint says council voted on Andrus without discussion. About 15 minutes passed between Hornyak’s motion and the roll call, much of it occupied by members arguing over the choice. Reeves says in his affidavit that he allowed 10 to 15 minutes of discussion before calling the vote.

The data-center fight has been part of this lawsuit from the start. In October, it produced a restriction on Andrus’s votes.

The lawsuit separately challenges an extension the city gave the developer of a proposed data center. The group is seeking to undo Andrus’s appointment and the votes he cast. On Oct. 9, Mandros temporarily barred him from voting on data-center matters. Later agreed orders continued that restriction until further order of the court.

The city asked Oct. 19 to have it lifted.

That request is under seal. So is a second motion filed that day, whose full subject is redacted from the public record. The judge allowed documents concerning confidential mediation communications to be filed under seal; the arguments in those filings are not public.

The city also requested a telephone conference, telling Mandros that its three motions “have a significant impact on how this case will be further processed.”

Its public motion takes a sharper tone. The city’s lawyers call the lawsuit “a political power play” and point to opposition to data centers among the group’s constituents. The group says in its complaint that Oregon residents formed it “seeking to ensure an open government in their community.”

The question now before Mandros is narrower than that political fight. The city wants him to rule on the appointment-related Open Meetings Act claims. A ruling in its favor would resolve those claims without a trial; it would not decide the entire lawsuit or, by itself, approve a data center.

As of Thursday morning, the public docket showed no response to the city’s partial-summary-judgment motion and no ruling on it. No order lifting Andrus’s voting restriction was posted either.

Trial remains set for Nov. 10 at 9 a.m.

Sources: Lucas County Common Pleas Court, State of Ohio, ex rel. Responsible Government 4 Oregon LLC v. City of Oregon, CI2026-00407: the Oct. 19 motion for partial summary judgment and its five affidavits, the motion for a telephone conference, and the court’s orders and event list; the City of Oregon’s video of the Dec. 8, 2025 council meeting; The Lake Erie Inquiry’s reporting of Oct. 14, 17 and 20.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Progress Avenue leak stops, 64 households still barred from home

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 06:43:57 -0400

Progress Avenue leak stops, 64 households still barred from home

Crews reached the tank Thursday. A quarter-mile evacuation zone remains, and the city has not supplied the air readings behind its decisions.

The tank at 1266 Progress Ave. stopped releasing a hazardous chemical Thursday, allowing crews to approach it for inspection, the city said. Part of North Toledo has been evacuated since Tuesday night.

Sixty-four households remain inside the evacuation zone. About 152 people live in them, and the area’s daytime population, including people who work there, is about 1,369, said Rachel Hart, the city’s chief of communications.

Toledo-area hospitals had treated 57 people for symptoms related to the release, most of whom were treated and released, a city spokesperson told 13abc on Thursday. Seven were still receiving care Thursday morning, and none had serious complications.

The city says the evacuation will remain in effect until the risk of an explosion has passed. It has not announced when residents can return.

Four orders in 36 hours

Toledo Fire & Rescue ordered everyone within a mile of the terminal to leave at 10:48 p.m. Tuesday. At 4:24 a.m. Wednesday, it told everyone within three miles to shelter in place. At 5 p.m. Wednesday, it lifted the shelter-in-place order and reduced the evacuation zone to half a mile. At 10:30 a.m. Thursday, it reduced the zone to a quarter mile.

The emergency shelter closed at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday because everyone who had gone there had found somewhere else to stay, Hart said. Anyone who still needs a place can call the Red Cross at 1-800-RED-CROSS.

What the monitoring shows, and what has not been released

The chemical is glycidyl methacrylate. The city describes it as an irritant that can burn the eyes, nose, mouth and skin. It says overexposure can cause headache, dizziness, tiredness, nausea and vomiting.

The U.S. EPA describes the container as an approximately 5,500-gallon intermodal tank. That is the tank’s size, not a measurement of how much chemical it held or how much escaped.

EPA says its responders arrived at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday and began mobile air monitoring around 6 a.m., checking for volatile organic compounds and particulates. By Thursday morning, it reported eight stationary monitoring locations and seven sampling locations.

Asked what measurements supported reducing the evacuation zone and lifting the shelter-in-place order, Hart said EPA’s air monitoring helps determine the radius, but she gave no concentrations or test results. “I don’t have specifics on test results at this time,” she wrote, and she referred the paper to EPA.

EPA has said it will post its data as they become available. Its updates through Thursday morning list the monitoring and sampling locations but no readings. Until they are posted, the public has no way to check the measurements behind the city’s decisions.

Hart said Thursday morning that the tank was still slowly releasing material and crews had not yet approached it. By the city’s evening update, the release had stopped and crews had reached the tank to inspect it. They were to monitor the site overnight. The city says the scene will be turned over to EPA for cleanup after a site safety plan is received.

Coming home, and paying for the response

The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department has posted guidance for returning residents and is preparing guidance for food businesses that want to reopen. Its hotline is 419-779-7089.

The city says tap water is safe and the water source is not contaminated. Ohio State University Extension advises discarding produce grown outdoors within the three-mile shelter-in-place zone. The city says it will begin cleaning playgrounds in that area.

City services returned to normal Thursday. Republic Services resumed its usual collection schedule; households missed Wednesday will be served on their next regular collection day. The interstate is open, but roads around the evacuation area remain closed.

Toledo Fire & Rescue can bill the company for the hazardous-materials response, Hart said, and she expects it to do so after the incident ends. She could not specify which costs would be recoverable and had no enforcement update.

A message sent Thursday to Brian Wymer, the contact listed on MC Tank Transport’s federal incident report for an earlier release at the same address, was returned by the company’s mail server with a “Firewall Policy Violation” notice. The delivery failure does not establish that the company declined to comment.

As reported Oct. 22, a chemical transfer at the same address sprayed an MC Tank driver in September 2025. The company had reported two other chemical injuries to federal regulators since 2020. Kenan Advantage Group bought MC Tank in 2025.

The city says its next public update will come when the evacuation order can safely be lifted. The amount of chemical in the tank before the release, and the amount released, remain unanswered questions.

Sources: City of Toledo, Hazmat evacuation in North Toledo, the city’s incident page, updated 8:25 p.m. Oct. 22; Rachel Hart, chief of communications, City of Toledo, answers to this paper’s written questions, Oct. 22; U.S. EPA, Toledo Glycidyl Methacrylate Release, the agency’s response page, updates through 10 a.m. Oct. 22; 13abc, citing a City of Toledo spokesperson, Oct. 22; the delivery failure notice of Oct. 22 on this paper’s message to MC Tank Transport.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Toledo resident sues MC Tank and KAG over chemical release

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 08:25:10 -0400

Toledo resident sues MC Tank and KAG over chemical release

A lawsuit over the Progress Avenue release seeks class status for property owners, tenants and occupants within three miles. It claims lost use of homes, work and business, but no personal injury.

The class Petty proposes covers property owners, tenants and other occupants in the former 3-mile shelter-in-place zone. The rings are the city’s order radii, not a measure of contamination; the last evacuation order was lifted at noon Friday; the case caption is typeset from the complaint, not a scan of it. Graphic by The Lake Erie Inquiry.

A Toledo woman who says chemical fumes drove her from her home and cost her time at work is seeking compensation for herself and others affected by the release at the MC Tank terminal.

Sydney Ann Petty filed what is believed to be the first lawsuit over the incident, in Lucas County Common Pleas Court on Thursday, while an evacuation order remained in effect. Searches of Lucas County court records and of federal court records found no other case. Her proposed class action names M.C. Tank Transport Inc. and its parent, Kenan Advantage Group Inc.

The 22-page complaint seeks damages for property-related and economic losses, including displacement expenses, lost income and loss of use of homes and businesses. It expressly excludes personal-injury claims.

Petty lives in the first block of West Crawford Avenue, about 1.7 miles from the Progress Avenue terminal, according to the complaint. Her home was inside the shelter-in-place zone. It was outside the mandatory evacuation zone, which was never larger than 1 mile.

She alleges that intolerable odors and smoke inside forced her to leave early Wednesday. She tried to return later that day but could not stay, and she missed work.

Her lawyers are asking the court to let her represent property owners, tenants and other occupants within the evacuation and shelter-in-place zones, defined in the complaint as the area within three miles of the terminal. The filing asks for class certification, compensatory and punitive damages, and a jury trial.

The suit alleges negligence and public and private nuisance. Filed at 10:45 a.m. Thursday, it describes an emergency still underway. The remaining evacuation order was lifted at noon Friday.

We’ve repeatedly sought comment from the company over the past several days, including on this lawsuit. The company’s email system rejected our messages, and direct texts to Molly Hane, the contact listed on the company’s statement, went unanswered.

Petty’s lawyers were asked Friday how she became the named plaintiff, how many others have contacted them and what they expect next. DiCello Levitt’s communications director said the firm would connect the paper with Flynn; no substantive answers had arrived when this edition closed.

How the complaint describes the release

The complaint says an MC Tank employee made the initial 911 call and describes the tank as having a reported capacity of 5,500 gallons. That is its capacity, not a measurement of how much chemical escaped.

The chemical was glycidyl methacrylate, or GMA, used in plastics, paints and coatings. The complaint says the threat of an explosion initially kept emergency crews away from the tank.

Much of its incident chronology cites contemporary news reports. The employee’s 911 call was reported Wednesday, before the lawsuit was filed.

The complaint alleges failures to prevent and contain the release. It does not identify a particular broken component or provide an engineering determination of what went wrong.

Petty’s legal team draws from firms in Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. DiCello Levitt’s lawyers on the complaint list offices in Mentor, near Cleveland, and Chicago. Chicago partner Dan Flynn chairs its environmental litigation practice. The firm says he served as co-lead counsel in the class action over the Chemtool chemical-plant fire in Rockton, Illinois, which settled for $100 million.

The other firms listed on the complaint are the Miller Law Firm in Rochester, Michigan; Hammoud, Dakhlallah & Associates in Dearborn; Collins Law Group in Naperville, Illinois; and Miner, Barnhill & Galland in Chicago. The case, CI2026-04500, is assigned to Judge Lindsay D. Navarre.

Evacuation ends; cleanup continues

At Friday’s news conference, Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz attributed the release to an employee who introduced a temperature level to the tank while transferring the liquid, causing a chemical reaction. He said the company had accepted responsibility. That account is separate from the allegations in Petty’s complaint.

Kapszukiewicz said there had been no fire or explosion and that the investigation was continuing.

The city’s timeline says the tank had stopped releasing material by 6 p.m. Thursday, allowing crews to approach for inspection. The final evacuation restriction ended Friday at noon.

At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Toledo Fire & Rescue approved a site safety plan and turned the site over to its owners for cleanup under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency oversight. An EPA mobile laboratory is continuing air monitoring.

Other firms are investigating claims

Other law firms are advertising investigations and inviting affected people to contact them.

Markovits, Stock & DeMarco announced Wednesday that it was investigating potential claims for residents and businesses. Zoll & Kranz says it is gathering information from residents, workers and households to assess possible claims.

Neither notice announces a filed lawsuit; both describe investigations into potential claims.

Sources: Sydney Ann Petty v. M.C. Tank Transport Inc. and Kenan Advantage Group Inc., Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, CI2026-04500; City of Toledo, Progress Avenue incident update, Oct. 23; The Associated Press, on the mayor’s Friday news conference; Markovits, Stock & DeMarco and Zoll & Kranz, their investigation notices.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Oregon released the plate-camera records other Ohio departments say the law hides

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 16:24:49 +0000

Oregon released the plate-camera records other Ohio departments say the law hides

One sentence added to Ohio’s records law last year limits what the public can see of Flock data.

The City of Oregon’s sign outside its municipal complex at 5330 Seaman Road, home of the police division that released its Flock records, Sept. 19. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry

▶ Watch the video · 74 sec

SECOND OF FOUR PARTS

This is the second of a four-part series examining the use of Flock license plate cameras in Oregon, Ohio, drawn from the records the city’s police division released this month.

Part 1: the cameras, who searches them, and what the city’s own officers did with them.
Part 2: the 19 words Ohio added to its records law last year, and the department that handed the records over anyway.
Part 3: the 1,482 agencies the vendor says can see Oregon’s data, and the 3,724 that searched without being on the list.
Part 4: what Oregon’s council is asked when it meets Monday night.

Every time a police officer searches Flock’s plate-camera network, the system logs the search data.

Who searched?
When?
Why?

Whether the public gets to see that record in Ohio depends on which department you ask.

Oregon’s police handed theirs over, 2.5 gigabytes with a single redaction. Sandusky’s police chief said there were no records to give. The Lucas County sheriff said the law forbids it.

How each department decides what to release rests in part on 19 words passed into state law last year.

The 19 words

Last summer, inside a state budget bill thousands of pages long, the legislature added this to the list of records Ohio keeps from the public:

“Images and data captured by an automated license plate recognition system that are maintained in a law enforcement database.”

It had no bill of its own and no hearing of its own. It took effect Sept. 30, 2025. The law never says what an automated license plate recognition system is.

Read closely, it covers what a camera captures: the photo of a plate and the read the software makes from it. It says nothing about a log of who went looking. No Ohio court appears to have ruled on whether it reaches that far.

What the log shows, and what it no longer does

Flock keeps two logs for every department. One records its own officers’ searches. The other records every outside agency whose search reached its cameras.

Oregon’s own-officer log shows the officer’s name and, most of the time, the plate searched for.

The outside-agency log does not. Every name is a row of asterisks, and every plate is asterisks or blank, back to March 2025.

That setup changed at the end of last year. On Dec. 9, Flock emailed its police customers that the log of outside agencies’ searches would show less: “Network Audits will no longer include officer name, specific plates searched, vehicle fingerprint, and open text search reason.”

One of those did not go away. Flock swapped the typed reason for a menu of offense categories, and officers kept typing after it. From Feb. 1 through Aug. 11, about 3.2 million of the 5.2 million outside searches in Oregon’s log carry a typed note: “suspect vehicle,” “locate,” “investigation.”

What Flock posts for free

Flock offers departments a public web page, which it calls a transparency portal.

Flock gives local police departments control over what their page shows. In a post first published in October 2025, it told departments the search reason no longer had to appear in the public download. They could publish the reason, a case number, both or neither.

Oregon’s page lists 12 cameras, 30 days of data retention and the uses the division prohibits, traffic enforcement among them. It also offers a download of the last 30 days of Oregon officers’ searches.

That download has five columns, and the officer’s name is always asterisks. On Thursday it held 219 searches, and 167 of them gave no reason at all. The full log Oregon released to this paper gives a reason for every search.

Toledo’s page offers no search download. It posts a camera count, a 30-day count of search sessions and the five offense types officers cite most. Under a heading of “Myth vs. Fact,” Flock writes: “Flock Safety does not publicly release agency search data.” And: “Other agencies who you share footage with have been responding to FOIA requests and sharing this search data.”

Same company, different window

Toledo’s police drone comes from Flock too. The city signed on with Flock for a year-long drone trial in December 2024, two months after Flock bought the drone maker Aerodome, and renewed it in June for up to $100,000. The drone flies from a tower on One Government Center to answer 911 calls. It is not a fixed camera reading every plate that passes.

Its public flight dashboard, which runs on Aerodome’s software, logs every flight: the date, the launch time, how long it lasted, the call it answered, the block it flew to and a map of its path. In the 30 days to Sept. 25, it logged 411 calls.

A plate search in Toledo shows up publicly only as part of a 30-day count.

“No responsive records exist”

Knowing what Flock records about each search, and what it shares inside its own network, helps anyone asking for these records. So does knowing what limits a department puts on its own cameras, and how it reads the records law when a request comes in.

Sandusky shows how that plays out. Emails the city released to this paper trace an exchange between another requester and the police chief.

Sept. 2. Ethan Unzicker, a Sandusky resident and local activist who runs the Facebook page Eyes On Sandusky, asks his police department for its Flock records, including any record of outside agencies searching its data.

Sept. 4. Chief Jared Oliver answers that part in four words: “No responsive records exist.”

That evening. Unzicker sends back the department’s own policy, which requires the system to document “all access of information by name, date and time.” A week later he sends Flock’s own instructions for downloading the logs.

Sept. 10. The chief writes that “the response to this item has already been provided.”

Sept. 14. Unzicker asks again. The chain the city released ends there.

Sept. 21. Unzicker writes again, asking whether the chief has been able to pull the network and organization audit logs. Unzicker told this paper on Sept. 25 that he has had no answer, and no reason given for why the logs have not been released.

Those instructions match, nearly word for word, a guide Flock wrote for police on open-records laws, last updated Sept. 3, 2025, and posted online by the site Have I Been Flocked. The guide tells departments where the logs are and what they show. It also advises that they “consider whether to redact license plates, search reasons, and case numbers from these logs,” and consider “negotiating a narrowed timeframe” and an upfront fee.

Oregon’s log suggests Sandusky’s is not empty. It shows Sandusky police running 5,941 searches that reached Oregon’s cameras between March 2025 and August 2026.

To be fair to the chief, he turned over records on four of the five items Unzicker asked for, offered documents nobody had requested, and met with residents in person on Sept. 10.

Unzicker said the chief’s remarks at the Sept. 10 forum suggested he did not know how or where to reach the logs, or whether they existed, which is why Unzicker sent Flock’s instructions the next day. He offered two readings of the silence since. “My devil’s-advocate view is that they’ve never had to process a records request like this yet and they’re deciding what they can legally release and what needs to be redacted,” he said. “My more critical view is that they’re dragging their feet and hoping I’ll go away, or worse, don’t want the public to see how these systems are actually being used.”

On Sept. 24, this paper sent Chief Oliver questions about the logs, including whether the department had searched them before answering. By press time he had not answered. His answers will run if and when they come.

Updated Sept. 25, after publication, with Ethan Unzicker’s answers to this paper’s questions.

A different approach in Lucas County

Lucas County’s commissioners made the numbers public, but not the records. On Aug. 18, Commissioner Pete Gerken laid out a policy paper on the county’s Flock network: 904,642 searches of its plate data by 3,241 outside organizations in one month, June 20 to July 20. The report conceded that the data showed no reasons or outcomes for the searches.

The line-by-line log stayed with the sheriff. Gerken asked Sheriff Mike Navarre for a single month of it and was told disclosure was prohibited by law. The sheriff has said since that the state’s new law denied it, not him. The county prosecutor’s office has said it advised both men that some, but not all, of the Flock data is a public record.

The next day, Navarre approved a written Flock policy, barring uses such as harassment, intimidation and personal use, and switched on the county’s Flock page. At the time, it reported 675 search sessions by the sheriff’s own office in 30 days.

Between them, Sandusky and Lucas County show how much Oregon’s release stands out here. One department answered that no records existed. Another shared a total and kept the log. Oregon handed over every line: each search its own officers ran, and more than 11 million searches by outside agencies, nearly all with the reason given.

The release went beyond the logs: the contract, the invoices, copies of both checks, the permits and drawings, and the coordinates of all 12 cameras. The division’s redaction form, dated May 29, checks one box, for a bank account number. Nobody at the division has said whether the 19 words were weighed and set aside.

What Oregon kept back is what the exemption plainly covers: the plate reads themselves. The logs don’t show where people drove. They show what police did with a system that knows.

Oregon is not the only Ohio department to open its logs, but it is in the minority. When the Dayton Daily News asked more than 40 agencies in its region this year, nine released records, audit logs among them. More than 20 refused, citing among other things the state’s protection for confidential law enforcement investigatory records. Two that did not provide records, Englewood and Sidney, appear in the rows above, searching Oregon’s cameras.

What the attorney general says

Attorney General Andy Wilson’s office publishes Ohio’s guide to the records law and trains public officials on it.

On Sept. 16, Wilson said that when used properly, Flock is “one of the most valuable tools I have seen in my career,” and asked lawmakers to make misusing it a crime. He did not say whether the records that would show misuse are public.

This paper asked his office that question the same day, with a Sept. 22 deadline. It has not answered.

Dayton shows what those records can turn up. A review of the city’s own Flock data this spring found more than 7,000 immigration-related searches by outside agencies, a use city policy forbids. In May, the city suspended the program and covered its cameras with trash bags. As of late August, the cameras were still up, still covered, and the contract was still in force. Dayton’s Flock page, updated Sept. 24, reports that its cameras read no plates in the last 30 days, and that the department’s users ran 460 search sessions in the same period.

HOW TO

Want the logs for your town?

File a records request with your police department under R.C. 149.43.
Ask for two records by name: the organization audit and the network audit.
If they cite (A)(1)(yy), point to two words in it: “captured by.”
Expect the network audit to come back with names and plates already blank.

Some departments also post a 30-day search log on their Flock transparency page. That one takes no request at all.

Tomorrow: the 1,482 agencies Flock says can see Oregon’s data, and the 3,724 that searched without being on the list.

Sources: Oregon Police Division public records release (R.C. 149.43), read and counted by this newspaper; Ohio Revised Code 149.43; City of Sandusky public records release; Flock Safety’s transparency portals for the Oregon and Toledo police, read Sept. 24, and its October 2025 post on public search audits and its Sept. 3, 2025 guide to open-records laws, as posted by Have I Been Flocked; Flock’s Dec. 9, 2025 email to customers, as published by Footnote4a; the Toledo Police Department’s drone flight dashboard and 13abc’s report on its launch; the Ohio attorney general; Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken’s Aug. 18 staff report and the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office policy of Aug. 19, as 13abc and WTOL reported it; the Toledo Free Press; Fortune; the Dayton Daily News; the City of Dayton.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Who is searching Oregon’s Flock cameras and why

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 07:25:13 -0400

Who is searching Oregon’s Flock cameras and why

For every search Oregon’s officers ran, outside agencies ran more than 800 that reached Oregon’s cameras.

▶ Watch the video · 96 sec

THIRD OF FOUR PARTS

Third of four parts. This is the third of a four-part series examining the use of Flock license plate cameras in Oregon, Ohio, drawn from the records the city’s police division released this month.

Part 1: the cameras, who searches them, and what the city’s own officers did with them.
Part 2: the 19 words Ohio added to its records law, and the department that handed the records over anyway.
Part 3: what is in the records: who searched, when they came, and what they said they wanted.
Part 4: who stands where on Flock across the region.

The FBI’s first search of Oregon’s license plate cameras came on March 26. By Aug. 11 it had run 80,950.

Every search in Flock’s system asks the officer for a reason. On 79,997 of the FBI’s searches, the reason logged ends in “Not Applicable.” On 78,192 it reads, in full, “Other - Not Applicable.”

The FBI is one line in a log the Oregon Police Division released this month. The log covers the searches by outside agencies that reached the city’s 12 cameras from March 6, 2025 to Aug. 11, 2026, with a gap from May 20 to May 31, 2026: 11,116,990 searches from 5,149 agencies. Each row names the agency, the minute, the number of camera networks swept, the kind of search and the reason.

Hardly any of those searches were looking for Oregon. Ninety-four percent swept 1,000 camera networks or more at once, and Oregon’s was one of them. Only 394 of them looked at 10 networks or fewer, the kind of search an agency runs when it wants a particular place.

Oregon’s own officers searched the other way. Nearly half of their 13,762 searches, 45 percent, looked at 10 networks or fewer. A third swept 1,000 or more.

The 394 outside searches that narrow came mostly from next door. Toledo police ran 161, Rossford police 88 and the Lucas County sheriff 29. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service ran 19, all of them on March 26, 2026, all logged as theft.

For every search Oregon’s officers ran, outside agencies ran more than 800 that reached Oregon’s cameras.

Lucas County Sheriff Mike Navarre, whose deputies ran 25,481 of those outside searches, described the setting to the Toledo Free Press in August: “When we put a plate in, we put it [the setting to] ‘All.’ That’s what everybody’s doing. There’s no reason not to.”

The federal agencies

Thirteen agencies in the log carry Flock’s “[Federal]” label. Their searches trace a line through the calendar.

Together they ran 137,258 of the outside searches, about 1 percent. Agencies in other states ran 86 percent, and Ohio agencies ran 13 percent.

The first wave was gone by summer 2025. Two offices of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searched from March to June; the Nashville office cited firearms in 654 of its reasons. Homeland Security Investigations ran 175 searches between March 10 and May 1. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service ran 28.

The U.S. Border Patrol arrived on May 9, 2025, and ran 3,757 searches in 15 weeks. On 421 of them the reason cites 1324, the section of federal immigration law against smuggling or harboring people in the country illegally. On 88 it cites 1326, the section on returning after deportation.

The Border Patrol’s last search in the log is Aug. 24, 2025. The next day, Flock’s chief executive, Garrett Langley, wrote that the company had paused its federal pilot programs, including one with Customs and Border Protection. “Moving forward,” he wrote, “federal users will not be added to Statewide or Nationwide lookup.” The Border Patrol’s account now carries an “[Inactive]” tag, and it is not on Oregon’s sharing list.

The log shows the change. Before Aug. 25, 2025, federal agencies ran 4,758 searches that swept 5,000 networks or more. After it, none did.

The federal searches did not stop. After Aug. 25, federal agencies ran 120,287 more that reached Oregon’s cameras, and 93 percent of them still swept 1,000 networks or more. The FBI’s typical search reached about 1,700.

The Postal Inspection Service, the Postal Service’s police, searched from April 3, 2025 to the end of the log: 48,875 times. Its reasons read like its caseload. Mail appears in 7,339 of them, as in “mail theft.” Robbery appears 2,211 times and drugs or narcotics 9,581.

A National Park Service office on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi began searching on April 9, 2026. Of its 625 searches, 354 give the reason “City Planning/Traffic Analysis,” one of the choices on Flock’s menu.

The FBI, the Postal Inspection Service, the Natchez Trace office and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base are all on the list of organizations Flock’s page for Oregon says have been “granted access to Oregon OH PD data.”

Ohio’s own

Ohio’s state government ran 80,565 of the searches through eight agencies. The State Highway Patrol ran the most, 30,647.

Some of the busiest searchers are Ohio state offices that are not police departments.

The state prison system’s Office of the Chief Inspector ran 23,532 searches. On 5,754 the reason mentions a warrant, a wanted person or a fugitive. On 3,491 it names the U.S. Marshals Service, often as “USMS invest.”

The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation ran 3,679. Fraud appears in 1,875 of its reasons. Another 229 carry the letters PTD, the bureau’s abbreviation for permanent total disability. The log does not say whose plates they were.

The State Fire Marshal’s office ran 876, and 681 of its reasons mention arson or fire. The railroads search too: CSX police ran 1,390 searches, 211 of them about fuel theft, and Union Pacific police ran 358, 90 of them about stolen shipping containers or chassis.

The menu

Until December, the reason was whatever an officer typed. Some typed a case number, some a name, some “inv.” In December 2025 a menu of offense categories appears in the logs, and from February on, most searches pick one.

On Dec. 18, 2025, “Immigration (criminal)” first appears in the log. “Immigration (civil/administrative)” follows the next day. By Aug. 11, 2,808 searches that reached Oregon’s cameras had picked one of them, from 234 agencies.

Two hundred and three came from 31 Ohio agencies. Hamilton Township police picked an immigration category 57 times, the Greene County sheriff 54 times and Sharonville police 23 times. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base picked one four times, the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation four times and the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles three times.

Across all outside searches since Jan. 1, the menu shows what the country’s police say they are after. Drugs lead, with about 850,000 searches, followed by wanted people, stolen cars and traffic.

Oregon’s own officers

Thirty-eight Oregon officers ran the city’s 13,762 searches. Theft, burglary and stolen property led their reasons, at 3,960. Traffic came second, at 2,303. Another 1,755 said “investigation,” or an abbreviation of it, and nothing more.

For the first six months of the log, Oregon’s department kept its searches close. Through August 2025, no more than 5 percent of its searches in any month swept 1,000 networks. In September 2025 the share jumped to 36 percent, and in November it reached 56 percent. It has not fallen below 24 percent since. The log does not say what changed.

The menu changed what Oregon’s officers wrote. Before December, almost none of their searches mentioned traffic. By June 2026, half were logged as traffic matters.

The logs also show the department turning the system on its own cameras. Two of them, on Starr Avenue, were cut down and spray-painted the weekend of Aug. 15. That evening, Samuel McClurg, an Oregon officer, ran seven searches logged “Destruction/Damage/Vandalism of Property” with the note “flock camera damaged,” each looking at no more than two networks for the hours between 2 and 5:30 that morning. On Aug. 17 and 18, McClurg, Detective Michael Worden and one other officer ran 27 more. The logs record searches, not which camera answered or when one went dark. Police had not announced an arrest as of Friday.

How it changed

December 2025 turned the log over. The menu arrived, the immigration categories arrived, and the sweeps shrank. Through November, the typical outside search reaching Oregon swept about 6,300 networks. In December it swept about 3,200, and by August 2026 about 2,600.

That month Flock’s vice president of solution engineering, Chris Colwell, emailed police customers recommending they consider “a temporary shift from Nationwide Lookup to Statewide Lookup.” The log shows the smaller sweeps. It does not show why.

The searches themselves kept growing. In April 2025, outside agencies ran 388,840 searches that reached Oregon’s cameras. In July 2026 they ran 984,311.

Flock’s answer

Flock Safety’s press office was sent eight questions about Oregon’s records on Sept. 16 and five more on Sept. 25. By press time it had not answered. Its answers will run when they come.

How this was counted

This paper counted the division’s network audit, the log of outside searches, and its user audit, the log of Oregon’s own officers, from March 1, 2025 through Aug. 11, 2026, keeping one row for each search’s unique identifier. Monthly figures use the logs’ own months, which run on Coordinated Universal Time. The network log has no entries for March 1 to 5, 2025 or May 20 to 31, 2026. Reasons were counted by matching words in the reason field; each count is of reasons as officers typed or picked them, not of confirmed cases. The logs record searches, not results: a row shows that a search included Oregon’s cameras, not that it found anything on them. No license plate, case number or private person’s name from the records is printed here. Both logs are on this paper’s records page.

Oregon’s page on Flock’s site lists five prohibited uses of its system. The first two are immigration enforcement and traffic enforcement.

Tomorrow: the rest of the region. Who has pulled its cameras, who has added more, and who has not said.

Sources: Oregon Police Division network and user audits, March 2025 to Aug. 11, 2026, released under R.C. 149.43 and posted in full on this paper’s records page; Flock Safety’s page for the Oregon police; Flock Safety, “Ensuring Local Compliance on Data Sharing”, Aug. 25, 2025; Flock’s Dec. 9, 2025 e-mail to customers, as published by Footnote4a; the Toledo Free Press; 13abc. Our earlier reporting: part 1 and part 2.

Disclosures: The lead was reported from the Oregon Police Division’s own search logs, released under Ohio’s public records law and published in full on this paper’s records page; this newspaper counted them itself. Flock Safety was sent eight questions on Sept. 16 and five more on Sept. 25 and had not answered by press time; neither letter asked about the company’s Aug. 25, 2025 statement on federal users or the FBI’s logged reasons.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Utility costs for a typical Toledo household are up 5.5%

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 06:24:58 -0400

Utility costs for a typical Toledo household are up 5.5%

THE COST OF LIVING · UTILITIES · NINE CITIES

Water, sewer, trash and electricity up; gas down

▶ Watch the video · 46 sec

Taken together, one Toledo household's electric, gas and city bills come to $369.82 a month, against $350.43 a year ago, up $19.39 or 5.5 percent. The figures are standard-usage bills, the same household priced in both years.

A Toledo Edison household paid $147.40 for September's electricity, $16.56 more than a year ago. That is the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio's own figure for a standard household using 750 kilowatt-hours a month.

Gas went the other way. The same household on Columbia Gas of Ohio paid $126.10, down from $133.79, at the commission's standard 10 thousand cubic feet.

The bill from the city rose too. Water, sewer, storm and trash for one Toledo household come to $96.32 a month this year, against $85.80 last year, and most of the rise is the trash fee, which the city raised on June 1.

How the bills were priced

One household, the same usage everywhere. For electricity and gas the state commissions publish what a standard customer pays, so the figures are the Ohio and Michigan commissions' own, each against the same month a year earlier. For water, sewer, storm and trash there is no commission. Each city's posted rates price the same household: 400 cubic feet of water a month, about 3,000 gallons, through a standard home meter inside the city limits, this year's schedule against last year's.

The electric bill rose 12.7 percent because the supply price did

The electric bill rose because the supply price did. Toledo Edison’s price to compare, the generation rate paid by a customer who has not picked a supplier, is 11.10 cents a kilowatt-hour for July through September, against 9.10 cents last September and 9.77 cents last July and August. It is set by auctions the commission runs, which have carried the price of capacity on the PJM grid since June 2025; the rest of the bill is distribution, set in FirstEnergy’s rate cases.

The gas bill fell because the gas did. Columbia’s standard choice offer, the gas-cost line on a bill, is 51.57 cents a hundred cubic feet for the month ending Sept. 27, against 61.17 cents in the same weeks of 2025. It is the New York Mercantile Exchange settlement plus a fixed adder from a January auction, and it resets on Sept. 28.

Electricity around the region: Toledo pays less than Sandusky and Lima

Toledo's $147.40 is not the region's highest electric bill. The same 750-kilowatt-hour household pays $154.87 on Ohio Edison, which serves Sandusky, and $168.95 on AEP Ohio in Lima, by the commission's September survey. Across the 16 Ohio cities the survey prices, the bill averages $159.75.

The rises run in a different order. Ohio Edison's bill is up 20.8 percent in a year, Toledo Edison's 12.7 percent and AEP Ohio's 8.4 percent, so Sandusky's climbed about two and a half times as fast as Lima's. The 16-city average rose 14.6 percent.

Bowling Green runs its own electric utility, outside the survey, and Michigan's companies are priced on a different basis; both come further down.

Gas fell only in Toledo. Enbridge Gas Ohio's standard bill in Lima was $97.73, up 4.7 percent, and the survey's 16-city gas average rose 2.9 percent to $117.21, while Columbia's in Toledo fell 5.7 percent.

Without trash, Toledo’s water, sewer and storm come to $77.82, up 4.7 percent

Without the trash fee, the Toledo household’s water, sewer and storm come to $77.82 a month on the 2026 schedule, against $74.30 on the 2025 schedule, a rise of 4.7 percent.

The water line is the one moving fastest. City Council’s water schedule for 2024 through 2027 raises the volume rate 10 percent a year through 2026 and 6 percent in 2027, and the sewer schedule raises its volume rate and its fixed charge about 3.75 percent a year through 2028 and about 3 percent in 2029; the water fixed charge and the storm fee hold.

The refuse fee is the line that rose most. It went from $11.50 to $18.50 a month on June 1 under O-183-26, the first change since 2016, and steps to $20 on Jan. 1.

The suburbs drink the same water at a different price

The suburbs drink the same water at a different price. The Toledo Regional Water Commission’s schedule, adopted with the city’s rates in December 2023, charges Sylvania $37.70 for a thousand cubic feet this year, Maumee $36.78 and Perrysburg $36.72.

A Toledo household is billed $48.58 for the same thousand cubic feet in its first block. Toledo's rate rose 10 percent this year and the contract communities' by less than half that.

Sylvania adds its own distribution and billing on top. Its council set water at $9.45 a thousand gallons and sewer at $6.67 on Nov. 17, with no fixed monthly charge on either.

Its refuse fee, $163.25 a year as the city last posted it for 2025, rides on the same bill, and the household pays $61.84 a month. The code carries no earlier rate, so no year-ago figure prints.

Maumee’s residential bills are quarterly, a readiness-to-serve charge of 6,000 gallons a quarter has applied since 2021, and the city’s billing page says that “as rates have increased and residents have received larger utility bills” it encourages budget payments. The paper priced nothing there this month.

In Maumee a resident asked neighbors on Nextdoor on Sept. 23: “Anyone else outraged by their water bill?” The city posts no water or sewer rate, so a Maumee household has no schedule to check its bill against.

Perrysburg, which treats its own sewage and buys Toledo water, bills $77.66 for the household this year against $71.78 last, up 8.2 percent. Its rate sheet carries no refuse or storm line; a stormwater fee is being designed, with open houses held in the spring.

Bowling Green runs its own water, sewer and electricity. The household’s water and sewer come to $34.52 against $31.00 a year ago, with a $15 refuse fee on the same bill.

Its electric rate rose July 1 for the first time since 2021, to a $21 customer charge and 13.136 cents a kilowatt-hour before the power-cost rider, about $7 a month more for a residential customer by the city’s own estimate.

Oregon’s water minimum for a five-eighths-inch meter is $34.58 a quarter, up from $32.93, and covers more water than the household uses. Its sewer charge is set each year by a formula in the code that prints no figure, so no total prints.

Across the line Michigan pays more, and rose about as fast

Across the line the price is higher and the rise about the same. The Michigan Public Service Commission’s August comparison puts DTE Electric’s average residential rate at 24.35 cents a kilowatt-hour for 500 kilowatt-hours, against 21.54 a year earlier.

Consumers Energy, which serves Lenawee County, is at 25.35 cents, against 23.09. The commission prices that DTE bill at $121.76.

Michigan’s gas moved less. Every volumetric charge on a DTE Gas residential bill adds to 92.15 cents a hundred cubic feet in August, against 90.94 a year earlier, with the gas-cost line itself slightly lower.

The fixed infrastructure surcharge on the same bill went from 66 cents a month to $2.26. Consumers’ stack rose to 95.82 cents from 87.58, and its customer charge to $17.

The federal Energy Information Administration’s averages say the same in one line. Ohio’s residential electricity averaged 19.45 cents a kilowatt-hour in July, Michigan’s 23.05 and the country’s 18.31, and both states rose more than twice as fast as the nation in a year.

Ann Arbor, Monroe and Detroit: $72.52, $47.39 and $81.41 a month

Ann Arbor bills by the quarter. On the rates that took effect July 1 the household’s water, sewer and stormwater come to $72.52 a month, against $69.76 a year earlier, up 4.0 percent.

Its water is tiered, its sewer runs $6.92 a hundred cubic feet, and the smallest stormwater tier, for a lot with 2,187 square feet of roof and pavement or less, is $39.17 a quarter.

Monroe’s schedule from July 1 prices water at $2.90 a hundred cubic feet and sewer at $5.53, each with a meter charge, and the household’s bill is $47.39 a month. On the schedule it replaced, $2.70 and $5.19 with the same meter charges, the bill was $45.23, so it rose 4.8 percent. Trash carts come from the city with no fee on the schedule.

Detroit bills by the month. On the rates its Board of Water Commissioners set for July 1 the household’s water, sewer and drainage come to $81.41, against $78.65 a year earlier, up 3.5 percent.

Its drainage charge, the city's name for the stormwater fee, is billed by the lot: $768.75 a month for each acre of roof and pavement, less a 25 percent credit every residence receives.

The paper priced the 0.05 acre the water department uses for its own average customer, which comes to $28.83 a month. A lot with less hard surface pays less, and one under 0.02 acre pays nothing.

Detroit's trash fee is not on the water bill, so its total leaves trash out.

What resets, and when

Unlike the housing piece, this one will be read month against month for the regulated lines, which reset on a calendar: the price to compare on Oct. 1, the standard choice offer on Sept. 28, the Michigan comparisons on the first of each month. The city lines change once a year, most of them on Jan. 1 in Ohio and July 1 in Michigan.

Sources: PUCO Ohio Utility Rate Survey; energychoice.ohio.gov Apples to Apples (electric) and (natural gas); MPSC rate comparisons and gas rate comparisons; City of Toledo water rates, O-643-23, O-242-24 and O-183-26; Sylvania, Maumee, Perrysburg, Bowling Green water, Bowling Green electric, Oregon, Ann Arbor, Monroe and Detroit; EIA Electric Power Monthly and EIA Natural Gas Monthly. This paper’s earlier readings: No. 41, No. 50 and No. 55. All figures read Sept. 26, 2026, Detroit’s Sept. 27.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Meta’s deed for the Middleton field is dated before the township’s no

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:10:58 -0400

Meta’s deed for the Middleton field is dated before the township’s no

DATA CENTERS · MIDDLETON TOWNSHIP · WOOD COUNTY

The owners of the 39 acres the trustees refused to rezone signed them over to Meta’s land company on Aug. 31.

The owners of a 39-acre field in Middleton Township signed it over to Meta’s data-center land company on Aug. 31, three days before the township trustees voted 2-1 not to rezone that same ground for the company’s construction parking.

The deed was drawn up by Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, the Columbus law firm whose attorney, Chris Ingram, asked the trustees for the rezoning on Sept. 3. At that meeting, Ingram said the company, Liames LLC, was under contract to buy the land, the Sentinel-Tribune reported. The deed had by then been signed by the general partner of the selling family partnership, A. Schaller Limited Partnership, and notarized. It was recorded Sept. 21.

Liames, whose tax bills go to 1 Meta Way in Menlo Park, Calif., paid $5,000,000, the price in the county’s records; the $15,000 conveyance fee stamped on the deed on Sept. 21 matches it. The county appraises the land at $380,300. The field sits at the southeast corner of Ohio 25 and King Road, and Liames already owns the land along its east and south sides. The records do not show when the money changed hands: a deed can be signed ahead of a closing and held by the title company until then.

The field’s boundaries were drawn months earlier

The survey attached to the deed, headed “39.265 Ac. Split Parcel,” is dated June 8, from field work done in May. The partnership then split the field from its farm with two deeds to itself, signed July 21 and recorded July 28, keeping 25.29 acres west of Ohio 25. The same Chicago Title office in Dayton handled the split and the sale. Who asked for the survey and the split is not in the records.

All of that came before the township’s votes. The county planning commission recommended the rezoning 6-2 on July 7. The township zoning commission recommended against it 4-1 on Aug. 12. The trustees refused it on Sept. 3, with Michael Moulton and Melissa Petrea voting no and Fred Vetter voting yes.

What the parking lot was for

Liames had asked to move the land from agricultural to light industrial for a parking lot for the more than 1,000 construction workers on the site, a count BG Independent News reported. The alternative, Ingram told the trustees according to the Sentinel-Tribune, would be to move all the parking south of Ohio 582 and shuttle the workers back and forth through the day.

The field is still zoned agricultural, and Ohio law bars a township from stopping farming on any land, so Liames can keep it in crops. The township’s zoning rules set no waiting period before a rezoning can be asked for again.

The company has since found somewhere else on its site to pave, and has not been seen running shuttles, Wade Gottschalk, executive director of the Wood County Economic Development Commission, told the Sentinel-Tribune this week.

Meta’s press office, Ingram and the three trustees did not answer questions sent Monday about when the price was agreed, who asked for the July split, what the field will be used for and whether the trustees knew the deed had been signed.

The eighth purchase this year

The field is Liames’s eighth land purchase in Middleton Township this year and the largest. The county’s index shows eight deeds to the company recorded since January, together $15,517,200.

The eight, by the date each deed was recorded, with the county auditor’s acreage:

Jan. 20: 2.05 acres at 21332 N. Dixie Highway, $2,200,000
April 1: four parcels, 21.52 acres, on Mercer Road south of Ohio 582, $1,608,600
April 1: four more parcels beside them, 38.48 acres, $2,876,100
May 6: 9.88 acres at 12170 Devils Hole Road, $1,162,500
June 1: 10 acres at 12138 Devils Hole Road, $1,500,000
July 1: 0.86 acres at 21576 N. Dixie Highway, $397,500
July 28: 5 acres at 20217 Mercer Road, $772,500
Sept. 21: the Schaller field, 39.27 acres, Ohio 25 and King Road, $5,000,000

Construction at Mercer Road and Ohio 582, the southeast corner of Meta’s campus, Sept. 7, 2026. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry.

▶ Watch the video · 40 sec

Meta announced the campus in April 2025 as a 715,000-square-foot data center, an investment of more than $800 million that would employ about 100 people once built. The announcement gave no opening date.

This month the company building the campus’s gas-fired power plant also bought land across Mercer Road from the campus: Will-Power OH LLC paid $800,000 for two parcels with a house, recorded Sept. 23. Will-Power OH signs the county’s easement papers alongside Williams Power Innovation LLC, a unit of the pipeline company Williams. The Ohio Power Siting Board approved its 350-megawatt plant in February on the board’s accelerated track, with no public hearing, BG Independent News reported at the time.

The trustees meet in special session at 9 a.m. today at the township hall, 21745 N. Dixie Highway, to review road-cut permits and a road-use maintenance agreement. The notice does not name a company.

Sources: the deed, Wood County Recorder instrument 202611191, with its June 8 survey; the recorder’s AVA index for instruments 202611191, 202608794 and 202608795, the Liames LLC name search from Jan. 1, 2026, and Will-Power OH easements 202606349 and 202611042; Wood County Auditor, Beacon, parcels J34-611-190000006001 and -006000; Wood County GIS parcels; the Sentinel-Tribune, Marie Thomas, Sept. 4 and Sept. 29, 2026, and its Aug. 14 and July 7, 2026 reports; BG Independent News, Jan Larson McLaughlin, Sept. 3, 2026 and Feb. 3, 2026; Meta, “Hello, Bowling Green!”, April 9, 2025; the township’s special-meeting notice; Middleton Township Zoning Resolution, Art. XVII, and Ohio Rev. Code 519.21.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Rossford creates an electric utility, then reverses itself the same night

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 06:54:02 -0400

Rossford creates an electric utility, then reverses itself the same night

PUBLIC POWER · ROSSFORD · WOOD COUNTY

Councilwoman Brenna Reynolds changed her vote after the ordinance passed 4-3; on reconsideration later in the meeting, it failed 3-4.

Rossford City Council passed an ordinance Monday creating a city electric utility, then defeated the same measure later in the meeting, after one member asked to change her vote.

Ordinance 2026-48 would have created “Rossford Public Power,” a municipal electric utility the city could later use to buy power on the grid and sell it to residents and businesses. It passed 4-3 on its third reading, with Councilmembers Zachary Owen, Brenna Reynolds, Ollie Saleh and Caroline Zuchowski-Eckel voting yes, and Ryan Stautzenbach, Bob Toth and Rachel Tinney voting no.

Ordinance 2026-48, Rossford City Council, Sept. 28: the two roll calls. It passed 4-3, then failed 3-4. Councilwoman Brenna Reynolds, highlighted, was the only member whose vote changed. Source: the City of Rossford’s own recording of the meeting, heard at each timecode by this paper; no result was announced aloud for either roll call.
Council member	First roll call	On reconsideration
Zachary Owen	Aye	Aye
Brenna Reynolds	Aye	No
Ollie Saleh	Aye	Aye
Caroline Zuchowski-Eckel	Aye	Aye
Ryan Stautzenbach	No	No
Bob Toth	No	No
Rachel Tinney	No	No

Near the end of the meeting, Reynolds asked, “Can I change my vote?” Law Director Kevin Heban read council the rule that allows a measure that has passed to be reconsidered before the meeting adjourns. Council voted to take the ordinance up again, and on the second roll call it failed 3-4, with Reynolds voting no. She was the only member whose vote changed.

Reynolds is the Democratic candidate for Wood County commissioner on the Nov. 3 ballot. She did not respond Wednesday night to an emailed question about her vote. Nothing in the recording or in any public record says why she switched.

What the ordinance would and would not have done

Before the first vote, Tinney asked to table the ordinance, saying, “I don’t feel educated on this.” No motion to table followed. Heban told council the ordinance worked like setting up a company and putting nothing in it: using the utility would take further legislation, and council could terminate it. “It’s not binding the city. It’s not costing the city anything,” he said. Asked whether the city had been hindered without one, he said, “Yes, in negotiating.” Owen called it “virtually no risk … just creating a figurehead.”

The ordinance creates only the legal shell: the authority to buy and resell electricity, and nothing more. Heban said the city is in the process of talking with an attorney at the Bricker firm in Columbus who drafted the legislation, and that options, including a kilowatt-hour tax, may come back to council.

The rule that let the vote be taken again

Rossford’s Codified Ordinances 111.08(a) require that a motion to reconsider a subject acted on favorably be made before that session of council adjourns. Under 111.08(b), only a member on the prevailing side may move to reconsider; Reynolds had voted yes. Under 111.08(d), reconsidering takes the same number of votes as passing: four of seven. The city’s livestream lost its picture after the motion to reconsider and resumed with sound only, so the voice vote on the motion is on the record as audio. No result was announced aloud for either roll call.

The city has been here before, and is paying a consultant

Heban told council the city explored the same framework once before, in 1995, over electric service to the Libbey-Owens-Ford glass plant, and that it was tabled then; he deferred to Council Clerk Robert Watrol, who he said was on council at the time.

Council hired IFG Development Group in April to study the city’s electric options, the Sentinel-Tribune reported Sept. 17. At the ordinance’s second reading on Sept. 14, The reasons given for the utility included an 18-month wait for Toledo Edison to connect large power users and economic development that needs large loads, the newspaper reported. The same night as the vote, after a closed session on an applicant for economic development assistance, council added and passed as an emergency Ordinance 2026-63, amending the city’s consulting agreement with IFG. Council read none of its terms aloud.

Ordinance 2026-48 is defeated as of Monday night. Whether it can return, and the official result of both roll calls, are questions for the council clerk, who keeps the record.

Sources: the City of Rossford’s own recording of the Sept. 28, 2026 council meeting, heard at each timecode by this paper; the city’s council page for titles and spellings; Rossford Codified Ordinances 111.08; the Sentinel-Tribune, Sept. 17, 2026.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Toledo will not say until Oct. 28 what Issue 16’s defeat costs

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 07:05:07 -0400

Toledo will not say until Oct. 28 what Issue 16’s defeat costs

ISSUE 16 · TOLEDO · LUCAS COUNTY

Early voting opens Oct. 6. The administration told a council committee Thursday it does not yet have the layoff numbers and will bring two budgets — one if the income tax passes, one if it fails — to a hearing six days before the election.

The mayor’s office in One Government Center. The administration has promised council two budgets on Oct. 28, one if Issue 16 passes and one if it fails. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry, Nov. 6, 2024.

▶ Watch the video · 43 sec

Spending is the 2026 budget’s $335.9 million in operating costs plus $53.9 million in transfers out. Money coming in is its $364.4 million in revenue and transfers in, minus the $24 million the city moves over from its capital fund each year. The difference, $49.4 million, is this paper’s arithmetic from the city’s figures; the mayor puts the gap at about $50 million.

Toledo’s administration told a City Council committee on Thursday that it cannot yet say how many police officers the city would lay off if voters reject Issue 16, the new quarter-percent income tax on the Nov. 3 ballot, and that the figures will come at a budget hearing on Oct. 28 — three weeks after early voting opens and six days before Election Day.

The exchange came at a public hearing of the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Committee, where the mayor presented the levy and the police and fire departments gave their quarterly reports. Councilman George Sarantou asked how many police officers would be laid off if the tax failed. Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said the city did not have that number yet and would present two full budgets at the Oct. 28 hearing, one assuming Issue 16 passes and one assuming it does not. He said the budget would normally be released Nov. 15 and had been moved up two weeks because of the levy. Sarantou said a failed levy would mean “major cuts in the police division and the fire division” and asked the administration to release the numbers to council and the public before Oct. 28, because early voting will already be under way. No commitment to do so was made in the meeting, and the committee took no vote on anything.

The city’s own figure: the tax closes about half the gap

Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz told the committee the city carries a structural budget deficit of about $50 million, which he attributed to population loss and to state funding cuts. He put Issue 16’s yield at about $25 million a year for the general fund, and said the city would still carry a deficit of roughly $25 million even if the tax passes. Council’s Finance, Debt and Budget Oversight Committee heard the same pair of numbers the day before, on Sept. 30, when the committee’s chair, Councilman George Sarantou, put the structural deficit at “about approximately 50 million, maybe it’s 48 million” and the levy’s yield at $25 million. The city’s 2026 annual information statement, filed for bondholders in May, discusses the same structural imbalance.

The mayor also told the committee that this year’s budget cuts began at about $6 million and were raised by council to $9 million, which he described as one-fifth of what closing the deficit by cuts alone would take. A slide said closing it that way would require eliminating eleven city departments outright, among them Public Works, Community Services, Human Resources and the Plan Commission. He said Toledo already spends less per resident than Cincinnati, Cleveland, Akron, Columbus and Dayton in every budget subcategory, and that the city’s bond rating has risen two years running to its highest since 1980.

What Issue 16 is, and what it is not

Issue 16 asks for a new, temporary quarter-percent levy on income from Jan. 1, 2027 through Dec. 31, 2030, on top of the city’s existing 2.5%, taking the rate to 2.75%. Ordinance 301-26 dedicates the proceeds within the general fund to neighborhood safety and to police and fire operations, “including criminal gang disruption.” It is levied on the income of every person living in Toledo or earning income in it, so suburban commuters who work in the city pay it; it reaches earned income only, which is why the mayor told the committee retirees on Social Security or a pension would not pay. On $50,000 of earnings it is $125 a year, or $10.42 a month. Council placed it on the ballot 9–1.

The mayor told the committee that if Issue 16 passes the city would carry three income-tax levies: the three-quarter-percent general-services levy first approved in 1982 and the 2020 road quarter-percent, both of which come up again in 2028, and the new safety quarter-percent, which would renew on gubernatorial-election years instead of presidential ones.

What the city promises if it passes

The mayor’s slides listed five commitments tied to the levy: double the yearly police and fire recruit class from 20 to 40 for as long as the tax exists; grow the police gang task force by two-thirds; triple the city’s demolition rate; create Toledo’s first dedicated residential speed-enforcement program; and commit police and fire resources to West Toledo, where he said call volumes are reaching crisis levels. He added a sixth at the hearing, which he said had not made it onto the slide: rebuild the fire department’s arson-investigation unit to its former staffing over four years, after talks with the firefighters’ union. Both the police patrol officers’ association and IAFF Local 92 have endorsed the levy, and the Local 92 president spoke for it in public comment, saying the department loses roughly 20 firefighters a year to attrition.

The mayor also named the city’s anti-gun-violence initiative as a program in grave danger of being eliminated if Issue 16 fails. A council member called that disheartening, given what she said the program has done in her district. That exchange, and the layoff question, were the two points at which the hearing turned from the case for the tax to the consequences of a no vote; neither produced a number.

The staffing numbers the departments gave the same night

Police told the committee the sworn strength stood at 609 at the meeting, from a snapshot dated Aug. 31 that read 611, and said the department expects to be at about 600 by Jan. 1 even with a 21-recruit class graduating in December. Its year-to-date slide reported homicides down 34%, robberies down 18%, thefts from vehicles down 9% and auto theft down 6%, with burglary up 3%, which the department attributed to a mid-year spike it says analyst-driven work has since brought down. Internal affairs counted 150 internal complaints against 6 citizen complaints this year.

Fire reported 591 on staff, 15 retirements so far this year and two more separations confirmed, with a 20-recruit class that began July 31 due to graduate Feb. 19, 2027. Through August the department logged 43,944 incidents, up 1.5% on the year, and 78,916 total responses through Aug. 31, up 4.1%, an average of 324 a day. Engine 23 in West Toledo, the busiest apparatus in the department, made 3,266 runs through August. The day before, at the finance committee, the chair said fire overtime stood at 92% of its full-year budget with three months of the fiscal year left. Another member asked whether the city can bill companies for overtime tied to their own fires; the finance office said fire can bill for certain kinds of events and left the detail to the fire division.

The ballot language, the levy ordinance and the paper’s plain-English answers on Issues 16, 17, 18 and 19 are in today’s Election ’26 section. The Oct. 28 budget hearing is the date at which the administration has said both budgets will exist. Early voting opens Oct. 6; registration closes Oct. 5.

Sources: the City of Toledo’s own recording of the Oct. 1, 2026 Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Committee meeting and its agenda; the city’s recording of the Sept. 30 Finance, Debt and Budget Oversight Committee meeting; Ordinance 301-26 and Resolution 300-26; the Lucas County Board of Elections sample ballot; the City of Toledo 2026 annual information statement.

Disclosures: The lead is reported from the City of Toledo's own recording of the Oct. 1 Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Committee hearing, heard at each timecode by this paper. No quotation is taken from that recording. Where a council member or a city officer is not named, the recording does not settle the name.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Toledo-area unemployment fell to 4.3%, but 3,469 fewer people had jobs

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 08:08:13 -0400

Toledo-area unemployment fell to 4.3%, but 3,469 fewer people had jobs

THE COST OF LIVING · JOBS · TOLEDO TO DETROIT

Friday’s national jobs report put U.S. unemployment at 4.2% in September, adjusted for the season. Local figures run a month behind: in August, Toledo’s rate fell as fewer people worked or looked.

▶ Watch the video · 37 sec

Unemployment in the Toledo metro area was 4.3% in August, down from 5.3% a year earlier, by the newest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over the same year, the number of people with jobs fell by 3,469.

The bureau’s national jobs report, released Friday, is a month newer. It put U.S. unemployment at 4.2% in September and counted 29,000 more jobs than in August, both of which it called little changed. Those national figures are adjusted for the season; the local ones are not, so each is set against the same month a year earlier.

The rate fell because fewer people were counted in the work force at all. The bureau counted 274,984 metro residents working in August, against 278,453 a year earlier.

It counted 12,271 people out of work and looking for a job, against 15,654. The labor force, everyone working or looking, shrank by 6,852 people.

The bureau’s figures do not say why. A person who retires, moves away or stops looking leaves the count the same way.

The metro area is Lucas, Wood and Fulton counties. In Lucas County alone the rate fell from 5.7% to 4.7%, and 2,595 fewer residents had jobs.

Employers count fewer jobs, most of them in factories

The bureau’s survey of employers’ payrolls, which counts jobs where they are rather than people where they live, points the same way. It put the metro at 300,400 jobs in August, 2,000 fewer than a year earlier.

Manufacturing lost 1,300 of them, falling to 41,400, the most of the five industries the paper tracks. Health care and social assistance held at 48,000.

Notices name more workers

The federal WARN Act requires employers with 100 or more workers to give 60 days’ notice of a plant closing or mass layoff, and Ohio posts each one. Cornerstone Building Brands filed a notice naming 104 workers at its Walbridge plant, which it says will close between Dec. 1 and Dec. 31.

Perstorp Polyols filed a notice listing 67 workers at its north Toledo plant, which is closing, with layoffs from Nov. 2 into July 2027. On Friday, Pixelle Specialty Solutions filed a notice naming about 61 workers at its Fremont plant. It is selling its carbonless paper business, the plant’s main work, to a buyer that will move production to Wisconsin; the first workers leave Dec. 1.

A notice counts the workers it names, not jobs lost: employers update notices, carry out layoffs in stages and sometimes withdraw them. Ohio has posted 63 notices this year, naming 7,308 workers statewide.

Detroit went the other way

In the Detroit metro area, unemployment rose to 5.7% in August from 4.7% a year earlier. The bureau counted 32,089 fewer residents working there.

In the city of Detroit the rate rose to 11.4% from 9.6%.

In the Ann Arbor metro area it fell to 4.2% from 4.5%.

Michigan has posted 38 notices this year, naming 6,220 workers statewide. Eleven name workers at sites in Wayne, Washtenaw and Lenawee counties; the largest named 643 Spirit Airlines workers at Detroit Metro Airport in May. None is in Monroe County.

Two begin in the coming weeks. Trinity Health named 557 workers in Livonia, for permanent layoffs from Oct. 25 to Nov. 29, and Niagara Bottling named 86 at its Plymouth plant, which it says will close Oct. 31.

What the job boards listed Friday

On Friday evening, Ohio’s job board, OhioMeansJobs, listed 6,710 postings around Toledo. Michigan’s, Pure Michigan Talent Connect, listed 5,875 around Detroit. The table below gives each distance.

Each count is a snapshot of one board at one hour, by distance from a city, because neither board searches by county. Boards list some jobs more than once, so a count is not the number of open jobs. The Michigan board counts only Michigan postings, which keeps Monroe’s small. The paper will read both again the first Friday of each month; the next read is Nov. 6.

Job postings on the two states’ job boards, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026, 5:22 to 5:24 p.m., by distance from a city
Board	Area	Postings
OhioMeansJobs	Within 20 miles of Toledo	6,710
OhioMeansJobs	Within 20 miles of Findlay	2,632
OhioMeansJobs	Within 20 miles of Tiffin	2,449
OhioMeansJobs	Within 20 miles of Lima	2,184
OhioMeansJobs	All of Ohio	137,292
Pure Michigan Talent Connect	Within 25 miles of Detroit	5,875
Pure Michigan Talent Connect	Within 25 miles of Ann Arbor	2,404
Pure Michigan Talent Connect	Within 25 miles of Monroe	416

This week’s count, and pay

The one figure that is this week’s is new claims for unemployment, filed statewide. Ohio took 4,326 in the week ending Sept. 26, against 4,482 in the same week a year earlier.

Michigan took 4,557, against 4,338.

Pay barely moved in Lucas County. The average weekly wage for a job there was $1,289 in the first three months of 2026, $4 more than a year earlier, by the bureau’s quarterly census of employers.

In Wood County it rose 5.6%, to $1,216.

Ohio’s minimum wage for most employers rises to $11.40 an hour on Jan. 1, from $11.00.

Michigan’s rises to $15.00, from $13.73.

How old the figures are

August is the newest month the bureau has published for metro areas and counties.

The bureau publishes no seasonally adjusted figures for metro areas, so each figure here is set against the same month a year earlier, both from the same release. Each March the bureau revises a year of these estimates, which can change the year-ago figures.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Current Employment Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and the Employment Situation; U.S. Department of Labor, weekly claims by state; Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, 2026 WARN notices; Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, WARN notices and minimum wage; OhioMeansJobs and Pure Michigan Talent Connect; Ohio Department of Commerce, 2027 minimum wage. The changes in people, jobs and pay are this paper’s arithmetic.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Ottawa Hills police search Flock’s camera network at no cost

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 08:20:07 -0400

Ottawa Hills police search Flock’s camera network at no cost

FLOCK · PUBLIC RECORDS · OTTAWA HILLS · OREGON

A 2023 agreement lets village officers search Flock’s plate-camera recordings and commits the village to no money. Oregon pays Flock $3,000 a year for each of its 12 cameras.

A license plate reader on a solar-powered pole in the parking lot of St. Ursula Academy, at the edge of Ottawa Hills, Oct. 4. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry

▶ Watch the video · 22 sec

The Ottawa Hills Police Department can search license-plate camera recordings kept by Flock Safety without paying for them, under a data-sharing agreement its chief signed in 2023. The department released the agreement on Sept. 29 in answer to a public records request.

Police Chief John D. Wenzlick signed the five-page memorandum of understanding with Flock Group Inc. on Oct. 9, 2023, and Flock signed it the next day. It says the department wants Flock’s platform and dashboard “for investigative purposes, in order to view and search photos and videos recorded by Flock,” which “are stored for no longer than thirty (30) days.” Its section on money is one sentence: “No financial commitment by Agency is required to access the Flock Services or Recordings.”

The memorandum runs five years from signing, to October 2028, and either side may end it sooner with 30 days’ written notice. Officers may use the service only through the department’s official email accounts and only for the stated purpose, “to gain awareness with respect to the communities for which they serve to protect and facilitate investigations.” Flock may suspend the department’s access if it breaks those terms or uses the service illegally. The memorandum identifies the recordings only as “photos and videos recorded by Flock.” Flock keeps all rights to the recordings and data, and it “retains the right to use the foregoing for any purpose in Flock’s sole discretion.”

The Sept. 15 request asked for any agreement, quote or purchase order with Flock or any other plate-reader vendor in effect since Jan. 1, 2024, and for police email mentioning Flock since July 4. “Our office holds no other records pertaining to your request,” wrote Carly M. Chester, the department’s support services coordinator.

What Oregon pays

The City of Oregon’s own records show what a Flock subscription costs an Ohio police department. Flock billed the Oregon Police Division $3,000 a camera for a year of service on its 12 cameras, $36,000, in February 2025, and the same amount for the second year in June 2026.

The first bill added one-time installation fees of $650 a camera at nine sites and $150 at three on existing infrastructure, $6,300 in all. The city paid $42,300 on Feb. 19, 2025, and $36,000 on June 10, 2026.

Oregon’s council approved the purchase on Jan. 27, 2025, in Ordinance 008-2025, at a total price of $78,300 for a two-year contract. The Flock quote attached to it sets the same 30-day retention period and lists what the subscription includes besides the cameras: “State Network” and “Nationwide Network” license-plate lookup, and “Community Network Access,” which it describes as “the ability to request direct access to feeds from privately owned Flock Safety Falcon® LPR cameras located in neighborhoods, schools, and businesses in your community.”

Flock cameras ring Ottawa Hills, but no record shows the village controls any

The memorandum names no cameras, and no public record found shows the village owning or operating one. Apart from the memorandum, the department’s records response produced no plate-reader agreement or purchase.

Flock hosts public “transparency portal” pages for some of the police agencies that use its cameras, and the Toledo Police Department has one. The matching address for Ottawa Hills police returned “Page not found” on Oct. 4. Not every agency publishes a portal, so the missing page shows only that none is posted.

A volunteer-built map of license plate readers, drawn from OpenStreetMap and shown on the DeFlock website, places three Flock cameras inside the village boundary. The map labels all three as the Ottawa Hills Local School District’s. It shows 20 more plate readers within half a mile outside the line: eight labeled as University of Toledo police cameras, four as Toledo police cameras, three as Saint Ursula Academy’s, at the village’s edge, and five with no operator listed. None of the more than 360 plate readers the map shows across the Toledo area is labeled as Ottawa Hills police equipment.

Volunteers enter the camera locations and the owner labels, and neither is verified.

License plate readers in and around Ottawa Hills, as volunteers have mapped and labeled them. The heavy line is the village boundary.

Labeled Ottawa Hills Local School District
Labeled Saint Ursula Academy
Labeled Toledo Police Department
Labeled University of Toledo Police Department
No operator listed

Camera locations and labels: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via the DeFlock map; unverified. Village boundary and roads: OpenStreetMap; base geography: Census TIGER and USGS.

Sources: Ottawa Hills Police Department, records released under R.C. 149.43, including its memorandum of understanding with Flock Group Inc.; City of Oregon and Oregon Police Division, public records: Flock invoices INV-57577 and INV-95814, checks 98323 and 102022, and Ordinance 008-2025 with Flock’s quote; Flock Safety, transparency portal; OpenStreetMap contributors, plate-reader data via the DeFlock map.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

A snapshot of the Flock debate around the region

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 27 Sep 2026 13:15:04 +0000

A snapshot of the Flock debate around the region

Across the region, Flock is being dropped, bought and audited, sometimes a few miles apart.

A Flock license plate reader along East Front Street near DTE’s Monroe Power Plant in Monroe, Mich., Sept. 26. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry

▶ Watch the video · 58 sec

FOURTH OF FOUR PARTS

Fourth of four parts. This is the last of a four-part series examining the use of Flock license plate cameras in Oregon, Ohio, drawn from the records the city’s police division released this month.

Part 1: the cameras, who searches them, and what the city’s own officers did with them.
Part 2: the 19 words Ohio added to its records law, and the department that handed the records over anyway.
Part 3: what is in the records: who searched, when they came, and what they said they wanted.
Part 4: who stands where on Flock across the region.

Flock’s cameras have become a fight over privacy and over results. Officials who defend them point to cases solved: the Monroe County sheriff credited the system with 99 cases investigated or solved last year.

In Toledo, police told a City Council committee on Sept. 17 that 17 homicides “likely would have gone unsolved” without the cameras, and Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Lindsay D. Navarre told the same committee that “this community will be less safe” without them. Flock Safety makes the same case for itself. Its website lays out four cases it credits its license plate cameras with helping to solve, from a catalytic converter theft ring, where it says its system “played a substantial role,” to a missing elderly woman.

Critics point to how far the data travels and how many outsiders can search it. This series has shown how far. Oregon, a city of about 20,000, runs 12 of the cameras, and by Aug. 11 its network logs had recorded more than 11 million searches that reached them, nearly all from police agencies outside the city. Oregon’s own officers ran 13,216 searches in the released records from March 2025 through July 20, 2026—a shorter period than the outside-agency count. In September, that argument sent neighboring communities in opposite directions.

In southeast Michigan, seven governments voted or moved to end their arrangements with Flock Safety. Three of them sit just across the state line in Monroe County. In northwest Ohio, only the village of Pioneer has pulled back, rescinding in September a decision to buy the cameras.

Who has pulled out

The broadest move came first, on Sept. 1, when the Monroe County commissioners voted 8-1 that the county, “to the fullest extent permitted by law,” “shall immediately cease and desist” from using any Flock system. The resolution “respectfully directs” the sheriff and, “to the extent possible,” every municipality, township, school and private entity in the county to stop too. It gives the county administrator 45 days to report what was ended and what it cost.

Monroe County’s cameras were a patchwork. The sheriff ran them, and townships paid for many of them under agreements with the county. Bedford Township’s Downtown Development Authority paid for four at Sterns and Secor roads, and Frenchtown Township for 12, most of them along U.S. 24, at $36,000 a year.

The sheriff’s 2025 annual report credits the system with 99 cases “investigated/solved,” and his goals for 2026 included adding 20 more cameras.

The townships followed the county out. Bedford Township’s Downtown Development Authority voted Sept. 10 to end its agreement, WTOL reported. On Sept. 15, Frenchtown’s board voted 7-0 “to terminate all funding to the County of Monroe regarding Flock vehicle readers” and asked the county to “remove the readers expeditiously.” Monroe Charter Township, which paid for four more, and the city of Monroe, which has cameras of its own, have not announced a change.

The county had also signed a Flock drone contract on March 25: nothing the first year, then $250,000 a year, $750,000 in all. Commissioner J. Henry Lievens said at the Sept. 1 vote that the resolution reaches “drone, robot, stationary” systems alike. No Flock item has appeared on the board’s agendas since.

In Lenawee County, Sheriff Troy Bevier told a committee of commissioners on Sept. 3 that his office was considering ending its Flock pilot. The committee’s minutes record that it had proved “not as beneficial as originally intended.” The minutes of Sept. 15 record that the commissioners, meeting as a committee of the whole, voted to ask the county’s lawyer “to work with Flock Camera Organization to cancel the current contract.” Six days later Adrian’s commission voted 7-0 to end the city’s Flock contract.

In Oakland County, Independence Township’s board voted Sept. 8 to cancel its contract, remove its eight cameras and have Flock swear it had purged the township’s data. “This action reflects both the concerns we heard from residents and our commitment to carefully reviewing every Township expense,” Supervisor Chuck Phyle II said.

In Eastpointe, in Macomb County, the council voted 4-1 on Sept. 15 to end the contract for the city’s 18 cameras. The next day the police department said an investigation had found two employees misused the system, one for personal purposes and the other against department policy; the second case remains under investigation. The chief has said the cameras helped the department solve dozens of crimes a year.

In St. Clair Shores, also in Macomb County, the council voted Sept. 21 to cover its 12 cameras and take up the contract again in March.

September’s moves followed a run of quieter exits in metro Detroit. Ferndale ended its Flock partnership in November 2025, Clawson’s renewal failed in May on a tied council vote, and Westland’s chief let its contract expire at the end of July rather than bring a renewal to a divided council.

Beyond the region, Fort Wayne’s council voted on Aug. 25 against renewing its contract, and the city’s 36 cameras were offline by Aug. 31. In Indiana’s Kosciusko County, commissioners voided a Flock contract on Sept. 22, two years early. In Ohio, Wyandot County’s sheriff began taking down 16 cameras in August, Reynoldsburg switched its cameras off on Sept. 9, and Columbus covered its 65 the week before.

Who has added or renewed

The buying has not stopped. In Macomb County, Warren’s council renewed its Flock contract in July, 4-3, for $132,000. Sterling Heights, next door, has set an Oct. 20 vote on whether to renew.

Around Toledo, the additions are small, and at least two governments in Lucas and Wood counties have added cameras. Sylvania’s council added both of its November camera ordinances to that night’s agenda and passed them as emergencies, 6-1.

One set aside $90,000 for 15 readers, the other $13,300 for two more.

In April, Washington Township’s trustees approved a 90-day trial of Flock cameras, and by August a resident was asking them about the new cameras going up.

Toledo has a five-year plan for Flock cameras at schools in Councilman Adam Martinez’s district, held at second reading since Aug. 25.

Holland’s council approved a five-year Flock contract in December 2023, replacing a two-year one. The University of Toledo’s police run 30 Flock cameras at the entrances of its two campuses and added a portable camera trailer last year.

The state has been buying more too. Ohio’s prison system paid Flock $171,000 in 2025 and $213,500 this year. Its chief inspector ran 23,532 of the searches that reached Oregon’s cameras.

Who is still deciding

Toledo, the largest Flock customer in the county, is auditing its system with the cameras still on. Council members asked at the Sept. 17 hearing for a pause. Council voted 9-0 on Sept. 22 for the audit instead, with the cameras staying on while it runs. In June, council turned down a two-year renewal of four portable readers and approved one year instead, 8-4. It also approved paying for a second year of the city’s police drone, which is Flock’s too, for up to $100,000. The drone began flying Sept. 29, 2025.

In Adrian, which dropped its cameras Sept. 21, a resident, Markqone Russell, said Flock cameras “would be beneficial to the Adrian area if it was a large crime rate.” Toledo has one. Its police reported 32 homicides to the FBI for 2025, about 12 for every 100,000 residents, nearly three times the national rate of 4.1.

Crime in Toledo has fallen since council approved the first 25 cameras, a free yearlong trial, in February 2022. The city reported 64 homicides and 3,140 violent crimes to the FBI that year, and 32 and 2,306 in 2025. No one has shown how much of that the cameras did. Most of the homicide drop came in 2023, and in 2025 Toledo’s count held flat while the nation’s fell 18%, the FBI said. Auto theft, the crime plate readers are best suited to, rose after the cameras went up, to 1,396 in 2023. It fell 6% in 2025, against 27% across the 34 large cities whose auto theft is tracked by the Council on Criminal Justice.

Police Chief Michael Troendle told the committee Sept. 17: “While I’ll tell you that there’s no study done right now that’ll tell you 100% that this will happen, the removal of this technology and other technologies that go a long way in helping us do our job will increase our crime rate in the city.”

What the department has measured is cases solved. Assistant Chief Kevin Braun told the committee Sept. 17 that detectives solved about 59% of homicides in 2021, the year before Flock, and about 87% in 2024, 81% in 2025 and 86% so far this year, against a national average he put at about 61%. He added: “Now I’m not suggesting that Flock alone is responsible for those numbers. These cases are solved because of our detectives, our patrol officers, our prosecutors, other surveillance video, cooperation from the community and many other investigative resources, but Flock has become one of those resources.”

Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken asked in August for a pause and an outside audit, and Sheriff Mike Navarre answered that he had “no intention” of shutting his system off.

On Aug. 19, Navarre put a new written policy in force for the sheriff’s cameras. It limits their use to “official and legitimate law enforcement business” and bars recording plates out of public view, harassment or intimidation, use based solely on a protected characteristic, personal use and use that infringes constitutional rights. It does not list immigration or traffic enforcement, the first two uses Oregon’s page prohibits, and it says reasonable suspicion or probable cause “is not necessary before using the ALPR.” It promises to post information about the cameras online at least every 90 days and to show its contracts “to any community group upon request.”

For Oregon, and for most of its neighbors, the decision is still ahead.

Who has not said

Most of Oregon’s neighbors have not moved either way. None of the Rossford council minutes read for this story, from November to August, mentions the cameras. No public action since the summer turned up for Perrysburg, Perrysburg Township, Maumee, Sylvania Township, Waterville or Holland.

No agency this paper found publishes how many Flock cameras the region has. Volunteers who map them on OpenStreetMap, the data behind the DeFlock map, had placed 2,292 in the 19 counties this paper covers by Sept. 26, 294 of them in Lucas County.

The map is a sketch, not a census. It held 93 of the 115 readers Toledo police reported this month, and it includes cameras that businesses, hospitals and colleges own.

Farther out in northwest Ohio, the picture is mostly quiet use with a few hesitations. Sandusky keeps its 10 Flock readers and in August approved a separate camera contract with Axon. In Williams County, Jefferson Township’s trustees tabled the sheriff’s offer of Flock cameras in March, and the village of Pioneer voted on Sept. 14 to rescind a plate reader purchase.

What the log shows about the region

Oregon’s search log carries the name of almost every agency on Flock’s network, and nearly all of their searches sweep hundreds or thousands of camera networks at once. The 116 agencies from the coverage area ran 410,682 searches that reached Oregon’s cameras, under 4 percent of the outside total.

The narrow searches came from next door. Of the 394 outside searches that looked at 10 networks or fewer, 328 came from agencies in the coverage area, led by Toledo, Rossford and the Lucas County sheriff.

The governments that have moved to leave appear in the log like everyone else. The Monroe County sheriff ran 7,385 searches that reached Oregon’s cameras, Eastpointe 2,385 and Adrian 1,502. The log records who searched. It does not say why anyone left.

Cameras becoming targets

The argument has also reached the poles. Five Flock cameras were damaged between East Toledo and Oregon over the weekend of Aug. 15, among them two on Oregon’s Starr Avenue that were cut down and spray-painted. Another was cut down near Dorr Street and Joyce Lane by Aug. 1, the date of a Toledo police report cited by 13abc, and one was knocked over on Central Avenue early Sept. 6. On Saturday, a camera pole at Dorr Street and Flaire Drive in west Toledo was found cut near the ground; by evening the pole, the camera and its solar panel were gone. In Michigan, the Livingston County sheriff took his cameras down, for now, after repeated vandalism.

The cameras are drawing fire in statehouses too. Lawmakers in both states have bills waiting. In Michigan, several would cap how long plate data is kept or who may see it. One, introduced Sept. 24 by Rep. Matt Koleszar, would bar sharing captured plate data, and sending it to police outside Michigan would take a court order. All sit in committee.

In Ohio, Attorney General Andy Wilson asked the legislature on Sept. 16 to make misuse of the cameras a felony, as misuse of the state’s police database already is, while defending their use. State Sen. Al Cutrona submitted a bill on Sept. 9 that would delete the data after 10 days and make selling it to a third party a felony. Three House bills, one sponsored by Rep. Gary Click of Sandusky County, have been introduced. None has come out of committee.

Flock changed its own terms in August. New customers now keep images seven days by default instead of 30. “Existing customers will keep their current, democratically approved retention periods,” Chief Executive Garrett Langley wrote. Oregon’s Flock page says its images are kept 30 days.

What comes next for Oregon

Oregon’s council meets Monday at 7 p.m. at the municipal building, 5330 Seaman Road. Flock is not on the agenda the city posted. Its one police item is an application for a state grant for bulletproof vests. Council can add items at the meeting, and the Flock order reached it that way in January 2025, added from the floor.

After Monday, the contract sets the calendar. The order form Police Chief Brandon Begin signed sets a 24-month term that began with the cameras’ “first installation and validation.” The first camera went up June 4, 2025, so the term runs to about June 2027.

The agreement then “will automatically renew” for another 24 months unless either side gives notice at least 30 days before the term ends. That puts the last day to leave in early May 2027. Nothing in the order form or the ordinance requires a council vote to renew it. If no one acts, the cameras stay to about June 2029.

What council approved has been spent. The ordinance authorized up to $78,300 for a two-year contract, and the city paid $42,300 in February 2025 and $36,000 in June 2026.

The order form does not say what a renewal would cost, or whether one needs new approval from council. The ordinance says the cameras were a line item in a federal COPS technology grant, priced for two years. The city has not said whether federal money paid for any of the first two years.

Whether Oregon means to keep the cameras is not known. Mayor Steven R. Salander, Chief Begin and the city’s finance director were sent questions on Sept. 16 and had not answered by press time. Flock’s press office was sent eight questions about Oregon’s records on Sept. 16 and five more on Sept. 25, and had not answered either.

How this was reported

This paper read the minutes, agendas, contracts and policies of the governments named here, and the September coverage of the local outlets credited below, most of it on Sept. 26. The coverage area is the 13 northwest Ohio counties and six southeast Michigan counties the paper covers. Each agency in the Oregon Police Division’s network audit, the log of outside searches that reached the city’s cameras from March 6, 2025 to Aug. 11, 2026, with no searches recorded from May 20 to May 31, 2026, was placed by the Census Bureau’s lists of places and townships; statewide agencies and same-name townships the label could not place are left out. Camera counts are the most recent found, and the table gives each one’s date. The log is on the records page.

Sources: Oregon Police Division network audit, March 2025 to Aug. 11, 2026, released under R.C. 149.43 and posted in full on this paper’s records page, counted by this newspaper; the minutes, agendas, contracts and policies of Monroe County, Frenchtown Township and Bedford Township, Mich.; Lenawee County; the City of Adrian; Sylvania; Washington Township, Lucas County; Rossford; Holland; the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office; the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office 2025 annual report; the City of Toledo’s legislative record; WDIV ClickOnDetroit; WTOL; the City of Ferndale; Independence Township, Mich.; the City of Eastpointe; Police1; Hoodline; C&G News; WBOI; InkFreeNews; WKTN; WOSU; The Village Reporter; Signal Ohio; UToledo News; the Ohio attorney general; the FBI; the Council on Criminal Justice; 13abc; the Ohio Senate; the Michigan Legislature; Flock Safety. Our earlier reporting: part 1, part 2 and part 3.

Clarification, Oct. 26, 2026: The 13,216 searches by Oregon officers cover the released records from March 2025 through July 20, 2026; the outside-agency count runs through Aug. 11. Including 546 officer searches from Aug. 1–11 brings the officer total to 13,762. The released officer records contain no July 21–31 data. The original paragraph did not distinguish these date ranges.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Family sues Monroeville schools, saying district was warned about teacher in 2022

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 06:26:20 -0400

Family sues Monroeville schools, saying district was warned about teacher in 2022

THE COURTS · MONROEVILLE · HURON COUNTY

The federal suit, filed Sept. 11, follows a criminal case against Holly Bauer, a former Monroeville social studies teacher, that prosecutors dropped last year.

The James M. Ashley and Thomas W.L. Ashley U.S. Courthouse in Toledo, where the family filed its suit Sept. 11. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry.

▶ Watch the video · 46 sec

A former Monroeville student and his parents have sued the Monroeville Local Schools board of education, Superintendent Kristin Kaple-Jones, former principal James Kaczor and former teacher Holly Bauer in federal court in Toledo.

The suit, filed Sept. 11, says the district was warned in the spring of 2022 about Bauer’s conduct with the boy, who was 13 and in her eighth-grade class, and left her in the classroom. It claims she sexually abused him from January 2022 through at least September 2023. He is now 18 and sues in his own name. The Lake Erie Inquiry is not naming him at this time.

The complaint is the family’s account. None of the defendants has answered it in court.

What the suit says the district knew, and when

According to the complaint, a parent called Kaple-Jones on May 4, 2022, about Bauer and the student at a district race. On June 1, 2022, the district reprimanded Bauer in writing; the complaint quotes the reprimand as citing “unwarranted physical contact with a student.” The suit says Bauer kept teaching and coaching: she taught eighth-grade social studies and coached junior high and high school cross-country and junior high track.

The complaint says the student went to Kaple-Jones on Sept. 26, 2024, and that she called Monroeville police the same day, who referred the case to the Huron County Sheriff’s Office. It says the district put Bauer on paid leave the next day, and released her from employment on Nov. 12, 2025, after her teaching license expired.

The criminal case

Huron County deputies arrested Bauer on March 7, 2025. A county grand jury indicted her a week later, on March 14, on 16 counts: three of rape, four of sexual battery, five of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, one each of burglary and trespass in a habitation, and two misdemeanor counts of failing to comply with underage alcohol laws. She pleaded not guilty on April 1 and was released on a $100,000 bond.

In July 2025 her lawyer, Jonathan M. McGookey of Sandusky, asked the court to decide whether the case relied on statements Bauer gave in the district’s own investigation, which by law cannot be used to prosecute a public employee. Before Judge James W. Conway ruled on that request, the state asked him on Sept. 2 to dismiss the case. Its motion said “further investigation is needed before the State can further proceed in this matter.” He dismissed it on Sept. 8, 2025, without prejudice, which means the charges can be brought again. As of Sept. 25, nothing new had been filed in the dismissed case.

SIDEBAR · GARRITY AND KASTIGAR

Two U.S. Supreme Court cases govern what prosecutors may do with statements a public employee gives on the job. In Garrity v. New Jersey (1967), police officers under investigation were told they would lose their jobs if they refused to answer questions. The court held that answers given under that threat are coerced and cannot be used against the employee in a criminal case.

Kastigar v. United States (1972), a case about witnesses granted immunity, set the test courts now apply to protected statements like these: prosecutors must prove that their evidence came from a source independent of what the defendant was made to say. A defendant can ask for a hearing, called a Kastigar hearing, to make them prove it.

That is the question Bauer’s lawyer put to the court in July 2025: whether the case rested on what she told the district’s own investigator. The state asked to dismiss before the judge ruled.

The lawsuit

The suit claims the district violated Title IX, the federal law against sex discrimination in schools that take federal money, and that Kaple-Jones, Kaczor and Bauer violated the student’s constitutional rights. It also brings negligence claims against the district and the two administrators, and assault and other claims against Bauer alone. It asks a jury to award damages in an amount to be set at trial.

The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge James R. Knepp II, with Magistrate Judge Darrell A. Clay drawn for any referral. The family is represented by Leslie O. Murray and John T. Murray of Sandusky.

Under the federal rules, each defendant has 21 days to answer after being formally served with the suit, or 60 days if it agrees to waive formal service. Read again on Tuesday morning, the court’s docket showed no defendant had been served and no lawyer had appeared for any of them.

On Friday, Sept. 25, The Lake Erie Inquiry asked the district, through Kaple-Jones, and Bauer’s lawyer, McGookey, for comment, and asked the Huron County prosecutor about the dismissed case. None had responded by the paper’s deadline.

Sources: the complaint, No. 3:26-cv-02214 (N.D. Ohio), Doc. 1, filed Sept. 11, 2026, and the federal docket as read Sept. 29, 2026; Huron County Common Pleas case CRI 2025 0188: the indictment (March 14, 2025), the arraignment and bond entry (April 1, 2025), the state’s motion to dismiss (Sept. 2, 2025) and the dismissal entry (Sept. 8, 2025); Cleveland 19, March 7, 2025, on the arrest; Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(a) and 4(d) on answer deadlines.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

MC Tank driver sprayed at 1266 Progress Ave. in 2025

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 16:24:43 -0400

MC Tank driver sprayed at 1266 Progress Ave. in 2025

Just over a year before this week’s emergency, a chemical transfer at 1266 Progress Ave. sprayed an MC Tank driver. The company told federal regulators it would “continue to train and enforce” safe loading and unloading procedures.

First published Wednesday afternoon in a special edition.

An MC Tank driver was sprayed with a chemical and sought medical treatment after a transfer went wrong at the company’s Toledo terminal in September 2025, according to a report the company filed with federal regulators. It happened at 1266 Progress Ave., the address Toledo officials identified for this week’s emergency, in which a leaking tank led the city to order nearby residents out of their homes.

This week’s release was due to an “error that occurred when the material was being transferred,” a spokesperson for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency told CNN on Wednesday. The statement, as CNN reported it, did not describe the error.

The two releases involved different chemicals, and the 2025 report does not show what caused this week’s leak.

In the earlier incident, on Sept. 29, 2025, an MC Tank driver was transferring propylidynetrimethanol from a shipping container into a tank trailer, according to the company’s report in the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s public records, report E-2025100697. It happened at 2:15 p.m. The shipper was Perstorp Polyols of Toledo, and the report lists the product as a hot liquid, shipped at or above 100 degrees Celsius, or 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

The report says it appeared that an attempt to clear chemical from the delivery hose overpressurized the trailer, forcing product out through its dome lid. Some sprayed the driver, who sought medical treatment.

In the report’s “Recommendations Actions Taken” field, the company wrote: “MC Tank Transport, Inc. will continue to train and enforce safe loading/unloading policies and procedures.” The entry does not identify a specific procedure change or document when additional training occurred. The report’s contact is Brian Wymer, vice president of risk management at KAG Specialty Products Group, a Kenan Advantage Group company.

The record lists two gallons released and one employee injured but not hospitalized; it does not describe the injury. It notes a Toledo Fire report and an in-house cleanup. The trailer, a steel cargo tank built to the federal DOT 407 standard, held about 5,440 gallons of its 6,500-gallon capacity; the record lists it as built in 1996 and last tested in October 2024. The report names the failed part as the trailer’s cover and the cause as over-pressurization, and it does not classify the incident as serious under the federal definition.

This week’s emergency began Oct. 20 and involved glycidyl methacrylate, which MC Tank describes as an industrial chemical used to make certain plastics, paints and coatings perform better. In an Oct. 21 morning update, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency described a compromised intermodal tank of about 5,500 gallons and a chemical reaction under way inside it. Firefighters’ attempts to contain the release were not successful, the agency said, and the city had decided to let the reaction finish. On Wednesday afternoon the tank’s temperature was dropping and the release was slowing, city spokesperson Amy Voigt told CNN. At 5 p.m. the city lifted its orders for residents beyond a half mile of the plant; the evacuation inside the half mile was still in force Wednesday night, the city said. Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, who had warned in the morning that the tank could become explosive, told CNN around 4:30 p.m. that “we don’t see that as a very real possibility.” ProMedica said it had evaluated and treated about 30 patients at its Toledo-area hospitals who reported symptoms “potentially related to the chemical leak,” as of 1 p.m., and that most had been treated and released, CNN reported.

MC Tank confirmed in an Oct. 21 statement that equipment associated with its operations was involved. It said safety was its overriding concern, that it had mobilized specialized resources and that it was working with emergency responders and the Red Cross to assist affected residents. The statement did not address the 2025 injury or identify the cause of this week’s release.

MC Tank had not responded by Thursday morning to questions The Lake Erie Inquiry sent at 4:12 p.m. Wednesday to Molly Hane, the contact listed on the company’s statement, about what changed after the 2025 incident and what operation was under way when this week’s release began.

Other accidents in the federal record

Since 2020, MC Tank has reported two other chemical injuries to federal regulators besides the September 2025 spray at 1266 Progress Ave., and OSHA records on its parent company, Kenan Advantage Group, describe two workers killed at a Kenan site in Cleveland in 2020, five years before Kenan bought MC Tank. None of the records shows what caused this week’s release.

MC Tank and Kenan accidents and inspections in federal records, 2020 to 2026

When and where	What the record says	Harm and penalties
Feb. 20, 2020 · ClevelandKenan Advantage Group facility · OSHA inspection 1464356	A worker cleaning a nitrogen-purged tank was overcome by oxygen-deficient air; a worker who went in to rescue her was also overcome. They worked for a steel fabricator and a chemical distributor.	Two killed. Kenan cited; $33,735 in penalties after a settlement.
Nov. 14, 2020 · North Canton, OhioKenan Advantage Group facility · OSHA inspection 1503680	A worker removed a leaking fitting on a pneumatic trailer system without relieving the air pressure, and the fitting was forced out.	Worker hospitalized with a fractured eye socket. $11,104 in penalties after a settlement.
May 15, 2024 · Macedonia, OhioMC Tank, before Kenan bought it · OSHA severe-injury data, ID 2024054313 and inspection 1748766	A cargo tank exploded as an employee added a chemical containing sodium hydroxide to an aluminum tanker. About 3,000 gallons escaped.	Worker hospitalized with severe chemical burns. Inspection closed with no violations listed.
Aug. 28, 2024 · Findlay scalesMC Tank vehicle, before Kenan bought it · FMCSA inspection OH9480300075	Inspectors found manholes or valves not closed or leak-free, and a release from the packaging that was charged to the shipper.	Neither violation was marked out of service, and neither counts toward federal safety scores.
Sept. 29, 2025 · 1266 Progress Ave., ToledoMC Tank, after Kenan bought it · PHMSA report E-2025100697	The company reported that clearing the delivery hose appeared to overpressurize the trailer, forcing product out through the dome lid. About two gallons were released.	Driver sprayed; sought medical treatment.
Feb. 7, 2026 · Huger, S.C.MC Tank, after Kenan bought it · report E-2026030124 in PHMSA’s public search	The driver disconnected the delivery hose without first releasing pressure on the unloading line, the company reported. About a gallon of sodium hydroxide solution was released.	Driver sprayed; sought medical attention.

Note: Records The Lake Erie Inquiry checked for this story, not a complete safety history. A company’s incident report is its own account, not an agency’s finding of fault, and none of these records shows what caused this week’s release. Kenan announced its purchase of MC Tank on March 31, 2025.

The Lake Erie Inquiry

On May 15, 2024, an MC Tank employee was adding a chemical containing 24% to 50% sodium hydroxide to an aluminum tanker when the cargo tank exploded, according to OSHA’s severe-injury record. About 3,000 gallons escaped, and the worker was hospitalized with severe chemical burns to the upper body.

OSHA’s inspection lists the site as 8769 South Freeway Drive in Macedonia, Ohio; West Chester, the address in the injury file, is the company’s mailing address. The inspection closed Sept. 24, 2024, with no violations listed.

On Feb. 7, 2026, an MC Tank driver in Huger, S.C., “failed to remove pressure from the unloading line prior to disconnecting the delivery hose,” the company reported to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. About a gallon of sodium hydroxide solution sprayed the driver, who sought medical attention.

An Aug. 28, 2024 roadside inspection at the Findlay scales found an MC Tank vehicle’s manholes or valves not closed or leak-free, and a hazardous-material release from its packaging that was charged to the shipper. Neither was marked out of service, and neither counts toward the carrier’s federal safety scores.

The Cleveland deaths happened Feb. 20, 2020, at Kenan’s facility at 8101 Union Ave. According to OSHA, a worker employed by a structural steel fabricator entered a tank to clean it after it had been purged with nitrogen; the tank held residues of Ecocure II and methyl ethyl ketone. She was overcome by the oxygen-deficient air. A worker employed by a chemical distribution company entered to try to rescue her and was also overcome. Both died of asphyxiation.

OSHA cited Kenan for four serious violations and one other-than-serious violation with $53,976 in proposed penalties; a formal settlement left three serious violations, one other-than-serious violation and $33,735. The case closed in March 2021.

At a Kenan facility in North Canton on Nov. 14, 2020, a worker was removing a leaking fitting on a pneumatic trailer system without relieving the air pressure, and the fitting “was forced out by stored pneumatic energy,” OSHA said. He was hospitalized with a fractured eye socket. The case ended with $11,104 in penalties after an informal settlement. WTOL reported the Cleveland and North Canton cases on Oct. 21.

Kenan announced on March 31, 2025, that it had acquired MC Tank. The 2020 Kenan cases and the 2024 MC Tank explosion came before the purchase; the Toledo and Huger sprays came after.

This is a developing story, and updates are expected.

The evacuation, the map and what to do: the latest in Local & Metro.

Sources: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, hazardous materials incident reports E-2025100697 and E-2026030124; Occupational Safety and Health Administration, severe injury report 2024054313 and inspections 1748766, 1464356 and 1503680; Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, inspection OH9480300075; Kenan Advantage Group, acquisition announcement; WTOL 11; CNN; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Toledo Glycidyl Methacrylate Release response page; MC Tank Transport Inc., statement; City of Toledo, emergency update.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

State Rep. Elgin Rogers Jr. indicted on two gun felonies

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 14:10:00 -0400

State Rep. Elgin Rogers Jr. indicted on two gun felonies

He is due in court Oct. 28, six days before the election. A new gun charge is more serious than the one he was arrested on in August, and his municipal court cases, where the gun charge had been cut to a misdemeanor, are to be dismissed.

▶ Watch the video · 32 sec

An Ottawa County grand jury has indicted State Rep. Elgin Rogers Jr. on two felony gun charges and a charge of operating a vehicle under the influence, from his Aug. 12 arrest outside Genoa. He is to be arraigned at 11 a.m. Oct. 28 in Ottawa County Common Pleas Court, six days before he faces voters on Nov. 3.

The indictment, filed Sept. 30, charges Rogers, 47, a Toledo Democrat who represents Ohio’s 42nd House District, with improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle, a fourth-degree felony that covers a loaded gun the driver or a passenger could reach without leaving the vehicle. That count is new and more serious than the gun charge he was arrested on. The indictment also includes that arrest charge, improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle while under the influence, a fifth-degree felony, and operating a vehicle under the influence, a first-degree misdemeanor. Under Ohio law a fourth-degree felony can bring a prison term of six to 18 months and a fine of up to $5,000; a fifth-degree felony, six to 12 months and up to $2,500. Probation, which Ohio calls community control, is also possible. Judge Bruce Winters has the case.

The Rogers case

How the case has moved

19 days to his court date25 days to Election Daycounted from Oct. 9

In municipal court

Aug. 12ArrestClay Township police stop his pickup on State Rt. 51 near Genoa and arrest him on a fifth-degree felony gun charge, driving under the influence and driving too slowly.

Aug. 13ArraignmentBooked into the county jail at 12:55 a.m. Pleads not guilty to all three; released at 11 a.m. on his own recognizance.

Aug. 27LicenseA judge stays his license suspension on his lawyer’s appeal.

Sept. 10InterviewTells The Truth he had not been drinking.

Sept. 18Hearing dateSet for a preliminary hearing on the felony. The record shows no outcome.

The charges go up

Sept. 30Charge upgradeA grand jury indicts him in Common Pleas Court: a new fourth-degree felony gun count, the original fifth-degree felony and driving under the influence. The same day, he votes in the House.

Oct. 1SummonsThe court orders him to appear Oct. 28. By Oct. 2 the municipal gun charge reads as a misdemeanor, with no reason given.

Oct. 9ProsecutorNo plea deal, the office says; the municipal cases will be dismissed.

TODAY · OCT. 9

Ahead

Oct. 21Service deadlineThe sheriff’s deadline to return the summons.

Oct. 28Court dateArraignment on the indictment, 11 a.m., Common Pleas Court, Port Clinton, Judge Bruce Winters.

Nov. 3ElectionFaces Republican Robert McMahon in the 42nd House District.

Sources: Ottawa County Common Pleas and Municipal courts; Clay Township police; Ottawa County prosecutor; Ohio House; The Truth.

The indictment, returned by a grand jury of the September 2026 term, carries the name of Ottawa County Prosecuting Attorney James VanEerten and the signature of the grand jury’s foreperson. The prosecutor asked the court to have Rogers served in person, and on Oct. 1 the court issued a summons addressed to the Lucas County sheriff, with service to be returned by Oct. 21. It orders Rogers to appear Oct. 28 and warns that he may be arrested if he does not.

The indictment is to replace his cases in Ottawa County Municipal Court, where the felony gun charge had been amended to attempted improper handling, a misdemeanor, with no reason given in the court record. The Ottawa County prosecutor’s office told The Lake Erie Inquiry on Friday that there was no plea agreement. “The case was amended as a procedural matter to avoid the necessity of a preliminary hearing,” the office said in an email. “Mr. Rogers has been indicted on the charges by an Ottawa County grand jury. As a result the municipal cases will be dismissed.” A felony filed in municipal court needs a preliminary hearing within set deadlines unless the defendant waives it or a grand jury indicts first.

This paper reported in Friday morning’s edition that the felony had been reduced to a misdemeanor. That was wrong: a grand jury had indicted him on two felonies nine days earlier. The paper learned of the indictment Friday morning, when the prosecutor’s office answered the request for comment this paper had emailed Wednesday evening. The morning story has been corrected.

According to the Clay Township police report, Patrolman D. Nieves stopped Rogers’s pickup on State Rt. 51 near North Billman Road a little after 10:15 p.m. after pacing it at 40 mph in a 55 mph zone and twice seeing it weave within its lane and touch the white line. The officer wrote that Rogers’s eyes appeared bloodshot and glassy and that he smelled “a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage” on his breath. Rogers declined field sobriety tests and was arrested. Taking an inventory of the truck, the officer found a loaded 9 mm handgun tucked between the driver’s seat and the center console, next to Rogers’s right leg; Rogers had told him the gun was in the console. At the police station Rogers did not answer when asked to take a breath test, which the officer recorded as a refusal, so the file holds no blood-alcohol reading.

Rogers has kept up his work at the Statehouse. On Sept. 30, the day the indictment was filed, the House roll call shows him voting against the 91-day gas-tax holiday in House Bill 519, which passed 78-16; in an Oct. 5 statement from his House office he called the holiday a “pump fake.” The same day his office announced that state and provincial lawmakers had elected him to a two-year term on the executive committee of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Legislative Caucus at its Sept. 28-29 meeting in Marquette, Mich. The caucus will meet in Toledo next year, he said. Neither statement mentioned the charges.

Rogers won the 44th District seat on Nov. 8, 2022, and eight days later was appointed to finish the term of Rep. Paula Hicks-Hudson; he was re-elected in 2024 in the 42nd District. Before that he worked in the Lucas County auditor’s office, as director of weights and measures and of education and outreach, and as an aide to Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken. He serves on the House energy, natural resources, transportation, and ways and means committees. He is a lead sponsor of House Bill 501, which would widen who can seek state compensation after a wrongful conviction; he testified for it in May.

In an interview The Truth published Sept. 10, Rogers said he had not been drinking and that he could not fully discuss the stop while the case is open. “No one is above the law,” he said, but “the legal process is not the court of public opinion.” He did not criticize the officers. The article’s advice to drivers, which Rogers echoed, was to comply and challenge any misconduct later through legal channels. “When they tell you to get out of the car, get out of the car,” he said. Rogers was not quoted on the gun charge, and the article did not mention his campaign.

Rogers and his attorney in the municipal cases, Christopher Liebold, did not respond to questions this paper sent Wednesday about those cases, and did not immediately respond Friday to questions about the indictment. Rogers faces Republican Robert McMahon on Nov. 3. He has not been convicted; the charges are allegations.

Sources: Ottawa County Court of Common Pleas, case 2026-CR-I 217A, State of Ohio v. Rogers, Elgin, indictment filed Sept. 30, 2026, the prosecuting attorney’s request for summons, the Oct. 1 summons on indictment, and docket, searched Oct. 9, 2026; Ottawa County Prosecutor’s Office, email to The Lake Erie Inquiry, Oct. 9, 2026; Ottawa County Municipal Court, cases CRB2600931A, TRC2603128A and TRC2603128B, docket read Oct. 2 and Oct. 9, 2026; Clay Township Police Department, incident No. 202601405, investigative report (Ptl. D. Nieves), supplement (Ptl. C. Szymanski) and breath-test record, provided to this paper under its records request; Ohio House of Representatives, roll call on Sub. H.B. 519, Sept. 30, 2026, and Rep. Rogers’s House office, member biography and statements of Oct. 5, 2026 (two), May 27, 2026, and Nov. 16, 2022; Ohio Revised Code 2923.16, 2929.14 and 2929.18; The Truth (Toledo), Sept. 10, 2026.

Correction, Oct. 26, 2026: The Oct. 9 special and Oct. 10 reprint of this story described the gas-tax holiday in House Bill 519 as lasting 90 days. Section 3(A) sets a 91-day period, Oct. 4, 2026, through Jan. 2, 2027. Rogers’s Sept. 30 vote against the bill and the 78–16 House tally were reported correctly.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

The state put $3 million into housing in this region last week

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 11:56:11 +0000

The state put $3 million into housing in this region last week

Toledo gets $2 million to prepare the Spitzer Building, empty at the corner of Huron and Madison, for about 180 apartments. Bowling Green gets $1 million to cut 117 house lots into a field near Brim and Bishop roads.

The Spitzer Building on Tuesday: the name cut into the terracotta, the doorway boarded, and a worker inside the fence. The $2 million is for water and sewer lines. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry.

The City of Toledo was awarded $2 million on Friday, Sept. 11 from the State of Ohio’s Residential Economic Development District program, known as REDD, for new water and sewer lines at the Spitzer Building at Huron Street and Madison Avenue downtown. That is narrower than the “site readiness” the city’s release calls it, and the narrower description is the state’s own: Brian Bohnert of the Ohio Department of Development gave it to The Blade. The city announced the award in a release on Monday. The Lucas County Land Bank owns the building and runs the project with the city.

On the same list, the City of Bowling Green was awarded $1 million for the planned Green Acres Subdivision near the intersection of Brim and Bishop roads: 117 workforce housing lots, which the city ties to housing demand created by the Amazon investment and others in Wood County.

What REDD is, in plain terms: a state grant program that pays for the work that happens before anyone builds a home (clearing, utilities, streets, the readying of a site) when that site sits near a large economic-development project. It does not build the housing and it does not pay a developer’s construction cost. Governor Mike DeWine and Development Director Lydia Mihalik announced this round of it, $14 million across 10 counties. The department says it received 32 eligible applications asking for nearly $69 million; this is the second round, after more than $9 million went out in March.

The program is built on a radius, and the radius is what makes a REDD award readable. Under the section of the Revised Code it runs on, a residential economic development district is every parcel within twenty miles of a “major economic development project” — which the statute defines as one expected to create at least 700 permanent jobs or draw at least $700 million in private investment. Every award therefore answers a question about proximity: which big employer is this housing meant to be near? Bowling Green’s answer is in the governor’s own announcement — Amazon, and other investment in Wood County. Toledo’s came from State Rep. Michele Grim, a Toledo Democrat, who put the award “following critical investments from General Motors and Stellantis in the Toledo community.” Neither the city’s release nor the state’s announcement names a qualifying project for the Toledo award in so many words, and this paper has not seen the application.

The round itself is worth a line. Grants run from $250,000 to $2.5 million, so Toledo’s $2 million is near the top of what the program gives. Four awards this round were $2 million — Cleveland, Cincinnati, Piketon and Toledo — and six were $1 million — Bowling Green, Columbus, Heath, Niles, Oberlin and Xenia. The program has $25 million to give in all.

The Toledo project the money attaches to is large. The city describes the Spitzer as phase one of a Four Corners District rehabilitation: about 250,000 square feet, about 180 residential units, with 30 percent reserved at 80 percent of Area Median Income. The city puts the whole project at $92 million, with about $18.3 million in public money already committed: state historic tax credits, brownfield and demolition grants, Land Bank funds and city ARPA money. Construction, the city says, “is expected to begin in late 2026 or early 2027,” and it estimates about 800 construction jobs. Phases two and three would be the Nicholas and Nasby buildings.

Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, in the city’s release, called it “nearly 200 new homes” and thanked the governor and the Ohio Department of Development. David Mann, president and chief executive of the Land Bank, said the award would “unlock nearly $92 million in private investment and set the stage for the Nicholas and Nasby buildings.” The unit counts move around, and they do reconcile. The city’s release says about 180; the mayor said “nearly 200”; Rep. Grim said 200. The Ohio Department of Development’s own figure is 180 to 200 for the Spitzer. The 400 that appears on the Land Bank’s project page is the Spitzer and the Nicholas together, not the Spitzer alone.

The developer has a name and a clock. The Land Bank’s own page for the Four Corners Project names The RKP Group, puts the two-building redevelopment at $190 million, and says a pre-development agreement authorized in September 2025 gave RKP the exclusive right to redevelop the buildings for twelve months if conditions were met. Twelve months from September 2025 is about now. Whether that was met, extended, or allowed to lapse is not on the page, and this paper has not asked. The agreement is the Land Bank’s to make and not the city’s, which is why it is not in council’s record.

What has not happened yet is worth saying plainly, because none of it is an accusation. No construction has begun. The private financing behind the $92 million has not been reported closed. There is no ordinance before council accepting the $2 million — this paper searched the city’s legislative record, every matter introduced since Aug. 1 and the whole record by keyword, and there is none. That is a step ahead rather than a step skipped: the award is four days old. What the record does hold for this building is older and smaller. In 2020 council spent $100,000 on critical assessments of the Spitzer and the Nicholas, passed as an emergency; in 2022 it accepted unspent Land Bank grant proceeds for the same assessments. The city’s federal recovery money reaches the Land Bank through brownfield agreements that name sites in general and do not itemize the Spitzer’s share. And in January, Councilman Martinez asked the administration how many Toledoans were working the remediation of the Spitzer — a referral the record marks answered. Remediation was under way eight months ago. Construction is the thing that has not started, and the two are not the same. The paper last named this building on Aug. 23, when leasing opened at the Spitzer — a detail that still sits oddly beside a building being readied for rehabilitation, and one the desk is carrying forward.

The two awards are worth reading together. Toledo’s money goes into a century-old office block downtown that has to be made habitable before anyone lives in it. Bowling Green’s goes into a field that has to be made into streets and lots before anyone builds on it. The state counted both as the same kind of problem (people who have work here and nowhere near it to live) and paid for the same part of the answer in both places: the part before the housing.

Sources: City of Toledo; The Blade; BG Independent News; Ohio Department of Development; Lucas County Land Bank; the City of Toledo’s legislative record; the Ohio Revised Code; Dayton Daily News; The Highland County Press.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Justice officials make the case for Flock in front of a council committee

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 05:17:05 -0400

Justice officials make the case for Flock in front of a council committee

The presentation landed on a split council and a largely unreceptive room. No vote was taken.

A Flock license plate reader banded to the traffic signal at Cherry and Page, in council District 4. The city’s own August location list places one here. Council is being asked to audit how such cameras are used, not to remove them. Photograph by The Lake Erie Inquiry, Sept. 8, 2026

Toledo’s police command staff spent most of an hour on Thursday making the case for the city’s Flock plate-reader cameras to a City Council committee, and a Lucas County Common Pleas judge followed them to make it from the bench.

The Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Committee took the cameras up for discussion, not for a vote, and got the fullest public accounting the department has given of a system it has used since 2022: how many homicides it has touched, how many outside agencies can search Toledo’s data, and where the safeguards stop.

Police Chief Michael Troendle opened. Plate readers, he said, are partly responsible for the 86 percent of homicides the department has solved since it started putting Flock cameras up in 2022. Taking the technology away, he said, would mean “we’ll have more victims.”

What the department put on the record

Assistant Chief Kevin Braun followed with the numbers. From the start of Flock in 2022 through Sept. 4 of this year, he said, the city recorded 210 homicides. Flock was used in the investigation of 142 of them — about 68 percent. And according to the department’s detective bureau, 17 solved homicides “likely would have gone unsolved without evidence developed through Flock.”

“That’s 17 homicide victims, 17 grieving families, 17 cases in which investigators likely would not have been able to provide those families with answers without this technology,” he said.

The department also reported more than 100 stolen vehicles recovered and 48 missing-person cases cleared with the system’s help. Two were older women who drove off and could not be found any other way: an 89-year-old traced through her maroon Chevrolet to a Michigan motel in February, and a 78-year-old with cancer and dementia found in Sylvania Township last October.

The department, Braun said, solved about 59 percent of its homicide cases in 2021, the year before Flock, then about 87 percent in 2024, 81 percent last year and 86 percent so far this year. The national homicide clearance rate, he said, is about 61 percent. “Now, I’m not suggesting that Flock alone is responsible for those numbers,” he said, crediting detectives, prosecutors, other video and community cooperation. “Flock has become one of those resources.”

Lt. Leslie Cook, the officer who works the Flock system and its search logs, then walked the committee through what the system is and is not. Toledo has had plate readers since the early 2000s and has contracted with Flock since 2022. Data is held 30 days and then deleted. A search requires both an offense type and a stated reason before it will run, and a hot-list alert still requires an officer to verify the plate before any enforcement. The system returns a photograph of the vehicle, a photograph of the plate, and the time and place — no registration, nothing about the driver, and no facial recognition.

Cook also disclosed the shape of the camera fleet: standard Flock readers, four relocatable “Flex” devices bought under a contract council approved a few months ago, and three live-view cameras that also read plates. Those three are the ones residents have asked about, she said, because they can be made to follow movement — and the department has that feature, “Guardian mode,” switched off on all three.

The numbers, in one place

THE SYSTEM

111standard plate readers

4relocatable “Flex” readers

3cameras that pan, tilt and zoom, and also read plates

30days the data is kept, then deleted

8staff with administrative rights

THE CASE THE DEPARTMENT MADE

Homicides since Flock arrived, 2022 through Sept. 4, 2026

recorded210

Flock used in the investigation142

solved, and “likely would have gone unsolved” without it17

100+stolen vehicles recovered

48missing-person cases cleared

Share of homicides solved, by year

before Flockwith Flocknational rate, about 61 percent

national, about 61%

59%

not given

87%

81%

86%

2021the year before Flock

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026so far

Figures are the department’s, given as “about.” It gave none for 2022 or 2023.

WHAT THE SEARCHES WERE FOR

Of every 1,000 plates read in 30 days

4 were searched, at most

Of every 1,000 images captured

2 tripped a hot-list alert

Reasons given for searches, and their share of all searches

motor vehicle theft1,541 · 17.5%

homicide and death investigation813 · 9.2%

every other reasonabout 73%

2,369 search sessions in 30 days. The department named the two largest reasons; the remainder is arithmetic.

WHO ELSE SEES IT

Sharing agreements, as the department’s slide counted them

in Ohioelsewhere

organizations Toledo shares its data with2,235

organizations that share their data with Toledo1,283

437 of the 2,235 are in Ohio; 371 of the 1,283 are. Of out-of-state searches, half a percent matched a read on Toledo’s network.

All figures as reported by the Toledo Police Department at the Sept. 17 committee meeting, in its presentation slides and in answer to council’s questions.

THE SYSTEM
Plate-reader devices	111 standard, 4 relocatable “Flex”
Cameras that pan, tilt and zoom, and also read plates	3
How long the data is kept	30 days, then deleted
Staff with administrative rights	8
THE CASE THE DEPARTMENT MADE
Homicides, 2022 through Sept. 4, 2026	210
Of those, Flock used in the investigation	142, about 68 percent
Solved homicides that “likely would have gone unsolved” without it	17
Stolen vehicles recovered	more than 100
Missing-person cases cleared	48
Homicides solved in 2021, the year before Flock	about 59 percent
2024, 2025 and 2026 so far	about 87, 81 and 86 percent
National homicide clearance rate, for comparison	about 61 percent
WHAT THE SEARCHES WERE FOR
Plates captured in 30 days that were searched	a maximum of 0.4 percent
Captured images that triggered a hot-list alert	0.2 percent
Search sessions in 30 days	2,369
Most common reason to search	motor vehicle theft, 1,541 searches, 17.5 percent
Homicide and death investigation	813 searches, 9.2 percent
WHO ELSE SEES IT
Organizations Toledo shares its data with	2,235, including 437 in Ohio
Organizations sharing their data with Toledo	1,283, including 371 in Ohio
Out-of-state searches that matched a read on Toledo’s network	half a percent

The audit, and its limits

No Toledo officer has misused the system, the department said, and no case is pending: “At this time we are not aware of any misuses... not for the Flock system.” The penalty for an officer caught checking on an ex-partner or a daughter’s date came in one word: “Termination.”

An audit tool inside Flock flags patterns, Cook said: the same user searching the same plate more than 30 days later, users searching only other agencies’ networks and never Toledo’s, the same plate entered under multiple case numbers, a user who is the only one in the department searching a plate and does it more than 10 times, and repeated searches over narrow windows.

Those flags go to her office and to supervisors, who can see the case or report number attached. She said eight people in the department have administrative rights to the system, and that the tool is new enough to be “overly cautious, overly flagging.”

Every flag so far has been resolved, she said: “We have been able to do all of these without any concern... These are valid law enforcement reasons that these officers are searching these plates.”

Nobody reviews a random sample of the searches the tool never flags. “At this time we aren’t pulling anything additional,” Cook said. And the tool does not watch the outside agencies Toledo shares with; it covers Toledo’s own users.

The department’s own slide put the sharing in numbers. Toledo shares its data with 2,235 organizations, 437 of them in Ohio, and 1,283 organizations share their data back with Toledo, 371 of them in Ohio. Federal sharing requests are switched off. Immigration and reproductive-care searches of Toledo’s data are not allowed. And of out-of-state searches, the slide says, half a percent found a matching read on Toledo’s network.

Why Toledo lets other departments search its cameras

Councilman Mac Driscoll, who is not a member of the committee, asked why Toledo lets other communities search its cameras at all, and whether the city is required to.

No, Troendle said. The city could wall the system off to Toledo officers tomorrow, and other departments would close theirs in return. “That degrades the system,” he said. “And then all of a sudden we aren’t able to find anybody that leaves outside the state or outside the city of Toledo, and some of those high-profile investigations will be lost.”

Communities around the country are switching their cameras off, he said, and are “already seeing degrading of the capabilities of the system.” Plate readers have existed for more than 20 years, and what raised this company above the rest was not the camera but the network: “That network of sharing of officers from jurisdiction to jurisdiction is a key component of this system.”

Braun added the geography argument. “If we don’t share, we could still solve a lot of crime in Toledo and prevent crime in Toledo, but we’re doing a disservice to victims across the nation who are crossing through Toledo’s 75 and the Turnpike,” he said. “Everybody sitting up there knows what a central location we are as far as national travel. And if those vehicles themselves are traveling through our city, we want to know about that and recover them.”

The federal question

The department’s most repeated claim was that federal agencies cannot get into Toledo’s system.

Federal sharing requests are switched off, Cook said, so federal agencies cannot even ask. A handful hold Flock contracts but cannot request a sharing relationship with Toledo. Immigration and reproductive-care searches are switched off as reasons, and a search entered under either one from any jurisdiction, she said, “will not even hit our network.”

Councilwoman Erin Kramer put the question to the department directly, noting that council had passed legislation against sharing information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. She asked two things: whether there is a way for ICE to reach Toledo’s data, and how any other federal agency outside the department’s sharing permissions would get information.

“As far as the ICE question goes, there is no legal way for them to access our system,” Troendle said. “There is no sharing agreement. There is no municipal avenue for them to get into our system.” He said he could speak only for Toledo, not for the county or for Oregon or Rossford.

Other federal agencies are a different matter. Toledo has good working relationships with the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and agencies like them, Troendle said, and shares information with them when the request does not violate department policy, serves “a legitimate law enforcement purpose,” and usually when it touches Toledo. Such an agency would not necessarily need a warrant: “It would depend on what they’re looking for.” Toledo officers sit on task forces with the FBI, the DEA and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Council split

Where council stood, in their own words

The Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Committee has seven members. Four answered the roll. Three others came anyway.

ON THE COMMITTEE, PRESENT

John Hobbs III chair

chaired; no position stated

Vanice S. Williams vice chair; council president

audit, but no pause

“I put forth the resolution for our auditor to do an audit. But I will not advocate for a pause.”

Erin Kramer

wants standing oversight

“I’ve looked at the transparency page. It’s not very transparent. I don’t get a lot of information from looking at that.”

George Sarantou

for the cameras

“When I’m on a public street I have to accept the fact that there are cameras all over the place.”

ON THE COMMITTEE, NOT RECORDED AT THE ROLL

Cerssandra McPherson

Sam Melden

chairs the committee that took up the city’s AI policy two days earlier

Theresa Morris

told this paper Sept. 16 she had asked for her district’s camera count and was waiting

NOT ON THE COMMITTEE, CAME ANYWAY

Mac Driscoll

pause it during the audit

“There’s no doubt in my mind that this has been useful, no doubt. … I do feel we should pause our Flock system, at least during that time.”

Theresa Gadus her July 1 records request was 78 days unanswered

relays her district’s call for a pause

“The consent of my governed, the people that I govern for right now, have a lot of questions and they want this paused and they do not want to be mass surveilled.”

Adam Martinez sponsors the District 2 school-camera project; invited the judge

“I wanted to make sure we were providing facts, and I’m not disregarding anyone’s beliefs, feelings or anything. I think they’re very real.”

NEITHER ON THE COMMITTEE NOR PRESENT

Brittany Jones · Nick Komives

Sources: the committee’s roll call and proceedings of Sept. 17, 2026, from this paper’s recording of the city’s own stream; committee membership from the city’s legislative record, body 273, read Sept. 17. Quotes are as spoken. A member marked “not recorded” was called and did not answer.

Driscoll said he had no doubt the system was useful, and called for it to stop while the audit runs.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that this has been useful, no doubt,” he said. “My question... is, is it too blunt of an instrument? Is it too imprecise of a tool? You can weed your garden bed by setting it on fire.”

His concern was where the data sits. “Some other company, a third party, has control of it,” he said, and he tied it to the past two weeks’ news about artificial-intelligence systems escaping their limits. He said he wanted certainty that the data of undocumented residents, or of women who come to Toledo for an abortion, is beyond a third party’s reach. “I do feel we should pause our Flock system, at least during that time.”

Council President Vanice S. Williams, who this month introduced the legislation to audit the Flock system, nevertheless said she would not pause it. She made the argument from her own district.

“As the district that has the most license plate readers and cameras, I am in support of them,” Williams said. “District 4 is the highest crime area in the city of Toledo. That crime has decreased significantly and crimes have been solved faster. The quality of life in our neighborhood in District 4 has been better over the years that I’ve been on council.”

District 4 has 26 of the city’s plate readers, the most of the six districts, by this paper’s count of the city’s own locations list. Williams described buying two ordinary cameras herself a few years ago for the Greenbelt apartments, “where the crime rate is extreme,” and for Bancroft at Fulton, and invited her colleagues to walk the neighborhood with her.

Then she walked the committee through the killing of 16-year-old Joseph Johnson on Woodward Avenue, and what she said she learned on a visit to the department. A neighbor’s Ring camera caught the car. A convenience-store camera identified it. State highway cameras picked it up. And then, she said, “the license plate reader tagged the license plate of the car.”

“I put forth the resolution for our auditor to do an audit. But I will not advocate for a pause,” she said. “Once that audit comes back, if we find out some mess, we’ll take action from there. But right now, I focus on the 16-year-old, the families living in the Greenbelt apartments, and Joseph Johnson.”

Councilwoman Theresa Gadus brought the case that went the other way. Brandon Upchurch was pulled over in April 2024 after a Flock camera misread a digit on his license plate and matched his red pickup to a stolen car, and was attacked by a police dog during the stop. Charges against him were dismissed. He sued the city and the officer in federal court, and the city settled last year for $35,000. An officer was reprimanded for failing to visually verify the plate against what the camera returned — the step the department had described earlier in the same meeting as a requirement before any enforcement action.

Gadus also cannot get the records she asked for. She filed a public records request on July 1, the day after council passed the one-year surveillance legislation, and had heard nothing in the 78 days since.

Kramer said the company’s public transparency portal for the department was not enough. “I’ve looked at the transparency page. It’s not very transparent. I don’t get a lot of information from looking at that,” she said. She said she asked in August how council could get audit information and wanted it regularly — “weekly, monthly” — if council keeps funding the system.

And then the judge

After council had finished its questions, Councilman Adam Martinez introduced a guest he had invited: Judge Lindsay D. Navarre of the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas.

Martinez is the sponsor of the request that is actually in front of council. His ordinance, O-307-26, introduced July 1 and held at second reading, would spend city money to put Flock cameras at 16 sites in his District 2 — schools, school stadiums and facilities, and what the legislation calls “select high-traffic intersections.” The city’s own paperwork calls it a pilot program.

He said he had wanted the judiciary’s view alongside the administration’s and council’s own.

Navarre had defended the cameras in a letter published in The Blade on Aug. 20, and she picked up the same argument at the table. She narrowed it first.

“I don’t come here as a spokesperson for Flock cameras,” she said. “I also don’t come here as someone who believes we should give law enforcement unlimited access to information.” She said she understood why people are uncomfortable with technology that records vehicles moving through their neighborhoods, and that the concern is legitimate.

Then 20 years in the local criminal justice system, the last 10 as a trial judge. “I tell you unequivocally that this community will be less safe without the use of Flock camera technology. It would be less safe because fewer violent crimes would be solved. Fewer missing persons would be located. Fewer stolen cars would be recovered.”

She drew from her own experience on the bench, citing four cases in which she said plate readers made the difference in catching the people who did it — two of them tried in her own courtroom, including the killing of Jasmine Queen and the road-rage shooting that killed an infant on Jackman Road.

Queen, 19, was shot in a plaza parking lot at Hill Avenue and Reynolds Road last November. The two men convicted of it were not identified by anyone in the lot that night, Navarre said, and the woman who drove them had met one of them on Snapchat, “so not a known associate.” Flock “played a pivotal role in identifying those suspects,” she said, and “that crime would not have been solved without Flock technology.” Both of those prosecutions were hers.

Two of the four were not hers, and one of those has not been tried at all.

“I’m not going to step up onto a soapbox and debate the philosophy of civil liberties with you, because that’s not my role here today,” she said. “But I’m more than happy to answer any questions you have for me about my experience, my perspective from the bench, and any insight you’d like into the specific cases where this technology proved pivotal.”

On the constitutional question, she said courts that have looked at plate readers have found “no reasonable expectation of privacy in a license plate on a public roadway,” and drew a line she returned to: “there is an important distinction to be made between mass surveillance of people and the use of a vehicle-based investigative tool after a crime.”

She closed on safeguards rather than cameras, and her model was LEADS, the state’s Law Enforcement Automated Data System, which requires certification and makes misuse a crime.

Spectators nearly unanimous in opposition

Then the chair opened the floor, and public comment ran more than an hour — a third of the meeting.

Richard Arnold, the first speaker, was the lone voice in support. He argued that the city has been cutting police budgets for years — the helicopter, the motorcycle unit, an armored vehicle sent back, Narcan cut by $20,000 — and that taking the cameras away would be one cut too many. Audit them if you want, he said, but do not stop them.

“City council doesn’t respond with rash decision making. City council listens to the people. City council listens to its law enforcement officers, and you make the best decision that you can,” he said. “And I do believe that an independent audit at this time is the right thing to do. Any termination or disruption, I don’t think that would be in the best interest of the city’s safety.”

He also told the committee that the public never got to make these arguments during the budget, because two safety committee meetings were canceled in February and March.

Anita Rios said she has lived on Robinwood for 30 years, a block from where a mass shooting wounded 12 people near the Old West End Festival in June — the same shooting the judge had cited earlier as a Flock success.

“I know there’s Flock cameras up there. I’m not safer in my house that I have lived in for 30 years,” Rios said. “If somebody kills me or shoots me, they’ll be able to catch the person, but I’ll still be dead... This is not a solution. This is an illusion of a solution.”

Mandy Layman said she came as a crime victim and argued for privacy anyway.

“I am a victim of crime. I have lived my whole life in poverty,” she said. “However, I also feel that my privacy is vital. Part of what keeps me protected from the people that harmed me is my privacy.”

Janice Flahiff, of Point Place, argued the constitutional case: “We choose to have cell phones, we choose to go into stores. We do not choose to be monitored by the state without legal and constitutional justification.” At a minimum, she said, “judicial warrants are needed.”

Paul Villa Franco, speaking for Abriendo Puertas para Soluciones, made the argument about what the cameras assume.

“Accepting this surveillance technology proposed in today’s ordinance sets a dangerous precedent,” he said. “It suggests that every Toledoan is guilty until proven innocent, shifting us away from the long-held American principle that we are innocent until proven guilty.”

Jessica Malina raised the immigration question. “Our fathers with legitimate visas are being arrested, detained, deported by the local law enforcement in this city,” she said. “They don’t get the opportunity to go through the diversion program.”

Belinda Covarrubias, hub director of El Centro Hub, read council its own law back to it. In March, council unanimously passed O-095-26, which enacted Chapter 115 of the Toledo Municipal Code, “Immigration Status and City Resources.” No city department, employee or public official, it says, “shall use city monies, equipment or personnel for the sole purpose of detecting or apprehending any person based on the person’s suspected immigrant status.”

Those cameras, Covarrubias said, are city equipment. “To me and to the community that I serve, these are not words. These are a promise.”

Sources: Toledo City Council, Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Committee · Toledo Police Department · City of Toledo Legistar · Office of Councilman Adam Martinez · Flock Safety · data.toledo.gov · U.S. Census Bureau.

Disclosures: The lead and the second story are the special edition of Sept. 17, carried forward as the day's lead on the publisher's order; their public-comment quotations are from machine transcripts of the council recording and the speakers' names are as heard, not yet checked against the Clerk of Council's sign-in sheet. The two class actions against Flock Group Inc. are described as reported by Atlanta News First and ClassAction.org; the complaints themselves are not quoted except where those accounts quote them, and no answer from the company had been filed in either case. The turnpike story's findings, recommendations and the chairman's quotation are from the safety board's own report; the revenue figures are from a commission memo obtained by 13abc, and the commission's crash-rate comparison and its spokesman's answer are as reported by The Blade. The Local & Metro item on the Toledo Zoo rests on 13abc's reporting for its figures and its quotation, credited in the text. The U.S. 24 interchange item is taken from the Ohio Department of Transportation's own news release. One photograph runs with the lead and it is this paper's own.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Twenty apartments open on North Cove for people who have been homeless longest

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 09:24:13 -0400

Twenty apartments open on North Cove for people who have been homeless longest

Unison Health cut the ribbon a year later than it had said it would, and no public account of the opening says how a person gets one of the twenty.

Whitney Manor, 1868 N. Cove Blvd., from the front walk on Saturday. The name is cut into the stone over the door. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry.

Unison Health cut the ribbon Thursday at Whitney Manor, 1868 N. Cove Blvd. in west Toledo. It holds 20 one-bedroom apartments for single adults or couples coming out of long-term homelessness, and the treatment is meant to be in the building with them: mental-health and substance-use care, life-skills work and workforce training.

The building is the nonprofit’s own, and the money was announced two years ago

The county’s parcel record puts the building in the nonprofit’s own hands. The owner of record at that address is Unison Behavioral Health Group Inc., parcel 1844884, measured at 0.449 acres, with a mailing address at a Toledo post-office box. A $300,000 state appropriation was announced for the project in September 2024. A lender’s sign standing on the lawn on Saturday credits Huntington Bank with financing it; the sign names no amount.

It opened a year later than the nonprofit expected. When the state money was announced two years ago, Unison said the building would open in the fall of 2025, and put the region then at 500 to 600 beds short for people without housing.

Twenty against a shortage the nonprofit itself measured in hundreds

The shortage is the reason the building exists; twenty apartments do not close it. That is not an argument against the building — it is the scale the building was always going to be measured against, and it is Unison’s own number, given when it asked for the money.

One thing no account of the opening answers, and it is the part a reader could act on: how a person gets in. Referral, waiting list or the county’s coordinated-entry system — no public account of the opening says which, and Unison’s own website carries nothing on the building at all.

Sources: the Lucas County Auditor’s parcel record for 1868 N. Cove Blvd.; the lender’s sign on the property, photographed Sept. 19; WTOL.

Disclosures: Today's lead rests on the Lucas County Auditor's parcel record, read by this desk, and on WTOL's account of the ribbon-cutting. The photograph of Whitney Manor is this paper's own, shot Saturday, Sept. 19. The Monrovia items on the sheriff's request and on the River Raisin treatment rest on The Monroe News and on the City of Monroe's own notices.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Adrian drops its ten plate cameras

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 07:27:33 -0400

Adrian drops its ten plate cameras

THE SECOND LEAD · PLATE READERS · LENAWEE COUNTY

Adrian’s police chief brought the proposal himself. The city ran ten cameras for three years at $32,500 a year and deployed them in 79 cases out of about 15,000 calls.

Adrian’s city commissioners voted Monday night to end the city’s contract with Flock Safety, the automated license-plate reader company. The withdrawal was proposed by Adrian Police Chief Vincent Emrick, who told the commission at its Sept. 8 meeting that “between the two of our agencies, we’re not seeing the return that we thought we would.” The city ran ten cameras for three years at $32,500 a year. Emrick proposed moving the money to a raised crosswalk downtown, which he said would help with “slowing the traffic, reducing the noise complaints.” That transfer is to be voted on separately.

The department takes roughly 15,000 calls a year and deployed the cameras in 79 cases in the last year, Emrick said, adding that “not every one is successful.” He also told the commission the network itself has shrunk: “There’s been about 500 fewer agencies over the last eight months.” Two residents spoke. Markqone Russell said the cameras “would be beneficial to the Adrian area if it was a large crime rate.” Vincent Inclan, a barbershop owner, argued for spending on parks and recreation or on cleaning the Raisin River.

The counts, agency by agency

Agency	Plate readers	As of
Akron PD	145	Apr. 2024
Toledo PD	109	Aug. 17, 2026
Dayton PD	72	Apr. 2024
Fort Wayne PD	36, now 0	Aug. 25, 2026
Grand Rapids PD	31	Aug. 2026
Lucas Co. Sheriff	27	Sept. 2025
Lansing PD	21	Sept. 2025
Adrian PD	10, now 0	Sept. 21, 2026

The dates are not level. These figures were published between April 2024 and September 2026, so the comparison spans about three years, and a department that added or removed readers in between will not show it here. The city counts come from agency disclosures compiled in the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Atlas of Surveillance, checked against each agency’s own figure where one exists. Counties and cities are listed separately because a sheriff’s readers may sit inside a city or outside it; the rows do not add up.

What each side says the cameras do

Departments that keep the readers cite recovered stolen vehicles, hit-and-run investigations and Amber Alert clearances, and say the cameras photograph plates rather than people. Flock has stated it holds no contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and that it removed federal agencies from its national search network in August 2025. At a Grand Rapids public safety committee hearing in August, a Flock representative said the company is the only major plate-reader vendor without a Department of Homeland Security or ICE contract, and that “you cannot directly share with them in our system.”

Residents and advocates who have opposed the contracts raise how long the images are kept, who may query the database, and the sharing between agencies that no city council voted on. Speakers at the Grand Rapids hearing disputed the company’s answer on the ground that a nationwide lookup does not require a direct federal account, and said cooperation between departments happens regardless of a written policy. The city took no decision.

Adrian is the fourth government in or near the coverage area to end a Flock arrangement since Aug. 25. Fort Wayne’s council declined its renewal that day. Monroe County’s commissioners rescinded their contract 8-1 on Sept. 1. Bedford Township voted on Sept. 10 to end its agreement with the county. A Lenawee County committee moved on Sept. 15 to cancel a contract that has not been confirmed as Flock.

Sources: the Adrian City Commission; the Adrian Police Department; 13abc; Flock Safety; the City of Toledo’s plate-reader transparency page; the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Atlas of Surveillance.

CORRECTION — TWO FACTS IN THE ADRIAN STORY. The first printing of this edition (No. 55, Sept. 22) spelled the Adrian police chief’s name “Vince Enrick.” He is Vincent Emrick, as the city’s own memo gives it. It also said Bedford Township voted Sept. 11 to end its Flock agreement with Monroe County. The vote was on Thursday, Sept. 10. Corrected in a second printing of this edition, Saturday, Sept. 26.

Disclosures: The regional plate-reader counts are compiled from agency disclosures in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Atlas of Surveillance, checked against each agency's own published figure where one exists. Population figures are the Census Bureau's 2023 five-year American Community Survey. The counts were published between April 2024 and September 2026 and are not all of the same date.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Toledo will audit its Flock cameras and leave them switched on

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 05:52:57 -0400

Toledo will audit its Flock cameras and leave them switched on

City Council voted 9-0 on Tuesday for an emergency resolution putting the city’s license-plate reader system in front of its own auditor.

The instrument is R-398-26, a resolution introduced Sept. 10 and carried on the Sept. 22 agenda, titled “Resolution requesting an audit of the City’s use and oversight of the Flock system and declaring an emergency.” Council approved it without a dissenting vote.

Two council members, Nick Komives and Brittany Jones, were absent from the meeting. Cerssandra McPherson was not present for the vote. John Hobbs III, who co-sponsored the resolution with Council President Vanice Williams, estimated the audit could be finished as soon as the end of October.

The auditor works for council, not for the mayor

A Flock Safety automated license-plate reader is a pole-mounted camera that photographs passing vehicles and records the plate and other identifying features into a searchable database. Police can query that database and can be alerted in real time when a camera sees a vehicle they are looking for. The audit is of the searching, not of the hardware.

The work goes to City Auditor John Rivalsky, who is independent of the administration and reports to council. The resolution authorizes him to evaluate the policies, procedures and controls meant to keep Flock information accessed, searched, shared, retained and used for authorized purposes — including searches run by city personnel, searches of the city’s network or data by outside agencies, the network-sharing arrangements that let outside agencies in, data-retention requirements, training, the controls designed to catch unauthorized use, and compliance with the city’s own policies.

Council can ask for a pause. It cannot order one.

Several council members had said before Tuesday that the cameras should stop while the audit runs. None asked for that from the floor. Section 30 of the Toledo Municipal Code bars council members from interfering, directly or indirectly, with the mayor’s administration; council may request a pause but cannot require one. “I do feel like we should pause our Flock system at least during that time,” Mac Driscoll had said. “[But] that’s an administrative decision.”

Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz confirmed after the meeting that the cameras would not be paused during the audit, and said that if the audit turns up abuse of the system the city could switch them off. Police Chief Michael Troendle, who told council’s public safety committee last Thursday that he is not aware of any misuse by Toledo officers, said he supports the review and does not want a pause. “We won’t fight the audit,” he said. “We want our officers to be using the cameras in the correct way, and if someone is misusing our technology, we want to know about it.”

The misuse question was already put in writing, and marked answered

The chief’s statement is not the first time the question has been asked on the record. The city’s legislative database carries REF-130-26, a referral filed Sept. 9 by Komives reading: “Have we ever or are we currently investigating any misuse or abuse of the Flock system by city employees?” It is marked Answered Referral. A second referral the same day, REF-128-26, from Councilman Martinez, asked the administration for a copy of the study cited at a Lucas County press conference on Flock; it is also marked answered. The answers themselves are not published in the database.

As of this morning the city’s own legislative record still showed R-398-26 with the status “Agenda Ready” and no passage date. The database had not been updated with Tuesday night’s vote when this was written.

Toledo is taking a different road from its neighbors

Four governments in and around this paper’s coverage area have ended or moved to end a Flock contract since Aug. 25: Fort Wayne declined to renew; Monroe County’s commissioners rescinded theirs 8-1 on Sept. 1; Bedford Township ended its agreement with Monroe County on Sept. 10; and Adrian’s commission voted Sept. 21 to withdraw its ten cameras, which this paper reported in No. 55. Toledo, the largest deployment in the region, is reviewing rather than leaving. Adrian’s police chief, Vincent Emrick, told his own commission that the network itself is shrinking: “There’s been about 500 fewer agencies over the last eight months. So people are withdrawing pretty quickly, and that’s fewer cameras out there.” The figure is his, and Flock has not published a count.

Sources: Toledo City Council legislative record (R-398-26, O-397-26, O-399-26, O-401-26, REF-128-26, REF-130-26, REF-134-26), read at toledo.legistar.com; The Blade, Sept. 22, for the meeting and the quotations.

CORRECTION — TWO FACTS IN THE REGIONAL PARAGRAPH. The first printing of this story (No. 56, Sept. 23) said Bedford Township ended its Flock agreement with Monroe County on Sept. 11. It was Thursday, Sept. 10. The story also spelled the Adrian police chief’s name “Vince Enrick.” He is Vincent Emrick. Corrected in a second printing of this edition, Saturday, Sept. 26.

Disclosures: The lead's account of Tuesday night's council meeting and its quotations come from The Blade; the instruments, their numbers, titles, introduction dates and status are read from the city's own legislative record. The two Lima-area court items come from The Lima News.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Toledo holds $24 million to rebuild Monroe Street, with the busway unsettled

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 07:06:52 -0400

Toledo holds $24 million to rebuild Monroe Street, with the busway unsettled

The city holds $24 million to rebuild 7.6 of the corridor’s 13.6 miles. A TARTA bus already runs the whole length of it; what rapid transit would add is dedicated lanes and stations.

A TARTA bus works Route 33 downtown on Sept. 12, fleet number 2402. Bus rapid transit on Monroe Street would not be a new bus. It would be a lane this one does not have, and stations in place of stops.

The money to rebuild Monroe Street belongs to the City of Toledo, not to the transit authority. The city holds a $24 million U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets for All implementation grant for Monroe from West Laskey Road to Summit Street, a stretch the city publishes as 7.6 miles. Among the outcomes the city states for the grant is one line that belongs to somebody else’s project: “Support future Bus Rapid Transit improvements.” The city’s own page for the grant states no crash figures; the Ohio Department of Transportation publishes crashes by segment.

The busway is TARTA’s. Its corridor brochure puts 30 percent design of the bus rapid transit line at 2026 to 2028. The city puts its own Monroe reconstruction at 2028 to 2029. The two schedules land on the same street in the same years, and neither agency has published the answer to the question that follows: does the 2028–29 reconstruction build the running way the buses would use? If it does not, Monroe is rebuilt twice. TARTA’s selection of Monroe was previously reported here on Saturday, in an item corrected the following day; what is new today is the money on the street and the two calendars that do not agree.

The two agencies publish different spans for the same grant

TARTA’s brochure lists the Safe Streets for All work on Monroe as running 2026 to 2031. The city lists implementation as 2028 to 2029. It is one pot of money and two published spans, two years apart at the far end. Neither agency is unaware of the other, and each has the other’s work drawn on its own project timeline, which makes the mismatch a question about which calendar is current rather than about whether anybody is talking.

A TARTA bus already runs the corridor end to end

Route 2 runs from Sylvania to Oregon and back, along Monroe Street and through downtown, and one of its stops is Monroe at Corey Cove, the western end the corridor study draws. Its weekday timetable prints a departure from the Oregon end once an hour, and a service change that took effect Sunday says the route will “join line up at the top and bottom of the hour” from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

TARTA’s own frequently asked questions set out the difference. They describe high-performance transit as “frequent service with limited stops, dedicated or priority lanes, enhanced stations with accessible, pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly design.” Route 2 has none of that. The study calls what it is studying Toledo’s first bus rapid transit line, which is the plainest statement that nothing of the kind runs on Monroe Street today.

The brochure and the frequently asked questions carry a timeline, a locally preferred alternative headed for the Regional Transportation Plan in 2026, about thirty potential station locations named by street pair, and the reason for the street: Monroe, with the East Toledo routes and Navarre Avenue, gives east-west connectivity between the area’s activity centers, and the University of Toledo area is under review as well. Neither carries a cost for any of it. Travel times and ridership are still to be evaluated, and those are the numbers that would make the case for it.

Six of the corridor’s 13.6 miles have no reconstruction money attached

Measured through each street’s own drawn centerline, the proposed corridor runs 13.6 miles from Corey Road in Sylvania Township, through downtown, across the Maumee and east to Schmidlin Road in Oregon. The funded stretch measures 7.59 miles; the city publishes 7.6, which is the check on the measurement. That leaves 0.98 miles west of Laskey and 5.0 miles east of Summit, including the river crossing, East Toledo and all of Oregon: 6.0 miles, 44 percent of the line, with no reconstruction money attached to it today. Safe Streets for All is a safety grant for one street, not a transit construction grant, so an unfunded mile is not a mile the buses would not run on.

The Monroe Street corridor. The heavier line is the 7.59 miles the city’s $24 million Safe Streets for All grant covers, of the 13.6-mile corridor TARTA has studied for bus rapid transit. Drawn by this newspaper from the city’s and TARTA’s own published limits and TIGER/Line 2025 centerlines.

About one household in six along the line has no car, nearly twice the county rate

This desk derived who the line would serve from the census rather than from either agency’s description of it. Within a half mile of the corridor live 53,612 people, counted in the 2020 census. 41,386 of them are inside Toledo city limits: 15.3 percent of the city, about one resident in seven. The rest live in Sylvania Township or Oregon and are not Toledoans, which is why the corridor is not a Toledo project alone. Of the 24,616 households in that half-mile band, about 16 percent have no vehicle available, against about 9 percent across Lucas County. The margins on those two rates do not overlap, so the gap is real and not an artifact of sampling.

The income spread along the line is wider than any single figure carries. About a quarter of the corridor’s households, 26 percent, live on under $20,000 a year, and 11 percent on under $10,000. Just over half are under $50,000. At the other end, 2.8 percent are over $200,000.

One bus line, running from block groups where the median household income is under $12,000 to block groups where it is above $145,000.

Sources: the City of Toledo’s Safe Streets for All project page for Monroe Street; TARTA’s Monroe corridor brochure, its rapid transit FAQ and its Route 2 timetable; 2020 Census block counts and the American Community Survey 2019–2023 five-year tables B25044 and B19001, apportioned to the corridor by this desk (tools/corridor_acs.py); TIGER/Line 2025 centerlines. Population is a 2020 enumeration and the household figures are 2019–2023 estimates, three years apart. The median income shown in our workings is an interpolation of bracket counts, not a published Bureau figure, and is not printed here. Our earlier reporting on the corridor ran in No. 52, and was corrected on this subject — the stations and the timeline — in a second printing of that edition.

Correction, Oct. 26, 2026: The Sept. 21 Monroe Street story said the published timelines ended five years apart. TARTA’s brochure gives 2031 and the city’s schedule gives 2029: two years apart, not five. The two published timelines still differ.

Correction: Correcting No. 52, Saturday, Sept. 19: our item on TARTA's Monroe corridor said the authority had published little detail. TARTA has in fact published a project timeline and about thirty potential station locations, named by street pair, in its corridor brochure. What TARTA has not published is a cost.

Disclosures: Population figures for the Monroe corridor are 2020 census enumerations; household, vehicle and income figures are American Community Survey 2019-2023 five-year estimates, apportioned to the corridor by this desk and carrying margins of error. The two vintages are three years apart. The map of the Monroe corridor is this newspaper’s own, drawn from the city’s and TARTA’s published limits. The photograph of a TARTA bus is this newspaper’s own.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Oregon mayor orders development partner out of its city office

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:25:36 -0400

Oregon mayor orders development partner out of its city office

Mayor, council members and OEDF director trade accusations a week before residents go to the polls over data center deal

▶ Watch the video · 177 sec

Oregon Mayor Steven Salander ordered the city’s economic development foundation out of its city-owned office. On Monday night, a councilman told him he had no authority to do it, and the city’s law director said the notice might not be valid.

“Is it correct that we have given a eviction notice to the Oregon Economic Development Foundation out of that building?” Councilman Dennis Walendzak asked right after the mayor’s report.

“Yes, yes, I did,” Salander said. “Sure did.”

“You don’t have the authority to do that,” Walendzak answered. “That’s city council’s authority.”

The rent dispute came with a complication. As Finance Director Nick Roman understood it, the city stopped charging the foundation when its former director became a city employee. When that changed back — the foundation’s current director is not employed by the city — the free office space stayed.

By the end of the meeting, Salander had invoked the foundation director’s personal debt, a councilwoman had offered to swear on a Bible over a folder she took home, and another had told the mayor he was not elected king.

“And you’re also not a queen,” he replied.

Eight days before Oregon’s data-center vote, the city’s fight with its development partner was spilling across the council chamber.

An office dispute with bigger stakes

The Oregon Economic Development Foundation, known as OEDF, is a separate nonprofit that works with the city on development. It also owns land involved in the proposed Vantage Data Centers project.

The foundation and the city signed, as the two sellers, a 2024 purchase agreement for about 168 acres at Corduroy and Wynn roads. Capacity LLC, a Florida company, agreed to buy the property in 2024; of the five parcels the agreement lists as owned outright, the foundation owns four and the city one, and the foundation holds purchase options on nine more. The foundation has named Vantage Data Centers as the intended user.

On Nov. 3, Oregon votes on Issue 25, a charter amendment to ban data centers over 25 megawatts. Monday’s public comments reflected the stakes: teachers and parents argued that the project could help fund schools, opponents raised concerns about noise and nearby neighborhoods, and residents appealed for people to remember they would still be neighbors after the election.

The foundation’s office lease is a separate matter from that land sale. So is a broader agreement over the foundation’s relationship with the city. Both the office arrangement and the broader agreement remain disputed.

How the rent stopped

Salander said the foundation had paid no rent “since May of 2018.” Roman believed the last payment was in May 2017, under a 2016 lease calling for $500 a month.

Roman explained that a previous foundation director became a city employee, with the city paying the salary. His understanding was that the city then stopped charging rent for an office occupied by its own employee.

When the position moved back to the foundation, Roman said, changes in the city administrator, finance director and foundation director meant the people taking over did not know about the original lease. “I think we all take a share in the blame of that,” he said.

Salander said the foundation should have resumed paying. The city offered a new lease in June, he said, and “they wouldn’t sign it.” Roman said the Chamber of Commerce, another tenant in city space, pays $400 a month.

The law director, Chynna Fifer, said council authorizes or terminates leases and the mayor executes those decisions. She described the foundation’s arrangement as month-to-month even without a current written lease. She had known discussions were underway, but had not known the mayor would serve the notice that day.

Asked by Councilman Steve Hornyak whether the 30-day notice was therefore invalid, she answered: “Potentially not valid, correct.”

The broader funding agreement was also stuck. Councilwoman Beth Ackerman described the city’s annual contribution to the foundation as $100,000. But City Administrator Brodin Walters said inadequate city funding was an obstacle to signing the new agreement, which “remains unexecuted.” His explanation did not specify how much funding was missing.

Rebecca Bennett, the foundation’s executive director, had telegraphed that Monday’s meeting would be combative when she posted a social media message Sunday night accusing city leaders of keeping the foundation’s support letters from council. She included a screenshot of a March 10 email in which Public Service Director Paul Roman asked her to add two revenue lines to the foundation’s 2026 budget: $80,000 from investors and $100,000 from Oregon. Salander replied the same day: “At this point in time I would not add Oregon $100k in your budget.”

That exchange was part of a thread Bennett started March 6, when she emailed Council President Paul Drake, copying the clerk of council, the mayor, Public Service Director Paul Roman and members of the foundation’s board, and asked that letters of support be “shared with Council members and included in the materials for the next Council meeting.” The 20 letters, those with dates written between Feb. 26 and March 4, came from employers including Toledo Refining Company, Cenovus’s Toledo refinery, Mercy Health St. Charles, Rudolph Libbe Group and GenoaBank, and from Jim Fritz, then Oregon City Schools superintendent. At least three came from the employers of foundation leaders: its president on its latest tax return, Mercy’s Craig Albers, and board officers who work at Rudolph Libbe and GenoaBank.

The dispute turns personal

About 20 minutes before the mayor’s report, Bennett had taken the podium saying she was there “not representing any organization, just myself, a resident, an Oregon taxpayer, and a mom of three.”

She challenged Salander over his public criticism of her job performance, including, she said, his claim that she had lost companies.

“Which companies, and where’s the proof?” she asked.

Salander said the business owners had come to him themselves and felt “brushed off and ignored.” Bennett said the mayor had stated that the law director advised him not to discuss them.

In his report, Salander said he wanted safeguards for public money and land held by the foundation, including bonding for its director. He also said the city had sought bank statements without receiving them.

Then, without naming Bennett, he told the room that the director had a “public garnishment” for an unpaid debt. He described her as “somebody that can’t handle their personal finances” being put “in charge of your funds.”

Fifer cut him off: “I think at this point, most of this, we should stop this conversation.”

Hornyak later called the mayor’s remarks about the director “inappropriate.”

Toledo Municipal Court records confirm the debt judgments and garnishment filing. LVNV Funding, a debt buyer, won two default judgments against Bennett last November, for $937.68 and $1,273.33 on accounts. In February, it filed to garnish her wages on the smaller judgment, naming the foundation as her employer. The court’s notice to the foundation came back unclaimed in April. The larger judgment was marked paid in June.

Those records establish the debts. They do not establish that Bennett mishandled the foundation’s money.

The folder goes home

Bennett also questioned Ackerman about taking council’s foundation file home in August and keeping it for two months. Ackerman, who sits on council’s economic development and finance committees, said she was researching the organization’s history and had taken no originals.

Bennett said she had received hate mail, threats and “disturbing packages” at home, including emergency contraception, and had filed several police reports. She said Ackerman requested records about her reports the same week the packages arrived.

“I’m not accusing you of sending anything,” Bennett told Ackerman, “but I’m asking why you prompted that request.”

Resident P.J. Kapfhammer then read city emails about the folder. According to an Oct. 20 email he read aloud, Fifer had been told the mayor authorized Ackerman to take it home on Aug. 20. Salander’s reply that evening said “permission was only given to look at them in my office, but no permission to remove from the building.”

“I would like to know who’s lying here first,” Kapfhammer said.

Salander answered that the folder contained copies.

“I will swear on a Bible with an affidavit,” Ackerman said. “I took no originals.”

Fifer said she had confirmed the originals were in the finance department, reviewed state ethics opinions and found no violation. She still wanted a clear policy against removing city files from the building.

Ackerman’s account of why she wanted the documents went beyond the folder. In her later report, she questioned how the foundation’s arrangement had evolved from city matching funds into a flat annual contribution, and how it handled land acquired with public money. She said she wanted accountability for the organization’s finances and property.

“You weren’t elected king”

Councilwoman Kathy Pollauf’s complaint was about being left out: council was learning about city business through social media.

She asked who had pulled a proposed charter amendment on closed-door executive sessions.

“Yep, I requested it to be pulled,” Salander said. He defended his ability to withdraw an administration proposal and said two council members could bring it forward themselves.

“You weren’t elected king,” Pollauf told him.

“And you’re also not a queen,” Salander replied.

A point of order interrupted the exchange. Council later took a 13-minute recess.

Near the close, Council President Paul Drake described encounters with residents who ask his opinion about the data center and then “want to nitpick and bitch about it.”

He also asked the audience to leave for their cars within 15 to 20 minutes after adjournment, with police keeping watch, following what he called “an issue” two weeks earlier.

The notice to the foundation remained unresolved. Council took no vote that night to authorize or withdraw it. Fifer said she wanted further talks with the foundation’s side before a decision and would brief council by email, because, she said, without executive sessions there is no other way to share it.

Sources: Oregon City Council recording, Oct. 26, public comments and reports; city purchase agreement with Capacity LLC, Nov. 14, 2024; Toledo Municipal Court, CVF-25-10223 and CVF-25-10503.

Drafted by AI from public records and other named sources, built at 3:30 a.m. A human editor edits and publishes every issue and answers for what runs. It will sometimes be wrong. Write to info@lakeerieinquiry.org or submit a correction here.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Springfield seeks five more years of fire funding

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:25:36 -0400

Ballot questionSpringfield Township, Issue 28

Springfield seeks five more years of fire funding

Springfield Township is asking voters to keep about $1.16 million a year flowing to fire and ambulance services. Issue 28 renews an existing levy for five years; it does not add a new tax. The ballot estimates the cost at $43 a year for each $100,000 of market value.

What would the money pay for?

Firefighters, equipment, buildings and ambulance services. The ballot also permits spending on water supplies, fire-alarm communications and required employer pension contributions.

When would it run?

The five-year term begins with tax year 2026, with the first payment due in 2027.

What if it fails?

This levy would expire rather than continue into the proposed new term. The township did not answer questions sent Sept. 30 about its share of the department’s budget or what the department would cut.

Sources: Lucas County Auditor; Lucas County Board of Elections

“For the Tax Levy” means

Springfield Township keeps collecting its fire and EMS levy of up to 1.8 mills for five more years, which the ballot puts at $43 a year per $100,000 of market value (about $1.16 million a year), first due in 2027. This vote does not add a new levy.

“Against the Tax Levy” means

The 1.8-mill fire and EMS levy is not renewed and stops when its current term ends. The township's other fire levies are not on this ballot and are not changed by this vote.

How it reads on your ballot

Proposed Tax Levy (Renewal)
Springfield Township

A majority affirmative vote is necessary for passage.

A renewal of a tax for the benefit of Springfield Township for the purpose of protection against fire, and to provide and maintain fire apparatus, or other fire equipment and appliances, buildings or sites therefore, sources of water supply and materials therefore, or lines for fire-alarm communications, and to pay permanent, part-time, or contingent fire-fighting personnel or companies to operate such equipment, including payment of any employer contributions required under Revised Code 742.34, or to purchase ambulance equipment, or to provide ambulance or emergency medical services operated by a fire department or fire-fighting company, that the county auditor estimates will collect $1,160,504 annually, at a rate not exceeding 1.8 mills for each $1 of taxable value, which amounts to $43 for each $100,000 of the county auditor's market value, for 5 years, commencing in 2026, first due in calendar year 2027.

For the Tax LevyAgainst the Tax Levy

Source: Lucas County Board of Elections, official sample ballot

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Swanton library says failed renewal could shorten hours

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:25:36 -0400

Ballot questionSwanton library district, Issue 10

Swanton library says failed renewal could shorten hours

Swanton Public Library could shorten its hours if voters reject Issue 10, Director Marian Veld said. The five-year renewal would keep its 1-mill operating levy, estimated to raise $220,002 a year across the library’s two-county district. The ballot puts the annual cost at $22 per $100,000 of market value.

Is this its only levy?

No. The library also has a continuing 0.5-mill levy. Together, the two provide about 42% of its income, Veld said. That is the combined share, not the contribution of the renewal alone. The library’s funding explanation describes the smaller levy as continuing without renewal votes.

What happens if it passes or fails?

Approval renews the levy for tax years 2026 through 2030, first payable in 2027. Rejection would leave it unrenewed. Veld said every part of the budget would need a look; because staffing is the largest expense, hours could be cut. She did not describe an adopted schedule of cuts.

Her answers appear here as she gave them, with some light editing.

What share of the library’s operating budget does the 1 mill pay?

We have a continuing 0.5-mill levy in addition to the 1-mill levy that will be on November’s ballot. Approximately 42% of our income comes from these two levies.

The ballot says the levy will raise $220,002 a year. The Lucas County auditor’s levy estimator shows $84,258 from Lucas County parcels. Is the rest from Fulton County?

Yes, the remaining levy money will come from Fulton County.

How has the library’s state Public Library Fund money changed over the last two years?

Our Lucas County PLF has not been significantly affected by PLF changes. Our Fulton County PLF is down about 6%.

If it fails, what would the library cut?

If the levy fails, we would have to look at every area of our budget. Since staffing is the largest part of our budget, hours could potentially have to be cut.

Sources: Lucas County Auditor; Lucas County Board of Elections; Swanton Public Library, written answers and funding FAQ

“For the Tax Levy” means

The Swanton Public Library keeps collecting its 1-mill operating levy for five more years, which the ballot puts at $22 a year per $100,000 of market value (about $220,002 a year across Fulton and Lucas counties), first due in 2027. This vote does not add a new levy.

“Against the Tax Levy” means

The 1-mill library levy is not renewed and stops when its current term ends. Nothing changes on tax bills before then.

How it reads on your ballot

Proposed Tax Levy (Renewal)
Swanton Public Library
(Fulton and Lucas Counties)

A majority affirmative vote is necessary for passage.

A renewal of a tax for the benefit of the Swanton Public Library for the purpose of current expenses that the county auditor estimates will collect $220,002 annually, at a rate not exceeding 1 mill for each $1 of taxable value, which amounts to $22 for each $100,000 of the county auditor's market value, for 5 years, commencing in 2026, first due in calendar year 2027.

For the Tax LevyAgainst the Tax Levy

Source: Lucas County Board of Elections, official sample ballot

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Berkey’s renewals fund village operations and 911

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:25:36 -0400

Ballot questionsBerkey

Berkey’s renewals fund village operations and 911

The village of Berkey, in Richfield Township, has two renewals on its ballot, each 3 mills for five years. Issue 23 pays 911 operating expenses: $76 a year per $100,000 of market value, $26,508 a year. Issue 24 pays for operating the village: $70 per $100,000, $24,558 a year. Both new terms start in 2027, first due in 2028, so the current levies still collect on 2027 bills.

What does the 911 levy buy?

Berkey’s share of the county’s emergency-dispatch bill. Clerk-Treasurer Sheri Laux said the charges reflect the village’s annual call volume and its share of equipment and software purchased and used by the county.

How much depends on these levies?

Using 2025 figures, Laux said the operating levy supplies 28% of the general fund and the 911 levy supplies 100% of the 911 fund. Those are shares of two separate funds, not percentages to add together.

Why do two 3-mill levies cost different amounts?

Asked whether the difference reflects their approval in different years, Laux answered, “Yes.” Use the ballot’s costs: $76 per $100,000 for 911 and $70 for village operations.

What if voters reject one?

Each question is a separate vote. A rejected levy would not be renewed for the proposed five-year term; the other question’s result stands on its own.

Sources: Lucas County Board of Elections, sample ballot; Village of Berkey, written answers

“For the Tax Levy” means

Berkey keeps collecting its 3-mill levy for 911 operating expenses for five more years, which the ballot puts at $76 a year per $100,000 of market value (about $26,508 a year), starting in 2027, first due in 2028. This vote does not add a new levy.

“Against the Tax Levy” means

The 911 levy is not renewed and stops when its current term ends. Nothing changes on tax bills before then.

How it reads on your ballot

Proposed Tax Levy (Renewal)
Village of Berkey

A majority affirmative vote is necessary for passage.

A renewal of a tax for the benefit of the Village of Berkey for the purpose of 911 operating expenses that the county auditor estimates will collect $26,508 annually, at a rate not exceeding 3 mills for each $1 of taxable value, which amounts to $76 for each $100,000 of the county auditor's market value, for five years commencing in 2027 first due in calendar year 2028.

For the Tax LevyAgainst the Tax Levy

Source: Lucas County Board of Elections, official sample ballot

“For the Tax Levy” means

Berkey keeps collecting its 3-mill levy for operating the village for five more years, which the ballot puts at $70 a year per $100,000 of market value (about $24,558 a year), starting in 2027, first due in 2028. This vote does not add a new levy.

“Against the Tax Levy” means

The village operating levy is not renewed and stops when its current term ends. Nothing changes on tax bills before then.

How it reads on your ballot

Proposed Tax Levy (Renewal)
Village of Berkey

A majority affirmative vote is necessary for passage.

A renewal of a tax for the benefit of the Village of Berkey for the purpose of operating the Village that the county auditor estimates will collect $24,558 annually, at a rate not exceeding 3 mills for each $1 of taxable value, which amounts to $70 for each $100,000 of the county auditor's market value, for five years, commencing in 2027, first due in calendar year 2028.

For the Tax LevyAgainst the Tax Levy

Source: Lucas County Board of Elections, official sample ballot

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Sandusky releases State Theatre’s second $500,000 before work ends

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:25:36 -0400

Sandusky releases State Theatre’s second $500,000 before work ends

Sandusky City Commission voted 4–2 on Monday to pay the second half of its $1 million grant to the Sandusky State Theatre now, rather than when the restoration is finished. Commissioners Richard Koonce and Tim Schwanger voted no.

The 2023 grant (Ordinance 23-165) paid $500,000 up front and held the other $500,000 until the theater was complete and had its certificate of occupancy. The amendment instead deposits that money with Civista Bank once the bank confirms the other funders’ money is in: the Dorn Foundation, the Erie County Community Foundation, the Schlink Foundation, EPIC and the Erie County visitors bureau. The project has been stalled since 2024 over a dispute with its general contractor; a June 2020 storm tore off the roof.

Commission President Kate Vargo, the city’s liaison to the theater’s oversight board, first voted yes, then said she should have abstained and withdrew her vote. The measure had failed to pass as an emergency on Oct. 12.

Sources: Sandusky City Commission agenda packet, Oct. 26; the commission’s recording of the meeting.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Sandusky approves 99-year lake lease at Battery Park

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:25:36 -0400

Sandusky approves 99-year lake lease at Battery Park

The commission voted 6–1 to replace the city’s state lease on the lake bottom at Battery Park and Marina, 701 E. Water St., with a 99-year renewable lease that starts Nov. 1. The city’s public works engineer wrote that the new lease came out of negotiations with the developers of the Battery Park Subdivision; the city pays the state’s charge and the developer pays the city back.

Commissioner Tim Schwanger, the lone no, pulled the lease from the routine consent votes to object. He said a 2018 East Bay plan the city made with the Trust for Public Land called for protecting the 4.3-acre park site from private development, and that it is now down to about 1 acre of dedicated park. He said about $146 million in federal, state and local public money is going into the project, a figure he did not source beyond his own count; the packet does not give one.

Sources: Sandusky City Commission agenda packet, Oct. 26; the commission’s recording of the meeting.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Sandusky pays county $130,000 to prosecute its court cases

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:25:36 -0400

Sandusky pays county $130,000 to prosecute its court cases

Sandusky will keep paying the Erie County prosecutor’s office to handle its cases in Sandusky Municipal Court, for $130,000 in 2027, after a 7–0 vote. The money buys a prosecutor, a full-time administrative assistant and the county’s victim-assistance staff, and comes from the city law department’s budget.

The city’s own prosecutor retired at the end of 2025, and the county has done the work under a one-year agreement since. City Manager John Orzech told the commission that hiring a prosecutor and an assistant itself would cost more; the packet calls the contract “substantial savings.”

Sources: Sandusky City Commission agenda packet, Oct. 26; the commission’s recording of the meeting.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Sandusky NAACP to city: you don’t show up for us

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:25:36 -0400

Sandusky NAACP to city: you don’t show up for us

The president of the local NAACP told the Sandusky City Commission on Monday that the city seldom sends anyone when the organization invites it, and that the absence leaves the Black community feeling the commission does not support it.

Barbara Clark spoke two days after the NAACP’s Freedom Fund Gala, its yearly fundraiser. Commissioner Richard Koonce was the only commissioner there and read the city’s proclamation; he told his colleagues earlier in the meeting that the city has to do better. Clark said Perkins Township fills a table every year and sends its police and fire chiefs. Commission President Kate Vargo answered that every commissioner had replied to the invitation and this year’s schedules did not allow them to attend.

Clark also said many families cannot afford even $750 rent in the city’s new housing, and asked what the city is doing for people sleeping outside as it turns cold. Koonce said most meetings of the city’s Community Relations Commission, which hears discrimination complaints, have been canceled for lack of business, and a resident, Darnwell Garrett, said it has gone from monthly meetings to hardly any.

Sources: Sandusky City Commission agenda packet, Oct. 26; the commission’s recording of the meeting.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Oregon’s 911 bill drops as property tax brings $24,000 more

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:25:36 -0400

Oregon’s 911 bill drops as property tax brings $24,000 more

Oregon City Council passed its five routine measures without a dissent on Monday. The city’s 2027 bill for 911 support from the Lucas County 911 Regional Council of Governments went down $1,434, Finance Director Nick Roman said; Police Chief Brandon Begin said the department cut the calls billed to it by dropping status codes, such as officers on a lunch break, that the old dispatch counted. Employee dental coverage with Delta Dental rises 5.51% for 2027. The city’s 2 mills of property tax, 1.7 for the general fund and 0.3 for police pensions, are estimated to bring in about $24,000 more in 2027. Council also approved applying for a federal grant that pays half the cost of police bulletproof vests, which are replaced every five years.

Source: Oregon City Council recording, Oct. 26.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Whirlpool will raise appliance prices 7% as its sales fall

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:25:36 -0400

Whirlpool will raise appliance prices 7% as its sales fall

Replacing a washer could cost more. Whirlpool told investors on Monday that it has announced a 7% price increase in its North American major-appliance business, “effective in Q4”, in the same release that reported a quarterly loss and an 8.3% drop in that business’s sales.

North American major-appliance sales came to $2.5 billion for the quarter, down from $2.7 billion a year earlier. Across the whole company, sales fell 8.8% to $3.7 billion.

Whirlpool also reported a loss of $249 million available to its common shareholders, against a profit of $73 million in the same quarter last year. The three figures are three different scopes. The loss is the one struck after $12 million of dividends on the company’s mandatory convertible preferred stock.

Northwest Ohio has a second stake in the company, which is one of the region’s large employers. Whirlpool put employment at its Clyde washing-machine plant at approximately 2,600 people in an announcement in August, and said a parts and subassembly plant then under construction in Perrysburg would employ up to 150 people, which is a plan and not a payroll. Monday’s release names no Ohio or Michigan site. It mentions workforce reduction plans in the United States and globally without naming a location, and one plant closing, in Apodaca, Mexico.

Sources: Whirlpool Corporation’s third-quarter earnings release, Exhibit 99.1 to its Form 8-K; Whirlpool Corporation.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Detroit plant built with public help closes, 397 jobs

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:25:36 -0400

Detroit plant built with public help closes, 397 jobs

Dakkota Integrated Systems will close its plant at 5905 Van Dyke St. in Detroit and cut 397 jobs on Dec. 31, according to a notice the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity posted last week. The reason the company gave the state was reduced business.

Public money helped build the plant, and the state said at the time what it was buying. Michigan announced in January 2020 that Dakkota would put up to $45 million into a 300,000-square-foot plant on part of the former Kettering High School and Rose Elementary School sites “and create 400 jobs.”

The company got a $1.5 million Michigan Business Development Program grant and 15 years in a Renaissance Zone the state valued at about $3.5 million. The transportation department committed $832,939 for road work and Detroit matched $268,018 of it. The city added an industrial property tax abatement and street and utility vacations. The announcement sets out no job milestone and no clawback.

The 400 was the state’s projection and the 397 is the state’s closure count, six years apart, and the notice does not say whether the same jobs are meant. The notice gives one site, one date, one count and one reason, and nothing else about the closing is in it. Since 2025 the state posts its own retyping of an employer’s letter rather than the letter, so every figure here is the state’s. Accounts elsewhere say the plant built instrument panels and that the closing comes in two stages; none of that is in the record. No company statement was found.

Sources: the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity’s WARN notice for Dakkota Integrated Systems; the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s project announcement.

Four more tri-county employers filed layoff notices in a week

Four more employers in Oakland and Macomb counties told Michigan last week that they are cutting jobs. With the Detroit closing above, the five notices the state posted between Oct. 19 and Oct. 26 account for 674 jobs in the Detroit tri-county area.

Inalfa Roof Systems, Auburn Hills, Mich.: 142 jobs on Dec. 14. The company will close its site at 1370 Pacific Drive and make permanent layoffs at 815 Opdyke Road. The notice gives one total for the two addresses.

Mariella of Lake Orion, 985 N. Lapeer Road, Lake Orion, Mich.: closing Nov. 20, 55 jobs. The notice gives bankruptcy as the reason.

Salterra at Chesterfield, 29891 23 Mile Road, New Baltimore, Mich.: closing Nov. 20, 46 jobs, bankruptcy again. The record does not say what these two businesses are, or whether anything links them beyond a shared reason and a shared date.

FKA Distributing Co., 3000 N. Pontiac Trail, Walled Lake, Mich.: 34 workers laid off on Oct. 12, two weeks before the notice was posted. The reason given was financial trouble.

Sources: the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity’s WARN notices.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Monroe County commissioners shelve $11.5 million museum expansion

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:25:36 -0400

Monroe County commissioners shelve $11.5 million museum expansion

Monroe County commissioners voted 5–4 on Oct. 20 to table the Monroe County Museum’s expansion until next year, after the county finishes its budget. That leaves the low bid, $11,455,000 from NRC Builders, unapproved.

The project adds a three-story, 17,156-square-foot addition to the museum in downtown Monroe and renovates part of the existing building. Bids opened in June far above the county’s estimates. A new plan from county Administrator Michael Bosanac would cover the gap with an advance from the county’s delinquent-tax fund. The museum’s own millage fund would put in $1 million and repay another $1 million at $200,000 a year. The museum’s trustees unanimously endorsed that plan Oct. 14.

Commissioner J. Henry Lievens made the motion, and David Hoffman, Dale Biniecki, Jay Heinzerling and Brian Lamour joined him. Chairman David Vensel and Commissioners Greg Moore Jr., Dawn Asper and David Swartout voted no. Swartout argued before the vote that the board should hear the financing plan first.

Sources: Monroe County Board of Commissioners meeting video, Oct. 20, and its Oct. 20 agenda packet. The board’s minutes for the meeting are not yet posted.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Lucas County Sheriff seeks $3.75 million more as county requests 13% cut

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

Lucas County Sheriff seeks $3.75 million more as county requests 13% cut

LUCAS COUNTY · THE 2027 BUDGET · THE SHERIFF · THE COMMISSIONERS

Navarre says the target would mean 44 layoffs and a closed jail floor. One commissioner warned other offices could be asked to cover his request; another said no final decision has been made.

▶ Watch the video · 96 sec

Lucas County Sheriff Michael Navarre asked for $3.75 million more next year as commissioners pressed him to cut his budget by 13%. Commissioner Pete Gerken warned that other county offices could be asked to cover the request; Commissioner Anita Lopez said the board had not made that decision.

His $47.9 million general-fund request for 2027 is 8.5% above this year’s $44.1 million. Commissioners sought the 13% cuts across county offices to address a projected $27 million shortfall next year. No budget has been approved.

Navarre’s proposal budgets 20 fewer positions, but he said higher wages drive most of the increase. His slides include a possible new 6% raise still under negotiation, higher food and medical contract costs, and a jail camera upgrade.

Navarre said a 6% raise the commissioners approved after a fact-finding hearing is the main reason for the higher request. He said those employees are “still grossly underpaid.” His slides put a new sheriff’s deputy at $27.25 an hour, compared with $32.51 for a Toledo officer and $30.28 for a Lucas County Common Pleas court deputy.

Meeting the county’s target would cut about $5.7 million from this year’s budget. Navarre’s slides project 44 layoffs, the loss of 10 vacant positions and the closing of one jail floor; they cite the fifth floor, now holding 98 inmates. Capacity would fall from 403 to 305. These are the sheriff’s projections, not a decision to close the floor.

“I don’t see any attempts”

Gerken said he understood a 13% cut was hard. “I don’t see any attempts toward that.” Counting everything raised at the hearing, he told the sheriff, “you’re asking for a 40% increase.”

Gerken was comparing Navarre’s plan with the 13% cut target and counting other costs discussed at the hearing. Against this year’s approved budget, the sheriff’s request rises 8.5%.

Navarre’s slides say 39 of 155 cadets hired since 2018 left for other public-safety jobs. He also described a high rate of sick call-offs: “We have a horrible problem getting employees to come to work.” The argument over what the county can afford sharpened when commissioners turned to his township patrol contracts.

The township contracts

Springfield and Monclova pay the sheriff for added patrols. Gerken says those payments leave the countywide budget covering part of the cost. County Administrator Jessica M. Ford puts the disputed amount at about $840,000 using 2026 wages.

Navarre has given notice ending the existing contracts for 2027 and is revising them. He said he would send the new deals to commissioners Tuesday, Oct. 27, before Monclova trustees consider theirs Monday, Nov. 2, and Springfield trustees Tuesday, Nov. 3. Neither township nor the county board has approved them. If both fall through, he said, the county would lose $3.3 million in township payments.

Ford said the revised deals keep township payments flat while changing how many employees are counted as assigned to them. Navarre said the revisions “did not cost the county a nickel.”

Navarre says the townships pay the assigned deputies’ full 2027 wages and health care, though not every related expense, such as a precinct station’s electric bill. Basic policing and responding to calls in townships without their own departments are county duties, he argues, with or without a contract. He also says Springfield was wrongly billed for deputies working Board of Elections overtime. Ford’s $840,000 remains a disputed calculation.

Lopez told Navarre that as an elected official, “it is your job to review and question everything immediately upon taking your oath and not rubber stamp things that have been done just because it’s always been done that way.” That habit, she said, “has cost Lucas County taxpayers millions.”

Who must approve the deals is also in dispute. Assistant Prosecuting Attorney John Borell told the board that if township payments fall short and the county’s general fund covers the difference, commissioners must approve that spending. Otherwise, he said, a sheriff’s policing contract does not need the board’s approval. “We’ve been legally advised those contracts have to come before us,” Lopez said. “Your interpretation of the statute is not correct,” Navarre said. He said he intends to submit the new contracts to the board for approval anyway.

“I can’t support a contract that’s not fully cost recovery,” Gerken said.

“You and I disagree,” Navarre said.

“Well, I get a vote later and you don’t.”

“It’s unfortunate.”

“It is, and you could help.”

“I am helping,” Navarre said, adding that “the only thing I should [hear] out of you is a thank you.”

Board President Lisa Sobecki said she does not feel the county’s elected offices are working as a team. It is “kind of a sad day for Lucas County,” she said.

Other offices, the same 13% request

Navarre is not the first county official to resist the commissioners’ 13% cut target. Prosecutor Julia Bates did not attend her Oct. 6 budget hearing; she sent a handwritten note. Her request was about $472,000 above this year’s budget and $1.45 million above the board’s target, the county budget office said at that hearing. Gerken called her absence “lacking in integrity.” Bates answered in writing that the commissioners had engaged in “name-calling, petty criticism” (Oct. 7 coverage).

Coroner Dr. Thomas Blomquist, whose hearing was less confrontational, also warned of the effects of cuts. He attended Oct. 20 and called the cuts asked of his office “remarkably deep.” “We’re way past cutting the fat. We are way past cutting muscle and we’re getting into the bone,” he said. His proposed cuts would end routine weekend autopsies, with special cases handled as needed. Families would wait longer to get loved ones back to funeral homes, he said. Sobecki put his cut at about 11.2%, short of the target, but Gerken praised the hearing as “a great exchange” that “wasn’t … combative.” In the same remarks Gerken said the offices that stayed away, the prosecutor and the courts, were part of “a stonewall” whose strategy “seems to be coordinated.”

At Tuesday’s afternoon hearing, the Veterans Service Commission director said relief spending is rising as insurers refuse to renew policies on homes with aging roofs. He described older veterans who cannot afford to replace them and are turning to the commission for help.

In the same afternoon session, the county’s Integrated Justice Systems office, which supports court technology, told commissioners its request “did not meet the 13% cuts”; its presenter said they were “very proud” to get to 5.5%. Sobecki thanked the office for coming. Lopez asked whether it could leave a retiring employee’s job empty: “Do you think you could operate with one less person?” The answer was no.

Sources: Board of Lucas County Commissioners, recordings of the Oct. 27, 11 a.m., Oct. 27, 2 p.m., Oct. 20 and Oct. 6 budget hearings · Lucas County Sheriff’s Office, 2027 budget presentation to the commissioners, Oct. 27, 2026 · Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney, statement of Oct. 6

Drafted by AI from public records and other named sources, built at 4:15 a.m. A human editor edits and publishes every issue and answers for what runs. It will sometimes be wrong. Write to info@lakeerieinquiry.org or submit a correction here.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Lucas early vote jumps 63% as mail deadline nears

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

Lucas early vote jumps 63% as mail deadline nears

In-person voting has tripled since the comparable point in 2022. Lucas has 10,501 issued mail ballots still unreturned, with a new Election Day deadline.

Lucas County’s early vote is up 63% from the comparable point in 2022, driven by a surge in voting in person even as mail returns have fallen. The county has issued 10,501 mail ballots it has not received back; under a new Ohio law, most must reach the elections board by 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, to count.

As of the state’s Tuesday update, 38,672 Lucas County voters had cast a ballot, more than twice the 16,951 at this point in 2018, the midterm of Donald Trump’s first term. Of this year’s voters, 26,657 voted early in person, three times the 8,765 at the comparable point in 2022. Mail went the other way: 12,015 ballots are back, fewer than the 14,904 then.

Some voters who have not returned a mail ballot may already have voted in person, or may yet. Anyone planning to return one should know that a postmark no longer saves a ballot that arrives after polls close.

Lucas has the lowest mail return rate of the 18 Ohio counties this paper covers: 53% of the mail ballots sent out have come back. Statewide, it is 68%.

The rule is new. Under Senate Bill 293, which Gov. Mike DeWine signed Dec. 19, 2025, and which took effect in March, a mail ballot has to arrive by the time polls close. Before, a ballot postmarked by the day before the election still counted if it arrived within four days. Military and overseas ballots keep a later deadline. The bill’s primary sponsors were two Republican state senators: Theresa Gavarone, whose district includes Wood, Ottawa and Erie counties and part of Lucas County, and Andrew Brenner.

Who has voted in Lucas County

More than half are 65 or older: 21,168 of the 38,672. Voters under 35 account for 3,220.

Ohio voters don’t register by party. The state lists a voter as a Democrat or a Republican if they took that party’s ballot in a primary this year or in either of the two years before. Anyone who didn’t is listed as unaffiliated. By that measure, 17,340 of the Lucas County voters who have cast a ballot are unaffiliated, 15,271 are Democrats and 5,956 are Republicans. Another 105 took a minor party’s ballot.

The whole region

The same pattern holds in every one of the 18 Ohio counties we cover. Each has more early in-person voters than at the comparable point in 2022, and each has fewer mail ballots back. Together, the 18 counties have 130,255 ballots in, 49% more than in 2022 and about twice the 2018 count. Wood County has 13,386, up 39% from 2022. Hancock County, home to Findlay, is up 58%.

Statewide, Ohio has 1,190,461 ballots in, up 46% from 2022 and 62% from 2018. Of those, 699,203 were cast early in person, more than two and a half times the 2022 count.

Michigan is up too, by less. Its voters have cast 1,392,170 ballots, 24% above the state’s Oct. 31, 2022 count. That file was taken eight days before the 2022 election, one day farther out than this year’s Oct. 27 snapshot. Monroe County, Mich., has 20,880, up 31% on the same uneven comparison. Michigan had no early in-person voting in 2022; this year 3,423 Monroe County voters have used it.

Early votes near Election Day

Place	2026	2022	2018	Change from 2022
Lucas County	38,672	23,669	16,951	+63%
Wood County	13,386	9,650	6,294	+39%
Hancock County	8,809	5,558	3,958	+58%
Our 18 Ohio counties	130,255	87,617	65,110	+49%
Ohio statewide	1,190,461	817,644	736,464	+46%
Monroe County	20,880	15,904	—	+31%
Our 6 Michigan counties	637,169	510,878	—	+25%
Michigan statewide	1,392,170	1,126,246	—	+24%

Note: Returned mail ballots plus early in-person votes. Ohio: 2026 data through Oct. 26 and 2022 report issued Nov. 1. Michigan: Oct. 27, 2026 snapshot versus Oct. 31, 2022; the 2022 snapshot was one day farther from Election Day. —: no comparable 2018 figure found.

What’s left

In Ohio, early in-person voting runs 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1. There is no early voting on Monday. In Lucas County, the voting center is at 3737 W. Sylvania Ave., Entrance C, in Toledo. Polls are open 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.

In Michigan, early voting sites are open at least eight hours a day through Sunday, Nov. 1. Clerks must have mail ballots by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Group drops lawsuit over Oregon’s council member appointment

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

Group drops lawsuit over Oregon’s council member appointment

The citizens group suing Oregon over Council Member Dave Andrus’s appointment dropped its lawsuit Monday, two weeks before trial. Responsible Government 4 Oregon LLC filed a notice Monday morning dismissing all of its claims against the city and council members Andrus, Steve Hornyak, Kathy Pollauf and Dennis Walendzak. The dismissal is without prejudice, which means the group can file the case again. The notice gives no reason, and no settlement was filed. The court closed the case the same day and canceled the Nov. 10 trial.

The group said the appointment was arranged privately before council’s public vote in December 2025, breaking Ohio’s Open Meetings Act. The city denied it. The suit also challenged an extension the city gave the developer of a proposed data center.

Since Oct. 9, a court order had barred Andrus from voting on data-center matters until the judge said otherwise. No order on that ban has been posted since the dismissal. The judge never ruled on the city’s request to throw out the appointment claims without a trial.

Source: Lucas County Common Pleas, CI2026-00407, the docket and the notice of voluntary dismissal.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Dundee police will let their Flock contract expire

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

Dundee police will let their Flock contract expire

The Dundee Police Department will let its contract with Flock Safety expire Jan. 25 rather than renew it, Deputy Chief Randy Sehl told The Lake Erie Inquiry. Sehl said he recommended to the village council that the contract be allowed to lapse, mainly because Monroe County ceased its own Flock operations. With the network thinner across the region, he said, that “would greatly impact the usefulness and effectiveness of the system when needed.”

The village operates four cameras, all on the M-50 corridor: two at the US-23 interchange and two on M-50 by Toledo Street. A Monroe County commissioner told the county board Oct. 20 that Dundee owned at least five. The contract cost $16,000 for the four cameras, paid entirely from drug forfeiture funds, Sehl said. Delays in installation, in state approval of where the cameras could go and in training meant Flock provided a second year at no additional cost, which expires Jan. 25, 2027.

Asked what becomes of the data already collected, Sehl said the seven-day storage rules stay in place until the village terminates the system.

Source: Randy Sehl, deputy chief of police, Dundee Police Department, answers to this paper’s questions by email, Oct. 27, 2026 · Monroe County Board of Commissioners, Oct. 20, 2026, as recorded.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Four more lawsuits filed over the Toledo chemical release

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

Four more lawsuits filed over the Toledo chemical release

At least five proposed class actions had been filed in Lucas County Common Pleas Court by Tuesday over the chemical release at the MC Tank terminal on Progress Avenue, four of them since Sydney Ann Petty’s suit on Oct. 22 (reported here Oct. 24). Each sues M.C. Tank Transport and its parent company, Kenan Advantage Group, and blames them for the release of glycidyl methacrylate that began the night of Oct. 20. In the four newer cases, the court files reviewed Tuesday showed no answer from the companies.

The new suits differ in who they would cover and what they ask for. Todd Hartford and his fencing company, who sued Oct. 23, want a class for businesses that had to close; their suit also names Albert R. Dudek, whom it calls the terminal’s plant manager. Tonya Leu and Geoffrey Dubois, who also sued Oct. 23, want a separate class for workers who lost pay when employers closed or canceled shifts. Leu says she spent the night in her car in the Meijer evacuation lot, and fumes came in through the vents when she turned on the heater.

Mallory Van Camp’s suit, filed Monday, asks the court to void any releases, agreements giving up claims, already entered into over the leak, and asks that the companies pay to test and clean homes, businesses and cars. Residents led by Heather Keyes sued Tuesday; their suit says one of them, Tina Reil, who has COPD, was still being treated at a local hospital for pneumonia. It is the only one of the five that reaches past the evacuation and shelter-in-place zones: its class includes anyone “otherwise exposed” to the release.

Two of the new suits ask for medical checkups paid for by the companies. Three of the cases were assigned to Judge Lindsay D. Navarre and two to Judge Michael R. Goulding. No claim has been proven, and no class has been certified.

Sources: Lucas County Common Pleas Court, CI2026-04500, -04538, -04543, -04565 and -04584, the complaints · Toledo Police Department, as reported by The Blade, Oct. 27 · Bowling Green Police Division report, as described by BG Independent News, Oct. 27 · Toledo Police Department report on the EPA detector, as reported by 13abc, Oct. 27 · Toledo Lucas County Public Library, as reported by 13abc and The Blade, Oct. 27.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Wood County library seeks six more years of its levy

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

Ballot questionWood County library district

Wood County library seeks six more years of its levy

The Wood County District Public Library, based in Bowling Green, is asking voters in its district to renew a 0.8-mill levy for current expenses for six years. The ballot puts the cost at $18 a year per $100,000 of market value and the county auditor’s estimate at $1,212,284 a year. It is a renewal: it keeps a tax already on the bill rather than adding one.

Why is the library asking?

The library’s director, Michael Penrod, reminded its board in April that the library gets no sales tax and no income tax, BG Independent News reported.

When did voters last approve it?

In 2020, 22,221 to 8,132, according to the Board of Elections’ official results. If it passes this time, it runs from the 2027 tax year through 2032, first due in 2028.

The library forwarded questions sent Sept. 30 to Penrod; he did not answer them.

Sources: Wood County Board of Elections, sample ballot and official results; BG Independent News

“For The Tax Levy” means

The library keeps its 0.8-mill levy for six more years, which the ballot puts at $18 a year per $100,000 of market value, first due in 2028. It does not add a new tax.

“Against The Tax Levy” means

The levy is not renewed and ends when its current term runs out.

How it reads on your ballot

Proposed Tax Levy
(Renewal)
Wood County District Public Library

A majority affirmative vote is necessary for passage.

A renewal of a tax for the benefit of the Wood County District Public Library for the purpose of current expenses that the county auditor estimates will collect $1,212,284 annually, at a rate not exceeding 0.8 mill for each $1 of taxable value, which amounts to $18 for each $100,000 of the county auditor’s market value, for 6 years, commencing in 2027, first due in calendar year 2028.

For The Tax LevyAgainst The Tax Levy

Source: Wood County Board of Elections, sample ballot

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Grand Rapids asks to keep its streets levy

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

Ballot questionGrand Rapids, precinct 270

Grand Rapids asks to keep its streets levy

Grand Rapids asks village voters to renew a 2-mill levy for street construction and reconstruction for five years. The ballot puts the cost at $44 a year per $100,000 of market value and the county auditor’s estimate at $32,368 a year, first due in 2028. It is a renewal: it keeps a tax already on the bill rather than adding one.

When did voters last approve it?

In 2021, 115 to 25, according to the Board of Elections’ official results. The village council voted in July to put the renewal on the ballot for tax years 2027 through 2031, its resolution shows.

The village did not answer questions sent Sept. 30.

Sources: Wood County Board of Elections, sample ballot and official results; Village of Grand Rapids, council resolution

“For The Tax Levy” means

Grand Rapids keeps its 2-mill streets levy for five more years, which the ballot puts at $44 a year per $100,000 of market value, first due in 2028. It does not add a new tax.

“Against The Tax Levy” means

The levy is not renewed and ends when its current term runs out.

How it reads on your ballot

Proposed Tax Levy
(Renewal)
Village of Grand Rapids

A majority affirmative vote is necessary for passage.

A renewal of a tax for the benefit of the Village of Grand Rapids for the purpose of street construction and reconstruction that the county auditor estimates will collect $32,368 annually, at a rate not exceeding 2 mills for each $1 of taxable value, which amounts to $44 for each $100,000 of the county auditor’s market value, for 5 years, commencing in 2027, first due in calendar year 2028.

For The Tax LevyAgainst The Tax Levy

Source: Wood County Board of Elections, sample ballot

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Risingsun votes on two renewals and a new parks levy

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

Ballot questionsRisingsun, precinct 590.2

Risingsun votes on two renewals and a new parks levy

Risingsun voters decide three property-tax questions in the village’s one precinct. Two renew levies for current expenses, which the village’s fiscal officer, Gena Rathburn, said pay for “building maintenance, supplies and materials, equipment, utilities, as well as projects planned for present and future.” The 6.3 mills cost $146 a year per $100,000 of market value and the 1.3 mills $30, according to the ballot. The third is a new 0.5 mill for parks, at $18 a year per $100,000, estimated to raise $4,221 a year.

Didn’t Risingsun already have a parks levy?

It did, until it missed the ballot. Voters approved 0.5 mill for parks in 2014, 85 to 62, and renewed it in 2019, 75 to 65, according to the Board of Elections’ official results (2014, 2019). The levy “was up for renewal; however, it was not on the ballot,” Rathburn said in a written answer to the paper. The council had begun the steps for a parks question in 2025, its resolutions show, but none appears in the November 2025 official results, and the county auditor’s table of this year’s tax bills lists no parks levy for the village.

The new levy “will not be an addition,” Rathburn said. Because the old one is no longer collected, the ballot lists the new one as an additional tax, and it costs the full rate.

How close have these votes been?

Close. The 1.3-mill levy passed by one vote in 2019, 71 to 70, and again in 2023, 95 to 62; Rathburn confirmed the 2023 vote was the 1.3 mill. The 6.3-mill levy was last renewed in 2021, 58 to 28, and the parks renewal in 2019 carried by 10 votes. Every count is from the Board of Elections’ official results (2019, 2021, 2023).

Sources: Wood County Board of Elections, sample ballot and official results; Wood County Auditor, estimated revenue tables; Village of Risingsun, council resolutions and fiscal officer’s written answers

“For The Tax Levy” means

On each renewal, the village keeps that levy: 6.3 mills for five more years at $146 a year per $100,000, or 1.3 mills for four more years at $30. On the parks question, a new 0.5-mill tax is collected for five years at $18 a year per $100,000. All three are first due in 2028.

“Against The Tax Levy” means

A renewal that fails ends when its current term runs out. If the parks levy fails, no parks tax is collected.

How they read on your ballot

Proposed Tax Levy
(Additional)
Village of Risingsun

A majority affirmative vote is necessary for passage.

An additional tax for the benefit of the Village of Risingsun for the purpose of maintenance and improvement of parks that the county auditor estimates will collect $4,221 annually, at a rate not exceeding 0.5 mill for each $1 of taxable value, which amounts to $18 for each $100,000 of the county auditor’s market value, for 5 years, commencing in 2027, first due in calendar year 2028.

For The Tax LevyAgainst The Tax Levy

Proposed Tax Levy
(Renewal)
Village of Risingsun

A majority affirmative vote is necessary for passage.

A renewal of a tax for the benefit of the Village of Risingsun for the purpose of current expenses that the county auditor estimates will collect $7,858 annually, at a rate not exceeding 1.3 mills for each $1 of taxable value, which amounts to $30 for each $100,000 of the county auditor’s market value, for 4 years, commencing in 2027, first due in calendar year 2028.

For The Tax LevyAgainst The Tax Levy

Proposed Tax Levy
(Renewal)
Village of Risingsun

A majority affirmative vote is necessary for passage.

A renewal of a tax for the benefit of the Village of Risingsun for the purpose of current expenses that the county auditor estimates will collect $38,079 annually, at a rate not exceeding 6.3 mills for each $1 of taxable value, which amounts to $146 for each $100,000 of the county auditor’s market value, for 5 years, commencing in 2027, first due in calendar year 2028.

For The Tax LevyAgainst The Tax Levy

Source: Wood County Board of Elections, sample ballot

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Heavy-manufacturing zoning weighed south of Buck Road

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

Heavy-manufacturing zoning weighed south of Buck Road

Council gave a first reading Monday to Ordinances 2026-68 and 2026-69, which would change the city’s zoning map. A city official said they cover land south of Buck Road, just south of the OP Mobility building going up, and that the planning commission has recommended heavy manufacturing. The official asked for all three readings so residents can comment.

Rossford City Council · Monday · agenda

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Sources: each body’s own agenda, linked above, with the posted packet or minutes behind every figure, and the meeting recordings — Rossford City Council, Oct. 26 (recording) · Waterville City Council, Oct. 26 (recording) · Perrysburg Public Utilities Committee, Oct. 26 (recording) · Lima City Council, Oct. 26 (recording) · Toledo City Council agenda review, Oct. 27 (recording).

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Industrial zoning for annexed land gets a Nov. 9 hearing

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

Industrial zoning for annexed land gets a Nov. 9 hearing

Council holds a public hearing and final vote Nov. 9 on Ordinance 12-26, which would zone two recently annexed parcels at 8451 and 8551 Neapolis-Waterville Road for light industry. It had its second reading Monday. Municipal Administrator Jon Gochenour said the Planning Commission recommended the change from agricultural at its Oct. 5 meeting, at the owner’s request, finding it fits the neighboring Farnsworth Industrial Park.

Waterville City Council · Monday · agenda

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

City awaits $704,112 in grants as capital plan nears

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

City awaits $704,112 in grants as capital plan nears

Municipal Administrator Jon Gochenour told council the city has received $660,084 in grant reimbursements as several construction projects wind down, and has submitted claims for $704,112 more, which he expects within two weeks. City staff sends the 2027 five-year capital budget, the city’s plan for building projects and major purchases, to council’s finance committee Friday, Oct. 30. The first draft goes before the full council Nov. 9.

Waterville City Council · Monday · agenda

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Mayor sends council a $168 million budget for 2027

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

Mayor sends council a $168 million budget for 2027

Mayor Sharetta Smith’s proposed 2027 budget went to council Monday: $168.3 million across all city funds, including a $50.6 million general fund, the account that pays for police, fire and most day-to-day services. The general fund is projected to take in $44.7 million, with $5.9 million drawn from cash on hand to balance it. Police and fire together come to $27.9 million. Budget hearings run Nov. 3 through 5.

Lima City Council · Monday · agenda

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Fire study puts three new stations at $46 million

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

Fire study puts three new stations at $46 million

The fire chief and the consultants who wrote the city’s fire station study told council Monday that three new stations would cost about $46 million, a figure meant to cover architects, engineering, permits, furnishings and a contingency, but not land. Council sent the study to committee.

Lima City Council · Monday · agenda

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Code enforcement is still owed $249,000 for cleanups

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

Code enforcement is still owed $249,000 for cleanups

The code enforcement manager told council Monday the city billed property owners about $750,000 for cleanups it did itself, such as mowing and clearing trash, and has collected more than $500,000, leaving about $249,000 to recover. He said the office logged just under 7,000 complaints, opened more than 3,000 cases and closed roughly 1,000, and that inspectors reach a complaint in 2.8 days on average.

Lima City Council · Monday · agenda

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Flock audit hits a snag before the Nov. 4 vote

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

Flock audit hits a snag before the Nov. 4 vote

The city auditor is still compiling data for his audit of the police department’s Flock camera system and has run into a hurdle, Council President Vanice Williams told council Tuesday: to get into Flock’s system himself he needs a law enforcement certification, which has to come through the state. Williams said she would know Monday whether the audit will be ready Nov. 4, when council is set to take up R-435-26, the resolution asking the city to end its Flock agreements.

Toledo City Council, agenda review · Tuesday · agenda

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Martinez proposes writing police-technology limits into city law

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

Martinez proposes writing police-technology limits into city law

Councilman Adam Martinez introduced an ordinance Tuesday that would write limits on the police department’s surveillance technology into city law. He said it would codify uses the department already says it will not make, make misuse grounds for firing, and require a monthly review of the national list of agencies with 287(g) immigration agreements, ending camera sharing with them.

Toledo City Council, agenda review · Tuesday · agenda

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Defiance’s library vote comes with a land deadline

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

Defiance’s library vote comes with a land deadline

The Defiance Public Library System’s expansion proposal has a clock attached. Land donated for an annex across from the historic Carnegie library came with five years to begin the project, starting in January 2024. Under that agreement, beginning means obtaining approved building plans and city permits. If the library misses that deadline, the donor has six months to exercise an option to reclaim the property for $10, the library says.

Voters decide Nov. 3 on a 35-year levy combining renewal of the existing 0.75 mill with an additional 0.9 mill. The ballot language estimates annual collections of $1.94 million and a total annual cost of $47 per $100,000 of the auditor’s market value. The library puts the annex and Carnegie renovations at $8.3 million, with a $2.5 million fundraising goal.

Source: Defiance Public Library System, the annex project page and its reproduced ballot language.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

October is 2.9° warm and the week went dry

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:23:29 -0400

October is 2.9° warm and the week went dry

The month so far is 2.9° warmer than normal, at a mean of 58.5° against 55.6°.

Its rain is short: 1.80 inches against a normal 2.18.

The week that ended Monday ran 2.6° warmer than normal and brought no rain at all, against a normal 0.56 of an inch.

Fall is 2.1° warmer than normal, at 63.2° against 61.2°.

Its rain is near normal, 5.09 inches against 5.19, counted from Sept. 1.

The month’s warmest reading is 87° and its coldest 33°.

Day	High	Low	Normal	Normal
Tue. Oct. 20	69	37	63 / 43	0.08
Wed. Oct. 21	68	41	63 / 43	0.08
Thu. Oct. 22	70	39	62 / 42	0.08
Fri. Oct. 23	66	42	62 / 42	0.08
Sat. Oct. 24	68	39	61 / 42	0.08
Sun. Oct. 25	70	39	61 / 42	0.08
Mon. Oct. 26	74	42	60 / 41	0.08

Humidity, the week

Mean dewpoint 45.1°, and none of the seven days reached a dewpoint of 70°, the line most people call muggy. Mean relative humidity 86.0%. There is no published normal for dewpoint, so this compares only to what the week felt like.

Station: Toledo Area, the National Weather Service threaded record for Toledo (TOLthr), with daily readings through Oct. 26, 2026; today’s are not in yet. Normals are the 1991–2020 period. Sources: the NOAA Regional Climate Centers’ Applied Climate Information System, and the Iowa Environmental Mesonet’s hourly record at Toledo Express for the dewpoint and the sky. Weather Patterns is not a forecast, and it is not the seasonal call of either almanac.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Kylee Phillips brings her first album to The Ark Thursday

The Lake Erie Inquiry — 2026-10-27

LINER

bands in their own words · the lake erie inquiry · no. 4

No.4OCT. 2026

Kylee Phillipsalbum release show · the ark · ann arbor · thu. oct. 29 · 8 p.m. · with robby hecht

notes

Kylee Phillipsalbum release show · the ark · ann arbor · thu. oct. 29 · 8 p.m. · with robby hecht

Photo by Bernadetta Julia

Kylee Phillips brings her first album to The Ark Thursday

Kylee Phillips, a Michigan singer-songwriter, plays an album release show at The Ark, 316 S. Main St. in Ann Arbor, on Thursday, Oct. 29. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the show starts at 8. Robby Hecht is the special guest. Tickets are $29 to $40 on The Ark’s page for the show, fees included; bought in person at The Ark’s box office, they carry no added fees.

The record, “Before I Am Invisible,” is her first full-length album. Her earlier EPs include “Long Time Coming” and “The Good Parts.” The Ark says she will play it with a full band. The song she picked for this piece, “Burning,” came out Aug. 28, produced by Evan Eliason, with Chris DuPont on guitar and bass.

Phillips answered the Lake Erie Inquiry’s questions by email. Her answers appear here as she gave them, with some light editing.

What did making “Before I Am Invisible” let you say that you hadn’t found a way to say on your EPs?

Every project I make feels like a real snapshotof who I am in that moment,so for one thing I’m just a very different personthan I was when I wrote ‘Long Time Coming’ and ‘The Good Parts.’

But I also feel like an EP is sort of like a short film:you want to tell a complete storybut you have to be expedient about it.

This record gave me a little bit of extra timeto sit with the ideas and themes and flesh them out;in some cases I even got to exploremy conflicting feelings about the same topic.

Which song changed most between the first draft and the finished recording?

I’m a piano player who wishes she played a different instrument,so since I’m always writing on the pianothere are times where I can’t pull offwhat I’m hearing in my head.

The song ‘Either Way’ almost ended up on the cutting room floorbecause on the piano it didn’t sound at all like what I hoped for,but once I brought it to my partner (Chris DuPont)and told him what I was envisioning for the guitarit clickedand I fell in love with it all over again.

What does the album’s title mean to you now that you’re bringing these songs to an audience?

The title comes from the final track on the record, ‘Invisible.’

I’m a woman in music in her mid-30sand according to a lot of peoplethat means your window of relevance is already closing,so the idea behind the song and the album was partially,‘If I’m going to be invisible pretty soon,what do I want to do and say before that window closes?’

Now that folks are actually hearing the songsI’ve been really moved by the feedback,especially from women my age and older,who feel like I’m articulating the complexity of their feelings.

Speaking from experience,when you feel invisible or unheard,having someone articulate your feelings and your experiencescan remind you that you exist.

Your songs can carry vulnerable words inside big pop arrangements. How do you decide when the music should lift a lyric and when it should leave it exposed?

I want people to get something from these songswhether they come for the ear candyor for the meat of the lyrics.

I like an album to be dynamicso I certainly want there to be moments that ask you to lean in,but I think my favorite moments are the onesthat feel emotional and catharticand have you bopping along at the same time.

I love a song that you can dance and cry to,preferably simultaneously;in my world we’ve dubbed them ‘emotional bangers.’

Listen: “Burning” on YouTube, the studio recording, posted Oct. 22. Phillips picked the song for this piece.

What part of your life in Michigan has found its way into this record in a way an outsider might miss?

I love being from Michiganand I really identify as a Midwesterner.

I think that the way my songs approach most situations from both angles(here’s what I’m feeling and here’s how I was hurt,but here’s how I imagine the other party may have been feeling or thinking),that’s at least partially due to my being raised in this part of the country.

‘Midwestern nice’ is a real thingand at its best it helps us be more empathetic people and artists.

I also think that Michigan has a really special music sceneand the stuff I’m making is definitely informedby the community I’m surrounded by.

What will the Oct. 29 Ark performance let listeners hear that they won’t get from the recordings?

I’m so proud of the studio versions of these songs,but this record became more of a rock record than I even expectedand I think the experience of being in the roomwhen the drums open upand the guitars take offis a different kind of special.

I hope hearing these songs livewill be as cathartic for the folks who attendas it has been for me.

Phillips’ music is on Bandcamp, Spotify and Apple Music, and her videos are on YouTube.

The show is Thursday, Oct. 29, at The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; the show starts at 8. Tickets, $29 to $40 with fees included, are on The Ark’s page for the show.

THE ARK

KYLEE PHILLIPS

ALBUM RELEASE SHOW · WITH ROBBY HECHT

THU. OCT. 29 · DOORS 7:30 · SHOW 8 P.M.

316 S. MAIN ST. · ANN ARBOR

$29–$40 · FEES INCLUDED

ADMIT
ONE

OCT. 29

PURCHASE

LINER NOTES No. 4

+ ADD TO CALENDAR

Sources: Kylee Phillips, by email, Oct. 27; The Ark’s page for the show, for the date, times, address, prices, fees, special guest and the album’s billing; Phillips’ Bandcamp page for “Burning,” for its release date and credits.

Share this piece: its own page, free to read.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Regional jail keeps ICE detainees over Lucas County’s objection

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:19:13 -0400

Regional jail keeps ICE detainees over Lucas County’s objection

Lucas County’s two board votes could not end ICE detention at the regional jail Wednesday. The county was billed nearly half of the five counties’ invoices last year and holds a fifth of the seats.

▶ Watch the video · 42 sec

Lucas County’s representatives failed Wednesday to stop immigration detention at a regional jail that billed their county nearly half of the five member counties’ combined operating invoices last year. The Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio will continue holding people for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while its governing commission examines what ending the arrangement would cost.

Commissioner Pete Gerken and Sheriff Mike Navarre supported the change at the Oct. 28 meeting, according to 13abc’s account. WTOL reported the vote as 8–2 against ending the contract. The commission agreed to study the potential loss of revenue under its U.S. Marshals Service contract, which also allows the jail to take ICE detainees. The report did not give a deadline for that study.

The dispute puts two responsibilities of the regional jail in conflict: containing the cost to its member counties and deciding whether it should participate in federal immigration detention. Lucas can argue both questions, but cannot decide either alone. It has two representatives on a ten-member board, the same representation as each of the other four counties.

The county’s financial weight is considerably larger. CCNO’s 2025 annual report lists $4,548,544.66 in actual invoices to Lucas out of $9,691,446.85 to the five counties combined. That is 46.9%, calculated by the Lake Erie Inquiry. Its two board seats account for 20% of the seats. The comparison describes county bills and representation; it does not mean Lucas pays nearly half of the jail’s entire budget.

Defiance, Fulton, Henry and Williams counties together were invoiced $5.14 million. Each county sends a commissioner and its sheriff to the governing commission. The jail is near Stryker in Williams County; its decisions reach well beyond the county where its cells are located. Both the county payments and federal detention payments go toward the regional operation.

For Navarre, the objection predates this week’s meeting. In a May 2025 interview with the Ohio Newsroom, published by Ideastream, he acknowledged that the federal arrangement helped the jail’s finances but said he considered it morally wrong. He raised the separation of children from their families. That account establishes his earlier position, not what he said Wednesday.

Williams County Sheriff Tom Kochert defended the arrangement in the same report. He supported the Trump administration’s border-enforcement direction and said housing federal detainees was an established practice. The disagreement was therefore never simply about whether federal detention brought in money: officials differed over whether accepting that work was the right use of their jail.

The commission approved adding ICE detainees on Feb. 26, 2025, by an 8–2 vote, the jail’s own announcement states. It identifies Gerken and Navarre as the two opponents. Management said it had three housing units closed and described filling available beds as a way to offset expenses that otherwise would fall to the counties. That was its explanation when it began the arrangement.

The posted 2026 budget allocates 576 beds, including 170 to Lucas and 202 to the U.S. Marshals Service. The 202 is a federal allocation, not a count of people detained for ICE. The budget table does not divide it between Marshals and immigration detainees. It also includes five beds allocated to Findlay, separate from the five counties.

Actual ICE use has been smaller in previously reported snapshots. The Blade reported an average of 80 detainees since March in its July 7, 2025 coverage, based on records it obtained. That historical figure cannot establish today’s population, but it illustrates why a funded-bed allocation cannot be substituted for a measured ICE headcount.

The daily price also needs a current contract behind it. CCNO’s February 2025 announcement quoted $117 a day per detainee, plus transportation charges. A May 2026 Ohio Immigrant Alliance report instead listed $93 and more than $1.8 million in 2025 ICE payments. The sources do not resolve that difference, and neither is a verified current rate.

The jail reported an average population of 560 in 2025, or 97.2% of its 576 funded beds. That figure covers the jail’s population as a whole, not ICE alone. It also describes last year rather than the day of Wednesday’s vote. An assessment of spare capacity would need to separate the different populations and examine the beds available now.

The study’s consequential question is the change in county costs after any lost payments and avoided expenses are counted. Food, medical care, transportation and staffing costs may respond differently to fewer detainees. Empty beds might have other uses. The county invoice table answers what members were billed last year; it cannot answer what they would owe after ending ICE detention.

For now, the arrangement continues. The precise termination terms, current rate and net effect on each county remain the records needed to test the financial argument for keeping it.

Sources: 13abc, Oct. 29; WTOL, Oct. 29, via Yahoo; CCNO: board; CCNO: 2026 budget; CCNO: 2025 annual report, p. 36; CCNO: 2025 population; CCNO: Feb. 26, 2025; Ideastream / Ohio Newsroom, May 19, 2025; The Blade, July 7, 2025; Ohio Immigrant Alliance, May 18, 2026, p. 6

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Acton, Ramaswamy and Kissick vie for Ohio’s open governor’s office

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:19:13 -0400

The raceStatewide

Acton, Ramaswamy and Kissick vie for Ohio’s open governor’s office

On your ballot

Governor and Lieutenant Governor

Amy Acton and David PepperDemocraticVivek Ramaswamy and Rob McColleyRepublicanDon Kissick and James L. MillsLibertarian

In the order the Wood County Board of Elections lists them; the order on your ballot may differ.

About the office

Runs the state’s executive branch. The governor proposes the two-year state budget, signs or vetoes bills (it takes three-fifths of each chamber to override), can strike single spending lines from a budget, appoints the directors of state agencies and judges to fill vacancies, and commands the Ohio National Guard.

Term: 4 yearsStarts Jan. 11, 2027. No one may serve more than two terms in a row.
Pay: About $183,000A year in 2027. Set by state law, with a 1.75% raise each year through 2028.
The governor’s own office: $4.3 millionThis budget year (July 2026 to June 2027), with a staff of 41.
The state budget the governor signed: $101.2 billionAll funds, this budget year (July 2026 to June 2027).

Sources: Ohio Constitution; Ohio Revised Code; Legislative Service Commission, Greenbook; Legislative Service Commission, Budget in Brief; Ohio Auditor of State, elected officials compensation research; U.S. Census Bureau, cartographic boundary files

Three tickets are on the ballot, according to the Wood County Board of Elections’ certified candidate list: Democrat Amy Acton with David Pepper, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy with Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, and Libertarian Don Kissick with James L. Mills.

As of Oct. 29, no debate has been held. Ramaswamy accepted invitations from WLWT and CNN in September and challenged Acton to join him; an Acton spokeswoman said she “won’t,” citing the attacks Ramaswamy and his allies have aired against her, Signal Ohio reported. Ramaswamy called for a debate again in an Oct. 12 interview with Cleveland 19. Kissick said he wants to debate either or both of them and has contacted Ramaswamy’s campaign to set one up, the Statehouse News Bureau reported.

The paper sent the same four questions on Sept. 29 to Acton, Ramaswamy and Kissick, each with questions of their own, with a deadline of 5 p.m. Oct. 26. Mills answered for the Libertarian ticket on Oct. 5 and sent Kissick’s headshot, and that ticket goes first. Acton and Ramaswamy did not answer.

Their answers appear here as they gave them, with some light editing.

Don Kissick / James L. MillsLibertarian · answers from Mills, for the ticket

1. H2Ohio is the state’s Lake Erie water-quality program. What dollar figure would your first two-year budget put into H2Ohio, and what would you cut or add to get there?

Our first two-year budget would target approximately $250 million for H2Ohio, with an emphasis on measurable improvements in Lake Erie and Ohio’s drinking water. Clean water is basic infrastructure. Preventing agricultural runoff, restoring wetlands, addressing failing septic systems and monitoring water quality are legitimate state priorities. We would fund that commitment by scrutinizing corporate subsidies, economic-development incentives and unnecessary administrative spending before asking Ohioans for more money. H2Ohio should also have clear, publicly available measurements showing taxpayers what results their investment is producing.

2. Data centers: would you sign a bill that lets a township or city say no to a data center, or lets its voters decide? And where do you stand on property-tax abatements for data centers, and on nondisclosure agreements between developers and local governments?

Yes. We would sign legislation giving local communities a meaningful say in whether a data center is built in their community, including allowing voters to decide when appropriate. We oppose blanket property-tax abatements and subsidies for data centers. Any proposed incentive should account for the full cost to the community, including electricity, water, infrastructure, farmland and utility rates. We also oppose nondisclosure agreements between developers and local governments that keep residents in the dark. If a project requires taxpayer support or government approval, the people paying the bill deserve transparency and a voice.

3. Voters in Lucas and Wood counties decide property-tax levies on this same ballot, including new levies for the Toledo Lucas County Public Library and Toledo Public Schools. What would your property-tax plan do to a voter-approved levy like those?

We support ending property taxes in Ohio, including through the End Property Tax amendment, but that does not mean abandoning schools, libraries, police or fire departments. We would transition those services away from dependence on property taxes and toward alternative funding, with a preference for local consumption-based funding and a greater state responsibility for education. Existing obligations must be addressed during that transition. The principle is simple: Ohioans should be able to truly own their homes without perpetually paying the government for the privilege, while communities must retain the ability to fund the services their residents choose.

4. License-plate reader cameras such as Flock’s are in use in northwest Ohio. Should the state set rules on how long their data is kept and who it can be shared with? If so, what rules?

Yes. Ohio needs strong statewide restrictions on license-plate-reader data. Ohioans should not have their movements routinely photographed, tracked and stored simply because they drove on a public road. Data unrelated to a legitimate investigation should be deleted quickly, access should require a legitimate law-enforcement purpose, and every search and transfer should be logged and auditable. Agencies should publicly disclose where these systems are operating, their retention policies and who can access the information. Technology can help solve crimes without turning every Ohioan into a suspect or creating a statewide surveillance network.

5. Have you signed the petition to abolish property taxes in Ohio? If property taxes were abolished, what would pay for the schools, libraries, and fire and police departments that in Lucas and Wood counties rely on property-tax levies?

Yes, I signed the petition to abolish property taxes in Ohio, and our campaign supports the End Property Tax amendment. Property taxes have created a system where Ohioans can pay off their mortgage and still never truly own their home. But eliminating property taxes also requires us to confront honestly how we fund schools, libraries, police and fire departments. We favor transitioning toward local consumption-based funding, increasing the state’s responsibility for education, eliminating corporate welfare and finding efficiencies within Ohio’s existing budget. The answer should not be simply replacing property taxes dollar-for-dollar with another statewide tax. We have to fundamentally rethink how Ohio funds local government while protecting essential services.

6. Your campaign describes you as a Navy veteran. Would you send a short summary of your service (branch, years, rank and type of discharge), or a DD-214 with private details removed? We ask every candidate who lists military service.

Don served six years in the United States Navy from 1989 to 1995, attaining the rank of Petty Officer Second Class as a Fire Controlman (FC2). During his service, he deployed twice to the Middle East during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. I am also happy to provide additional documentation with private identifying information redacted if needed.

Acton and Ramaswamy each received the same four questions, and two of their own, on Sept. 29 and did not answer them by the Oct. 26 deadline. In lieu of their answers, the Lake Erie Inquiry offers a biography of each, drawn from public records.

Amy Acton / David PepperDemocratic

Acton, a physician, grew up in Youngstown, trained in pediatrics and preventive medicine at Children’s Hospital and Ohio State University, earned a master’s degree in public health and taught at Ohio State before joining the Columbus Foundation, her campaign biography says. Gov. Mike DeWine appointed her director of the Ohio Department of Health in February 2019, and she led the department through the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic; she stepped down June 11, 2020, and stayed on for a time as DeWine’s chief health adviser, Spectrum News reported. She has never held elected office. Her running mate, David Pepper, is a Cincinnati lawyer who served on Cincinnati City Council and as a Hamilton County commissioner and later chaired the Ohio Democratic Party, his campaign biography says. Her campaign website says her “number one priority will be to secure a tax cut for Ohio’s working families to put money back in their pockets.”

Vivek Ramaswamy / Rob McColleyRepublican

Ramaswamy, a Cincinnati native, founded Roivant Sciences, a drug company; its 2022 annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission calls him “our founder and Chairman.” He ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2024, registering as a candidate with the Federal Election Commission in February 2023. He has never held elected office. His running mate, Rob McColley of Napoleon, was first elected to the Ohio House in 2014 and was elected president of the Ohio Senate in January 2025, his campaign biography says; he is a lawyer with a law degree from the University of Toledo, according to his Ohio Senate biography. Ramaswamy’s campaign website gives his mission as “Make Ohio the Most Affordable, Opportunity-Rich State in America.”

Sources: Wood County Board of Elections, certified candidate list; Ohio Constitution; Ohio Revised Code; Legislative Service Commission; Ohio Auditor of State; Signal Ohio; Statehouse News Bureau; Cleveland 19; Spectrum News; Securities and Exchange Commission; Federal Election Commission; Ohio Senate, member biography; the candidates’ written answers and campaign websites; U.S. Census Bureau

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

MC Tank’s claims notice leaves payment terms unanswered

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:19:13 -0400

MC Tank’s claims notice leaves payment terms unanswered

North Toledo residents and businesses can report losses from the Oct. 20 chemical release to MC Tank Transport, but the company's Oct. 27 announcement does not spell out which expenses it will cover, when it will pay or whether accepting money will require signing a release.

The company directs people who believe they suffered losses to 888-271-0577. Its statement promises serious consideration and review of claims. It does not promise that every claim will be paid.

A plaintiffs' lawyer has raised a concern about the paperwork. Mark Skeldon told 13abc that he did not know what claimants would have to sign, while warning that a release could surrender future claims. His warning does not establish that MC Tank is requiring such a release.

Hotels, meals and lost wages were examples Skeldon gave of expenses he wants residents reimbursed for. The company's announcement does not list those items as approved benefits.

The response has also moved into a different phase. In its Oct. 27 update, the U.S. EPA said it had stopped air monitoring and sampling at 11 p.m. Oct. 26 after reviewing the data with state and local partners. It said Ohio EPA had taken over oversight of the company's cleanup that morning.

EPA reported no detections above screening levels in the monitoring and sampling data it reviewed. That statement addresses those measurements; it does not resolve individual claims about losses or exposure during the incident.

Sources: MC Tank statement, Oct. 27; 13abc's interview with Mark Skeldon, Oct. 30; EPA response updates; City of Toledo incident page.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

GM settlement tightens consent for drivers’ data

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:19:13 -0400

GM settlement tightens consent for drivers’ data

General Motors agreed to pay Ohio $8.08 million in a multistate settlement over allegations that it sold driving and location records that reached insurers. The $220 million agreement announced Thursday adds safeguards over information that can affect what motorists pay for coverage.

The Ohio attorney general says GM’s Smart Driver program tracked customers from 2016 to 2024 and sold data to brokers that supplied insurers. Ohio’s announced share is a payment to the state, not a promised refund to individual drivers.

The Washington consent decree linked by Ohio spells out what does not count as permission: prechecked boxes, silence or acceptance of broad terms covering unrelated matters. It sets a Nov. 30 effective date. GM and OnStar admit no liability under that decree.

Drivers already have a way to check what GM holds. Its current privacy policy offers customers access, correction and deletion requests through its consumer privacy form or 866-697-7482. GM says privacy requests are not accepted by email.

Those options predate Thursday’s announcement. A separate Federal Trade Commission order finalized in January requires a route to request data and seek deletion, and imposes a five-year ban on sharing driving and location data with consumer reporting agencies.

In its January 2025 response to the federal case, GM said it had discontinued Smart Driver and ended its telematics relationships with LexisNexis and Verisk in 2024.

Sources: Ohio attorney general, Oct. 29; linked Washington decree, §§8, 17, 75–76; GM U.S. Consumer Privacy Statement, June 17, and Jan. 16, 2025 statement; FTC, Jan. 14 final-order announcement.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

About 6,400 Toledoans expected to get $26 million in medical debt erased

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:19:13 -0400

About 6,400 Toledoans expected to get $26 million in medical debt erased

Alongside the budget scenarios that led this paper Thursday, the committee heard an update on the city’s medical-debt relief. Staff said Undue Medical Debt, the nonprofit the city hired, has bought a portfolio of medical debt and is preparing letters to the Toledoans whose debt will be abolished. Staff said that is expected to come to about $26 million in debt relief for about 6,400 people. The city pays its final invoice once that is done.

Source: Toledo Finance, Debt & Budget Oversight Committee, Oct. 28, meeting recording.

Toledo Finance, Debt & Budget Oversight Committee, Wednesday

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Resident says city won’t repay a $1,968 dig after its leak call

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:19:13 -0400

Resident says city won’t repay a $1,968 dig after its leak call

A resident told the committee the city’s technicians pointed to a leak on the homeowner’s side of the line, the dig found none, and the utility has refused to reimburse the $1,968 the dig cost. The resident said the answer given was that technicians do their best to diagnose and cannot be held liable for costs. Committee members said they would monitor the leak question for a few weeks and circle back, and set no date. The same meeting tabled a proposed senior discount on utility bills. The committee next meets Nov. 23, by its agenda.

Source: Perrysburg Public Utilities Committee, Oct. 26, meeting recording; the committee’s posted agenda for its next meeting date.

Perrysburg Public Utilities Committee, Monday

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Council votes down the mayor’s civil service pick, 2–5

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:19:13 -0400

Council votes down the mayor’s civil service pick, 2–5

Council voted down the mayor’s pick for the Civil Service Commission, Todd Kitzler, 2–5, without discussion or a stated reason. The appointment came before council as Resolution 2026-24.

Source: Rossford City Council, Oct. 26, meeting recording, Resolution 2026-24.

Rossford City Council, Monday

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

CSX plans to close Ottawa Avenue rail crossing Monday

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:19:13 -0400

CSX plans to close Ottawa Avenue rail crossing Monday

CSX plans to close the Ottawa Avenue railroad crossing for several weeks starting Monday, Nov. 2, council was told, and the state’s repair of the Jefferson Bridge should have the bridge reopened by then. The administration said it is worried the two could overlap. If they do, the city plans street-parking bans on Summit Street, and possibly Ravine, and will station at least one ambulance and more police on the south side; contractors say there will be no overlap. Council was also asked to give the Planning Commission feedback on data-center zoning regulations.

Source: Defiance City Council, Oct. 27, meeting recording.

Defiance City Council, Tuesday

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Landfill rates could rise about 11% over two years

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:19:13 -0400

Landfill rates could rise about 11% over two years

Assistant County Administrator Dan Scherger told the board Oct. 20 that the proposed solid-waste increase at the Wood County Landfill is about 11% over two years, based on a five-year expense forecast that includes several large capital projects. Three public hearings are required first; the board tabled the resolution that would set their dates. County Administrator Carri Stanley said the fees could change after the hearings.

Source: Wood County Commissioners, approved minutes of Oct. 13 and Oct. 20.

Wood County Commissioners, Oct. 13 and 20, from the approved minutes · Oct. 13 minutes · Oct. 20 minutes

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Commissioners will weigh data centers case by case

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:19:13 -0400

Commissioners will weigh data centers case by case

A resident asked the commissioners to pass a resolution saying Wood County wants no more data centers or the power plants that serve them. On Oct. 13 the two commissioners present agreed to answer that they will instead judge each project on its merits, as they did with solar fields; the same day, the county’s chief building official said plans are in for a fifth building at the data center. On Oct. 20, asked again by the same resident, all three commissioners said they had not signed a nondisclosure agreement on the data center project.

Source: Wood County Commissioners, approved minutes of Oct. 13 and Oct. 20.

Wood County Commissioners, Oct. 13 and 20, from the approved minutes · Oct. 13 minutes · Oct. 20 minutes

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

County says Swanton day care still needs fixes for its final permit

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:19:13 -0400

County says Swanton day care still needs fixes for its final permit

Chief Building Official Rob Cendol told the board Oct. 13 that Swanton’s village administrator had emailed about 20 people, the media among them, saying the county was taking too long to give a day care its final approval. The county’s account: carbon monoxide detection still needs correcting, and a ramp that must be at least 36 inches wide measured 34½ inches at inspection. The minutes carry only the county’s side.

Source: Wood County Commissioners, approved minutes of Oct. 13 and Oct. 20.

Wood County Commissioners, Oct. 13 and 20, from the approved minutes · Oct. 13 minutes · Oct. 20 minutes

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Fostoria man charged in Jeffrey Risner’s 2006 killing

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:19:13 -0400

Fostoria man charged in Jeffrey Risner’s 2006 killing

Police arrested a Fostoria man Thursday in the killing of Jeffrey Risner, 20 years after Risner was found dead in his garage.

Bradly Ray, 50, was arrested after a Seneca County grand jury returned a secret murder indictment, Fostoria police said in an Oct. 29 release. The county jail’s records confirm his booking Thursday afternoon and list one murder charge under Ohio Revised Code 2903.02. Charged, not convicted.

Police said Ray was being held without bail pending his initial appearance. The jail’s public record provided no court date as of early Friday.

Fostoria police said they spent the past year reviewing and reopening the investigation with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Cold Case Unit. The department said the investigation remains ongoing and it would release no additional information at this time.

Risner, 50, was found dead March 2, 2006, in the garage at his Palmer Street home. An autopsy documented sharp-force injuries to his neck and blunt-force injuries to his head, according to the Ohio attorney general’s case record.

Court records also show Ray received two years of probation in December 2025 in a separate domestic-menacing case. He pleaded no contest and was found guilty in Tiffin-Fostoria Municipal Court. The sentence included 30 days in jail, with 24 suspended and six credited.

Sources: Fostoria Police Division’s Oct. 29 release; Seneca County jail booking record; Ohio attorney general’s Jeffrey L. Risner case record; Tiffin-Fostoria Municipal Court case CRB2500901.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Jones's alleged hospital confession can be used at trial

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:19:13 -0400

Jones's alleged hospital confession can be used at trial

Prosecutors can use Darnell Jones's hospital statements in the capital murder case over the death of 13-year-old Kei'Mani Latigue. In a decision entered Thursday, Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Michael Goulding rejected the defense's attempt to exclude the interview.

Jones argued that his condition and medications after surgery left him unable to validly waive his right to remain silent and have a lawyer. Goulding found that Jones understood his rights, chose to speak and faced no police coercion. The judge acknowledged that his condition and medication affected him but found they did not deprive him of the capacity to waive those rights.

We reported on Sept. 30 that the judge would rule in writing on the hospital statements; this is that ruling. The paper has followed the case through the recusal requests and the postponement of his separate rape trials, agreed Wednesday. The ruling decides what evidence may be heard; Jones has pleaded not guilty. The next pretrial hearing is Nov. 23 at 11 a.m.

Sources: Lucas County Common Pleas CR2025-00548, opinion and Oct. 29 journal; name searches in that court and Toledo Municipal Court, Oct. 29. 13abc reported the ruling and posted the opinion.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Man sentenced to 14 years in federal child-exploitation case

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:19:13 -0400

Man sentenced to 14 years in federal child-exploitation case

A federal judge in Toledo sentenced Eben Vondruska on Thursday to 14 years in prison on federal charges of enticing a minor and of receiving and distributing child pornography. He had been messaging an undercover agent he thought was the father of a 12-year-old boy, 13abc reported at his arrest in February.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey J. Helmick imposed 14 years on each of the two counts, to be served at the same time, followed by 15 years of court supervision. Vondruska must register as a sex offender. The judge waived a fine but ordered $10,200 in assessments and the forfeiture of property listed in the case. He recommended the Federal Correctional Institution at Elkton, in eastern Ohio, or a prison where Vondruska can get treatment.

Vondruska pleaded guilty to both charges July 1 without a plea agreement. He was arrested in February and has been held since.

Sources: U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, case 3:26-cr-00100, the judgment and docket. 13abc also reported the sentence.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Ten kings reunite before one leaves the show

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:19:13 -0400

Ten kings reunite before one leaves the show

Ten medieval Korean paintings of the judges of the dead are together in Cleveland for the first time since the 1960s. Visit before Dec. 1 to see the original group intact: one king leaves at the exhibition’s rotation even though the show continues into January.

Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea, at the Cleveland Museum of Art, reunites hanging scrolls from the 1300s now held by six museums. The exhibition opened Oct. 11. The missing piece was the Third King, whose whereabouts had eluded scholars for more than 50 years.

In this Buddhist tradition, the afterlife has a court system. Kings examine the deeds of the dead and determine punishments and the course of rebirth. The first seven judgments come at seven-day intervals after death; the remaining hearings fall on the hundredth day and the first and third anniversaries.

The paintings make that reckoning visible. In Cleveland’s Fourth King, a crowned ruler sits behind a desk while guards torment people around a fiery cauldron below. Families made offerings during funerary rites in hopes of sparing the deceased severe judgments, the museum says.

The reunited set has its own history of separation. Dealer and collector Harry G. C. Packard once held the paintings; gifts, purchases and an auction carried them into different collections. During preparations for this exhibition, the Third King was identified in the Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, Japan. It had been there since 1974, curator Sooa Im McCormick writes.

McCormick has placed the kings around Kṣitigarbha, a Buddhist savior figure.

The reunion is temporary. The exhibition closes for one day, Dec. 1, for a rotation of works; afterward the original Third King is replaced by Gala Porras-Kim’s contemporary The Third King of Hell Afterimage. The show, organized with the National Museum of Korea, runs through Jan. 3, 2027.

Admission to the special exhibition requires a ticket. The museum’s exhibition page has reservations and visitor information.

Sources: Cleveland Museum of Art announcement; McCormick’s account; Smithsonian glossary; Fourth King catalog; CMA on funerary offerings.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Gretchen Pleuss brings original songs and Radiohead to The Ark

The Lake Erie Inquiry — 2026-10-29

IN HER OWN WORDS · LINER NOTES No. 5

Gretchen Pleuss brings original songs and Radiohead to The Ark

Gretchen Pleuss, an Ann Arbor poet and singer-songwriter, plays The Ark, 316 S. Main St. in Ann Arbor, on Sunday, Nov. 1, with Ann Arbor’s Pontiac Trail Blazers. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30. Tickets are $24 to $35 on The Ark’s page for the show, fees included; bought in person at The Ark’s box office, they come without the online processing fee.

The Ark bills the Trail Blazers as a bluegrass-rooted group of Ann Arbor players who accompany her for this show; Pleuss describes the group on stage as mandolin, guitar, violin and bass. The song she picked for this piece, “Blue Heron,” is from “The Rest of You,” a six-song EP released May 1.

Pleuss answered the Lake Erie Inquiry’s questions by email. Her answers appear here as she gave them, with some light editing.

What are you most eager to put in front of the Ark audience on Nov. 1?

I can’t wait to share some emotive original songs and interesting takes on covers like ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ by Radiohead and ‘Don’t You Want Me’ by The Human League.

We are a group of mandolin, guitar, violin, and bass players, which would prompt most people to think we’ll be playing standard roots or bluegrass, but we wanted to push ourselves and dive into some personal favorites.

You work in both poetry and songs. How do you know when a line belongs on a page and when it needs a melody?

I find that I allow my poetry to be a bit more freeform, transcending multiple ideas and feelings, whereas I typically write songs with a specific theme in mind.

As much as my songs might feel poetic at times, there’s still a structure. Poetry allows me to dive deeper into the mystic, as Van Morrison would say.

Your press kit highlights “If You Saw Me Now.” What moment or image opened that song for you?

I lost a friend years ago to a drug overdose. Before I wrote this song, I was wishing I could call him to tell him how I was royally getting in my own way with relationships.

It’s a song about learning to feel it all, even in moments of grief.

What does your guitar playing express when the lyric stops?

I like to think the guitar is an extension of my emotional energy. Sometimes words don’t do a feeling justice. Sometimes you just need to carry the melody so someone else can feel it, too.

FEATURED SONGBlue Heron

Listen: “Blue Heron” on YouTube, the recording from her EP, also on Spotify. Pleuss picked the song for this piece.

What’s an ordinary detail of life in Ann Arbor that has made it into your writing?

Community! Most Ann Arborites I know are deeply committed to their community and neighbors.

That unconditional love for one another is especially important at this moment in time, and it’s certainly present in my recent songs.

Sharing the bill with The Pontiac Trail Blazers, how are you thinking about the shape and sound of your own set?

We’re playing together for this set, and we’re really focused on our vocal harmonies and instrumental balance.

Traditionally, when we sing together, we only use one mic. It keeps the songs intimate and forces you to really listen to one another.

This set will ebb and flow between fun songs and sad songs. Though, even the sad songs are fun for us.

Pleuss’ music is on Spotify and YouTube, and more is on her website.

The show is Sunday, Nov. 1, at The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. Doors open at 7 p.m.; the show starts at 7:30. Tickets, $24 to $35 with fees included, are on The Ark’s page for the show.

THE ARK

GRETCHEN PLEUSS

AND THE PONTIAC TRAIL BLAZERS

SUN. NOV. 1 · DOORS 7 · SHOW 7:30 P.M.

316 S. MAIN ST. · ANN ARBOR

$24–$35 · FEES INCLUDED

ADMIT
ONE

NOV. 1

LINER NOTES · 005
LN 110126 0005

+ ADD TO CALENDAR

Sources: Gretchen Pleuss, by email, Oct. 28; The Ark’s page for the show, for the date, times, address, prices, fees and the Trail Blazers; Spotify’s page for “The Rest of You,” for the EP’s release date and length.

Share this piece: its own page, free to read.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

TMA TREASURES

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:19:13 -0400

TMA TREASURES

Libbey Glass Company’s 1904 World’s Fair punch bowl and, in front, the ladle made for it, at the Toledo Museum of Art. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry, July 10, 2022.

Mermod Jaccard & Company of St. Louis, with Libbey Glass Company of Toledo: Punch Bowl Ladle, 1904, sterling silver with a cut-glass handle knob. It was made to go with the punch bowl behind it, which Libbey built for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and which, the museum’s catalog entry for the bowl says, was proclaimed the largest single piece of cut glass in the world at the time.

The thing to notice is the knob. Everything else on the ladle is silver, but the little glass knob is cut in the same pattern as the bowl, a detail that ties the silver to the glass. The bowl itself, about two feet across, got its fine cutting from two Libbey craftsmen, J. Rufus Denman and Patrick Walker.

The two split up after the fair. The bowl did not sell and came home to Toledo with the rest of Libbey’s unsold glass; Libbey gave it to the museum in 1946. The silver ladle most likely stayed with Mermod Jaccard, Libbey’s sales agent at the fair, and was in private hands until the museum bought it in 2015 with money from George and Leslie Chapman, putting the set back together after 111 years. The museum’s catalog now lists both pieces as not on view. The publisher photographed them in the galleries on July 10, 2022.

Sources: the museum’s wall label for the ladle, read in the photograph; the Toledo Museum of Art’s catalog records for the ladle and the punch bowl, which carry the makers, dates, materials, size, credit lines, object numbers and current status, and the bowl’s label text.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Prosecutors drop festival shooting case against man jailed since June

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 07:39:09 -0400

Prosecutors drop festival shooting case against man jailed since June

He spent nearly five months in jail without bond. Two days before his release, prosecutors were still fighting dismissal.

▶ Watch the video · 49 sec

Prosecutors dropped every charge Friday against Eljay Crisp-Carr, 20, one of two men charged as gunmen at Toledo’s Old West End Festival. He walked out of the Lucas County jail the same day, after nearly five months held without bond.

Two days earlier, prosecutors had asked Common Pleas Judge Lori Olender to reject his motion to dismiss. But their Oct. 28 filing changed the state’s account: instead of saying Crisp-Carr was a gunman, they said he provided a gun used in the shooting.

On Friday, Jennifer Liptack-Sutphin, chief of criminal prosecution in the county prosecutor’s office, told the judge that “new and developing evidence” called for dismissal, The Blade reported.

That leaves one man charged with firing in the June 6 shooting, which wounded 12 people. Police have said they believe two people fired. No one is now charged as the second gunman.

Crisp-Carr’s lawyer, Alex Bodiford, argued in an Oct. 12 motion that the state’s own records showed his client could not be the shooter. A Toledo police camera fixes the first shot at 5:35:43 p.m., the motion says. An FBI analysis of his phone shows calls nine seconds before that shot and 29 seconds after, through a cell-tower sector serving Glenwood Avenue rather than the festival.

About 22 minutes later, the motion says, a doorbell camera on Glenwood recorded Crisp-Carr dressed in red, asking for help with a gas can because his truck had run out of gas. The gunman on the police camera wore all black and a black Nike ski mask. The motion says no evidence was produced that black clothing or Croc-style sandals like the gunman’s were found in Crisp-Carr’s vehicle or home.

Prosecutors answered that the phone analysis “does not ‘refute’ anything”: a phone’s location shows where the phone was, not who had it.

Crisp-Carr faced 56 counts, nearly all attempted murder and felonious assault, plus participating in a criminal gang. Olender dismissed the case “without prejudice,” meaning prosecutors can charge him again, and denied his motion to end it for good. She also dismissed a probation violation filed after his arrest, The Blade reported.

How the state tied him to the gun

A .45-caliber Glock found in another person’s home was matched to shell casings at the scene, the lead detective testified at a June 18 bond hearing. She said Crisp-Carr gave shifting accounts of who owned the gun and how it had left his possession.

Texts from Crisp-Carr after the shooting demanded the gun back and turned threatening, she said. A Nike ski mask found in his truck looked like one gunman’s. Crisp-Carr told police there were “thousands of those out there.”

Under cross-examination, the detective said DNA results on the gun were not back, she had not seen Crisp-Carr holding it in a May video, and she had no witness to the gun changing hands at his truck. Asked whether the police footage positively identified him, she answered, “Based on the other evidence we have, I believe it does.”

The defense motion also says police received tips naming a different man as the second shooter a week before the bond hearing. It challenges the detective’s identification of Crisp-Carr by his long dreadlocks. Prosecutors answered that nobody asked about the tips at the hearing and that “dreads” described the man in the courtroom, not how she identified the gunman.

In an Oct. 27 filing, prosecutors refused to identify a Crime Stoppers tipster whose information, they acknowledged, was exculpatory and “implicates a potential co-defendant.” They said naming the tipster would endanger that person and compromise the investigation.

In a statement Friday published by 13abc, Prosecutor Julia Bates said her office told Bodiford in September “of discovery that may support his defense.” Police and prosecutors said the investigation remains active but did not explain what new evidence prompted dismissal. Our questions to prosecutors, police and Bodiford went unanswered Friday.

After his release, Crisp-Carr hugged his mother and told 13abc, “God is good.” He said he had been misidentified and was not at the festival.

“They told me I was a monster,” he said. “They just incriminated me.”

The other defendants’ cases go on

Two other people remain charged. Ka’Nye Taylor, 20, the other man charged as a gunman, remains jailed without bond and is due in court Nov. 9.

At a July 7 bond hearing, prosecutors presented a police-camera still that, Olender wrote, shows Taylor “with a gun pointed and ready to shoot,” a 9 mm handgun found at the scene with his DNA on it, and a police interview in which he “admitted he was one of the shooters.” Taylor has pleaded not guilty.

Sources: Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, case CR2026-00829, the June 24 indictment, the defense’s Oct. 12 motion to dismiss, the state’s Oct. 27 certification of nondisclosure and Oct. 28 response with the June 18 Toledo Municipal Court bond-hearing transcript, and the Oct. 30 journal entry; case CR2024-02749; case CR2026-00830 (Taylor), the bond order dated July 7; Toledo Police Department incident report 021570-26; The Blade, Oct. 30; 13abc, Oct. 30.

Drafted by AI from public records and other named sources, built at 3:15 a.m. A human editor edits and publishes every issue and answers for what runs. It will sometimes be wrong. Write to info@lakeerieinquiry.org or submit a correction here.

Disclosures: The Lake Erie Inquiry is published in Toledo by Zach Brooke. The lead rests on the Lucas County Common Pleas file in CR2026-00829, including the state’s Oct. 28 response and the June 18 bond-hearing transcript attached to it, and on the Oct. 30 journal entry. The prosecutor’s office, the Toledo police and Crisp-Carr’s lawyer did not answer questions sent Friday; the mailbox was searched again this morning and held no reply. The paper names neither the uncharged man the defense motion identifies nor the 17-year-old defendant. Photographs in this edition include: William B. Redpath’s headshot, which he sent with his answers, and the Teddy Thompson cover in Liner Notes, courtesy of Royal Potato Family. Saturday Spread adds three museum photographs from Wikimedia Commons and a historical Houdini photograph and poster from the Library of Congress, with credits and licenses in their captions. The lead’s three pictures were built by this paper — the aerial over the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Map, the timeline and the hospital chart from the court file and the police account. No photograph in this edition was taken by this paper.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Husted, Brown, Redpath and Levy vie for Ohio’s Senate seat

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 07:39:09 -0400

The raceStatewide

Husted, Brown, Redpath and Levy vie for Ohio’s Senate seat

On your ballot

U.S. Senator, unexpired term ending Jan. 3, 2029

Sherrod BrownDemocraticJon HustedRepublican · incumbentWilliam B. RedpathLibertarianGreg LevyOther party

In the order the Wood County Board of Elections lists them; the order on your ballot may differ.

About the office

One of Ohio’s two U.S. senators. The Senate writes federal law with the House, votes on the president’s picks for the Cabinet and the federal courts, and approves treaties by a two-thirds vote.

Term: 2 yearsThe rest of JD Vance’s term, to Jan. 3, 2029. A full Senate term is six years, with no limit on terms.
Pay: $174,000A year, unchanged since 2009.
Staff and office money: $5.1 millionA year for each Ohio senator, the Senate Appropriations Committee’s figure for the federal budget year that ended Sept. 30.
Federal money recorded in the two counties: Lucas $3.0 billion · Wood $802 millionFederal grants, contracts, direct payments and other awards that USAspending.gov places in each county, federal budget year ending Sept. 30, 2025.

Sources: U.S. Constitution; Wood County Board of Elections, certified candidate list; Congressional Research Service; Senate Appropriations Committee report; USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury); U.S. Census Bureau, cartographic boundary files

Four candidates are on the ballot, according to the Wood County Board of Elections’ certified candidate list: Democrat Sherrod Brown, Republican Jon Husted, Libertarian William B. Redpath and Greg Levy, listed as an other-party candidate. The winner serves until Jan. 3, 2029. Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Husted, then lieutenant governor, to the seat in January 2025, after Vance resigned to become vice president. Brown held Ohio’s other Senate seat from 2007 until he lost it to Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024.

Their answers appear here as they gave them, with some light editing.

William B. RedpathLibertarian

The Senate passed S. 528 on Sept. 29; the House has not acted and the bill is not law, so the initiative’s authorization under 33 U.S.C. 1268 ran out with fiscal year 2026 on Sept. 30.

1. Should the federal government regulate farm-nutrient runoff into Lake Erie’s western basin, where the algal blooms form, or should controls stay voluntary?

I think it would be better to retain voluntary and incentives based management of farm nutrient runoff.

2. What federal role, if any, should there be in where data centers are built and in who pays for the power lines and plants they need?

I don’t think there should be a Federal government role in the matter of data center locations.

3. The Red Light Act, introduced Sept. 16 by Sens. Husted and Moreno, would withhold part of a state’s federal highway money if the state allows automated traffic cameras. Would you vote for it, and what would it mean for Toledo and for Ohio’s highway money?

Correction: this question described the bill wrongly. S. 5413 would withhold a state’s share of three federal highway programs if the state lets people who are in the country illegally get a driver’s license or state ID. It does not deal with traffic cameras.

My understanding of The Red Light Act is that it mandates that states not issue driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants or lose some or all of its Federal highway grants. I don’t think the Federal government should be giving money to the states for highways in the first place. This is part of Trump’s cruel and counterproductive war on immigrants, so I would vote “No” on this bill.

4. When did you make Ohio your home again, and where did you live before you did?

I moved back to Ohio in April 2025. I was born and raised in Findlay, Ohio. I previously lived in West Dundee, Illinois, a far northwest suburb of Chicago, although I lived most of my adult life in Northern Virginia.

5. Name one federal program that reaches Lucas or Wood counties you would cut, and one you would keep.

I would eliminate all corporate welfare and farm subsidies. I would retain the Social Security program and ideally allow private accounts for the employee portion of Social Security contributions. But, that might increase the Federal deficit too much. If that can’t be done, Social Security should have a maximum benefit amount (some wealthy seniors are getting large monthly payments they don’t need), an increase in the retirement age to 70, and Cost of Living Adjustments in line with price increases, not wage increases. Those things are necessary to bring Social Security into long run fiscal balance.

Brown, Husted and Levy each received the same four questions, and two of their own, on Sept. 29 and did not answer them by the Oct. 26 deadline. In lieu of their answers, The Lake Erie Inquiry offers a biography of each, drawn from public records.

Sherrod BrownDemocratic

Brown served in the U.S. House from 1993 to 2007 and in the Senate from 2007 to 2025, congressional records show. He chaired the Senate Banking Committee from 2021 to 2025. His Butch Lewis Act, folded into the 2021 COVID-19 relief law, rescued failing union pension plans without cutting retirees’ earned benefits. He lost the seat in 2024 to Moreno by about 206,000 votes. He was born and raised in Mansfield and lives in Columbus with his wife, the columnist Connie Schultz, his campaign website says. The site says, “When you love your country, you fight for the people who make it work.”

Jon HustedRepublican · incumbent

Husted was raised in Williams County, graduated from Montpelier High School and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Dayton, his Senate biography says. It says he was elected to the Ohio House in 2000, served as speaker from 2005 to 2009, served in the Ohio Senate, won two terms as secretary of state starting in 2011, was then elected lieutenant governor and began serving in the U.S. Senate in January 2025. His campaign website carries the slogan “Working for Us. Delivering for Ohio.”

Greg LevyOther party

The Federal Election Commission lists his campaign, under the name Gregory Lee Levy, as independent. His campaign website describes him as a veteran and a socialist and has a page about the Party for Socialism and Liberation. He has not held elected office that this paper could find. The site says, “We are building a socialist movement to end the rule of the billionaires once and for all.”

Sources: Wood County Board of Elections, certified candidate list; U.S. Constitution; Congressional Research Service; Senate Appropriations Committee report; USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury); Congress.gov; Clerk of the U.S. House; Federal Election Commission; the candidates’ written answers, Senate biography and campaign websites; U.S. Census Bureau

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Hamtramck’s mayor trails by 12 votes after judge rejects residency challenge

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 07:39:09 -0400

Hamtramck’s mayor trails by 12 votes after judge rejects residency challenge

HAMTRAMCK — Adam Alharbi has spent most of this year as mayor of Hamtramck. The count of last year's election now puts his opponent ahead by 12 votes.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Kathleen McCarthy on Friday rejected Alharbi's challenge to Muhith Mahmood's residency and ordered the county to certify previously disputed ballots, clearing another obstacle to a change in the mayor's office.

The ruling follows the Oct. 16 count of 37 absentee ballots excluded from the original results. With those votes included, Mahmood leads 2,089 to 2,077. Alharbi had been declared the winner by 11 votes and took office in January.

Wayne County’s election page still labeled the revised mayoral count unofficial, and The Lake Erie Inquiry had not verified certification. Alharbi’s attorney, Nabih Ayad, said he was preparing an emergency appeal. The Lake Erie Inquiry had not located a filing as of Friday night. The Hamtramck Review reported that certification would follow the Nov. 3 election.

Two disputes have kept the race alive: whether the 37 ballots should count, and whether Mahmood qualifies to serve.

The ballots had been overlooked inside opened return envelopes and mixed with envelopes whose ballots had already been counted, according to a March Michigan Court of Appeals opinion. The clerk initially secured them and delivered them to the county, but later learned that unauthorized people had entered her office while they were there.

The resulting custody concerns kept the ballots out of the certified totals. The appeals court ruled in March that the trial court had erred in refusing to compel their counting. The votes were finally tabulated Oct. 16, reversing the lead.

The residency case remained.

Alharbi argued that Mahmood actually lived in Troy, where Mahmood's wife and children primarily reside. In the 14-page opinion issued Friday, McCarthy found procedural defects in Alharbi's challenge but also examined the evidence after an Oct. 22 hearing.

Mahmood testified that he spent four or five nights a week in Hamtramck, arranging his time around restaurant work at MGM. His Hamtramck neighbors corroborated his presence there. McCarthy found that Mahmood met the residency requirement and that his family's home in Troy did not bar him from office.

The judge found much of the contrary testimony incomplete, speculative or lacking credibility. She also noted that evidence about how much food or clothing Mahmood kept at his house was subjective: a modestly furnished home could still be his residence.

McCarthy closed with an observation about the scale of the fight over an office paying $6,500 a year.

"For the sake of its residents, the fighting needs to stop so that Hamtramck can heal and move forward," she wrote.

The ruling orders certification; it does not establish that certification or a transfer of office has already occurred.

Sources: Oct. 30 residency ruling; March 27 appellate opinion; The Detroit News, via AOL; The Hamtramck Review.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

A Level 4 restaurant license would run $854 next year

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 07:39:09 -0400

A Level 4 restaurant license would run $854 next year

Most full-service restaurants in Lucas County would pay $854.35 for a food license next year under fees the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department has proposed. That is a $826.35 local fee for a Level 4 operation under 25,000 square feet, the risk level the department assigns to most full-service restaurants, plus a $28 state fee that the department says is under review and may rise in 2027. The department will take comment at a hearing at 8 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, at 1933 Spielbusch Ave. in Toledo.

Other proposed food licenses. Level 1, the lowest risk, under 25,000 square feet: $287.19 local, plus the $28 state fee. Level 4 at 25,000 square feet or more: $1,784.49 with the state fee. Mobile food: $251.32 local for high risk, $125.66 for low risk. A temporary license: $164.75, with no state fee. A vending machine: $11.53 local plus $6.

Two fees a household can meet. Sending an animal’s head to the state lab for rabies testing is proposed at $10. A lead clearance exam after a home fails inspection is proposed at $100 plus $10 a sample, capped at $250, and missing that appointment without canceling a day ahead at $50.

Questions go to Environmental Health at 419-213-4100, option 4.

Sources: Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, its 2027 food license fee letter and its 2027 rabies and lead fee letter, both dated Oct. 22, and its notice of Oct. 28. The $854.35 and $1,784.49 totals are printed in the food letter’s own total column.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Nine lawsuits now filed over Toledo chemical release

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 07:39:09 -0400

Nine lawsuits now filed over Toledo chemical release

At least nine proposed class actions have now been filed over the Oct. 20 chemical release at the MC Tank terminal on Progress Avenue: eight in Lucas County Common Pleas Court and one in federal court in Detroit. All nine name M.C. Tank Transport’s parent company, Kenan Advantage Group. Four were filed after this paper reported five suits on Oct. 28.

Kathy Thiede of Erie, Mich., sued in federal court Oct. 28 and wants to represent everyone who lived within 15 miles of the terminal, with separate groups for Ohio and Michigan. The official shelter-in-place zone was three miles. Jesse Leonard of Toledo, who sued the same day, asks for a group covering workers who lost pay and for medical checkups paid for by the companies.

John Clarke, who says he was ordered out of the Jeep plant that night, sued Oct. 29; the same day his case was moved to Judge Lindsay D. Navarre, who has the first suit. Brittany Atwood and Myshiona Agnes also sued Oct. 29, adding KAG Leasing, which their suit says owns the terminal land, and suing under an Ohio law that lets people collect damages for criminal acts. No one has been charged.

None of the companies had answered the new suits as of Friday. No claim has been proven and no class has been certified.

Sources: Lucas County Common Pleas Court, cases CI2026-04604, CI2026-04621 and CI2026-04623, the complaints and dockets; U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, case 2:26-cv-14139, the complaint.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Appeals court overturns McCarthy's guilty plea

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 07:39:09 -0400

Appeals court overturns McCarthy's guilty plea

An appeals court Friday overturned Ernest McCarthy's guilty plea in a Lucas County child sexual abuse material case. The judge had not told him he was giving up his right to require prosecutors to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Prosecutors conceded the error. The Sixth District Court of Appeals returned the case for further proceedings; the ruling does not acquit him.

Source: State v. McCarthy, 2026-Ohio-4317.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

S&G wins appeal in fatal-crash lawsuit

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 07:39:09 -0400

S&G wins appeal in fatal-crash lawsuit

S&G Stores II won an appeal Friday over a crash caused by an employee who had been drinking at work. William Gergich Jr. died and passenger Dakota Thomas suffered serious injuries in the May 2022 collision.

The plaintiffs argued that sending the employee home created a duty to protect other motorists. The Sixth District disagreed: he left in his own car, reached home and drove again before the crash.

Source: Gergich v. S&G Stores II, 2026-Ohio-4315.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Contractor's Ann Arbor school lawsuit ends by agreement

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 07:39:09 -0400

Contractor's Ann Arbor school lawsuit ends by agreement

Core Mechanical's lawsuit against Ann Arbor Public Schools and Clark Construction ended with an agreed dismissal, according to the Washtenaw County Circuit Court docket. An Oct. 8 entry records a stipulated dismissal with prejudice, and the case is marked closed.

The Ottawa Lake contractor alleged $2.7 million in losses from delays and mismanagement on renovations at Wines Elementary and Forsythe Middle School, MLive reported. Those were allegations, not damages awarded. The register lists Judge Carol Kuhnke and cancels the settlement conference and trial; it gives no settlement amount or payment terms.

Sources: Washtenaw County Circuit Court, 25-001376-CB; Jackie Smith, MLive, Oct. 30.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

A diabetes drug calmed clot-forming cells in a Michigan lab study

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 07:39:09 -0400

A diabetes drug calmed clot-forming cells in a Michigan lab study

University of Michigan researchers found that sotagliflozin, a diabetes drug, reduced the activation of platelets, the blood cells that start clots, and slowed clot formation in donated human blood and in mice. A similar drug, empagliflozin, had little or no effect. The paper ran Oct. 14 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation; the university announced it Oct. 28.

It is laboratory work, not a trial in patients, and no reason to change medicines. The paper says the drug worked in the lab at concentrations higher than it reaches in patients’ blood, and the mouse bleeding tests do not settle bleeding risk in people. The drug’s maker, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, helped fund the work, and at least two authors report consulting or research ties to the company; the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association also supported it.

Sources: Journal of Clinical Investigation, DOI 10.1172/JCI201899, the full paper and its disclosures; Michigan Medicine Health Lab, Oct. 28.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

A UToledo chemist wins nearly $2 million for safer opioids

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 07:39:09 -0400

A UToledo chemist wins nearly $2 million for safer opioids

A University of Toledo chemist has won nearly $2 million in federal money to chase safer opioids. The National Institute of General Medical Sciences gave Michael C. Young, an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, a five-year award to work on the carbon-hydrogen bonds that hold organic molecules together.

Young’s aim is a method for reaching any carbon-hydrogen bond in a molecule and adding something there, which he describes as adding a handle where nature did not leave one. The same methods would not be limited to painkillers. One use he names is naloxone, the drug that reverses an overdose: made in fewer steps, he says, it would cost less to manufacture. The award is to support at least two undergraduates, four graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher in his Wolfe Hall lab.

This is money for work not yet done; the university describes it as foundational chemistry. The announcement gives neither an award number nor a published study. The federal record, NIH project 1R35GM165588-01, carries a first-year award of $380,870 and a project period running to April 2031, and no five-year total, so the “nearly $2 million” is the university’s figure.

Sources: University of Toledo, its Oct. 26 announcement, for the award, the term, the laboratory and Young’s own description of the work; and NIH RePORTER, project 1R35GM165588-01, for the first-year award and the project period.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Teddy Thompson brings a slowed-down heartache to The Ark

The Lake Erie Inquiry — 2026-10-30

IN HIS OWN WORDS · LINER NOTES No. 6

Teddy Thompson brings a slowed-down heartache to The Ark

Teddy Thompson, a London-born singer-songwriter who lives in Brooklyn, plays The Ark, 316 S. Main St. in Ann Arbor, on Tuesday, Nov. 3, with special guest Jenna Nicholls. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the show starts at 8. Tickets are $29 to $40 on The Ark’s page for the show, fees included; in person at The Ark’s box office, during box office hours, they can be bought without the added fees.

His new album, “Never Be The Same,” came out May 15 on Royal Potato Family: 10 songs, his first collection of original material since 2020, produced by David Mansfield. Thompson is the son of the British folk musicians Richard and Linda Thompson; the album’s credits list his father on the guitar riff of “Make Up Your Mind.” The album’s first single is “So This Is Heartache.”

Thompson answered the Lake Erie Inquiry’s questions by email, through his publicist. His answers appear here as he gave them, with some light editing.

What changed in your writing between your previous original material and “Never Be The Same”?

I got older. Much to my disappointment.

I’d kill to be young again and write stupid nothing songs with a cool beat, but I’m working with what’s available.

You’ve said the album title emerged after recording. What did recognizing that phrase reveal about the songs?

That they share a common stance, and you can’t hide it. My general attitude and underlying feelings whilst writing come through. No matter the subject.

What’s a moment on the record where David Mansfield helped you hear a song differently?

“Same Old Song.”

I don’t know that I heard it differently so much as he made all my dreams come true. Without me even knowing what they were.

After making “My Love of Country,” what did returning to your own songs make you notice about them?

That they are not as good!

That’s the problem with covering great songs, your own tend to wither by comparison.

FEATURED SONGSo This Is Heartache

Video: “So This Is Heartache” on YouTube, the video posted to his channel in March. On stage he now plays it slower; he explains below. His publicist, Kevin Calabro, picked the song for this piece.

Which new song has changed most in performance since you recorded it?

Good question! I’d say, “So This Is Heartache.”

Allowing for the fact that I’m playing many of these band arrangements solo, mostly the feel has stayed the same on all the tracks. Except this one.

I just couldn’t sell it doing that arpeggio soul thing throughout. So I’ve slowed it down into a sort of folky, free time funeral thing.

What should a first-time listener at the Nov. 3 Ark show listen for in the way you deliver a lyric?

Unlike the USPS, I deliver on time.

I am a very syncopated singer, and I’m on the beat. Like a soulful Englishman I guess!

“Never Be The Same” is on Bandcamp and Spotify; his videos are on YouTube, and more is on his website.

The show is Tuesday, Nov. 3, at The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; the show starts at 8. Tickets, $29 to $40 with fees included, are on The Ark’s page for the show.

THE ARK

TEDDY THOMPSON

WITH SPECIAL GUEST JENNA NICHOLLS

TUE. NOV. 3 · DOORS 7:30 · SHOW 8 P.M.

316 S. MAIN ST. · ANN ARBOR

$29–$40 · FEES INCLUDED

ADMIT
ONE

NOV. 3

LINER NOTES · 006
LN 110326 0006

+ ADD TO CALENDAR

Sources: Teddy Thompson, by email through his publicist, Kevin Calabro, Oct. 28; The Ark’s page for the show, for the date, times, address, prices, fees and the special guest; Royal Potato Family’s press page and album credits, for the producer, the first single and the guitar riff; Bandcamp’s page for the album, for the release date and length.

Share this piece: its own page, free to read.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

The Houdini séance is sold out. The museum is worth the trip.

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 07:39:09 -0400

The Houdini séance is sold out. The museum is worth the trip.

Harry Houdini died on Halloween, 1926, in a hospital bed in Detroit. A hundred years later to the day, which is today, a circle of invited guests will sit around his milk can in a storefront in Marshall, Michigan, up U.S. 23 and I-94, and wait to see whether he turns up.

You cannot join them. The American Museum of Magic’s 100th Anniversary Houdini Séance, noon to 3 p.m., sold out both of its tiers: forty seats to watch, at $20 until Oct. 1 and $30 after, and eight in what the museum calls the outer circle of protection, at $50, each with a Houdini pint glass. Forty-eight chairs for a centenary. The museum’s ticket page said “Sold out” on Friday night.

Go for the building it happens in. The American Museum of Magic has filled an 1860s store on the main street of Marshall since 1978, and it is not a modest place: it calls itself the largest collection of magic artifacts on display anywhere in the United States, and quotes somebody’s description of it as the Smithsonian of American magic. Its own inventory runs to more than 12,000 books on conjuring, 3,000 posters, costumes, scrapbooks, letters and diaries, and roughly 350,000 pieces of ephemera. Blackstone and Thurston are in there with Houdini.

It began with a reporter who could not stop buying things. Robert Lund was a Detroit-area journalist. He and his wife, Elaine, founded the museum in 1978, the same year he held the first Houdini séance. Today’s circle is run from Lund’s own notes on that one. For years the collection was only intermittently open, with Lund himself giving the tours. He died in 1995. Elaine incorporated the collection as a nonprofit, bought the city’s old 1915 craftsman library one block behind the museum in 1998, and died in 2006, leaving the buildings and everything in them to the nonprofit.

Visiting. 107 E. Michigan Ave., Marshall; 269-781-7570. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children 12 and under and for veterans, and free for 5 and under; parking is free. The first floor is wheelchair accessible. The museum’s own pages disagree on its fall hours, list November through March as by appointment only and do not say whether regular visitors can come in while the séance runs, noon to 3 today. Call before you drive.

Forty minutes on, there is more. Colon, Michigan, calls itself the Magic Capital of the World. Abbott’s Magic Company has made stage illusions and gag tricks there since January 1934, and its retail counter sells tricks made in the building. Its website still lists only summer hours, so call first: 269-432-3235.

Sources: the American Museum of Magic’s own ticket page, read Friday night, for the date, the hours of the séance, both prices, both seat limits, the milk can, the 1978 notes, the pint glass, the address and the sold-out state; its visitor page for admission, hours, parking and access, its events page for the noon start and the Saturday show, and its history page for the Lunds, the collection counts and the two buildings; Abbott’s Magic Company’s history and home page. The count of 48 seats is the sum of the museum’s two stated limits.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

A suspended judge, Mama Shu and six other votes worth watching

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 07:17:18 -0500

A suspended judge, Mama Shu and six other votes worth watching

Beyond Lucas and Wood counties, Tuesday's election has big choices that can get lost behind the statewide races. Here are eight worth watching.

▶ Watch the video · 39 sec

A judge barred from the bench is still on the ballot. A neighborhood builder wants to become mayor. Two cities are considering changes to who controls the electric grid and the police budget.

1. Sandusky County: Suspended from the bench, still on the ballot

Jon Ickes can't serve as a judge right now. Sandusky County voters can still vote for him.

In August, the Ohio Supreme Court barred Ickes from practicing law for two years. It also took him off the bench, without pay, for the same two years. The court found he "pervasively used vulgar language with colleagues," including sexual remarks to a pregnant worker. It said he fostered an unprofessional workplace. He also used a racial slur, quoting a movie, where a criminal defendant could hear it. And he stayed on a criminal case in which his stepson, a Fremont police officer, testified for the state. He never told the man on trial that the officer was his stepson.

His challenger, county magistrate Kimberly Ontko, is running as an independent. She tried to get him taken off the ballot. In September, the court turned her down because she filed her protest too late under state election law.

On Oct. 19, the court threw out another lawsuit. That one sought to keep votes for Ickes from being counted. The court said it did not have the power to grant what was asked. It did not decide whether Ickes can hold the job.

So voters will see his name on the ballot while the suspension the court imposed in August runs.

2. Highland Park: Mama Shu wants to take her block to City Hall

Shamayim "Mama Shu" Harris started with a $3,000 house. The project that followed, Avalon Village, grew to include a park, a garden and a house where kids do homework. CNN named her one of its Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2023.

Now Harris wants to run Highland Park, the small Wayne County city. She faces Mayor Glenda McDonald, who finished ahead of her in the August primary.

Harris has a record of building things in her neighborhood. McDonald says her team needs more time to finish its work, including fixes to the city's water system.

Voters will decide which record makes the better case for running the whole city.

3. Ann Arbor: A power struggle, literally

Ann Arbor's Proposal E would require the city to set up its own electric utility. A nine-member board would run it.

Supporters want the public, not DTE, to control the city's power. Their plan would set up a board to work toward that change. City Council is against it. Council members warn about the cost of buying the system, the debt and how much power the board would have. The city says the plan would let council overturn the board's day-to-day decisions only with eight votes.

The city has also sued to have Proposal E thrown out. It argues the plan changes city government so deeply that it needed the harder path of a charter revision, not an amendment. Brian Geiringer leads Ann Arbor for Public Power, the group behind the plan. He said of the suit that "it seems that this is political rather than really a legal issue," Michigan Public reported. A group funded by DTE sued earlier to keep the measure off the ballot. It lost in circuit court and on appeal.

This is not the same as the Sustainable Energy Utility voters approved in 2024. Tuesday's question goes further: who owns and runs the city's electric system. A yes vote would start that work. It would not create a utility overnight.

Who runs the power

Today

DTE controls Ann Arbor’s power.

→

If Proposal E passes

The city must set up its own electric utility.
A nine-member board would run it.
Council could overturn the board’s day-to-day decisions only with eight votes, the city says.
A yes vote starts the work. No utility overnight.

Where it stands

A DTE-funded group sued to keep it off the ballot. It lost twice.
City Council opposes it: the cost, the debt, the board’s power.
The city has sued to throw it out.
Tuesday, voters decide.

4. Ypsilanti: Want a bigger police budget? Ask the voters

City councils usually set police budgets as part of their regular budgets. Ypsilanti's Proposal B would give voters a direct say when that budget grows.

The change to the city charter would require voters to approve any rise in police spending over the year before. The vote would come in a regular city election. The increase would have to be its own question on the ballot.

Supporters like giving the public more control. Opponents warn it could hurt police staffing and morale. In October, a council vote to oppose the plan fell short of the votes it needed.

The plan does not order a cut of any set amount. It changes who must approve an increase.

5. Jefferson Schools asks again for $28.7 million

Jefferson Schools in Monroe County, Michigan, is asking voters again to let it borrow $28.7 million. Its bond plan failed by 28 votes in August, 1,479 to 1,451, in the county's official count.

By a neck

Jefferson Schools bond, Aug. 4 · 2,930 votes

Finish: 1,466 wins

No 1,479

Yes 1,451

07501,500

No crossed the line by 13 votes; Yes fell 15 short. Out of 2,930 votes, 15 switching sides would have passed it. In one precinct, Berlin Township 2, it was 24 to 23.

Source: Monroe County clerk, official results.

The money would pay for building renovations, new roofs, safety and security work, equipment and work on school grounds. Bond money can't pay staff salaries or day-to-day costs.

6. Four northwest Ohio counties: A familiar levy with services behind it

Voters in Defiance, Fulton, Henry and Williams counties will decide whether to renew a 0.7-mill tax. It pays for the Four County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board.

The five-year renewal would raise about $2.29 million a year, local papers reported, citing the Defiance County auditor. A home worth $100,000 would pay about $13 a year, CEO Tonie Long told 13abc.

The board pays for treatment and other help, including housing with support and programs tied to special courts. Long told 13abc that 93% of the tax money goes to services and 7% to running the office.

7. Estral Beach: Two questions about keeping the water out

In Estral Beach, the Monroe County village on Lake Erie, flood protection gets two separate questions on the ballot.

One 2-mill tax would keep up and strengthen the village's flood-control structures, including possible steel walls. A second 2-mill tax, on top of the first, would pay to fix and keep up berms, levees, ditches, pumps and other flood control.

Each would run from 2027 through 2030 and raise about $43,000 in its first year.

On $100,000 in taxable value, each would cost $200 a year. Both would cost $400. Voters can back one, both or neither. The gear may be dull, but the job is urgent: keeping water away from people's homes.

8. Clinton Township: The cemetery has a funding question, too

Election fights are usually about what comes next. In Clinton Township, Lenawee County, one question is about caring for the people already buried there.

The Riverside Cemetery question would renew a tax of up to a quarter mill, for what the ballot calls eight years. It pays for the care and upkeep of township cemeteries. It would raise about $41,875 in its first year.

That works out to $25 a year for property with a taxable value of $100,000. It is a renewal, not a new quarter mill on top of the old one.

There is no one to send to Lansing or Washington in this one. The choice stays close to home: whether to keep the local tax that cares for the cemetery.

Sources: Disciplinary Counsel v. Ickes, 2026-Ohio-3173 (Aug. 19, 2026); State ex rel. Ontko, 2026-Ohio-3573 (Sept. 14, 2026); State ex rel. Florio v. Sandusky County Board of Elections, 2026-Ohio-4090 (Oct. 19, 2026); the Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Jefferson Schools, Estral Beach and Clinton Township ballot language as certified by the Washtenaw, Monroe and Lenawee county clerks; City of Ann Arbor, resolution of Oct. 6 and city statement of Oct. 7; Michigan Public, Oct. 29; WEMU, Oct. 7; 13abc, Oct. 22, and the Defiance County auditor’s estimate; WDIV, August primary results; CNN, Nov. 1, 2023.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Two lawyers for an open attorney general’s seat

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 07:17:18 -0500

Two lawyers for an open attorney general’s seat

On your ballot

Attorney General

John J. KulewiczDemocraticKeith FaberRepublican

In the order the Wood County Board of Elections lists them. Your ballot may list them in a different order.

About the office

The state’s chief lawyer. The attorney general speaks for the state and its agencies in court and enforces the laws that protect consumers. The office also runs the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI). BCI does crime-lab work and looks into cases for local police.

Term: 4 yearsStarts Jan. 11, 2027. No one may serve more than two terms in a row.
Pay: About $135,000A year in 2027. Set by state law, with a 1.75% raise each year through 2028.
Budget: $489.4 millionThis budget year (July 2026 to June 2027), all funds.
Staff: About 1,600Full-time equivalent.
Here: A state crime lab in Bowling GreenBCI runs one of its three full-service labs at 750 N. College Drive, where local police also drop off evidence.

Sources: Ohio Constitution; Ohio Revised Code; Legislative Service Commission, Greenbook; Ohio Auditor of State, elected officials compensation research; Ohio Attorney General, BCI locations

The seat is open. Gov. Mike DeWine named Andy Wilson attorney general in May, after Dave Yost said he would resign. Wilson is not on the ballot, Cleveland 19 reported. Both candidates are licensed lawyers. The Ohio Supreme Court’s attorney directory lists Kulewicz as admitted in 1981 and Faber in 1991. Both are active, and neither has any discipline on record.

Sources: Wood County Board of Elections, certified candidate list; Supreme Court of Ohio, attorney directory; Cleveland 19; the Associated Press; the candidates’ campaign websites

The paper sent both candidates the same three questions on Sept. 29, with a deadline of 5 p.m. Oct. 27. Each also got questions of their own. None of them answered. These were the shared questions:

What will you do in your first year in office that a voter in Toledo or Bowling Green would notice?

Police in Lucas and Wood counties use license-plate-reader cameras, including Flock systems. Should the state set rules for how long that data is kept and who it can be shared with, and would you ask the legislature for them? What would the rules say?

The Bureau of Criminal Investigation, part of the attorney general’s office, investigates officer-involved shootings for local departments. Should BCI investigate every police shooting in Lucas and Wood counties, and should its findings be made public when the investigation ends?

Since they did not answer, The Lake Erie Inquiry offers a short life story of each candidate. It is drawn from public records, news reports and the campaigns’ own words.

John J. KulewiczDemocratic

Kulewicz grew up in Columbus. He spent 44 years at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, a Columbus law firm, where he argued cases in the U.S. Supreme Court and courts across Ohio, his campaign biography says. He has a bachelor’s degree in American history from Ohio State University. His law degree is from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal. He has served on Upper Arlington City Council since 2020. He lives in Upper Arlington with his wife, Maryline. His campaign website says the job “means taking on corrupt politicians and restoring transparency and accountability to our government.”

Keith FaberRepublican

Faber is in his second term as Ohio’s auditor of state. He was first elected auditor in 2018. Before that he spent nearly 20 years in the state legislature. He served two stints in the Ohio House, served in the Ohio Senate and led the Senate for four years as its president, the Associated Press reported when he entered this race. He graduated from Ohio State University’s law school. He has a private law practice in Celina, in Mercer County, where he lives with his wife, Andrea, his campaign says. When he announced, he pointed to 129 convictions from his office’s work tied to misspent tax money. His campaign website says he “is focused on protecting families, defending constitutional rights, and ensuring that every Ohioan has the opportunity to thrive in a safe community.”

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

The secretary of state and a Cuyahoga County mayor run for auditor

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 07:17:18 -0500

The secretary of state and a Cuyahoga County mayor run for auditor

On your ballot

Auditor of State

Annette BlackwellDemocraticFrank LaRoseRepublican

In the order the Wood County Board of Elections lists them. Your ballot may list them in a different order.

About the office

Checks the books of every public office in Ohio, from state agencies to village councils and school boards, at least once every two years. Its Special Investigations Unit looks into theft and misuse of public money.

Term: 4 yearsStarts Jan. 11, 2027. No one may serve more than two terms in a row.
Pay: About $135,000A year in 2027. Set by state law, with a 1.75% raise each year through 2028.
Budget: $126.2 millionThis budget year (July 2026 to June 2027). About 60% comes from funds paid for mostly by fees. The office charges those fees to the governments it audits.
Staff: 784Employees, as of early 2025.

Sources: Ohio Constitution; Ohio Revised Code; Legislative Service Commission, Greenbook; Legislative Service Commission, Redbook; Ohio Auditor of State, elected officials compensation research

The seat is open because Faber, the auditor, is running for attorney general.

Sources: Wood County Board of Elections, certified candidate list; Ohio Secretary of State; City of Maple Heights; Ohio Capital Journal; the candidates’ campaign websites

The paper sent both candidates the same three questions on Sept. 29, with a deadline of 5 p.m. Oct. 27. Each also got questions of their own. None of them answered. These were the shared questions:

What will you do in your first year in office that a voter in Toledo or Bowling Green would notice?

The auditor of state audits every city, township, school district, library and the port authority in Lucas and Wood counties. Which audit of a Lucas or Wood County government would you look at first, and why?

Residents and officials can ask the auditor for a special audit. What standard would you use to accept or turn down a request, and would you publish the requests you turn down and the reason?

Since they did not answer, The Lake Erie Inquiry offers a short life story of each candidate. It is drawn from public records, news reports and the campaigns’ own words.

Annette BlackwellDemocratic

Blackwell was born in Selma, Ala., and came to Ohio as a young child, her campaign says. She was sworn in as mayor of Maple Heights, in Cuyahoga County, in January 2016. She was the first woman and the first African American to lead the city. She is also its safety director and is in her third elected term, the city says. Before that she worked for KeyBank, University Hospitals of Cleveland, Deloitte and Ryan, a tax firm. Her campaign says she spent 16 years working on property tax. The city was in fiscal emergency, the state’s label for a government in deep money trouble, when she took office. She says she wrote its plan to recover. The city has since won awards from the auditor’s office for clean audits, most recently in February 2026, the Ohio Capital Journal reported. Her campaign website says that as auditor she will bring “the same determination and fiscal discipline I applied to my private sector career and public service.”

Frank LaRoseRepublican

LaRose is in his second term as Ohio’s secretary of state, his office’s official biography says. He grew up working on a small family farm in Northeast Ohio. After Copley High School, he joined the Army with the 101st Airborne and later served as a Special Forces Green Beret. The biography says he received the Bronze Star and still serves in the Ohio National Guard. He graduated from Ohio State University and served in the Ohio Senate. He was elected secretary of state in 2018. He finished third in the 2024 Republican primary for U.S. Senate, the Ohio Capital Journal reported. He lives in Central Ohio with his wife, Lauren, and their three daughters. His campaign website says: “I’ll help state and local government offices across Ohio more openly and efficiently manage our tax dollars and hold them accountable when they don’t.”

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Three candidates for the office that runs Ohio’s elections

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 07:17:18 -0500

Three candidates for the office that runs Ohio’s elections

On your ballot

Secretary of State

Allison RussoDemocraticRobert SpragueRepublicanTom PrussLibertarian

In the order the Wood County Board of Elections lists them. Your ballot may list them in a different order.

About the office

Ohio’s chief elections officer. The secretary of state picks the four members of every county board of elections, including Lucas’s and Wood’s. The secretary also breaks tie votes on those boards. The office also keeps the state’s business filings.

Term: 4 yearsStarts Jan. 11, 2027. No one may serve more than two terms in a row.
Pay: About $135,000A year in 2027. Set by state law, with a 1.75% raise each year through 2028.
Budget: $52.7 millionThis budget year (July 2026 to June 2027). Most of the office’s money comes from business and notary filing fees.
Staff: About 157Employees, as of early 2025.
Registered voters here: Lucas 291,992 · Wood 88,617On the state’s rolls Sept. 29, 2026, out of 8,002,701 statewide.

Sources: Ohio Constitution; Ohio Revised Code; Legislative Service Commission, Greenbook; Legislative Service Commission, Redbook; Ohio Auditor of State, elected officials compensation research; Ohio Secretary of State, voter registration dashboard

The seat is open because LaRose, the secretary of state, is running for auditor. Two of the three candidates are from northwest Ohio. Sprague lives in Findlay, and Pruss was born and raised in Toledo.

Sources: Wood County Board of Elections, certified candidate list; Ohio Treasurer of State; Ohio Capital Journal; Signal Ohio; the candidates’ campaign websites

The paper sent all three candidates the same four questions on Sept. 29, with a deadline of 5 p.m. Oct. 27. Each also got questions of their own. None of them answered. These were the shared questions:

What will you do in your first year in office that a voter in Toledo or Bowling Green would notice?

The secretary of state appoints county election board members, including in Lucas County, and sets the rules boards follow. What would you require county boards to post online, such as certified candidate lists, sample ballots and meeting minutes, and by what deadline before an election?

In August the secretary of state broke a 2-2 tie on the Erie County board to certify a party chairman as a legislative nominee while the secretary was a candidate on the same Nov. 3 ballot. Should a secretary of state who is on the ballot decide partisan board ties, and if not, who should?

In August a federal judge blocked a new state voter-registration rule as likely conflicting with the National Voter Registration Act, and the secretary of state said he would appeal. Would you continue that appeal, drop it, or change the rule, and why?

Since they did not answer, The Lake Erie Inquiry offers a short life story of each candidate. It is drawn from public records, news reports and the campaigns’ own words.

Allison RussoDemocratic

Russo, of Upper Arlington, has served in the Ohio House since 2019. She led its Democrats as minority leader from 2022 to 2025, the Ohio Capital Journal reported. She also sat on the Ohio Redistricting Commission, which draws the state’s voting maps. She lost a 2021 special election for Congress to Republican Mike Carey, ABC6 reported. Before she joined the legislature, she spent more than 20 years in health care policy, advising federal agencies and health systems, her campaign says. She holds a doctorate in public health, in health policy, from George Washington University. She also has a master’s in public health, in epidemiology, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her campaign website says: “I’m running to restore trust in our elections, protect your personal data, and make sure government is accountable to the people it serves.”

Robert SpragueRepublican

Sprague has been Ohio’s treasurer since Jan. 14, 2019, his office’s official biography says. He started in public service in his hometown of Findlay as city auditor and treasurer. He then served the 83rd District in the Ohio House from 2011 through 2018. Before that he was a project lead at Ernst & Young and started his own consulting firm. He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Duke University. He also has a master’s in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He and his wife, Amanda, have five children and live in Findlay. His campaign website says he is running “to defend what matters – your vote, your voice, your family, and to run the most secure elections in Ohio history.”

Tom PrussLibertarian

Pruss was born and raised in Toledo. He has worked in printing since 1985, and since 2017 he has owned NorthCoast Print Mail Marketing, his campaign website says. He is vice president of the Northwest Ohio Polish Cultural Center and a past president of the Polish American Community of Toledo. He has run before for the Toledo school board and for Lucas County clerk of courts. He and his wife, Alicia, have three children. His campaign website says: “For too long, the Secretary of State’s office has been used as a gatekeeper for the two major parties. It’s time to restore neutrality, integrity, and equal access to the ballot.”

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Cincinnati council member, former House finance chair vie for treasurer

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 07:17:18 -0500

Cincinnati council member, former House finance chair vie for treasurer

On your ballot

Treasurer of State

Seth WalshDemocraticJay EdwardsRepublican

In the order the Wood County Board of Elections lists them. Your ballot may list them in a different order.

The seat is open because Sprague, the treasurer, is running for secretary of state.

Sources: Wood County Board of Elections, certified candidate list; City of Cincinnati; WVXU; Ohio Capital Journal; the candidates’ campaign websites

The paper sent both candidates the same three questions on Sept. 29, with a deadline of 5 p.m. Oct. 27. Each also got questions of their own. None of them answered. These were the shared questions:

What will you do in your first year in office that a voter in Toledo or Bowling Green would notice?

Should Ohio electric customers ever again be asked to subsidize the Davis-Besse nuclear plant in Ottawa County? Where did you stand on House Bill 6 in 2019, and on House Bill 128 in 2021?

Townships, villages, school districts and counties in Lucas and Wood park money in STAR Ohio, the treasurer’s investment pool, and use the treasurer’s linked-deposit loan programs. What, if anything, would you change in either, and how would a local fiscal officer notice?

Since they did not answer, The Lake Erie Inquiry offers a short life story of each candidate. It is drawn from public records, news reports and the campaigns’ own words.

Seth WalshDemocratic

Walsh is a native of St. Joseph, Mich. He came to Cincinnati to attend Xavier University, where he was student body president, his city council biography says. He worked for Cincinnati council members and for community development groups. In 2016 he became executive director of the College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation. He is a former chairman of the Cincinnati Elections Commission. He took his council seat on Dec. 19, 2022, named to finish Greg Landsman’s term when Landsman went to Congress, WVXU reported. He then won elections in 2023 and 2025. He ran for Hamilton County treasurer in 2016 and lost, WVXU reported. His campaign website says that as treasurer he “will serve as an independent steward of taxpayer dollars, pensions, and savings, uplifting neighborhoods throughout the state.”

Jay EdwardsRepublican

Edwards was born and raised in Nelsonville, in Athens County. He went to Ohio University on a football scholarship and earned a degree in math, his campaign website says. He was a state representative from 2017 to 2024. He led the House Finance Committee in 2023 and 2024, the Ohio Capital Journal reported. He first won in 2016, taking a seat that a Democrat had held. His campaign says that as Finance chairman he wrote and sponsored the state’s budgets for day-to-day costs and for building projects. He beat state Sen. Kristina Roegner in the May Republican primary, the Capital Journal reported. He lives in Nelsonville with his partner, Jayde, and their three children. His campaign website quotes him: “As our next Treasurer, I will keep politics out of our investments & keep those dollars in our local communities.”

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Lawsuit challenges Norwalk fire hire over rounded-up exam score

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 07:17:18 -0500

Lawsuit challenges Norwalk fire hire over rounded-up exam score

A Willard fire captain is asking a court to remove Norwalk’s assistant fire chief, alleging the city rounded a failing exam score up to the passing mark to keep him in contention. The lawsuit challenges who holds a senior fire leadership job advertised at $101,634 a year.

Max Helton filed the suit Oct. 28 in Ohio’s Sixth District Court of Appeals against Assistant Fire Chief Benjamin Blodgett, Mayor David Light and the city. Helton wants Blodgett removed and himself appointed.

According to the complaint and attached testing records, Blodgett answered 87 of 125 questions correctly on the written exam, scoring 69.60%. The Civil Service Commission had set the passing mark at 70%. Helton scored 80%.

Helton alleges the city lacked authority to round Blodgett’s score to 70% and argues that Blodgett should have been eliminated.

Norwalk’s hiring ordinance requires passage of the written exam before candidates continue through the selection process. It also directs the mayor to consider interviews, prior service and evaluations of fitness and suitability; the highest written score alone does not determine the appointment.

An Aug. 5 recommendation included with the complaint explains the city officials’ choice. Fire Chief Dan Strayer and Safety Service Director Angie Smith recommended Blodgett after considering testing, assessments, a background check and an interview. They cited his knowledge and experience as assets to the department. Light approved the recommendation.

Helton also seeks damages and attorney fees. His allegations remain claims for the court to decide.

Sources: State ex rel. Helton v. Blodgett, No. H2026-27, Sixth District Court of Appeals, complaint and exhibits; Norwalk’s hiring ordinance.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Nessel challenges Google’s power deal over customer costs

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 07:17:18 -0500

Nessel challenges Google’s power deal over customer costs

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel asked utility regulators Friday to strengthen Google’s power contracts or reject them, arguing that DTE households and businesses could end up paying some of the data center’s costs. Her challenge targets how the deal measures benefits over 20 years rather than protecting customers year by year.

The rehearing petition, in case U-22058, concerns Google’s planned Van Buren Township facility in Wayne County. Nessel wants annual accounting and fuller tracking of power-transmission costs. “This aggregation standard, on a twenty-year contract, simply swings the doors wide open for customer cost-shifting, and that’s how the data center crash-lands onto your electric bill,” she said.

The Michigan Public Service Commission says its Oct. 1 conditional approval protects other customers. Google must pay for at least 80% of its contracted electricity demand and, if it leaves early, ultimately cover at least 15 years of minimum monthly charges. DTE projects a $1.7 billion benefit for other customers over the contracts’ life. Nessel disputes whether the safeguards are sufficient.

Sources: Michigan attorney general; MPSC, case U-22058.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Sandusky County auditor sought state advice months before spending freeze

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 07:17:18 -0500

Sandusky County auditor sought state advice months before spending freeze

Commissioner Scott Miller says the county can cover its remaining expenses this year. Newly released emails trace financial warnings back to March.

FREMONT — Sandusky County's auditor asked the state for advice in March. That was nearly six months before commissioners paused nonessential spending. Commissioner Scott Miller said Saturday that the county can pay its bills for the rest of this year. Spending cuts and money shifted from future projects will cover them, he said.

"We have funding for the remainder of the year for the Sheriff's Department and any other department in the office," Miller said in a phone interview.

After a May meeting with state staff, he said, commissioners asked other elected officials and county offices to spend less. Offices put off optional purchases. They also freed up money that had been set aside for future projects, such as software upgrades. Essential hiring could go on, he said, including deputies who had to be replaced right away.

The emails show money worries months before the projected $4.3 million shortfall made news with September's freeze. They also show the county auditor asking for advice again in August. She told state staff then that no memo had frozen spending or hiring.

The concerns began in March

"I am concerned with the rest of year though. Please advise," Auditor Jerri Miller wrote to the Ohio Auditor of State's office on March 17.

That day the general fund, the county's main account for day-to-day costs, was $1.06 million below zero. She expected sales and property taxes to bring it back above zero by the end of the month. What worried her was the rest of the year.

On Friday, Oct. 30, Jerri Miller told the Lake Erie Inquiry the general fund held $1,892,856.45. That is the cash on hand that day. It is not a guess at what will be left once the county pays the rest of this year's bills.

State staff met county officials May 6 in the commissioners' conference room. The auditor gave a written account of the meeting on Friday. She said the state staff warned that the county had to change its spending. If not, it could head toward fiscal watch, the state's formal label for a government in money trouble. The county was not on fiscal watch then, she said.

She said county officials told the state that the 2026 budget left several key areas short of money. That was done so the budget would stay within the money the county expected to take in, she said. Her account did not say which areas, or how much. The county's own figures show the budget planned to spend about $1.7 million more than the county expected to take in. It covered the gap with nearly all of the $1.7 million it expected to have left from 2025. That left a cushion of less than $20,000.

Scott Miller said the May session was a meeting to share facts, with no decisions made. He said commissioners then talked about the money squeeze with elected officials and county offices at their regular meetings. They asked them to keep spending in check.

County Administrator Marc Glotzbecker said he was at the meeting on his second day on the job. He thanked state staff that afternoon. He wrote that the county could now make good changes and "reset the communication and teamwork level" between the commissioners' office and other officials and departments.

Another warning in August

By Aug. 18, Jerri Miller was asking the state for advice again. The general fund was $473,592 below zero. Two payrolls and the weekly bills were still due that month. Sales tax money had not come in yet, and property tax money was late.

"There has been no memo stating there is a hiring freeze or a spending freeze," she wrote.

Cynthia McCafferty, of the state auditor's office, wrote back. She said the county had cash overall, even as its general fund dipped in and out of the red. She expected tax money on the way to lift the fund back above zero.

"The concern is the forecasted amount by the end of the year, if anything has been done," McCafferty wrote. She asked whether any of the ideas from May were part of the plans for the 2027 budget.

"At this point no," the auditor replied. Elected officials were set to meet the next morning, she added.

In a Sept. 4 statement, the commissioners announced "a pause on various areas of spending." WTOL reported in September that officials had projected a $4.3 million shortfall. Commissioner Miller said that gap had since come down.

Commissioner Miller: outlook better, but tight

On Saturday, Commissioner Miller was asked how the general fund fell below zero earlier this year. He said officials needed to talk to each other more clearly. They also needed a better grasp of what the county really took in and spent. He did not point to one cause. He praised the state staff's help. More changes to how the county does things are still being worked out, he said.

Commissioner Miller said the county wants next year's budget done by the end of December. But he warned that things could change. He said that for now, it looks like the county can end this year balanced, with little left over to carry into 2027.

He called the spending cuts a team effort by county offices. He did not give a list of the savings during the call.

"But it will be a tight balanced budget," he said.

Sources: the Ohio Auditor of State’s correspondence with Sandusky County Auditor Jerri Miller, March to August 2026, released to this paper on public-records requests of Oct. 26 and Oct. 30; Miller’s written account of the May 6 meeting and her Oct. 30 balance figure; County Administrator Marc Glotzbecker’s Oct. 30 reply; the county’s amended 2026 certificate of resources and its Feb. 28 budget report; the commissioners’ signed statement of Sept. 4; and a telephone interview with Commissioner Scott Miller on Oct. 31. The freeze and the $4.3 million projection were first reported by WTOL and TiffinOhio.net on Sept. 21. Commissioners Russ Zimmerman and Justin Smith did not answer questions sent Oct. 31.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Toledoans engaged the city’s help line over 4,000 times last month

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 05:18:50 -0500

BY THE NUMBERS • OCTOBER 2026

Toledoans engaged the city’s help line over 4,000 times last month

Tax questions topped October’s Engage Toledo requests, and air-quality complaints during the chemical emergency made Oct. 21 the busiest day.

A patch on Ascot Avenue. A city pothole request on the street, opened Oct. 5, was marked repaired four days later. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry.

A pothole, a leaking pipe, a troublesome tree, a question about taxes: Engage Toledo is the city’s front door for getting help. Its around-the-clock service accepts requests by phone, email, app and online, then routes them to city departments. In October, it recorded 4,013 requests—about 129 a day.

Those requests describe the everyday work residents bring to city government, interrupted by an extraordinary chemical emergency. They also show why a request marked “closed” does not always mean the work is finished.

InteractiveExplore the full interactive dashboard: the map, the October timeline and all 70 categories.

A MONTH OF ENGAGE TOLEDO

4,013

Requests initiated Oct. 1–31 • About 129 a day

Taxes topped the list

Taxation concerns led October with 749 requests, followed by property-maintenance concerns at 511, air quality at 312, parked vehicles at 301 and water service at 291. Together, those five categories accounted for 54% of the month.

These are request counts, not a count of different people or verified problems. Separate request IDs can concern the same issue; 177 of the 511 property-maintenance requests were marked canceled.

Oct. 15 was the filing deadline for 2025 returns under a federal extension. Toledo directs residents to Engage Toledo to arrange tax-help appointments. The system logged 44 tax requests on the Oct. 15 deadline, following 49 the day before. The category does not reveal which requests concerned extensions. City tax guidance

Wednesdays were busiest, averaging 230 requests. Even without the emergency-driven surge on Oct. 21, the other Wednesdays averaged 168, narrowly ahead of Mondays.

One day changed the month

On Oct. 21, during the north Toledo chemical emergency, Engage Toledo recorded 268 air-quality requests—86% of October’s total in that category.

Across all categories, that day produced 418 requests, more than twice the next-busiest day’s 208. These are requests, not unique callers or measurements of chemical exposure; the category alone cannot connect every report to the release.

Another concentration appeared that day around Woodside Trail and Sylvan Ridge Drive: 33 water-service requests at 29 distinct recorded locations in a single one-kilometer area on the dashboard’s map. The city marked 28 closed that day and five the next. The public records do not explain the cause or establish a connection to the chemical emergency.

What happened after the request?

By the Nov. 1 snapshot, 2,609 October requests—65%—were marked closed. Those requests averaged 56.5 hours from opening to recorded closure.

Among categories with at least 10 closed requests, water-pressure concerns had the shortest average, 7.1 hours. Vacant-building trespass concerns had the longest, 283.4 hours, or nearly 12 days.

That is a comparison of administrative closure times, not repair speed. Requests still awaiting closure are excluded, and different categories involve different work.

Individual histories make the distinction tangible. A pothole request opened Oct. 5 was marked repaired four days later. An indoor water-leak request opened Oct. 11 was closed after 72 minutes; the resolution said the water had been turned off. A tree-maintenance request opened Oct. 1 closed the following afternoon with a work order still needed.

In all, 201 closed October requests carried that work-order-needed label. Toledo’s own water-reporting instructions explain that once a work order is created, the service request appears closed even when the underlying problem remains unresolved. City explanation

The city also assigned responsibility elsewhere in 97 requests: 73 to property owners, 13 to another utility and 11 to a community partner.

Why today’s map may show fewer requests

The Lake Erie Inquiry preserves daily copies of the city’s public service-request records. This analysis counts distinct request numbers initiated Oct. 1–31 and uses their recorded statuses as of Nov. 1.

A fresh check of the city’s underlying map data on Nov. 1 returned 3,964 October requests. Our archive retained 49 additional requests captured earlier but absent from that current view. The records do not explain why they disappeared.

We count repeated map rows with the same request number once. Separate request numbers remain separate, including canceled requests and reports that may concern the same problem.

The archive preserves what appeared over time. The live map shows what the city exposes now. Neither supplies the residents’ original complaint narratives or the detailed comments explaining many resolutions.

See every October request on the interactive dashboard →

Sources: City of Toledo service-request records; EPA response update; Engage Toledo; City of Toledo tax guidance; City of Toledo water-reporting instructions. Analysis by the Lake Erie Inquiry.

Drafted by AI from public records and other named sources, built at 5 a.m. A human editor edits and publishes every issue and answers for what runs. It will sometimes be wrong. Write to info@lakeerieinquiry.org or submit a correction here.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Saline Township’s Oracle agreement treats job projections as estimates

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 05:18:50 -0500

Saline Township’s Oracle agreement treats job projections as estimates

Oracle’s application for a Saline Township data-center tax break projected 450 new jobs, but an accompanying agreement says employment and investment projections are estimates, not binding commitments except where expressly specified.

The agreement, signed by Township Supervisor Tom Hammond on Aug. 10 and released to the Lake Erie Inquiry on Oct. 31, ties its cash-repayment provision to abandonment of the project, subject to exceptions and opportunities to fix a default. Simply missing the projected job count is not identified as a repayment trigger. The township retains other enforcement options, including requesting state revocation of the exemption. The released agreement includes separate signed counterparts from the township and Oracle, and the agreement takes effect only if the state issues the exemption certificate.

As of Nov. 2, Michigan’s application database listed Oracle’s request as under staff review for both real and personal property, with no State Tax Commission action date shown.

Source: Saline Township’s public-records release: Oracle America Cloud Services’ industrial facilities exemption application and its agreement with the township; the Michigan Department of Treasury’s industrial facilities application search.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Defiance loses a rail crossing today, with a bridge still in doubt

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 05:18:50 -0500

Defiance loses a rail crossing today, with a bridge still in doubt

CSX closes the Ottawa Avenue railroad crossing in Defiance today for what the railroad says could be several weeks, the city said in an alert posted Sunday. Drivers are told to find another route. The at-grade crossing shuts completely while the track is repaired.

The date matters because of a second closure. Defiance expected the state’s repair of the Jefferson Street Bridge, shut since Sept. 15, to be finished by today. An official from the city administration told council on Oct. 27 that it had spent two weeks preparing for the chance that the contractor runs late and both crossings of the south side are closed at once.

If that happens, the city would ban street parking on Summit Street between Hopkins and Carnes, and possibly on Ravine Street between Columbus and Hopkins, to keep the detour moving. It would also station at least one ambulance and several extra police officers on the south side so emergency response times hold. The official said contractors have told the city there will be no overlap, and that residents should not notice the plans at all.

A council member argued the parking ban on Summit should last as long as the crossing is out, not only during an overlap, because traffic backs up there either way. The city considered pulling the stop sign at Rolf Street to ease the detour and decided against it, on the grounds that a sign removed for a day or two would confuse drivers.

The city asked CSX to wait until the bridge reopened, working through the Ohio Department of Transportation, the Ohio Rail Development Commission and its state legislators. CSX kept the Nov. 2 date. The railroad is repairing track along the whole line, the official said, with a crew that began two states away. As of Sunday the city’s alert page still carried the bridge closure and no notice that it had reopened.

Sources: the City of Defiance alert center, and the recording of the Oct. 27 Defiance City Council meeting. No parking-ban order had been posted as of Sunday.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

County challenges a 25% increase in economic-development dues

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 05:18:50 -0500

County challenges a 25% increase in economic-development dues

WEDCO’s director told the commissioners the county’s dues should rise to $76,991 next year, from $61,500, about 25% more, according to the meeting recording. The commissioners took the request under advisement. A board member pushed back: the group should grow its income by bringing in more firms. WEDCO’s speaker said costs had risen. She said the group also helps firms already here, and that a lack of water, sewer or power capacity can block growth.

WEDCO: Williams County Economic Development Corp. Source: official recording · 2026-10-27 · 29:14–42:30.

Williams County Commissioners · Tuesday, Oct. 27 · agenda

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Apartment plan draws objections over city services

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 05:18:50 -0500

Apartment plan draws objections over city services

A resident warned that planned apartments at 1421 Picadilly Lane would strain police and fire crews. The builder said rents could range from $800 to $1,300, with limits on renters’ income. City staff said water and sewer service should meet the need. The zoning request is for homes on land now zoned for business. The builder said it must return with a final plan.

Source: official recording · 2026-10-27 · 7:02–28:30. · Agenda packet / Orden del día

Maumee Planning Commission · Tuesday, Oct. 27 · agenda

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Building officials get new roles and certification pay

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 05:18:50 -0500

Building officials get new roles and certification pay

Council named Zachary Jenkins chief building official and Robert LeMaitre building and zoning inspector, starting Dec. 9. It also backed extra pay for the state credentials the jobs require. The chief gets $7,000 a year; the inspector gets $15.50 per hour worked. That extra pay stops if they no longer hold the required credentials.

Source: official recording · 2026-10-27 · 17:07–20:40. · Agenda packet / Orden del día

Maumee Special City Council Meeting · Tuesday, Oct. 27 · agenda

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may provide further detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Inside ODOT’s new Putnam County garage

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 05:18:50 -0500

Inside ODOT’s new Putnam County garage

ODOT’s new Putnam County garage in Ottawa gives its trucks room to move. ODOT opened it Oct. 26 by driving a snowplow through the ribbon. At the old garage, built in 1979, “the trucks barely fit in the building,” Chris Hughes, ODOT District 1’s deputy director, told The Lima News. “We can get all the trucks in at one time,” Paul Lehman, ODOT’s transportation manager for Putnam County, told WLIO.

The $12.7 million complex covers more than 50,000 square feet. Its salt building can store 4,000 tons.

The shop has three bays, so mechanics can leave a truck up on a lift while they wait for specialized equipment. Before, they had to take the plow blades off before a truck would fit in one of the two old bays.

Twenty-two full-time workers there maintain 420 lane miles in the county, according to ODOT.

Trucks and equipment line the garage floor at the Oct. 26 open house. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry.

A storage dome at the new complex, nearly empty before winter. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry.

A dump truck up on the lift in the repair shop. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry.

A plow truck and its blade inside the garage. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry.

The garage from outside, at 1420 N. Locust St. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry.

“High Water” sign trailers parked in the yard. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry.

The garage belongs to ODOT’s District 1. Photo by The Lake Erie Inquiry.

Sources: The Lima News, David Trinko, Oct. 26; WLIO, Todd Cummins, Oct. 26.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Closing Time

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 05:18:50 -0500

Closing Time

Property sales entered in the Lucas and Wood county auditors’ records Oct. 24–30 (Wood County through Oct. 27).

Meta’s land company buys the house next door

Liames LLC bought another house beside Meta’s Middleton Township holdings: a one-story, three-bedroom house with a pole barn at 21588 N. Dixie Hwy., for $352,500. The county’s 2025 appraisal was $144,500.

Liames holds the land for Meta’s data center here. Tax bills for several of its Wood County parcels go to 1 Meta Way, Menlo Park, Calif., Meta’s headquarters, and it holds the county’s 2023 tax break on the site.

It already owns the house next door, 21576 N. Dixie Hwy., which it bought this summer for $397,500.

This is at least its fourth purchase on N. Dixie Highway this year. In January it paid $2.2 million for 21332 N. Dixie Hwy.

Closing Time reported in September that it paid $5 million for a 39-acre field at 0 N. Dixie Hwy., the field Middleton’s trustees voted in September not to rezone for construction-worker parking.

Source: Wood County Auditor and Recorder (deeds 202612647, 202607592, 202600662, 202611191); BG Independent News (2023 tax-break agreement; trustees’ rezoning vote); Sentinel-Tribune (Liames’s role for Meta); Meta’s SEC filings (headquarters address).

The buyer of nine Secor Road mobile homes buys the park, too

A $755,000 purchase of three parcels adds to Ivy Grove MHC LLC’s buying on Secor Road. The company bought 5305, 5319 and 5327 Secor Rd. from Ivy Grove Ltd., including the mobile-home park where it also bought nine manufactured homes for $20,000 each, as Closing Time reported last week. Both deals closed Oct. 15.

Source: Lucas County Auditor, AREIS. Prices are as reported on the conveyance form.

$3.82 million for Byrne Road apartments

Housing for Recovery, with a mailing address in Monclova, paid $3.82 million for two apartment properties at 1119 and 1133 N. Byrne Rd., the largest sale in this week’s Lucas County records. The seller was Forest Creek Town Homes Ltd.

Source: Lucas County Auditor, AREIS. Prices are as reported on the conveyance form.

Two buyers, one Michigan address, two office buildings

VDM OHI 400 LLC and VDM OHI 200 LLC, which share a Grosse Pointe, Mich., address, each paid $1,379,310 to 97Dental Management LLC for an office building: 4422 Secor Rd. in Toledo and 6455 Wheatstone Ct. in Maumee.

Other commercial sales

3232 Navarre Ave., Oregon, Ohio: Driven Brands Inc. paid DWJS LLC $775,000 for vacant commercial land.
505 and 507 Main St., Toledo: NGS Property Solutions LLC bought the two neighboring buildings in two deals totaling $390,000: 507 from Kenmore Manor, a general partnership, for $270,000, and 505 from Y. Shousher LLC for $120,000.
1907 Ottawa Dr., Toledo: CK Toledo Properties V LLC, with a Boca Raton, Fla., address, paid Ohio Real Token 1 LLC $280,000 for an apartment building.
2215 Scottwood Ave., Toledo: Midland Agency of Northwest Ohio paid Brohaas LLC $260,000 for an apartment building.
13790 W. Bancroft St., Swanton: Buckenmeyer Farms Holdings LLC paid $339,000 for farmland.

Lucas County: the week in numbers

144 sales totaling $32.64 million.
Median home sale: $135,500, across 112 sales.

Source: Lucas County Auditor, AREIS. Prices are as reported on the conveyance form.

Wood County: records through Oct. 27

Wood County’s auditor had posted sales only through Tuesday, Oct. 27, as of Saturday, so this week’s Wood figures are incomplete. The largest sale in those records was a house at 10620 Cardiff Rd. in Perrysburg Township, for $585,000.

9762 Bishopswood Ln.: Elite Capital Estates LLC, with a Perrysburg address, paid Calgie Real Estate Holdings LLC $340,000 for a two-family home.
216 Buttonwood Ave., Bowling Green: H&R Properties LLC, with a Van Buren, Ohio, address, paid $135,000 for a house.

Wood County: the week so far

12 sales totaling $3.47 million.
Median home sale: $228,000, across 10 sales.

How we count: each week covers sales the county auditors entered Saturday through Friday. A sale is a transfer between different owners for $1,000 or more; a sale covering several parcels counts once. In Lucas, 331 parcels had a transfer entered this week, and 160 of them were sold; Wood’s records so far show 23 parcels, 10 of them at $0. “Home sale,” used only for the medians, means a single-parcel sale of a house, condominium or two- or three-family home; vacant lots, manufactured homes and multi-parcel purchases are left out. Sources: Lucas County Auditor, AREIS, data current as of Oct. 30; Wood County Auditor, Beacon, records posted through Oct. 27. Prices are as reported on the conveyance form.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Ohio sportsbooks kept $87.7 million in September

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 05:18:50 -0500

Ohio sportsbooks kept $87.7 million in September

Ohio sportsbooks kept $87.7 million in September after payouts and canceled bets. That is up 50.4% from August. At Hollywood Casino Toledo, the in-person sportsbook kept $149,219.

Online bets supplied $85.5 million of the state total. Retail sites supplied $2.24 million. That is revenue before costs and taxes. It is not profit or money paid to the state.

Bets across Ohio totaled $945.3 million. That includes $38.5 million in promotional credits, so it is not all customers’ cash. The much larger “Hollywood Toledo–DraftKings” entry covers online bets across Ohio. It does not show how much Toledo residents bet.

Source: Ohio Casino Control Commission, September report, pages 1, 10–11. Figures are operator-reported and subject to revision. This paper read that statewide online license, held in Toledo’s name, on Oct. 12.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Detroit plans to leave tainted fill at 98 public lots

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 05:18:50 -0500

Detroit plans to leave tainted fill at 98 public lots

Detroit plans to leave contaminated fill at 98 publicly owned lots, with safeguards for neighbors and future buyers. City officials told council Friday that they would maintain plant cover, limit contact with the soil and notify potential buyers of the contamination.

Officials put these lots in the lowest-risk group: the limits exceeded concern aquatic life or people using well water, rather than the routes of exposure found at higher-risk sites. They said Detroit uses municipal water. The city is giving cleanup priority to 195 public lots where contaminated soil is near the surface or pollutants could reach nearby buildings as vapor.

Source: the recording of the Oct. 30 Detroit City Council meeting, 24:12–26:49.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Troy investment-scam defendant pleads no contest

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 05:18:50 -0500

Troy investment-scam defendant pleads no contest

Yanling Xie, 32, pleaded no contest Oct. 29 in Oakland County Circuit Court to attempted false pretenses of $50,000 or more, a lesser count than the $100,000-or-more charge prosecutors authorized in July.

Troy police arrested Xie on July 22 at a meeting the victim set up with detectives. The victim, a Troy resident, told police that members of an online messaging group pushed U.S. and Chinese stocks, claiming an artificial-intelligence program could predict the market, and that he handed cash and gold bars to several of them eight times between March and May. Police said the scheme took hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A no-contest plea is a conviction but not an admission. Sentencing is set for Dec. 10 before Judge Jeffery Matis.

Sources: the Troy Police Department’s July 28 post, and the Oakland County Circuit Court register of actions in People v. Xie, No. 2026-299272-FH. WDIV had the plea first; its account gives the completed count rather than the attempt the docket shows.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Toledo homicides fall 27% as more people are shot

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:40:23 +0000

Toledo homicides fall 27% as more people are shot

Four of six reported measures declined; people shot rose 19%.

Toledo had 22 homicides in the first nine months of 2026, down from 30 in the same months last year, Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said Monday. More people were shot: 134, up from 113, the city’s figures show.

It was the city’s quarterly crime report, and the first for Police Chief Kevin Braun, who took over Nov. 2 from Mike Troendle, who retired. Braun called the numbers “a bit of a mixed bag,” but said: “The reality is crime is down in our city. Full stop.”

Selected crime and shooting measures in Toledo, January through September of each year, from the city’s figures for the Nov. 2 news conference. People shot excludes self-inflicted wounds. Change is rounded to the nearest percent.
Crime	2025	2026	Change
People shot	113	134	+19%
Burglary	964	977	+1%
Auto theft	903	845	−6%
Theft from a car	754	694	−8%
Robbery	228	185	−19%
Homicide	30	22	−27%

More people shot

Neither official gave the shooting figure aloud. The mayor said that “individuals being shot also ticked up.” Braun was blunter: “Those numbers to us are unacceptable.” Police have tracked people shot only since 2024, he said.

One way to cut that, he said, is taking guns off the street: 983 in the first nine months, up from 962 a year earlier, which he expects to mean fewer people shot.

Mayor predicts lowest homicide total in a decade

Barring a “very tragic final seven weeks,” the mayor said, Toledo will end 2026 “at our lowest number in over a decade.” He compared it with full years before the pandemic spike: 35 homicides in 2016 and 39 in 2017. This year’s count through September is 22. Toledo had 38 homicides in each of the last two full years, the city has said.

Police have solved 83% of this year’s homicides, against 81% last year, Braun said. He put the national rate at about 65%.

Burglaries, nearly flat

Burglaries are up 13, to 977. Braun said the gap was larger earlier in the year and is “shrinking”; as of last week it was 0.1% up, he said, and he hopes burglaries finish 2026 below last year.

Robberies, homicides, auto thefts and thefts from cars are at five-year lows for the first nine months, Braun said. Counting burglaries with those four, crime is down about 35% from five years ago, by his own look back.

Mayor says traffic deaths may exceed homicides

The mayor said that for the first time anyone can remember, Toledo will probably have more traffic deaths than homicides this year, though he said he did not know whether anyone had measured it. He gave no count for this year. In 2025, 24 people died in Toledo crashes, the city said in January. He used the point to defend roundabouts, which he said prevent deadly T-bone crashes, and street trees, which he said slow traffic. He was not announcing new roundabouts, he said.

He also said some residents still don’t feel safe, and blamed the phone in part: “our pocket buzzes or beeps or vibrates every time something bad happens.” But “in many cases, things feel bad because they are bad,” he said.

What’s next

Braun is to be sworn in today at 11 a.m. in the mayor’s office. The year-end numbers come out in late January or early February.

Sources: City of Toledo video of the news conference, including the slide “2026 Third Quarter Crime Statistics” shown during it; the same figures as reported by 13abc; City of Toledo year-end crime statistics. Video: our reel.

Disclosures: The Lake Erie Inquiry is published in Toledo by Zach Brooke. The lead photograph is a still from the City of Toledo’s video of the Nov. 2 news conference; the lead’s quotes were checked by ear against that recording, and its six-category table was read off the slide shown there and matched to the city’s figures as 13abc printed them. The jobless-claims story in Business & Economy and its week-by-week bar table were read off Ohio’s original county reports, with the arithmetic recomputed here. The Minutes in Seconds accounts and the Monroe County museum item rest in part on machine transcriptions of public meeting recordings, read by the desk and carrying no direct quotation. The Markdom Plastics layoff notice is a scanned letter with no text layer and was read page by page as pictures. Items credited to The Blade, 13abc, BG Independent News and The Village Reporter are written from our own reading of the record where one was available, and in our own words where it was not.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Sylvania pays a sixth of a new pump station

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:40:23 +0000

Sylvania pays a sixth of a new pump station

Council took up who pays to replace the Sylvania Avenue pump station. The cost is split 84% to the county and township and 16% to the city, on a 20-year loan, and council was told the split is locked. A township gift and a state grant come on top of that.

The total project cost was not stated at the meeting.

Source: Sylvania City Council, Nov. 2, meeting recording · 16:09–24:40.

Sylvania City Council · Monday, Nov. 2

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may add detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

The volleyball court has the wrong sand in it

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:40:23 +0000

The volleyball court has the wrong sand in it

The committee was told the sand-volleyball court has the wrong sand in it. Replacing it runs about $17,000. The committee has about $5,000 of its own money. It expects to decide in December.

Who would cover the difference was not settled at the meeting.

Sources: Perrysburg Citizens’ Park and Recreation Advisory Committee, Nov. 2, meeting recording; the committee’s agenda packet.

Perrysburg Citizens’ Park and Recreation Advisory Committee · Monday, Nov. 2

Figures and dates are reported as spoken; the official record may add detail.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

New unemployment claims in Lucas, Wood counties quadruple from a year ago

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:40:23 +0000

New unemployment claims in Lucas, Wood counties quadruple from a year ago

Residents filed 4,912 new claims over four October weeks, up 341% from a year earlier. The county reports do not identify the cause.

People living in Lucas and Wood counties filed 4,912 new jobless claims in the four weeks to Oct. 24. That is more than four times the 1,114 claims filed during the comparable four weeks of 2025.

The reports count applications for unemployment benefits, not people who permanently lost their jobs. They do not identify employers, industries or the cause of the increase.

NEW CLAIMS, LUCAS AND WOOD, FOUR WEEKS TO OCT. 24

4,912

Against 1,114 a year earlier • An increase of 341%

One week carried much of it

One week carried much of the rise. The two counties logged 2,856 new claims in the week to Oct. 10, and 2,583 of those were in Lucas. That week alone is more than half the four-week total.

The rise was not only that week. Drop it, and drop the same week in 2025, and the other three weeks still came to 2,056 claims against 860. That is a 139% rise.

New unemployment claims, Lucas and Wood counties combined, by week
Week ending	2026	2025
Oct. 3	768	284
Oct. 10	2,856	254
Oct. 17	406	225
Oct. 24	882	351
Four-week total	4,912	1,114

Dark bars are 2026; gray bars the comparable 2025 weeks, which ended Oct. 4, 11, 18 and 25. Bars are scaled to the largest week.

Lucas County filed 4,376 of this year’s four-week total and Wood filed 536. A year earlier the two counties filed 931 and 183.

The latest week was milder than the Oct. 10 spike. It brought 882 claims, against 406 the week before. The October figures move up and down. They are not four straight weekly rises.

What the numbers do not settle

The state’s own release for the week to Oct. 10 adds a caution. About 1,741 of Ohio’s 8,621 new claims that week, one in five, were flagged for extra identity checks. A flag is a review, not a finding of fraud. The release gives no county breakdown, so it does not show how many flagged claims came from Lucas or Wood.

Continued claims also ran higher. These are the weekly filings people make while a claim is open. The two counties averaged 3,034 a week, against 2,236.5 a year earlier, about 36% more. Do not add them up across weeks to count people, because the same person files again each week.

These figures come from Ohio’s regular unemployment compensation reports. They count claims by where the claimant lives and leave transitional claims out of the new-claim total. These are local counts, not a seasonally adjusted jobless rate.

Sources: Ohio unemployment claims reports by county (UC236CW_2640 through UC236CW_2643) and the 2025 archive (UC236CW_2540 through UC236CW_2543), latest report confirmed Nov. 2; Ohio Department of Job and Family Services release for the week ending Oct. 10. County rows read off the original reports; the arithmetic was recomputed independently by The Lake Erie Inquiry.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

First Solar cuts sales forecast despite higher quarterly profit

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:40:23 +0000

First Solar cuts sales forecast despite higher quarterly profit

First Solar, which has manufacturing operations in Wood County, cut its annual sales forecast by $300 million at both ends of the range and its capital-spending forecast by $200 million. It now expects sales of $4.6 billion to $4.9 billion and capital spending of $600 million to $800 million.

The company’s Oct. 29 results show quarterly sales fell 23% to $1.23 billion, mainly because it sold fewer modules to third parties. Net income rose to $571 million from $456 million. These companywide forecasts do not establish job or production cuts at an Ohio plant.

Sources: First Solar quarterly results and guidance, Oct. 29

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Markdom will cut four jobs at the plant taking its transfers

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:40:23 +0000

Markdom will cut four jobs at the plant taking its transfers

Markdom Plastics will cut four jobs on Dec. 24 and expects the cuts to be permanent. The jobs are at its Ohio 1 plant, 560 Goodrich Road in Bellevue. The company told the state so in a notice dated Oct. 23. The plant “is not closing and will continue to operate,” the notice says.

These four come on top of the planned closing of Markdom’s other Bellevue plant, on Hirt Drive, which affects about 78 workers (Oct. 13).

They are a result of that closing, the notice says. Markdom moved workers from the closing plant to Goodrich Road. That move “impacted the Company’s operations and necessitated this reduction in force,” the notice says.

The four jobs are a cycle counter, a production scheduler, a mold setter and a process technician. There is one of each. None of the workers is in a union. None can bump another worker to keep a job, the notice says. Jason Nichols runs both plants and signed it. It is addressed to Bellevue Mayor Kevin Strecker and the Huron County commissioners.

Source: Markdom Plastics USA’s WARN notice to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Oct. 23.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Monroe settles suit over inspector’s photos inside a home

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:40:23 +0000

Monroe settles suit over inspector’s photos inside a home

Monroe City Council approved a settlement Monday of a federal lawsuit alleging a city building inspector photographed a woman and her dogs inside her home without consent, then shared the photographs with state childcare licensing authorities.

After about 20 minutes in closed session Nov. 2, a council member moved to authorize execution of the settlement agreement with Tamara Shere Bibb. The clerk called the roll, council approved it and moved on. No one publicly discussed the amount or other terms.

Bibb sued the city and building inspector Robert Gagne in January. In their February answer, the city and Gagne denied all five counts as untrue and unsupported.

According to the complaint, Gagne entered Bibb’s home Dec. 12, 2024, for a certificate-of-occupancy inspection. She alleges he photographed her dogs, including in the basement, and took at least one photograph of her standing in an interior hallway without her knowledge or consent. She alleges he kept the photographs for months and that at least two pictures of her dogs were logged in the city’s records system.

The complaint says the photographs reached Michigan childcare licensing authorities and that Gagne filed complaints with them about Bibb’s home-based childcare business. It also says he offered to send the photographs to a Monroe County animal control officer in April 2025.

Bibb argued that went beyond a building inspection and violated her protections against unreasonable searches and invasions of privacy. She also accused the city of failing to set policies and training for photography inside private homes. She sought $350,000 in damages, destruction of the photographs and changes to the city’s inspection rules. That was her demand, not the settlement.

The parties settled Oct. 15 at a conference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Anthony Patti and were told to file an order dismissing the case with prejudice by Nov. 18, which would bar Bibb from bringing the same claims again. Bibb filed the suit without a lawyer. Attorney Barbara Patek joined her side Sept. 30.

Sources: the federal court docket, Bibb v. City of Monroe, No. 4:26-cv-10163, the complaint and the city’s answer; Monroe City Council’s Nov. 2 meeting recording, 22:01–43:56.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

A $3.9 million gap is what stalled the museum expansion

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:40:23 +0000

A $3.9 million gap is what stalled the museum expansion

The board’s own packet puts a number on what stopped the county museum expansion: a gap of $3,940,095 between what the work would cost and the money in hand, a figure not previously reported here.

Its architect, Kohler Architecture, picked NRC Builders at $11,455,000. That price already had $449,000 of cuts in it. Commissioners tabled the project at their Oct. 20 meeting (Oct. 27), which leaves it with no decision and no way to pay for it.

County Administrator Michael Bosanac asked to close that gap with an advance from the Delinquent Tax Revolving Fund. That fund holds what the county collects on overdue property taxes.

Source: the board’s Oct. 20 agenda packet (CivicClerk file 4147), with the administrator’s Oct. 15 letter and the architect’s Aug. 13 letter. The tabling is what the meeting recording shows the board did; the vote count and each commissioner’s vote ran in our Oct. 27 edition.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Napoleon moves to buy a used fire engine for $95,000

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:29:38 +0000

Napoleon moves to buy a used fire engine for $95,000

Napoleon City Council directed its law director Monday to draft legislation for a proposed $95,000 used fire engine purchase. At the meeting, the fire chief requested a fourth-quarter budget adjustment toward the purchase and said the engine it would replace had required $55,000 in repairs over two and a half years.

Source: the paper's recording of the Napoleon City Council meeting of Monday, Nov. 2.

Disclosures: The Lake Erie Inquiry is published in Toledo by Zach Brooke. No photograph runs in this edition. The election lead reproduces the Inquiry’s saved Ohio, Lucas and Wood official-results records, with source times on the cards. Totals are unofficial; projections are provisional. County-only district portions and close races are labeled separately. State-fed leaders are not projected without race-specific reporting metadata. The Minutes in Seconds items rest on machine transcriptions of public meeting recordings, read by the desk, with no direct quotation. The felonious assault booking states no case outcome. Summit County's emergency management agency told the paper by e-mail that the Barberton hazmat invoice will go to Kenan Advantage Group once costs are determined; that story first ran Nov. 3 and is reprinted here as the second lead; the figure is not yet known.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Council tables a plan to farm out unpaid-tax lawsuits

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:29:38 +0000

Council tables a plan to farm out unpaid-tax lawsuits

Napoleon council put off an agreement that would hand the Regional Income Tax Authority, which already collects the city's income tax, the civil litigation against people who do not pay. The agreement asks a $3,000 deposit and charges by the work done. Members said they had been given no cost estimate and no collection rate, and asked for both before voting.

Source: the paper's recording of the Napoleon City Council meeting of Monday, Nov. 2.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Napoleon starts its 2027 budget Friday morning

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:29:38 +0000

Napoleon starts its 2027 budget Friday morning

Budget worksheets go out this week and Napoleon's budget sessions begin at 8 a.m. Friday. First readings of the budget legislation come at the next council meeting.

Source: the paper's recording of the Napoleon City Council meeting of Monday, Nov. 2.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

A wastewater lab will carry a 45-year employee's name

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:29:38 +0000

A wastewater lab will carry a 45-year employee's name

Napoleon's wastewater laboratory is to be dedicated to Kent S. Bacon, who worked for the city 45 years.

Source: the paper's recording of the Napoleon City Council meeting of Monday, Nov. 2.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

A Williams County fund went negative on payroll day

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:29:38 +0000

A Williams County fund went negative on payroll day

The Hillside fund went about $70,000 negative on payroll day, the Williams County commissioners heard at their Oct. 27 regular session. All payroll was met.

At the same session the commissioners voted 2-0 for a 100% enterprise zone abatement, for 15 years, for Wieland Chase. Bryan is the county seat.

Source: the minutes of the Williams County Board of Commissioners' regular session of Tuesday, Oct. 27.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

The county humane society goes to appointments only

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:29:38 +0000

The county humane society goes to appointments only

The Williams County Humane Society is moving to appointment only because of insurance changes, its representative told the commissioners. The public can no longer walk into the animal areas without an approved adoption application or volunteer training. Call ahead before going.

Source: the minutes of the Williams County Board of Commissioners' regular session of Tuesday, Oct. 27.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

The week ran 7.6° warm and brought a hundredth of an inch

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:29:38 +0000

The week ran 7.6° warm and brought a hundredth of an inch

The seven days to Nov. 2 averaged 7.6° warmer than the 1991–2020 normal for those dates. Oct. 29 reached 78°, which is 19° above its normal high of 59°.

Rain came to 0.01 of an inch against a normal 0.58: one hundredth of an inch, all of it on Halloween.

The month and the season

November’s first two days averaged 57.5° against a normal 48.3°, 9.2° warm, with a trace of rain against a normal 0.17 of an inch. Two days is two days, and a month that starts 9.2° warm has not yet said anything about the month.

The autumn since Sept. 1 is the steadier number: 62.5° against a normal 60.0°, 2.5° warm, with 5.10 inches of rain against a normal 5.69.

The season’s hottest reading is 96° and its coldest 33°. Toledo has still not been to freezing this autumn.

Station: Toledo Area, the National Weather Service threaded record for Toledo (TOLthr), with daily readings through Nov. 2; today’s are not in yet. Normals are the 1991–2020 period. Sources: the NOAA Regional Climate Centers’ Applied Climate Information System, and the Iowa Environmental Mesonet’s hourly record at Toledo Express for the dewpoint and the sky. Weather Patterns is not a forecast, and it is not the seasonal call of either almanac.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Ohio’s wheat planting runs ahead of average

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:29:38 +0000

Ohio’s wheat planting runs ahead of average

Ohio kept planting its winter wheat through the warm, dry week to Nov. 1, and stands ahead of average. Eighty-eight percent of the crop is in the ground, against a five-year average of 86%. A week earlier it stood at 68%.

Corn is the line that did not catch up. Ohio has 53% of its corn harvested against an average 60%, and that is after an 18-point week.

Michigan is further back on corn and sugarbeets: 43% of corn against an average 54%, and half its sugarbeets against an average 61%.

Percent of the crop done, Ohio and Michigan, week ending Nov. 1
State and work	Oct. 25	Nov. 1	5-year average	Gap
Ohio corn harvested	35	53	60	−7
Ohio soybeans harvested	69	83	83	0
Ohio winter wheat planted	68	88	86	+2
Michigan corn harvested	28	43	54	−11
Michigan soybeans harvested	69	81	72	+9
Michigan winter wheat planted	75	84	83	+1
Michigan sugarbeets harvested	30	50	61	−11

The gap column is this paper’s arithmetic: this week’s figure less the five-year average.

These are statewide percentages, not estimates for northwest Ohio or southeast Michigan. And a share of acres finished says nothing about yield or price.

Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, Crop Progress, released Nov. 2, for the week ending Nov. 1. The week’s weather is in Weather Patterns, below.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

The western basin’s bloom grew into November

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:29:38 +0000

The western basin’s bloom grew into November

The cyanobacteria bloom in western Lake Erie covered about 240 square miles in the bulletin NOAA issued Tuesday, Nov. 3, an increase in area since Oct. 25.

Where it sits matters more than its size. Imagery from Oct. 29 shows the bloom off the Michigan coast, from north of Maumee Bay up to Stony Point. A second patch, at low to medium concentrations, sits east of the Lake Erie Islands and reaches into the central basin. Patches “may still be present close to the Ohio shore, including in Maumee Bay,” the bulletin says.

No toxins have been detected in western Lake Erie, the bulletin says. That is a statement about the western basin and about the sampling behind it. It is not a clearance for the whole lake, and it is not a beach advisory, which is a different agency’s call.

The air above it

A bloom this far into the autumn sits alongside a warm, dry stretch in the National Weather Service record for Toledo. Toledo’s seven days to Nov. 2 ran 7.6° warmer than the 1991–2020 normal and brought a hundredth of an inch of rain against a normal of more than half an inch.

Those are air readings at the airport, not water readings in the lake. The bulletin does not say what is sustaining the bloom, and this paper is not asserting a cause.

Clouds and high winds have obscured the satellite view for several days, the bulletin says, so the picture it carries is dated Oct. 28 and the narrative describes imagery from Oct. 29. The model behind the forecast was last updated at 8 p.m. Nov. 3. NOAA says mixing through the water column can make the bloom less visible at the surface.

Source: NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Lake Erie Harmful Algal Bloom Forecast bulletin dated Nov. 3; the bulletin URL rolls, so the copy read is kept in the day folder. The temperature and rain figures are this paper’s own, computed from the NOAA Regional Climate Centers’ Applied Climate Information System for the Toledo Area threaded record (TOLthr).

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Lenawee is on Michigan’s new map of sick deer

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:29:38 +0000

Lenawee is on Michigan’s new map of sick deer

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has published a map showing where deer suspected of having epizootic hemorrhagic disease have been reported, block by block, at the level of every 36-square-mile township-range block. Lenawee and Washtenaw counties are among the 15 Michigan counties with laboratory-confirmed cases this year.

Fifteen counties is fewer than the 16 of 2025 and the same as 2024. The new thing here is the map, not a newly discovered outbreak: DNR has confirmed EHD in deer in Lenawee and Washtenaw counties this year.

The department is blunt about what the map is not. “EHD reporting is voluntary,” it says, and the map should be read as an indication of reported activity, not “a precise count of deer deaths or complete assessment of where EHD is and is not occurring.” Not every report can be laboratory-confirmed, so the department says the disease is occurring in places with no confirmation on the map.

A person who finds a dead or visibly sick deer can report it through the department’s Eyes in the Field form. The map is to be updated about weekly while the outbreak is active. The disease is spread by biting midges; a frost is what usually ends a season of it.

Source: Michigan Department of Natural Resources bulletin, Oct. 29.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Lake Erie’s sea lamprey count rose but stays far under target

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:29:38 +0000

Lake Erie’s sea lamprey count rose but stays far under target

Lake Erie was the one Great Lake where the adult sea lamprey index went up in 2026, to 923 from 803 in 2025. It is also one of only two lakes whose numbers sit below the level managers aim for.

Erie’s three-year average, 865, is roughly a quarter of its target of 3,263.

The target is a ceiling, not a goal to reach: a lake under it is a lake where control is working. Lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron are all above theirs. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission reads Erie’s numbers as continuing to “reflect strong suppression.”

The sea lamprey is an invasive parasite that feeds on the blood of other fish. The index is an estimate built from trapping at index streams, not a census of the lake. Control agents assessed 27 of the 29 streams used basinwide this year. The commission reported the figures on Oct. 19.

Source: Great Lakes Fishery Commission, news release of Oct. 19, read whole.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Toledo council votes down Flock measure, then parks it in committee

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 06:52:24 -0500

Toledo council votes down Flock measure, then parks it in committee

A member who arrived late would have tied the vote. An effort to bring the measure back to the floor tied 6-6.

▶ Watch the video · 64 sec

Toledo's fight over Flock cameras has been building since the summer, and City Council still can't settle it. Council voted 6-5 Wednesday against asking the city to end its deals with Flock, the company behind the police department's license-plate cameras. Then the measure came back, and council put it in committee instead.

Even a yes would only have been a request. Council can ask, but the contracts belong to Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz's administration, and the resolution only urges the mayor to end them.

The second turn came after Councilwoman Brittany Jones arrived late and asked council to reconsider so she could vote. Councilwoman Cerssandra McPherson, who had voted no, made that motion. Councilman Adam Martinez then moved to send the measure to committee, and Council President Vanice Williams sent it there.

Councilman Mac Driscoll moved to pull it back out. That vote tied 6-6. Taking an item out of committee needs seven votes. Williams said the mayor can break a tie but was not at the meeting.

The measure, R-435-26, asks the city to end and not renew its Flock agreements, take down or switch off the equipment and delete Flock's data as far as the law allows.

How they voted

To end the Flock deals (failed, 5-6). Yes: Driscoll, Theresa Gadus, Nick Komives, Erin Kramer, Sam Melden. No: George Sarantou, Williams, John Hobbs III, Martinez, McPherson, Theresa Morris.

To pull the measure out of committee (failed, 6-6; seven votes needed). Yes: Driscoll, Gadus, Jones, Komives, Kramer, Melden. No: Sarantou, Williams, Hobbs, Martinez, McPherson, Morris.

Earlier, a motion to hold the measure two weeks got six votes, one short of the seven it needed. The six who voted to hold it then voted it down.

Waiting on the audit

McPherson asked for the delay because the city auditor's study of the cameras is not done. Council ordered that audit Sept. 22, weeks before the measure to end the Flock deals was filed.

"It's not a yes or no when I don't know and I don't have all of the information," McPherson said.

Williams said auditor John Rivalsky needs law-enforcement certifications to reach some of the data, and has asked for more time. She said she would give him 30 more days. She said she has heard complaints about the license-plate readers, but constituents in her district want to keep Flock. She said residents want a Flock camera, not a plate reader, at Inez Nash Park on East Bancroft Street, where a 16-year-old was shot last month.

Melden wanted the vote. "This notion of the audit being the key to unlocking what we think, I don't buy it," he said. "I think we know what we think."

Council's job at its voting meetings, he said, is "to say yes or to say no." He asked to end the debate: "I hope we get to call the question sooner rather than later."

Komives tied the vote to Tuesday's election results, which he called a "repudiation" that included "building a surveillance state that people do not want." He said there are open questions in the community about Flock and ICE, the federal immigration agency.

Martinez: 'my daughter became a victim'

Martinez said a Flock opponent accosted him and his daughter about a week ago. He called it an active investigation and gave no details.

"My daughter became a victim needlessly," he said. "Now I want the cameras in place."

Williams returned to it at the end of the meeting. "No one should accost you and your child at a grocery store," she said.

Martinez pointed to his own bill, O-460-26, which would write limits on police technology into city law. It would bar sharing data with outside agencies, and tracking people in Toledo for immigration enforcement, gender-affirming care or reproductive rights. Komives asked for time to study it, saying he wanted oversight "that isn't just the police saying we checked ourselves." Driscoll moved it to committee, and Martinez agreed.

Sources: the city's own video of the Nov. 4 council meeting (clip 2403); Toledo Legistar for R-435-26 and O-460-26; the city council roster. Vote counts are from Legistar's posted results; quotations are from the meeting video.

Disclosures: The Lake Erie Inquiry is published in Toledo by Zach Brooke. The lead, the council budget story and the Minutes in Seconds items rest on the city's recording of the Nov. 4 council meeting and on the Legistar agenda: no written result had been posted to Legistar when they were written, so vote counts and outcomes are from the recording, and no vote count prints on the Minutes items. Whether the 2027 council calendar skips particular weeks is not in the agenda text. One council item, O-413-26 on reallocating federal ARPA money, is held because its roll is indistinct on the recording. The Barberton, uncalled-races, Flock-contract and senior-housing stories rest on records and written answers sent to this paper. Two reports of an Oregon man's sentence in his infant daughter's death gave different lengths, so it is held for the sentencing entry. No booking printed: a booking is an arrest, not a charge a court accepted.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Toledo council braces for cuts after voters reject safety tax

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 06:52:24 -0500

Toledo council braces for cuts after voters reject safety tax

One member already asked when to put it back on the ballot. The mayor's evening newsletter did not mention it.

A day after Toledo voters turned down Issue 16, the safety income tax, City Council members said Wednesday that cuts to the city's general fund are coming. One asked when the city should try again.

"We have to respect the will of the voters," Councilman George Sarantou said. Council now has to make reductions in the general fund, he said, because state law requires a balanced budget. He said council had told the administration the same thing last year.

The general fund pays for most day-to-day city services, police and fire among them.

A week ago, Deputy Mayor Abby Arnold showed council's finance committee what a budget without Issue 16 would cut, starting with about 73 city jobs.

Issue 16 would have added 0.25 percentage points to Toledo's income tax from 2027 through 2030, or $125 a year on $50,000 of income. It finished 6,082 votes behind in Toledo, with every precinct reporting, according to unofficial results.

'Most uncomfortable for us'

Councilman Sam Melden said he would not support any cut he believes hurts the city's future growth. He said every cut should be judged by who it makes uncomfortable.

He hoped the city would not choose "solutions that are most uncomfortable for our residents." "They probably need to be most uncomfortable for us, organizationally," he said.

He also raised a second try at the tax. "When do we put the issue back in front of the voters?" he asked. His hunch, he said, is to wait until council has made a fuller effort at cuts.

Council President Vanice Williams said council's own budget "will be uncomfortable" too.

Councilwoman Erin Kramer praised council "for using our leftover ARPA dollars to care for our most vulnerable." ARPA is the federal pandemic-relief money the city is spending down.

The mayor's message

Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz's emailed newsletter Wednesday evening was titled "The Road Ahead." It thanked voters and turned to roads: 111 residential streets resurfaced this year, 649 since 2021.

It did not mention Issue 16, the layoffs or the budget. Its closest line: "Building the Toledo we want doesn't happen on its own. It takes a willingness to invest in ourselves and our future."

What council spent Wednesday

Council passed three spending measures from the general fund without a no vote: $80,000 for Code Blue, the cold-weather shelter response, through a donation agreement with the Toledo-Lucas County Homelessness Board (11-0; Councilwoman Brittany Jones had not yet arrived); $67,000 for Connecting Kids to Meals (12-0); and $210,809 for electric police vehicles and charging equipment (12-0).

Also Wednesday

Chemical tank hearing: Councilman Nick Komives said council will hold a hearing Nov. 19 at 5 p.m. on the recent tank incident, with a follow-up on the Brent Industries explosion. Councilwoman Theresa Gadus had asked for one on the Oct. 20 hazmat release, so neighbors can speak.

Trash pickup: Councilwoman Cerssandra McPherson asked for a hearing with Republic Services, the city's trash hauler. She said some streets are getting pickup every other week instead of weekly. The contract lets the city reduce its payments when work isn't done, she said, and "some of their money need to be reduced."

Sources: the city's own video of the Nov. 4 council meeting; the finance committee presentation of Oct. 28; Mayor Kapszukiewicz's “The Road Ahead” newsletter, e-mailed to this paper Nov. 4; Lucas County Board of Elections unofficial results.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Ohio utility regulators close Barberton acid-leak investigation without inspecting the tanker

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 06:52:24 -0500

Ohio utility regulators close Barberton acid-leak investigation without inspecting the tanker

Ohio utility regulators closed their investigation into the hydrochloric acid leak that injured two drivers near Akron without inspecting the tanker involved, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio said Wednesday. The tanker was in Kenan Advantage Group's possession when it leaked Oct. 19, according to records the commission released Wednesday.

PUCO spokeswoman Brittany Waugaman said investigators inspected no vehicles connected to the leak and recorded no violations. The commission's earlier report said the trailer had already been moved to Jones-Hamilton Co. in Walbridge by the time its investigator visited the Quala facility in Barberton.

Both companies told the commission the trailer was leased to Kenan.

The Barberton leak happened the night before a separate chemical release at the North Toledo terminal of Kenan subsidiary MC Tank Transport. The Toledo release involved glycidyl methacrylate and prompted an evacuation around the Progress Avenue facility. Toledo lifted the remaining evacuation order Oct. 23. Ohio EPA later took the lead on overseeing cleanup at that site. Our Nov. 3 report tied both incidents to the Kenan group and said Summit County plans to bill Kenan for the Barberton response.

Ohio EPA said Thursday it did not inspect the tanker before it was moved, describing equipment inspections as outside its emergency-response role. Spokesman Anthony Chenault said the leak had stopped and EPA had left before the responsible party moved the tanker. He referred questions about the move to PUCO and said EPA's investigation report was unfinished. His reply did not address whether EPA inspected it after it reached Walbridge.

Updated Nov. 5 with Ohio EPA's response. Sources: PUCO's Nov. 4 written response and attachments to this paper; the commission's report Haz-000262; Ohio EPA correspondence of Nov. 4 and 5; U.S. EPA's Toledo response page; our Nov. 4 coverage.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Toledo plan returns with 32 fewer senior apartments

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 06:52:24 -0500

Toledo plan returns with 32 fewer senior apartments

Lucas Metropolitan Housing wants to turn Toledo's former Thurgood Marshall school administration building into 54 apartments for seniors with limited incomes—32 fewer than the plan approved in 2022. Residents can comment at a public hearing Thursday, Nov. 5, at 2 p.m. in City Council chambers at One Government Center.

The earlier plan's approval has expired. The new proposal at 424 E. Manhattan Blvd. would renovate the building, replace its parking lot with 59 spaces and put solar panels on the west side.

City planning staff recommends approval with 39 conditions. The project still needs a variance for front-yard parking; the proposed solar array also needs a variance or must be removed. This is a proposal, not an approved construction project or an opening announcement.

Sources: the Toledo City Plan Commission staff report and hearing notice.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Maumee school levy trails as state-ordered cuts plan comes due

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 06:52:24 -0500

Maumee school levy trails as state-ordered cuts plan comes due

Unofficial counts put the 1.25% levy 253 votes behind, and the state had already ordered a written plan of cuts.

Maumee City Schools’ 1.25% earned-income tax levy is projected to fail. Our unofficial count of Tuesday’s vote is 3,823 against and 3,570 for. The district was already under orders. The state has put Maumee in a “precautionary” financial state. It told the board to submit a written plan of the cuts it would make if the levy failed.

The state’s letter, dated Sept. 2, cites Ohio Administrative Code 3301-92-04. Under that rule, a board that gets such a notice must send the state a written plan. The board has to approve it. The plan has to wipe out any deficit in the current fiscal year. The rule sets the deadline at 45 days from the date of the notice, unless the department extends it. Our Sept. 29 report said the plan is due Nov. 30.

Nothing has been cut. A levy that fails does not by itself shrink a budget. The plan the state wants is a list of what the board would do. Treasurer Paul Brotzki said the levy would raise about $6 million a year. The largest cuts, he said, would fall on staffing and busing.

Sources: Ohio Administrative Code 3301-92-04; the paper’s reports of Sept. 29 and Nov. 4.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

EmiSunshine comes to Toledo on her own terms

The Lake Erie Inquiry — 2026-11-05

THE LAKE ERIE INQUIRYIN THEIR OWN WORDS · 07

LINER

notes

No. 7NOV. 5, 2026

EMISUNSHINEOTTAWA TAVERN · TOLEDO
FRIDAY, NOV. 6

Photo courtesy of EmiSunshine.

Liner Notes

EmiSunshine comes to Toledo on her own terms

EmiSunshine shot into the spotlight at 9, when a video of her singing at a Tennessee flea market went viral in 2014. Now 22, she’s setting boundaries with fans and letting her music grow from the country and gospel she played as a child. On Friday, she’ll be in Toledo, at the Ottawa Tavern.

Friday, Nov. 6 · Ottawa Tavern, 1815 Adams St., Toledo.
Doors at 8 p.m.; music at 9. With North of Nashville and Fish Fisher. Ages 18 and up.Online advance tickets: $17.51, including $5.51 in fees. The venue lists $15 on the day; add $5 if under 21. Miss Demeanor is available from her store.

EmiSunshine answered by email. Her English answers appear as supplied; the Spanish is our translation.

You've been performing publicly since childhood. What do people still expect from that younger version of you that no longer fits?

I think some people still expect me to stick to the classic country and gospel music I grew up playing. I still love every bit of that music, but people evolve, especially someone who's been in this industry since childhood and is still figuring out who she is. What I play will always grow with me, and I'll stay true to that even if it's not everyone's cup of tea.

What is a song you could only have written at this point in your life?

I think "Go Down Fighting" on my new album is one I'll always have a soft spot for. It's a song that could only have been written at this point in my life, and it really reminds me why I love what I do, even when it feels like a steep hill to climb.

Your sound pulls from old-time, blues, country, and gospel. Do you go through phases where you're more into one than the other, or is it always kind of a mix?

It's always been a mix for me. Whatever's inspiring me at the moment will be blaring in my ears for the next few months and will probably spark my next idea.

On tour, what's the ritual or small object that makes a strange venue feel like home before you walk onstage?

Honestly, hanging out with my band always makes me feel right at home. Going out to eat beforehand and just getting to exist with my people is enough for me.

If you could have one collaborator—living or dead—for a single session just to watch how they work, who would it be, and what would you bring to that room?

For me, it would have been Dolly. It has always been my dream to sing harmony with her, and I think about that more and more these days. Just the idea of watching her lead a room and learning from her would have been life-changing. It is still hard to believe she is really gone.

As you've grown up onstage, how has the fan experience changed from your side of it?

I didn't have many boundaries with fans when I was younger, but now that I'm an adult, I find the people who come to my shows treat me exactly how I'd want to be treated, like a human who just wants to connect with them through my music. I've learned that the more you set boundaries and start being yourself instead of catering to everyone else, the more you find an audience that loves and respects you. And I'm proud to be building that environment every day.

EmiSunshine’s music, including her album Miss Demeanor, is on Spotify and YouTube, and more is on her website.

FEATURED SONGMiss This Town

Selected by EmiSunshine’s team.LISTEN ON YOUTUBE ↗LISTEN ON SPOTIFY ↗

YouTube loads only when you press play. If the player is unavailable, use the YouTube link above.

OTTAWA TAVERN · TOLEDO

EMISUNSHINE

NORTH OF NASHVILLE · FISH FISHER

FRIDAY, NOV. 6, 2026
DOORS 8 P.M. · MUSIC 9 P.M.

1815 ADAMS ST. · TOLEDO, OHIO

$17.51 ONLINE ADVANCE · FEES INCLUDED
$15 DAY OF SHOW · 18+ · +$5 UNDER 21

ADMIT
ONE

06 · 11 · 2026

PURCHASE ↗

+ ADD TO CALENDAR

Sources: EmiSunshine, by email through Jason Knight, Nov. 3; Ottawa Tavern; Etix, for the online price and fees; artist’s show listing; official store; The Blaze, March 25, 2014, and the Chicago Tribune, Aug. 13, 2015, for her age; Spotify’s album page.

Share this piece: its own page, free to read.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

After Oregon’s eviction fight, records show two proposed rents

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 06:59:36 -0500

After Oregon’s eviction fight, records show two proposed rents

▶ Watch the video · 40 sec

UPDATE, Friday morning: After this story went to print, the city sent this paper additional records. They show a third proposal: no rent at all. An unsigned draft of a new services agreement, supplied by the city’s Law Department, and a marked-up copy dated by hand May 21 both say the foundation may keep using its Navarre Avenue office in the Senior Center free of charge. The draft would also give the city final say over sales of land the foundation buys with city money or receives from the city, bar activity that could be seen as influencing city elections or ballot measures, and require the foundation to follow Ohio’s public records law. The marked-up copy rewrites each of those terms and fills in the city’s payment as $100,000 for the first year. It does not say who made the changes. A fuller report on these documents is coming. This is a developing story.

The fight at Oregon City Council last week was over whether Mayor Steven Salander could order the city’s economic development foundation out of its office. Documents released since then show what preceded that order: an unsigned lease offering the foundation two prices for the same space.

With a signed agreement to provide services to the city, the rent would be $400 a month. Without one, it would be $1,500—a difference of $13,200 a year.

The June proposal helps explain the dispute that erupted at the Oct. 26 meeting. But it does not settle the questions council raised that night: whether the mayor could end the lease without council’s approval, whether the foundation received proper notice and what rent it owes.

Salander’s Oct. 23 notice gave the foundation 30 days from that date to leave and threatened eviction proceedings if it stayed.

Law Director Chynna Fifer told council that council authorizes or terminates leases, and the mayor carries out those decisions. She agreed with a council member that Salander’s notice was potentially invalid.

What the lease says

The foundation’s signed lease, approved by council in March 2016, set rent at $500 a month. But Finance Director Nick Roman told council he understood the city stopped charging rent when a previous foundation director became a city employee. The free office arrangement continued after the job returned to the foundation, he said. Personnel changes on both sides helped the original lease fall out of view.

The old lease allows either party to end the arrangement with 30 days’ written notice. That does not settle who has authority to act for the city.

The June proposal covered 757 square feet at 4350 Navarre Ave. The city’s copy is marked “Draft-Unexecuted.” Its two prices were proposed terms; neither establishes the foundation’s current bill.

The city said in its Oct. 30 records response that it had no record of a written reply from the foundation.

There are questions about the paperwork, too. The lease requires delivery to the foundation in person or by certified mail, return receipt requested. The city said it had no record of when or how the notice was delivered. The notice also cites a provision of Ohio’s residential landlord-tenant law for an office.

We asked Fifer about the notice and lease on Monday and foundation Executive Director Rebecca Bennett on Thursday evening. Neither had responded by press time.

How other city tenants compare

The foundation is one of several organizations occupying city space under different arrangements. The senior center pays $1 a year. Its 2016 lease allowed another ten years, Fifer told council, and records show the city accepted its renewal in March. The Chamber of Commerce’s lease sets rent at $400 a month for 224 square feet.

What the city pays the foundation

The proposed rent discount depended on a separate relationship: the foundation’s agreement to perform economic-development services for the city.

On Thursday, the city released the foundation’s 2024 and 2025 services agreements. It was still checking whether a draft of a new agreement, described to council by City Administrator Brodin Walters, had been presented.

The city’s check register lists 12 checks to the foundation dated in 2025, totaling just over $4 million. Most of that—$3.83 million—was for land purchases for data-center development, according to the purchase orders.

Another $200,000 paid for economic-development services under two annual authorizations: $100,000 associated with the 2024 authorization and four $25,000 checks associated with the 2025 authorization. The remaining $30,000 reimbursed a local grant match for historical-society demolition and site revitalization.

Those distinctions matter: the land payments were identified as purchases, not money to run the foundation. And the register supplied by the city contains only 2025 checks; it does not establish what was paid in other years.

What remains unresolved

The records establish the terms of the old lease and the two prices proposed in June. They do not establish that the foundation accepted the new offer, what rent it now owes or whether the mayor’s notice was properly delivered. And the central question from last week’s confrontation remains: did Salander have authority to order the foundation out?

Read the original documents: the unsigned June draft, signed 2016 lease and council authorization, mayor’s notice and city’s Oct. 30 records response.

Sources: City of Oregon records; the Oct. 26 council recording; Ohio Revised Code 5321.01 and 5321.17; correspondence with the city and foundation.

Reporting notes: The Oregon lease proposal is unsigned; the foundation’s current rent obligation remains unresolved. Bryan’s software quote and operating plans are the city’s account. District 44’s reported margin is attributed to the campaigns and has not been reconciled against all county returns. Washtenaw election results are unofficial.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Williams County and Bryan at odds over emergency dispatch systems

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 06:59:36 -0500

Emergency services

Williams County and Bryan at odds over emergency dispatch systems

▶ Watch the video · 56 sec

Williams County plans to have one center answer all its 911 calls. Bryan intends to keep its own dispatchers—and the two governments still have to work out how their staffs will communicate and who pays to connect their equipment.

On Oct. 21, the county’s 911 board voted to route all 911 calls to the county’s answering center. Bryan City Council responded Tuesday by voting unanimously to keep the city’s dispatch center staffed with five full-time dispatchers, part-time help and a records clerk.

Answering 911 and dispatching help are connected jobs. One takes the emergency call; the other sends police or firefighters and stays in radio contact with them. Bryan officials say losing the first job will leave their staff with plenty of the second, along with non-emergency calls and people seeking help at the station overnight.

City officials told council that Bryan’s dispatchers handled about three 911-related calls a day, compared with roughly nine other calls an hour. Keeping the center open would also keep the police and fire building accessible around the clock.

Mayor Carrie Schlade, who opposed the county’s decision, said the city could avoid adding staff at an estimated cost of $120,000 a year while keeping its existing operation.

But keeping dispatchers at their desks does not resolve how they will work with the county.

Connecting the two centers

Bryan and the county use different computer systems to manage dispatching. The systems do not fully communicate. City officials discussed switching Bryan to the county’s software, called Spillman, but said the expense was not budgeted. A $255,000 quote for the switch came up at Tuesday’s meeting.

The city also wants a county-connected 911 answering station inside Bryan’s dispatch center. Officials told council that the county’s equipment contract covers four stations, all at the county center. They were still waiting to learn whether a fifth could be added and what it would cost.

Council was advised to wait for a guarantee of that station before spending money on the software change.

The unresolved expense feeds a broader dispute over who makes decisions and who pays for them. The county receives revenue from Ohio’s monthly cellphone fee for 911 service. Bryan pays its dispatchers through the city budget.

“They get revenue from every cell phone in this county and they are keeping it,” Schlade said.

She said the distrust goes back to an earlier change in the county’s radio system that cost Bryan about half a million dollars during a budget year.

“When they say, ‘I don’t know why you don’t trust us,’ there is history,” she said.

What happens next

City and county dispatch staff are expected to meet in mid-November to work out how calls and information will move between the two centers. Any agreement requiring Bryan to spend money would return to council, possibly Nov. 16 or Dec. 7.

“We need to get the politics out of the room,” Schlade said, “and let the people that do the job figure out how to make it work.”

Sources: Bryan City Council, Nov. 3 recording; The Bryan Times for the county board’s Oct. 21 vote; Ohio Department of Taxation information on the state’s 911 fee.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Findlay City Council — Wednesday, Nov. 4 · agenda

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 06:59:36 -0500

Findlay City Council — Wednesday, Nov. 4 · agenda

Coleman apologizes to auditor over AI rules dispute

Findlay Councilwoman Nichole Coleman apologized Wednesday, Nov. 4, to Auditor Jim Staschiak II for publicly accusing him of misrepresenting the law director’s role in proposed artificial-intelligence rules. “I owe Auditor Staschiak an apology,” she said, adding that she should have raised her concerns with him privately.

The argument began Oct. 20, when council pulled the auditor’s proposal from its agenda. Coleman said he had made it sound as though the law director helped write it. Staschiak denied that: “I never said the law director developed the legislation with me.” He said they had discussed strategy, and called the account that the law director was uninvolved “misleading and wrong.”

The proposal would have required public disclosure of the city’s AI use and allowed residents to request human review of AI-assisted decisions. It remains shelved. Mayor Christina Muryn said she expects to bring council her own draft by year’s end; a motion Wednesday to send the policy to a committee including the auditor died.

Sources: the City of Findlay’s videos of the Nov. 4 and Oct. 20, 2026, council meetings; the Oct. 20 agenda packet (Ordinance 2026-119, pp. 116–132) and the Nov. 4 agenda.

Findlay pays to fix three warning sirens that overheated

Council moved $20,800 from capital funds to repair three new disaster siren heads that overheated during a long activation, according to City Engineer Jeremy Kalb’s Oct. 28 letter in the meeting packet (Ordinance 2026-126). Council suspended its three-reading rule and passed the measure the same night. The mayor noted the sirens also warn of chemical spills, not only storms. The letter does not say which activation damaged the heads.

City takes the Lincoln school playground, but won’t maintain the court

The city is taking over the Lincoln school playground property from Trivium Lincoln LLC. The basketball court stays open to the public, but the city will not maintain it.

E-bike and scooter rules go to committee Nov. 17

Council’s streets, sidewalks and parking committee meets Nov. 17 at 4 p.m. to take up rules for e-bikes and e-scooters.

Sources: the City of Findlay’s own video of the Nov. 4, 2026, council meeting and the city’s Nov. 4 agenda packet.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Toledo City Plan Commission — Thursday, Nov. 5 · agenda

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 06:59:36 -0500

Toledo City Plan Commission — Thursday, Nov. 5 · agenda

Habitat’s nine-home Beverly plan put off to January

Maumee Valley Habitat for Humanity wants to build nine single-family homes on the old Beverly Elementary School grounds, north of Copland Boulevard and west of Rugby Drive. Seven would go to Habitat buyers and two would sell on the open market. A long line of neighbors asked the commission to wait. They said they had only just heard about the plan and wanted the field kept as open space. Habitat agreed to a 60-day delay and a public meeting first, and the case comes back in January. The chair noted the layout meets the city’s rules, and that the commission can’t order private land kept as a park.

Former school offices on Manhattan Boulevard approved for senior housing

The former school at 424 E. Manhattan Blvd. can become senior apartments after the Plan Commission approved the conversion Thursday. The decision is final and does not require a City Council vote. An earlier approval had expired.

The revised plan drops a separate 32-unit addition, which the developer said reduces parking needs and preserves more green space. Lucas Metropolitan Housing leads the partnership; the developer said rents will remain restricted for 30 years.

Free kids’ center on Chestnut Street moves toward council

Tim Washington has run free dance, boxing, fitness and nutrition sessions for neighborhood kids out of a building he owns at 3001 Chestnut St. Now he wants to make it an official community center. The building is zoned for homes, so he needs a special permit. The commission recommended approval with no one speaking against it. City Council takes it up Dec. 9.

Sources: the City of Toledo’s own recording of the Nov. 5, 2026, Plan Commission meeting, and the commission’s Nov. 5 agenda. Case numbers and addresses come from the agenda, and Washington’s name from the city’s staff report on his case.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Sylvania Township Trustees — Wednesday, Nov. 4 · agenda

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 06:59:36 -0500

Sylvania Township Trustees — Wednesday, Nov. 4 · agenda

Neighbors push Sylvania Township for tougher short-term rental rules

Sylvania Township’s first draft of rules for Airbnb-style rentals would require a yearly permit and a fire inspection, cap guests at two per bedroom plus two, require one off-street parking spot per bedroom and ban gatherings bigger than that. Neighbors of one rental near Nantucket and Southbridge said one-night parties there have packed the street with cars and noise past 1 a.m., and some said the draft’s fines of $100, $200 and $500 are too small to matter. Nothing was voted on, and a trustee asked staff to count every short-term rental listed online before the next meeting. Police told residents to call 911 when a party gets out of hand, so there is a record of it.

Police vehicles. Trustees approved up to $181,986 for three 2027 Ford police SUVs, ordering early because missing Ford’s production window would delay delivery until 2028, police said.

Otterbein Sunset Village gets OK for 46-unit senior apartment building

Trustees approved two changes to the plan for Otterbein Sunset Village, the retirement community at 9640 Sylvania-Metamora Road. One adds a three-story building with 46 independent living apartments. The other adds a recreation area with pickleball, bocce and shuffleboard courts, plus more parking. Both come with conditions, including a Lucas County engineer review that is still pending.

Sylvania Township police change how they handle barking-dog complaints

A resident told trustees that barking dogs on his street have gone on for more than two years despite repeated police visits. A police official said officers will now take a report even if the barking has stopped by the time they arrive, gather evidence like doorbell video and phone recordings, and send it to the prosecutor’s office, which can call both neighbors in to settle it. The official said the township has not had to use that step yet.

Sources: Sylvania Township’s own video of the Nov. 4, 2026, trustees meeting, and the meeting’s agenda packet. Dollar figures, resolution details and the draft rental rules come from the packet; the barking-dog item is from the recording only.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Toledo museum redesign makes room for art—and a rest

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 06:59:36 -0500

Toledo museum redesign makes room for art—and a rest

The Toledo Museum of Art’s main galleries are due to reopen in fall 2027 with more room for its collection—and a different way to move through it. Plans call for reopened doorways, a glass-history display and a quiet gallery where visitors can sit and look outside.

Deputy Director Andrea Gardner and architect Michael Maltzan described the changes at a September town hall, posted online Sept. 17. The work combines new displays with replacement of aging heating and cooling equipment, so the collection will not have to be moved twice, Gardner said.

More art, fewer dead ends

Space that had become storage will return to gallery use. Canaday, formerly a special-exhibition gallery, will trace the history of glass. Ancient glass will also return to Classic Court. The trade-off is less space for temporary exhibitions: one major gallery instead of two.

Reopening blocked doorways will restore a loop through the building. Longer views between rooms will help visitors see connections among works from different places and periods. The French period room, the Château de Chenailles, is also set to return after more than a decade off view.

A place to pause—and watch conservators work

The former Gothic Hall will become a quieter space with fewer works, more seats and reopened windows. Near Libbey Court, a window into a new conservation lab will let visitors watch the care of artworks in the old gift-shop space.

Other changes include more gallery-floor restrooms, an accessible north entrance with a shorter route toward the Glass Pavilion, and rooms for nursing, quiet reflection and visitors with sensory needs.

Open now: The Glass Pavilion, education wing, library and sculpture garden. Admission and parking are free. The main galleries remain closed.

Sources: TMA's architecture town hall, posted Sept. 17; current reinstallation and visitor information.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Lucas County elections board placed under the state's strictest oversight

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 07 Nov 2026 07:15:04 -0500

Elections

Lucas County elections board placed under the state's strictest oversight

A state letter cites scanning failures and omitted results. The board’s director disputes parts of its account.

▶ Watch the video · 20 sec

Ohio put the Lucas County Board of Elections under its strictest oversight Friday. The state cited trouble scanning absentee ballots. It also cited an election-night results upload that left out three data drives. The board must now meet weekly with state officials, write a plan to fix the problems and review its staff.

The seven-page letter is signed by Chris Burnett, the state’s elections director. The secretary of state’s office sent it to The Lake Erie Inquiry. It places Lucas County under Level 3 administrative oversight. Burnett wrote that the move “stems from significant absentee ballot processing and Election Night Reporting difficulties during the November 3, 2026, General Election.”

Read the state’s oversight letter (PDF, 7 pages) · About this document

Board Director LaVera Scott disputed parts of the letter, The Blade reported Friday. She said it had several wrong statements but did not say which ones. Her office will raise them with the oversight committee, she said.

Burnett’s letter says early information points to off-brand or lower-quality ink as a possible cause of the scanning trouble. It says the problem was evident weeks before Election Day. But the board did not report it to the state until election night, the letter says. The state wants to know how the ink was chosen. It also asks whether test ballots used the same ink, paper and production methods.

The letter also tells how the results were delayed. The board uploaded and checked its absentee results at 1:43 a.m. Wednesday, it says. At about 2:35 a.m., the board uploaded precinct results it called final. Then it found that three data drives had been left out. State officials stepped in to allow a corrected upload at about 2:50 a.m., the letter says. Those were election-night returns, not certified final results.

Burnett says the state had already warned Lucas County about problems processing and reporting absentee ballots after the 2024 election. His letter asks for a review of whether the board made those fixes. It also faults the board’s preparation, communication and response.

Scott gave a different account in a Wednesday interview with The Blade. She said the ink passed testing and the board did not notice smearing until ballots came back. She also pointed to absentee ballots that arrived at the last minute. State instructions required remade ballots to be counted before results were uploaded, she said. And a bomb threat at a polling place stretched her staff.

The letter lays out what comes next. State officials will meet with the board once before the official canvass, the final count. Then they will meet weekly with the director, the deputy director and one board member from each major party. They will visit the office, then come back at least every six months. The board must write procedures for processing absentee ballots and reporting results on time. State staff will help it write rules for producing and testing those ballots. The board must also write a plan to fix the problems, naming who is responsible and setting deadlines.

The director, the deputy director and every full-time worker must get written job reviews. The first reports are due to the state Dec. 11. The letter sets no end date. A state team will judge progress and recommend whether the board’s status should change.

Deputy Director Tim Monaco told the paper Friday morning that no letter had arrived. Dan Lusheck, the secretary of state’s communications director, emailed it at 2:16 p.m. that day.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose, elected state auditor Tuesday, stays in office while Democrat Allison Russo prepares to take over. With no end date set, the oversight could reach into Russo’s term.

Sources: Ohio secretary of state’s Nov. 6 oversight letter, seven pages, supplied directly to the paper; Tim Monaco, email, Nov. 6; The Blade, Nov. 6 (Scott’s response); The Blade, Nov. 4 (Scott’s explanation); our Nov. 5 election follow-up; 13abc; BG Independent News; Wood County unofficial returns.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Sign a contract or pay market rent, Oregon tells its foundation

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 07 Nov 2026 07:15:04 -0500

Oregon

Sign a contract or pay market rent, Oregon tells its foundation

Oregon will charge its development foundation market rent for a city office unless it signs a contract that gives City Hall a say over land bought with city money, the city’s top administrator says.

“Any rent amount above $1 a year is intended to be an incentive to come to a working agreement,” City Administrator Brodin Walters wrote to The Lake Erie Inquiry on Friday. With no contract, he wrote, the foundation “is essentially the same as any other private business operating in the city.”

The drafts reported here Friday offered different rent terms, including free use of the office. Asked which offer stands, Walters said he is open to negotiating “the city’s overall compensation package,” but requires a signed lease with rent of at least $1 a year.

What the city wants

The proposed operating agreement would govern the private nonprofit’s work for the city. Under the city’s draft, the foundation could not buy, sell or lease city land, or land bought with city money, without written OK from the mayor and the city administrator. Land left empty for five years would go back to the city. The foundation’s records would be open to the public. And it would have to stay out of local elections, ballot issues too.

One rule goes after how the foundation raises money. It sells memberships to local businesses, and some have come with a seat on its board, the draft says. The city wants that to stop.

The competing contract terms

A second copy of the draft shows the fight line by line. Someone typed in changes that keep the foundation on its own. Its board would decide land deals. The public records rule is crossed out. Only campaigns for candidates and parties are off limits, so it could still push on “zoning, land use, infrastructure, tax policy.” The typed changes also fill in what the city would pay: $100,000 for the first year.

Then someone wrote over the typing by hand. The notes are initialed “PR” and dated May 21, and they pull it back toward the city. Where the typing cuts the board-seat rule, the handwriting circles it: “Keep In.” Then: “City does not acknowledge or respect ‘pay to play’ policies or bylaws.”

Walters identified Paul Roman, then acting city administrator, as the person who made the markups. He did not specify whether that included the typed changes as well as the handwritten notes.

The political feud

The dispute is personal, too. At an Aug. 17 meeting of the full city council, Mayor Steven Salander said at least two businesses that wanted to come to Oregon had reached out to the foundation “and they were brushed off.” He put it on its executive director, Rebecca Bennett: “The director brushed them off.” Bennett called that “utterly false and defamatory.” She said Salander and Councilwoman Beth Ackerman have “a political agenda against me because of my political support of former Mayor Seferian.” Salander beat Mike Seferian in November 2025.

Where it stands

No operating agreement has been signed. Mayor Steven Salander’s Oct. 23 order to leave the office remains disputed, as Friday’s report detailed. Foundation Executive Director Rebecca Bennett was asked about the drafts Friday morning. She had not replied by Friday night.

Sources: City of Oregon Law Department, draft contract and marked-up copy, released Nov. 6, 2026; City Administrator Brodin Walters, email, Nov. 6; our Nov. 6 report for the lease and eviction background; the city’s video of the Aug. 17 council meeting for the mayor’s words; The Blade, Aug. 18, 2026, for Bennett’s response.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Ottawa County Commissioners — Tuesday, Nov. 3

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 07 Nov 2026 07:15:04 -0500

Ottawa County Commissioners — Tuesday, Nov. 3

County nursing home rates go up about 8% on Jan. 1

A shared room at Ottawa County’s nursing home will cost $361 a day starting Jan. 1, up from $334. That is about $9,900 more over a full year. A private room goes from $355 to $383. Commissioners approved the raises 3-0, as the home’s administrator advised.

Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, for residents who live on their own, rises to $2,360 a month, from $2,185. A studio goes to $1,850, from $1,713. A second person in an apartment will pay $450 a month for meals.

Source: the commissioners’ approved minutes of Nov. 3. The yearly difference is our arithmetic from the daily rates.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Airport defeats landowner’s claims over tree cutting

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 07 Nov 2026 07:15:04 -0500

Airport defeats landowner’s claims over tree cutting

A landowner south of Detroit Metro Airport lost her appeal seeking payment for trees the airport authority cut on her property. A state appeals panel ruled Nov. 3 that removing trees that broke an airport safety limit did not require payment in this case.

Michelle Baldwin argued that the Wayne County Airport Authority took her property without paying her and entered her land unlawfully. The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld the rejection of both claims. It found that removing the flight hazard was a lawful public function and that the authority was shielded from the trespass claim.

Both sides agreed that several trees rose more than 50 feet above the airport’s elevation. That was the limit for Baldwin’s property on Vining Road. That is not a blanket limit of 50 feet measured from the ground beneath each tree.

The ruling has limits. The panel said it did not give the authority free rein to cut every tree without paying. It also assumed the disputed trees had grown past the limit after the rule took effect in 2016. The parties had not developed that question in the case.

Source: Michigan Court of Appeals, Wayne County Airport Authority v. Baldwin, No. 375283, Nov. 3, 2026, unpublished opinion.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Adrian approves $103,228 to fix two west-side wells

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sat, 07 Nov 2026 07:15:04 -0500

Adrian approves $103,228 to fix two west-side wells

Adrian's city commission approved up to $103,228 on Nov. 2 to clean and repair two of the city's wells. They are wells two and four, in the wellfield on Hamilton Highway on the west side. Crews would pull the pumps, check the pipes and couplings for wear, clean the wells and their screens, then put in new pumps and motors and test both wells.

Four companies bid. Peerless-Midwest of Ionia was lowest. Utilities Director William Sadler wrote that the bids came in higher than the city expected, because cleaning costs have risen and the pumps and motors have to be replaced. The city has $66,701 set aside for well maintenance. The rest, $36,527, would come out of savings from the Fairgrounds water tower job.

Source: City of Adrian, Nov. 2, 2026 agenda packet (CR26-148, approved on the consent agenda) and meeting video; WLEN, Nov. 6, 2026.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Three men challenge months of ICE detention in Stryker

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 08 Nov 2026 07:21:50 -0500

Immigration

Three men challenge months of ICE detention in Stryker

The county officials who run the Stryker jail voted again to keep holding people for ICE. Three men arrested at ICE check-ins are asking federal judges whether the agency can keep them locked up.

▶ Watch the video · 53 sec

Aly Ba's plea for freedom went to court in a $14.25 Priority Mail envelope. The return address, written by hand, was the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio, the regional jail in Stryker. Inside, he had placed another detainee's plea, too.

The federal court in Toledo filed both pleas on Oct. 27, three days after the date on the postage label. A third plea, from a Vietnamese refugee, was filed the same day.

The day after that, Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken and Sheriff Mike Navarre voted to stop holding ICE detainees at the jail, but the board rejected their proposal 8–2.

The three men's filings are among at least 28 petitions this year from people held at the jail. Twenty have ended. In 12, judges ordered release or a bond hearing. The other eight ended without a ruling on whether the detention was lawful: they were dismissed, declared moot, transferred or dropped.

These petitions, called habeas corpus, ask a federal judge to review whether their detention is lawful. Winning one can mean release or a chance to seek bond. It does not by itself settle whether a person can stay in the country.

Lucas County was billed $4.5 million of the $9.7 million the jail charged its five member counties last year.

The jail will keep taking ICE detainees while the board studies the cost of stopping.

The refugee waiting for travel papers

Tri Bao Dao's family fled Vietnam in their father's fishing boat and reached a refugee camp in Taiwan, his younger sister, Cung Dao, wrote. He was 7 when they came to the United States as refugees in 1979.

He has lived here ever since. In 2002, an immigration judge in Detroit ordered him deported. His petition says Vietnam did not issue travel papers and ICE released him under supervision. For years, he checked in with the agency when told to.

He lived in Hazel Park, Mich., and went to St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church there. In August 2025, he started selling cars at Meade Lexus of Southfield. In December, the dealership named him its sales professional of the month for putting "29 guests into new Lexus vehicles," general manager Brett Amesse wrote. "He consistently arrives early, stays late, and willingly takes on any task asked of him."

On Feb. 5, Dao went to ICE's Detroit office for a scheduled check-in. ICE took him into custody there and sent him to the Stryker jail. Its written notice said the agency "is seeking a travel document" to send him to Vietnam.

Nine months later, he remains in limbo. The Vietnamese embassy wants passport photos he can't get from a jail cell, his petition says.

But Dao isn't fighting to stay at any cost. "While Tri prefers to be in the United States, he does not want to remain in indefinite detention here," the petition says. If the travel papers come through, it says, "he will comply," and go back to a country he left as a small child.

ICE's custody review in May called him a danger and a flight risk. It cited "previous convictions for assault, drug trafficking and drug possession." His petition says he served his time and "deeply regrets his actions."

Amesse wrote that the company "stands ready to rehire Tri as a full-time employee." Ten other people wrote to ICE for him, too.

Veronica Vitela grew up with him in Hazel Park, where his was one of the few Asian families. "Many families in our community had fathers who had been drafted in the Vietnam War," she wrote. Dao, she wrote, "brought people together rather than allowing differences from the past to divide them."

Patricia Cochrain, 75, knows him from church, "where he always sits with me during services."

Guy Langston, an Army veteran from Ferndale who has known Dao for 15 years, wrote that he supports ICE's work "to remove the criminals who have come to our country illegally." He wrote that "it is precisely because of that belief that I feel compelled to speak up for Tri." At a friends' standing Wednesday dinner, he wrote, Dao is always "in the kitchen alongside them, apron on."

His sister wrote: "The thought of being separated from my brother is unbearable."

His lawyers argue the government can't hold him forever. Under the Supreme Court’s 2001 ruling in Zadvydas v. Davis, six months of detention under a final removal order is generally presumed reasonable. After that, a detainee must give good reason to believe removal is not likely in the foreseeable future. The government must then answer with evidence. Passing six months does not by itself require release.

The government entered Dao’s case Oct. 28. The Nov. 7 docket showed no ruling on his request for freedom. By then, he had spent nine months in Stryker.

The Senegalese man ICE wants to send to Uganda

Mamadou Ndiaye is from Senegal, on the west coast of Africa. The country an immigration judge ordered him sent to is Uganda, on the other side of the continent. His court papers don't say why.

From Senegal to Uganda: the distance is a straight line between the capitals. Map data: Natural Earth.

He entered the country in California in November 2023 and was allowed to stay while his case went forward. He settled in Columbus. He worked at a hotel, paid taxes and went to the library on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to learn English, a longtime friend wrote. A letter from the hotel called him "dependable, hardworking and on time."

In December 2025, he showed up for an appointment with ICE, and ICE kept him. An immigration judge ordered him deported in January. The order became final in April.

Days later, ICE put his name forward for a charter flight to Uganda. Ten days after that, the flights were called off because of an Ebola outbreak, according to the magistrate judge’s report in his first case.

When Ndiaye first asked a federal judge to free him, in August, the government said it had sent his name to "a point of contact." It never said who that was. Magistrate Judge Darrell Clay noted it wasn't clear whether the contact worked for ICE, for the government or was "a private contractor for charter flights."

Clay still recommended dismissing the case as premature. The six-month period used to assess his detention had not yet passed, he wrote. That was a ruling on timing, not on whether ICE could hold him indefinitely. The case was dismissed in October. Ndiaye filed again once the six months had passed. On Nov. 4, Judge James Knepp turned down his emergency request. The case goes on: Knepp asked Clay to study it and recommend a ruling, as Clay did the first time.

ICE’s July decision cited flight risk and left the danger box unchecked. It gave its reason in two sentences: "You have not established significant ties in the United States. Your removal is expected to occur in the near future." His papers say he has a wife and two children, but do not say where they live. He has been held almost 11 months.

The musician from Mauritania

Aly Ba, the man who mailed the envelope, filed without a lawyer. He says he is a Black Fulani from Mauritania, in northwest Africa, who sang and rapped about abuses against non-Arab people there. "As a musician, we used our platform to sing and rap about the injustices perpetrated by the Mauritanian regime," his asylum statement says.

In March 2023, he says, police broke up one of his concerts and held him for three days. He wrote that he was "beaten, kicked, and unjustly detained without access to food or water."

About two months later, in mid-May, he left Mauritania. Somehow he reached Mexico. On June 3, 2023, he crossed the border into Arizona near Lukeville, at a spot that is not an official crossing. Two days later, the Border Patrol in nearby Ajo served him with a notice to appear in immigration court for entering without inspection. That was a civil immigration charge. ICE released him on his promise to report and told him to check in at its office outside Cincinnati.

He built a life there. He worked at the Tyson Foods plant in Cincinnati, held a federal work permit good through 2029 and checked in with ICE as told. On or about Jan. 23, at one of those check-ins, ICE jailed him again. His petition says he is not aware of any bond hearing in his case. His copy of his release order shows no sign that it was ever canceled, he says.

In February, an immigration judge in Cleveland ordered him deported. He has appealed. In federal court, the first judge assigned his case, David Ruiz, stepped aside the day after it was filed. Judge John Adams now has it. Ba has been in ICE custody more than nine months.

The jail's deal with ICE

As the two Lucas County officials on the jail's board, Gerken and Navarre have been the holdouts since February 2025, when they cast the only no votes on holding people for ICE. The board has 10 members, two officials from each of the five counties that use the jail. Gerken moved to end the deal in June 2025 and lost.

On Oct. 28, Navarre seconded Gerken's motion for the first time.

The jail's managers pitched the deal in 2025 as a way to fill three closed housing units and ease costs the counties would otherwise pay. Navarre said at the time that it helped the jail's finances but that he thought it was morally wrong.

The jail's 2026 budget sets aside 202 of its 576 beds for federal prisoners. That includes people held for the U.S. Marshals as well as ICE detainees; the budget doesn't say how many are which.

How much ICE pays is unclear. When the jail signed on in 2025, it announced $117 a day per detainee. A May 2026 report by the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, an advocacy group, put the rate at $93 and ICE's 2025 payments at more than $1.8 million. Neither figure has been confirmed as the current rate.

How these cases end

Even basic facts are hard to pin down in these files. Dao's petition and ICE's own notice give different years for when he was first released. Ba's asylum statement lists a different birthday from the government identification in his file.

The three petitions seek different things. Dao and Ndiaye argue that ICE cannot keep holding them without a realistic prospect of deportation. Ba seeks release or a bond hearing while he challenges his deportation order.

The most common result in the 20 petitions that have ended was an order for release or a bond hearing. That happened in 12 cases. The median wait from filing to the order was about five weeks; the shortest was a week, the longest eight months.

An order for a bond hearing does not guarantee release. At that hearing, an immigration judge decides whether the person can leave custody under conditions, including a financial bond. The court records rarely show whether the person actually went free.

Most of those wins went to people still fighting their deportation cases, as Ba is. In May, the Sixth Circuit, the federal appeals court whose rulings bind Ohio’s federal courts, decided Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft. It rejected the use of the government’s no-bond detention rule for the people in that case, who had crossed without inspection and were living in the country’s interior. After that, the government stopped fighting at least one of the Toledo cases. The government has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling.

People with final deportation orders, the position Dao and Ndiaye are in, have had a harder time. Ndiaye's own first petition was thrown out as filed too soon. Another man's was denied as moot. A third was dismissed after ICE said it had already deported him.

Some cases end before a judge decides much of anything. One man got a bond hearing, and bond, while his petition was pending. Court mail to another came back marked "Released." One case moved to federal court in Louisiana. One was dropped by agreement of both sides.

The fate of the three men in Stryker remains undecided for now.

What happened in 28 petitions from the Stryker jail

Recorded result	Petitions
Order for release or a bond hearing	12
Other outcomes: denial, dismissal or transfer	8
Other petitions still pending	8

Northern District of Ohio, Toledo division; dockets collected Nov. 7. The 28 petitions involve 27 people; Ndiaye filed twice. Counted only where the docket names the jail or its warden, or the petition says the person is held there. Five more petitions may involve the jail, but their dockets do not say so; they are left out. A ruling can come before a case formally closes. An order for a hearing does not establish release.

Sources: U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, case files 3:26-cv-02815 (Dao v. Putra), 3:26-cv-02817 and 3:26-cv-01938 (Ndiaye v. Sullivan), 3:26-cv-02818 (Ba v. Sullivan), and the dockets of 59 immigration-detainee habeas cases on the Toledo division’s 2026 docket; CCNO 2025 annual report, 2026 budget and Feb. 26, 2025 announcement; WTOL, Oct. 28; 13abc, Oct. 29, and June 25, 2025; Ideastream/Ohio Newsroom, May 19, 2025; Ohio Immigrant Alliance, May 16; The Lake Erie Inquiry, Oct. 30; Zadvydas v. Davis; Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft; Supreme Court docket 25-1415.

DISCLOSURES — The lead was reported from federal case files, two of them read from photographs of the clerk's printouts, and from a count of 59 immigration habeas dockets on the Toledo division's 2026 docket. The paper did not send questions to Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the jail before this edition; the publisher chose to run without them. The three men's dockets were last read on Nov. 7, and no Nov. 8 check was possible.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Arlington Avenue shops could get $5,000 to ride out the sewer work

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 08 Nov 2026 07:21:50 -0500

Arlington Avenue shops could get $5,000 to ride out the sewer work

Shops on Arlington Avenue have lived with a torn-up street since crews started work on the sewer there in 2025. Now Toledo City Council may help them pay the bills. Council members Theresa Gadus and Adam Martinez want to set aside $25,000 for grants of up to $5,000 a shop. The proposed ordinance disagrees with itself on how often: its summary calls the grants one-time, while Section 1 calls them annual.

That is enough for five shops. A business must be privately owned, for-profit and registered with the state. It needs a front door customers walk into, on Arlington between South Detroit Avenue and Spencer Street. And it must have been open since Jan. 1 and kept regular hours this year, except when the street was shut.

Council takes up the plan Tuesday and could vote as soon as Nov. 17. Shops would have until Dec. 15 to apply. The full rules come in a list the city has not posted yet. The sewer work is expected to last into 2028.

Sources: Toledo City Council, TMP-13038 on Legistar; WTOL, Nov. 6.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Work starts on downtown apartments for people long without a home

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 08 Nov 2026 07:21:50 -0500

Work starts on downtown apartments for people long without a home

People who have gone years without a home will get apartments of their own in a $22 million building downtown. Work on it began Friday next to Cherry Street Mission, where the shelters are full and some people are sleeping in parks and in their cars.

Mission Point will have 65 one-bedroom apartments at Monroe and 14th streets, for people who have been homeless a long time and for people with mental illness. Rent will be based on what a tenant earns, and those who qualify will get help paying it. Residents can get help with mental health, with drugs and alcohol, and with finding work in the building itself. It is to open at the end of 2027.

The number of people living outside in Toledo more than doubled from 2025 to 2026, the Toledo Lucas County Homelessness Board said. Lucas Metropolitan Housing is a partner in the project.

Source: 13abc, Nov. 6. Cherry Street Mission and Lucas Metropolitan Housing had posted nothing of their own.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Two utilities sue to stop the campaign-money ban Michigan just passed

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Sun, 08 Nov 2026 07:21:50 -0500

Two utilities sue to stop the campaign-money ban Michigan just passed

Michigan voters passed Proposal 2 last week with more than 80% of the vote. It bars utilities and big state contractors from giving money to Michigan politicians. Two days later the state’s two largest electric companies, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, went to federal court to stop it.

The ban reaches past the companies to their officers, board members, substantial owners and those owners’ close family. It also makes groups that name a candidate or a ballot question in their ads say who paid for them. The utilities told the U.S. District Court in western Michigan that this violates their rights to free speech and political association. Without an order blocking the ban, they said, they must choose between those rights and the penalties.

They sued the officials who would enforce it: Bureau of Elections Director Jonathan Brater, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who was elected governor the same night. Maura Cowley, who managed the campaign for Proposal 2, said the suit was “no surprise” and that her side is “confident Proposal 2 will withstand legal scrutiny.”

Source: Bridge Michigan, Nov. 5. The complaint is not on a public docket we can read; the filing date and the claims are as Bridge reported them.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

In October, Toledo’s gas savings fell short of higher electric bills

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 06:42:15 -0500

Cost of Living

In October, Toledo’s gas savings fell short of higher electric bills

Toledo’s gas bill fell from a year ago. Its electric bill rose more, nearly all of it from the price of the power itself.

▶ Watch the video · 38 sec

As Toledo furnaces come on, the gas to run them costs less than it did a year ago. The lights cost more. Added together, the state’s example gas and electric bills come to $7.26 a month more than last October.

That makes $273.53 for October, up 2.7% from a year ago.

The examples assume a home uses the same amount each year: 750 kilowatt-hours of power and 10,000 cubic feet of gas a month. Your own bill depends on how much you use and your rate plan.

The example Columbia Gas bill fell 5.7%. The Toledo Edison bill rose 11%.

Why electricity rose

Most of the rise comes from the price of the power itself. Toledo Edison’s standard supply price was 9.43 cents per kWh in the last three months of 2025. This quarter it is 11.26 cents. A kWh is a kilowatt-hour, the unit on a power bill.

On the table’s 750-kWh bill, that price change alone adds about $13.73 a month before other charges and credits, nearly all of the bill’s $14.75 rise.

FirstEnergy buys power for its standard service through wholesale auctions. The firms that sell it must also pay to have power ready when the grid needs it.

The cost of keeping that power ready has gone up. In the capacity auction run by PJM, the regional grid operator, the price for most of the region, including Ohio, rose about 22% for the delivery year that began June 1. PJM says the growth in power demand it expects outpaced new supply. That is a wholesale cost, not a 22% rise in home bills.

PJM’s independent market monitor says data centers are the main reason that cost is so high. It estimates that the auction that set this year’s price cost buyers across the region about $7.3 billion more than it would have without the power that existing and planned data centers are expected to use. That is a regional estimate, not a charge on any one bill.

That price applies across most of the region, including the Ohio utilities in PJM, so their customers share the cost whether or not a data center is nearby. How much reaches a given bill depends on the utility or supplier. PJM’s next two auctions set prices at about the same level, the most its rules allowed, through May 2029.

The Ohio examples use utility supply prices. Customers with a supplier contract or a community aggregation plan should check their own rate. Electric-heating customers may also have a different price to compare.

Toledo Edison’s price runs through Dec. 31. It covers the power you buy; there are still charges to bring it to your home. Compare offers at Energy Choice Ohio. Check fees, the cost to quit, how long the deal lasts and whether the rate can change.

Gas costs less, for now

The gas price Columbia charges now, from Oct. 27 through Nov. 24, is 50.67 cents per 100 cubic feet. In the same weeks last year it was 66.26 cents. Fixed fees and the cost to bring gas to your home come on top.

Gas may cost less now, but that can change. Last winter its supply price rose by more than half from late October to February. A cold spell can raise your bill, too: your home needs more gas to stay warm.

What could rise next

More increases may be coming in Ohio. FirstEnergy, Toledo Edison’s parent, has asked state regulators to approve a three-year rate plan. By the company’s estimate, a Toledo Edison home using 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month would pay about $5.30 more a month in each year from 2027 through 2029. That adds up to about $15.90 more a month by the third year, according to the company’s filing.

That request follows a cut. Regulators lowered the rates Toledo Edison charges to deliver power, starting in March.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio will take comments from the public on the plan in Toledo on Dec. 17 at 6 p.m., in the county commissioners’ first-floor hearing room at One Government Center, the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel says. Filings and any changes are on the commission’s case page.

Columbia Gas has asked state regulators for higher base rates that would start with January 2028 bills.

Toledo’s monthly trash fee rises after Jan. 1, from $18.50 to $20 at the standard rate. Homes in the city’s senior and homestead discount program pay less and get a smaller increase. The Meter lists city utility costs where rates are known.

In Michigan

Electricity cost more in Michigan, too. At a 500-kWh bill, DTE Electric’s average rate rose 13.8% and Consumers Energy’s rose 9.1%.

Part of DTE’s rise came from a rate increase state regulators approved in February. DTE has asked for another, which would raise residential rates about 9.7%, the Michigan attorney general’s office says. State law gives regulators 10 months to decide, until about the end of February.

Consumers Energy has asked for higher electric rates, too, about 9.8% for residential customers, the attorney general’s office says.

In Michigan, gas went up, too. The table shows the charges for gas used; fixed fees come on top. Consumers raised its monthly fee from $15 to $17.

Consumers’ gas rates rise again this month, after regulators approved an increase Oct. 15. The company’s typical home will pay about $4 more a month.

DTE Gas kept its $14.50 base fee the same. Its monthly charge for replacing aging pipe and related safety work rose from 66 cents to $2.26.

Utility costs at fixed usage; federal averages shown separately

Utility (where)	What it measures	Period	2026	2025	Change
Toledo Edison (Toledo)	monthly electric bill, 750 kWh	October	$148.55	$133.80	+11.0%
Columbia Gas of Ohio (Toledo)	monthly gas bill, 10,000 cubic feet	October	$124.98	$132.47	−5.7%
Ohio Edison (PUCO lists it under Akron; one rate across its territory)	monthly electric bill, 750 kWh	October	$155.57	$131.16	+18.6%
AEP Ohio (Lima)	monthly electric bill, 750 kWh	October	$162.82	$151.13	+7.7%
Enbridge Gas Ohio (Lima)	monthly gas bill, 10,000 cubic feet	October	$99.67	$91.02	+9.5%
DTE Electric (Ann Arbor, Detroit, Monroe)	average rate, 500 kWh bill, cents per kWh	October	23.75	20.87	+13.8%
Consumers Energy (Lenawee County)	average rate, 500 kWh bill, cents per kWh	October	22.41	20.54	+9.1%
DTE Gas	combined usage charges; monthly fees excluded, cents per 100 cubic feet	October	88.95	87.44	+1.7%
Consumers Energy gas	combined usage charges; monthly fees excluded, cents per 100 cubic feet	October	94.40	85.41	+10.5%
Ohio, all utilities	average residential electricity price, cents per kWh, August	August	19.38	17.55	+10.4%
Michigan, all utilities	average residential electricity price, cents per kWh, August	August	22.99	20.73	+10.9%
United States	average residential electricity price, cents per kWh, August	August	18.16	17.57	+3.4%

Ohio: example monthly bills at 750 kWh of electricity or 10,000 cubic feet of gas, using utility supply rates, October 2026 and October 2025. Michigan: Oct. 1 rates for each year; electric averages include charges on a 500-kWh bill, while gas usage charges exclude fixed monthly fees. These different usage levels do not establish which state has the cheaper electric bill. Federal rows: average residential electricity prices for August of each year, not fixed-use bills; the 2026 figures are preliminary. Actual household bills depend on usage, rate plan and supplier.

Need help?

Need help keeping the heat on? Ohio’s Winter Crisis Program runs through March 31, 2027. You may qualify if your heat is off or at risk of a shutoff, you need to start or move service, or your bulk fuel tank is a quarter full or less.

The income cap is 175% of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, that is $57,750 a year. Start at energyhelp.ohio.gov. You must also book a visit or phone call with a local aid provider to finish applying. Bring recent bills, income records and proof of citizenship or legal residence, the state says.

In Michigan, call 211 or use the state’s help guide to find payment help and rules that may protect you from a shutoff.

Columbia’s current gas price runs through Nov. 24, and a new one follows. Check the rate and the amount you use on your own bill before counting on this month’s savings to last.

Sources: PUCO Ohio Utility Rate Survey, Bill by City, October 2026 against October 2025 (residential, 750 kWh; gas 10 Mcf on the utility supply rate); Energy Choice Ohio Apples to Apples, Toledo Edison and Columbia Gas of Ohio, and the PUCO’s Columbia standard choice offer history; MPSC Comparison of Average Rates (rates1.pdf, rates2.pdf), Oct. 1, 2026 and Oct. 1, 2025; MPSC Natural Gas Rate Comparisons (gasrates.pdf), the DTE Gas and Consumers residential pages for Oct. 1, 2026 and Oct. 1, 2025; EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A. Additional reporting: PUCO supply-price history; FirstEnergy auction manager; PJM 2026/27 auction results and annual market report; Ohio winter assistance notice; Michigan assistance guide linked above. Also Toledo Ordinance O-183-26 (trash fee) and the Columbia Gas of Ohio rate sheet for the November 2026 billing cycle. Changes, percents and the supply-price arithmetic are the paper’s calculations; the places named for each utility are the paper’s labels. Rate cases and data centers: PJM Independent Market Monitor, “IMM Analysis of the 2026/2027 RPM Base Residual Auction Part A,” Oct. 1, 2025, and PJM’s 2027/28 and 2028/29 auction results; PUCO Case 26-0347-EL-AIR (FirstEnergy’s filing and the Nov. 5, 2026 entry setting public hearings) and Case 24-468-EL-AIR (Feb. 18, 2026 rehearing entry); FirstEnergy’s May 2026 release on its three-year plan and the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel fact sheet on Case 26-0347-EL-AIR (the $15.90, from FirstEnergy’s filing, and the hearing room); Columbia Gas of Ohio’s rate-case page and Case 26-0965-GA-AIR; Michigan Public Service Commission cases U-21860, U-22046, U-22070 and U-21981, and the Michigan attorney general’s statements on U-22046 and U-22070 (the 9.7% and 9.8%). The 10-month deadline is set by Michigan law for rate cases.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Ottawa County commissioners met privately during a sanitary update

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 06:42:15 -0500

Ottawa County commissioners met privately during a sanitary update

The approved minutes of the Ottawa County commissioners' Nov. 5 meeting record a 52-minute closed session during a "Sanitary Update" over "pending or imminent court action," with the prosecutor present. The minutes give no detail about the case.

Ottawa County commissioners, approved minutes, Nov. 5.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Company formed to lease to Thomas Porter Architects buys downtown property

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 06:42:15 -0500

Company formed to lease to Thomas Porter Architects buys downtown property

Bitterbrass Point LLC paid $1.13 million for three downtown Toledo properties: a three-story office building at 8 N. St. Clair St., parking at 2 N. St. Clair St. and a warehouse at 318 Washington St. The deal closed Oct. 27.

Bitterbrass is a real-estate holding company set up to own the property and lease it to Thomas Porter Architects, the Ohio Department of Development said Oct. 19, when it announced a $415,000 state loan to help pay for the purchase. The state put the project at $1.148 million and said it would add two jobs and keep 10.

The seller, 8 North St. Clair Street Ventures LLC, had owned all three since 2009.

When the deed was recorded Nov. 5, Bitterbrass also recorded two mortgages held by Waterford Bank, for $618,200 and $415,000. The county’s records do not say whether the $415,000 mortgage is the state loan.

Source: Lucas County Auditor (deed 26107075); Lucas County Recorder (deed and mortgages, recorded Nov. 5); Ohio Department of Development (Oct. 19, 2026 release).

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

$2.3 million for a Glendale Avenue shopping center

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 06:42:15 -0500

$2.3 million for a Glendale Avenue shopping center

Omni Stack Capital LLC paid $2.3 million for the neighborhood shopping center at 5109 Glendale Ave., the largest sale in this week’s records. The seller was JMS Real Estate Holdings LLC.

Lucas County Auditor, transfers entered this week.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

$1.64 million for a West Central Avenue factory building

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 06:42:15 -0500

$1.64 million for a West Central Avenue factory building

Triple Net & Triple Sec LLC, with a mailing address in Sylvania, paid 7311 Central LLC $1,644,750 for a light-manufacturing building at 7311 W. Central Ave.

Lucas County Auditor, transfers entered this week.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

One buyer, two Glenridge Drive apartment buildings

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 06:42:15 -0500

One buyer, two Glenridge Drive apartment buildings

A buyer paid $790,000 for two apartment buildings on Glenridge Drive, both from the same sellers and both closed Oct. 26: $400,000 for 5434 and $390,000 for 5458.

More commercial sales

931 N. Superior St., Toledo: a buyer paid HB Investments Ltd. $300,000 for an apartment building.
8051 Central Ave.: KEI Realty Holdings LLC paid RFR Properties Ltd. $300,000 for vacant industrial land.
3127 Plainview Dr., Toledo: Russ Car Wash LLC paid Black Hawk West LLC $275,000 for a car wash.
501 Clark St., Toledo: OH HO2 Properties LLC, with a Kissimmee, Fla., address, paid $175,450 for an apartment building.

Lucas County: the week in numbers

141 sales totaling $32.05 million.
Median home sale: $170,000, across 111 sales.

Lucas County Auditor, transfers entered this week.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Wood County: deeds filed Oct. 28–Nov. 6

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 06:42:15 -0500

Wood County: deeds filed Oct. 28–Nov. 6

Wood County’s auditor has posted no sales after Oct. 27, and its online property and tax records stopped updating Oct. 28. So this week’s Wood list comes from the county recorder’s index of deeds filed Oct. 28–Nov. 6, at the price the index lists. It is not a full count, and there is no Wood median this week.

72 Elm St., Perrysburg: a house on nearly an acre sold for $1.8 million. The deed lists the buyer as Midland Agency of Northwest Ohio Inc.
Milton Township: Crooked Row Farms LLC paid Glory Farms LLC $788,200 for two parcels totaling about 79 acres, including a 39-acre grain farm at 1127 Weston Rd.
309, 313 and 315 E. Merry Ave., Bowling Green: SB Equipment LLC paid Donovan Enterprises of BG LLC $450,000 for three properties, among them a two-family house.
201 Louisiana Ave. and 108 E. Second St., Perrysburg: Brickhouse Publications LLC paid $315,000 for an office building and a small retail building, in one deed.
28682 White Rd.: Perrysburg Township’s trustees took 3.47 acres of vacant land from a private trust. The index lists no price.

Also recorded Oct. 28: a notice of commencement, the filing that comes before construction starts, naming Will Power OH LLC, Michels Pipeline Inc. and about 50 others, among them Liames LLC, the company that holds the land for Meta’s data center.

How we count: in Lucas, each week covers sales the county auditor entered Saturday through Friday. A sale is a transfer between different owners for $1,000 or more; a sale covering several parcels counts once. In Lucas, 339 parcels had a transfer entered this week, and 178 of them were sold. “Home sale,” used only for the median, means a single-parcel sale of a house, condominium or two- or three-family home; vacant lots, manufactured homes and multi-parcel purchases are left out. Wood this week uses deeds the county recorder filed Oct. 28–Nov. 6 and the price in its index, with addresses and property types from the auditor’s site. Sources: Lucas County Auditor, AREIS, data current as of Nov. 6; Wood County Recorder, AVA index and Wood County Auditor, Beacon, deeds through Nov. 6; Sentinel-Tribune (Liames’s role for Meta). Lucas prices are as reported on the conveyance form.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

DTE agrees to sell most of its Vantage unit for $3 billion

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 06:42:15 -0500

DTE agrees to sell most of its Vantage unit for $3 billion

DTE Energy, which supplies electricity to 2.3 million customers in Southeast Michigan, has agreed to sell nearly all of DTE Vantage for about $3 billion. Vantage is a DTE business apart from its power and gas companies. DTE will keep one piece: EES Coke, which makes coke, a coal fuel for steel. In February a court fined the defendants in a case over the coke plant $100 million. DTE Energy is one of them. DTE says they will appeal.

The buyer is Velocity BidCo LLC. It is owned by investors who take advice from J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s infrastructure group. The deal, signed Nov. 1, sets the price at $2,970,672,573. That number can still change.

DTE says the sale helps pay for about $44 billion it plans to spend on its power and gas systems in the next five years. “The sale supports our plan to deliver meaningful affordability benefits for customers,” CEO Joi Harris said. That is the company’s plan. The Michigan Public Service Commission still sets what you pay.

The deal still needs a federal antitrust review, a yes from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and sign-offs in Canada and New York. It can’t close before Dec. 31. DTE expects it to close in 2027.

Sources: DTE Energy’s Form 8-K on the sale agreement; its third-quarter 10-Q, Notes 12 and 15; DTE’s Nov. 5 release.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Wayne and Oakland voters agree to pay for Detroit’s history museums

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 06:42:15 -0500

Wayne and Oakland voters agree to pay for Detroit’s history museums

Voters in Wayne and Oakland counties approved a 10-year property tax on Nov. 3 for three Detroit museums: the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Detroit Historical Museum and the Dossin Great Lakes Museum. The results are unofficial. Macomb County was not part of the museum tax.

On Oakland County’s ballot, the tax is 0.2 mill, or 20 cents for every $1,000 of taxable value. It runs from 2026 through 2035. On a home taxed at $150,000, that is $30 a year.

The ballot estimated it would raise about $17.7 million in Oakland in 2026. After the museum authority’s costs, 15% of Oakland’s share goes back to the county for its own history museums.

It won 63% to 66% of the vote in Wayne and 53% to 55% in Oakland, by counts from WDET and Michigan Public. Museum officials say the money could make admission free, Michigan Public reported. The Detroit Zoo’s tax renewal passed in all three counties.

Sources: Oakland County’s Nov. 3 proposal list; unofficial results from WDET and Michigan Public.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Oregon must cut millions after the data-center vote, finance chair says

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 06:29:49 -0500

Oregon

Oregon must cut millions after the data-center vote, finance chair says

The council member who runs the finance committee is weighing an all-day Saturday budget hearing. The city’s main fund spent more than it took in during 2024.

▶ Watch the video · 43 sec

Six days after Oregon voters blocked a data center, the head of City Council’s finance committee said the city must cut millions of dollars from a budget that is mostly paychecks.

“We do have multiple millions of dollars that have to be cut from our budget,” Councilman Dennis Walendzak said at Monday night’s council meeting. He said personnel and benefits make up about 81% of what the city spends.

“It’s hard to cut money from a budget and get a balanced budget by not buying office paper,” he said.

He did not give a dollar figure, and he did not name a department or a job. He said he will meet this week with City Administrator Brodin Walters and Finance Director Nick Roman.

Then, he said, he is considering asking council to spend a Saturday on the budget, perhaps the first weekend of December. The usual review, he said, is an hour squeezed in before meetings. “If it takes all day, it takes all day,” he said.

What the vote took off the table

On Nov. 3, voters passed Issue 25, which bans any data center that draws more than 25 megawatts. The unofficial count was 4,994 to 3,235.

The ban stopped a campus Vantage Data Centers had planned to build in Oregon. At full load it would have drawn about 475 megawatts, 19 times the limit. Vantage told a city committee in September that its draft terms included $20 million in payments to the city and the schools, plus about $14 million a year in place of property taxes once the campus was built.

Two days after the vote, Vantage told 13abc the project “will not move forward as proposed.”

The land is a separate question. Capacity LLC, a Florida company, agreed in 2024 to buy the site. Jim Davis, who worked on the petition drive, thanked Vantage at Monday’s meeting and added: “It is our hope that Capacity LLC will extend the same courtesy.”

The city’s money trouble is older than the vote. Its general fund pays for police, fire, streets and parks. In 2024 that fund spent $28.5 million and took in $25.6 million, according to the city’s audited financial report, as reported here Oct. 29. It ended that year with a fund balance of $26.6 million.

Walendzak did not say how much of the cutting comes from that gap and how much from money the city had hoped a data center would bring.

He said people have asked whether the vote made him angry. “I’m not mad. People spoke and we’ll have to do our jobs now,” he said. “It’s sad knowing that hard decisions are gonna have to be made by us.”

One cost went up the same night. Council voted 6-0 to renew the employees’ health plan for 2027 at rates 7.12% higher, Roman said.

A company the mayor will not name

During public comment, resident Steve Eiler pressed Mayor Steven Salander to name a “multi-billion dollar company” that Eiler said is supposedly looking at Oregon. “I have nothing further to add,” Salander said.

Walters said he knows of “at least two businesses that have expressed interest in the city.” He said he could not speak to whether either is viable.

Eiler asked whether the mayor had told him the law director advised against giving the name. “Yes, I did,” Salander said. Law Director Chynna Fifer had told Eiler moments earlier that she had not advised the mayor to stay quiet. Of his account, she said she did not recall it. “I have no idea what these companies were, names, anything,” she said.

Aimee Mottmiller, who said she has brought concerns to council for 16 months, asked council to write rules on noise, lighting and setbacks before the next industrial project is proposed. She asked which member would lead that work. No one answered.

Connie Trudell, who campaigned for the ban, told council that earlier this year she saw one council member yell at another after a meeting, using a vulgar word. She named neither.

Laura Davis, who worked on the petition drive for the ban, told council a budget can be changed. “Changes in budgets can be made, but you can’t unbuild a data center,” she said.

A tie over $1,500

The budget shaped a smaller vote, too. Council tied 3-3 on paying about $1,500 for a holiday display with a nativity scene on city property, so the measure failed. A second, for another site, was put off so it can be rewritten to use private donations.

“I personally don’t want to spend city funds to do this,” Walendzak said, though he said he thinks everyone on council wants to see the display go up.

Some money is coming in. Public Service Director Paul Roman said the state awarded $645,000 to repave Navarre Avenue from Coy Road to Lallendorf Road next year. Walters said a state grant of about $62,000 will go to improvements at South Shore Veterans Park.

The group that put the data-center land together is changing, too. Walters said council’s economic development committee will likely meet Nov. 16 at 5:30 p.m. to hear from the Oregon Economic Development Foundation’s interim board president, after what he called “the departure of their executive director and the elimination of that position.”

No date was set Monday for the budget hearing. Council meets next on Monday, Nov. 16.

Sources: Oregon City Council meeting, Nov. 9 (the city’s video); Lucas County Board of Elections, unofficial results; City of Oregon committee meeting, Sept. 28; City of Oregon audited financial report for 2024 (Ohio Auditor of State); 13abc, Nov. 5.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Oregon’s development foundation no longer has a director, city official says

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 06:29:49 -0500

Oregon

Oregon’s development foundation no longer has a director, city official says

The foundation is one of two sellers of the land once meant for a data center. Rebecca Bennett, listed as its executive director, spent months in a public fight with the mayor.

The nonprofit that put together the land once meant for a data center in Oregon no longer has an executive director, and the job has been eliminated, the city administrator told City Council on Monday night.

Brodin Walters said it in passing. He was telling council that a committee will likely meet Nov. 16 with the Oregon Economic Development Foundation’s interim board president, after what he called “the departure of their executive director and the elimination of that position.”

He did not name the director. He did not say when the director left, why, who eliminated the job, or whether the director quit or was let go.

Rebecca Bennett has held the job. The foundation’s website still listed her as executive director Monday night. Its board page listed Ed Harmon, of Spartan Logistics, as interim board president.

Why it matters

The foundation is a private group that works with the city on development. It and the city are the two sellers in a 2024 agreement, since amended, for the site at Corduroy and Wynn roads that Vantage Data Centers wanted. The foundation holds most of the parcels the two sellers own outright.

Voters approved a ban on large data centers Nov. 3, and Vantage has said its project will not go forward as proposed. Walters’s remark came six days after the vote.

Months of fighting

Bennett and Mayor Steven Salander have fought in public since summer, as reported here Oct. 27 and Nov. 7. In August the mayor said businesses that came to the foundation were “brushed off,” and blamed its director. Bennett called that “utterly false and defamatory,” The Blade reported.

In October the mayor gave the foundation notice to leave its city-owned office. The law director told council the notice was “potentially not valid,” and council took no vote. At the same meeting, the mayor brought up a garnishment against the director over an unpaid debt, and the law director cut him off.

On Monday, during public comment, resident Karen Egan told the mayor his conduct at a recent meeting was unacceptable. “So why you would humiliate a tax-paying citizen is beyond me,” she said. “I feel you owe her an apology.”

Egan did not name the woman or the meeting. No answer from the mayor is heard on the recording.

As of Nov. 7, the city and the foundation had not signed a new agreement on what the foundation does for the city or what the city pays.

Walters said the interim board president wants to bring council up to date and mend the relationship between the two. The committee meeting is likely at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 16, he said, though it is not yet confirmed.

Sources: Oregon City Council meeting, Nov. 9 (the city’s video); Oregon Economic Development Foundation website; the 2024 purchase agreement and its amendments; council meetings of Aug. 17 and Oct. 26, as reported here Oct. 27, Nov. 6 and Nov. 7; The Blade, Aug. 18, for Bennett’s response.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Residents file to cap Rossford data centers days before hearing on one

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 06:29:49 -0500

Residents file to cap Rossford data centers days before hearing on one

▶ Watch the video · 52 sec

Jackie Brown held a phone up to the microphone at Rossford City Council on Monday and let it play a low, steady hum. That, Brown said, is the sound a data center makes all day and all night.

Speaker after speaker took on a data center proposed for the city. It gets a public hearing Wednesday before the Rossford Planning Commission, where the developer will present it. Hours before Monday’s meeting, residents submitted petitions to cap the size of any data center in the city.

The petitions ask voters to amend the city charter to bar data centers larger than 25 megawatts, a measure of how much electricity a site can draw. It is the same wording Oregon voters approved last week as Issue 25, in unofficial results, said Lynn Cox, who leads the volunteer group Conserve Ohio in Wood and Lucas counties. Cox asked the city to send the petitions to the Wood County Board of Elections to check the signatures. If enough are valid, Cox said, council must put the question on the ballot.

Mayor Neil MacKinnon III described a smaller project than most speakers feared. “This is probably 16 megawatts tops,” the mayor said. “It’s a 90,000 square foot building.” It would sit in an industrial park. “This isn’t a hyperscale data center. It’s just not.” At that figure, the project would fall under the cap the petitions propose.

Lauren Berlekamp of Perrysburg named the developer as Qlevr and said the company develops and buys buildings, so it may not be the one that would run a data center there. Most developers build or buy and then lease to someone else, the mayor said. Asked who the user would be, the mayor said, “It’s Qlevr right now.”

Two speakers said they or their families had been told months ago that no data center was coming. “You sat here and looked my brother in the eye and said, there is no way a data center is coming to this town,” said Kelly Walsh of Dixie Highway. Walsh said the city was now using nondisclosure agreements to avoid talking about it. The mayor cut in: “Nobody from the administration, including myself, has ever signed an NDA.”

The mayor then walked through the dates. At a March 23 meeting, Rossford was not being considered for a data center, and its zoning code had no place for one. Council later added data centers to the code, passing an ordinance Aug. 10. Now a project like this needs a special use permit in an industrial district. “We’re not promoting it right now. We’re also not discouraging it,” the mayor said. “It has to go through the process.”

Not everyone took that at face value. Berlekamp told the mayor, “You lied to me the last time I was here.” The answer: “No, I didn’t.” Another resident said the administrator handed council members the plans Oct. 28 and the city called it a courtesy. “I don’t know what kind of courtesy it was,” he said, because the story was already on the news. “Council knows nothing about this,” he said. Earlier, the mayor had said the city itself made the project public so people could come and raise concerns.

Wednesday’s hearing is open to public comment and will stream live, officials said. If the Planning Commission turns the permit down, the mayor said, the developer’s only appeal is to city council. It starts at 6 p.m. at the municipal building, 133 Osborn St., according to the city’s calendar.

Source: Rossford City Council, Nov. 9, 2026, meeting recording; City of Rossford, city calendar.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Perrysburg Township weighs handing 911 dispatch to the sheriff

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 06:29:49 -0500

Perrysburg Township weighs handing 911 dispatch to the sheriff

The administrator cites the sheriff’s verbal estimate of about half today’s cost. A dispatcher, police sergeants and firefighters warned against the move.

▶ Watch the video · 48 sec

Perrysburg Township may hand its police and fire dispatchers’ work to the Wood County Sheriff’s Office to save money. One of the dispatchers who now answer the township’s emergency calls came to the trustees’ meeting to say that would be a mistake. So did two unions and several residents.

“When you are spending more than you bring in, you’ve got to look for ways to try to cut the bleeding, and dispatch was one of those things,” Township Administrator Jon Eckel said at the trustees’ Nov. 4 meeting.

The sheriff has given him a price only by word of mouth, he said: “about half of what we’re spending now.” He said there is no formal contract.

The township has six dispatchers. One of them, Nathan Cooper, told the trustees they have 142 years of experience among them, 87 of those years in Perrysburg Township.

Moving the work to the county would be “unwise and potentially dangerous,” Cooper said. The sheriff’s center dispatches for 14 law enforcement agencies and 30 fire and EMS agencies, he said, and sometimes has as few as two dispatchers on duty at night.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” he said.

Two unions sent letters, which were read aloud. The police sergeants wrote that losing the service “can be seen as nothing less than a failure.” They said the township has not looked like one “in financial crisis,” pointing to raises, promotions and new and renovated buildings. The firefighters’ union said it already has concerns about Wood County dispatch.

The sharpest warning came secondhand. A Bowling Green resident, David Moore, read a letter from Adam Henry, a township police officer. It quoted an unnamed corporal in the sheriff’s own dispatch center: “Right now it is not safe for anyone. I don’t want to be here when someone gets hurt because we missed radio traffic because we were overwhelmed.”

The letter said five experienced dispatchers and seven trainees have left the county center since February 2025, and that the center is six dispatchers short. Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn had not answered questions about them, sent Nov. 8, by publication.

Residents tied the plan to the township’s new safety levies. On Nov. 3, the day before the meeting, a 3.5-mill fire and EMS levy passed with 64% of the vote, according to the county’s unofficial count.

“Last year, the police department passed a big levy. The fire department just passed a big levy,” said a speaker who told the board he had been a trustee. “There’s money now to pay these dispatchers.”

A resident who gave her name as Elaine asked, “Why do we have this building if we can’t even pay our dispatchers?”

Another resident, Leslie Swartz of Thompson Road, said a 911 call her family made was sent to Wood County, where the dispatcher did not know her road was in the township. Then, she said, “you get placed on hold for five minutes.”

Eckel said the idea is not new. A 2014 study looked at sending dispatch to the sheriff or joining other agencies, he said. He told the board he would not put residents in danger and that he has tried to keep the dispatchers informed.

He also mentioned an attorney’s request to look at “a potential severance package,” without saying whose attorney, and said the township was not there yet.

Asked Monday for the sheriff’s figure and the township’s current dispatch cost, Eckel said by email that he is out of town until next week and would talk then.

Sources: Perrysburg Township trustees meeting, Nov. 4, 2026 (township recording) and agenda; Wood County Board of Elections unofficial results, Nov. 3, 2026; Wood County Auditor.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Sandusky backs selling 23 senior condos in an 1890 school

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 06:29:49 -0500

Sandusky backs selling 23 senior condos in an 1890 school

Sandusky's city commission voted 6-0 on Nov. 9 to change its deal for the old Osborne School, a 30,000-square-foot limestone building from 1890. Instead of rentals, the developer now plans up to 23 condominiums for buyers 55 and older, priced at $110,000 to $120,000 — a monthly payment of about $1,146 with taxes, insurance and the association fee. The developer said the switch came because a state historic tax credit cannot be combined with the low-income housing credit it had counted on. The commission gave the project until Dec. 31, 2028; construction is planned for 2028.

Sandusky City Commission, Nov. 9 meeting recording.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Saline council member says he learned of data-center money by email

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 06:29:49 -0500

Saline council member says he learned of data-center money by email

Saline, Mich., council members pressed their attorney Nov. 9 over money tied to a data center that the city has not agreed to take. Council was told about $2 million was deposited with a community foundation about a month ago, against a pledge of $10 million whose terms are still being negotiated. One member said he found out by email and that no one should be spending any of it while the terms are unapproved; who accepted the deposit, and what the foundation agreed to, was not answered at the meeting. Council invited the foundation to come explain. The city's data-center moratorium runs out in January. Next door, Saline Township's board holds two public hearings Wednesday on tax breaks for the Oracle data center site. Both start at 7 p.m. Nov. 11 at Saline Town Hall, 5731 Braun Road; people who live or pay taxes in the township can speak.

Saline City Council, Nov. 9 meeting recording. The paper has not independently confirmed the deposit or the pledge. Saline Township, hearing notice and Nov. 11 agenda.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

The Andersons plans to borrow the whole price of three ethanol plants

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 06:29:49 -0500

The Andersons plans to borrow the whole price of three ethanol plants

The Andersons has agreed to pay $915 million for three ethanol plants. The Maumee company plans to borrow all of it. About half the price is for federal tax credits the plants should earn, the company says: 45Z, for low-carbon fuel, and 45Q, for storing carbon underground.

The plants are in North Dakota and Indiana and make about 215 million gallons of ethanol a year. They belong to Harvestone Low Carbon Partners, which traps carbon dioxide from its ethanol and pumps it underground; that is how it earns the credits. The seller is a group of Energy Capital Partners investment funds. In August such credits supplied about a quarter of the profit in the company’s renewables business.

All of the money is borrowed. Some comes from a credit line the company already has. The rest is new long-term debt, which U.S. Bank and Farm Credit Mid-America have agreed to supply. If that lending falls apart, The Andersons still has to buy. Getting the money “is not a condition,” the purchase agreement says, and the filed agreement sets no fee for either side to walk away. “HLCP is exactly what we have been looking for,” said Bill Krueger, the president and chief executive.

The company expects to close late this year or early next. First a federal antitrust waiting period has to run out. The agreement’s deadline is Nov. 3, 2027. It also promises Harvestone’s workers at least their current base pay for a year. But the schedules were not filed, so the exceptions, the plant list and a holdback against later claims cannot be read.

Sources: our report of Aug. 10 · The Andersons’ 8-K, filed Nov. 6 · press release, Nov. 4 · merger and equity purchase agreement, Nov. 3.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Frenchtown, Mich., weighs rental and resale inspections

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 06:29:49 -0500

Frenchtown, Mich., weighs rental and resale inspections

Rental homes and properties up for sale could face new inspections in Frenchtown Township, Mich. A consultant's proposal goes before the township board at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, at township hall, 2744 Vivian Road.

Carlisle Wortman Associates offers to help write rules for rental registration, inspections and certificates of compliance. Its plan covers apartments, rented houses and mobile-home rentals, plus tenant complaints. A separate program would inspect homes and businesses when they are sold.

The board is scheduled to discuss the firm's quote; these are proposed programs. The meeting allows public comment, with a three-minute limit per speaker.

Source: Frenchtown Township agenda and consultant proposal, Nov. 10.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Frenchtown, Mich., to hear proposal to buy its former golf course

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 06:29:49 -0500

Frenchtown, Mich., to hear proposal to buy its former golf course

A proposal to buy the former golf course that Frenchtown Township, Mich., bought for $6.5 million and later dropped as a data-center site goes before the township board Tuesday. The board is set to hear it at 10 a.m. Nov. 10 at township hall, 2744 Vivian Road.

The agenda lists a purchase proposal for 1500 N. Dixie Highway and a presentation by Keith Masserant. It says supporting documents will be presented at the meeting. It gives no price and no plan for the land, and it does not say who is making the proposal.

The township agreed in April 2025 to buy the land, about 275 acres. In June the board said publicly that it was no longer pursuing a data center there. In July it turned down a buyer’s offer, 7-0, and set up a committee to seek bids for farming the land.

The meeting allows public comment, with a three-minute limit per speaker.

Sources: Frenchtown Township agenda, Nov. 10; the township’s June 22 statement; township board minutes, July 21 and July 28; the township’s April 29, 2025 purchase agreement.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Monroeville school district admits in lawsuit filing it warned teacher

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 06:23:29 -0500

Monroeville

Monroeville school district admits in lawsuit filing it warned teacher

Former teacher Holly Bauer denies sexually abusing a student in her own answer to the family’s suit.

▶ Watch the video · 42 sec

Monroeville’s school district admits it warned teacher Holly Bauer in June 2022 about “unwarranted physical contact” with a student. Now it is asking a federal judge to dismiss two claims brought by a family who says she sexually abused their son and the district failed to protect him.

Bauer denied the abuse in her own court filing Tuesday. Her answer “specifically denies engaging in any sexual conduct” with the student. The district denies almost all the family’s allegations about what school leaders knew and when.

The family says the abuse began in January 2022, when the boy was 13 and in Bauer’s class, and continued through at least September 2023. Its lawsuit says the district was warned that first spring but left her in the classroom.

Tuesday’s filings put the district’s response to those warnings at the center of the case. The district admits holding a disciplinary hearing for Bauer on May 27, 2022, and giving her the written warning five days later. It disputes the family’s account of its responsibility for what followed.

The student is now 18 and is suing in his own name. The Lake Erie Inquiry is not naming him at this time.

The district’s lawyers asked Judge James R. Knepp II to throw out two of the lawsuit’s eight claims. Their request does not seek dismissal of the Title IX claim, which invokes the federal law against sex discrimination in schools. The family’s lawyers have not yet replied to the motion. No trial date is set.

What the district wants dismissed

One claim accuses the district, Superintendent Kristin Kaple-Jones and former principal James Kaczor of negligence in hiring, keeping, training and supervising Bauer. The other is the parents’ claim for the loss of their son’s company, which the district’s lawyers say depends on the negligence claim.

The lawyers argue that Ohio law protects the district from those damages claims because hiring and supervising teachers are government functions. They say the family has not supplied facts showing the reckless conduct needed to strip the two administrators of their protection.

They also say much of the alleged abuse happened off school grounds, that early concerns were addressed in meetings with Bauer, and that the district called children’s services “once additional information became available.” Those are the district’s arguments to the judge, not findings by the court.

A criminal case that never reached trial

The civil lawsuit follows a criminal prosecution that ended without a trial. Bauer taught eighth-grade social studies and coached cross-country and track. She was arrested March 7, 2025. A week later, a Huron County grand jury indicted her on 16 counts, including rape, sexual battery and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. She pleaded not guilty.

In July 2025, her lawyer asked the judge to determine whether prosecutors had relied on statements she gave the school district’s investigator. Before the judge ruled, the prosecutor asked to dismiss the charges, saying “further investigation is needed.”

Judge James W. Conway dismissed the case Sept. 8, 2025, without prejudice, leaving the state free to bring charges again. Court records searched Tuesday showed no new case against Bauer.

The dispute involved a constitutional protection for public employees who must answer their employer’s questions or risk losing their jobs. Statements compelled under those conditions cannot be used against them in a criminal prosecution. The protection takes its name from the Supreme Court’s 1967 Garrity decision.

The family’s lawsuit says the dismissal came “after issues arose” over statements from Bauer and other public employees. It says that did not resolve whether the abuse happened. Bauer admits the case ended after issues arose over her statements and Garrity protections, but denies the rest. The district says it does not know why the prosecution ended.

The school’s own proceedings

The district’s internal review reached a different outcome, according to the family’s lawsuit. It quotes a June 2025 appeal ruling in the school’s Title IX proceedings that found Bauer groomed the boy and that there was “just cause” to fire her.

The district has withheld that ruling, citing student privacy. Its answer says the reports “speak for themselves.” Bauer denies their allegations. The district let her go in November 2025, after her teaching license expired.

Kaczor was due to leave the district under a separate agreement. A settlement the board approved in June 2026 provided $57,859 in severance and assigned him to work from home as assistant curriculum director for his remaining months. His departure was scheduled for Nov. 6. The agreement settled his job dispute, not the family’s lawsuit; the board denied wrongdoing.

At its Nov. 9 meeting, the school board spent about an hour behind closed doors discussing “the employment of a public employee.” The minutes name no one and record no action afterward. They do not establish a connection between that discussion and this case.

We reported the suit on Sept. 29 and Kaczor’s deal with the district on Oct. 29.

Sources: U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, case 3:26-cv-02214: docket and documents 5, 6, 6-1 and 7, filed Nov. 10, 2026, and the Sept. 11 complaint; Huron County Common Pleas case CRI 20250188: the indictment (March 14, 2025), the defense motions (July 22, 2025), the state’s motion to dismiss (Sept. 2, 2025) and judgment entry (Sept. 8, 2025); Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493 (1967); the district’s June 2026 settlement with Kaczor; the court’s online case index, which shows no new case against Bauer; Monroeville Local Schools Board of Education minutes, Nov. 9, 2026.

DISCLOSURES — The Monroeville report is based on court records; no interviews were sought for it. The King report was checked against the appellate opinion and prison record. Northwood filing counts and the nine new case records were independently checked; the complaints are not available online, and neither the landlord nor its attorney was asked for comment. The account of Block Communications’ lawsuit remains attributed to The Blade; this newspaper has not obtained the filing. The Blade is a competitor owned by the company that sued. The Dorr Street crash and Sylvania Township items rest on police accounts as 13abc reported them; this newspaper has not obtained the police reports. The Minutes in Seconds items come from machine transcripts of the meetings, which this paper treats as evidence and not as a source: figures were checked against the agenda packets where the two differ, names only a machine heard are left out.

Updated Nov. 11, 2026: in the Monroeville lead, the quotation from the district’s 2022 reprimand now ends after “unwarranted physical contact.”

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

State to review Lucas jail death

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 06:23:29 -0500

State to review Lucas jail death

Ohio’s Bureau of Adult Detention will review the death of Gabrielle Magsig, 31, who was found unresponsive in her cell at the Lucas County jail Monday morning, the state prison agency said Tuesday.

Magsig was due in Toledo Municipal Court at 9 a.m. Nov. 9 on a drug-paraphernalia charge. The sheriff’s office said she was found unresponsive at about 9:05 a.m. Officers and nurses tried to revive her; paramedics pronounced her dead at 9:54 a.m. She had been arrested Friday evening on a warrant and remained in jail over the weekend.

The bureau has been notified of the death and staff will conduct the review, Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokesperson Jenn Truxall wrote. She said the rest of the records request was still being processed. Her email did not give a completion date or findings.

In a separate reply Tuesday, the sheriff’s office said it could release only the booking sheet. The cell-check logs and incident reports requested by the newspaper remain outstanding.

Sources: Lucas County Sheriff’s Office, Nov. 9 release; Toledo Municipal Court docket CRB-26-09706; written replies from Ohio DRC and the sheriff’s office, Nov. 10. The review has no reported findings.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Perrysburg Service Committee — Monday, Nov. 9 · agenda

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 06:23:29 -0500

Perrysburg Service Committee — Monday, Nov. 9 · agenda

Perrysburg plans curbside glass pickup trial for 1,000 downtown homes

Glass could go back to the curb in downtown Perrysburg next year. City staff told council’s service committee about a trial with the Northwest Ohio Innovation Consortium on the Monday trash route, about 1,000 homes, possibly starting in 2027. Each home would get a third bin, likely emptied once a month. Glass came out of the blue recycling bins a few years ago. At the time the city paid three times as much to collect glass as trash, staff said, and the glass still went to the landfill. The point now is to collect clean glass that can be made into new glass. Staff favored giving every home a bin unless it opts out. A committee member said asking homes to opt in might work better. A member asked whether residents would pay a fee. The recording has no clear answer.

Perrysburg Service Committee, Nov. 9 meeting recording.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Defiance City Council — Tuesday, Nov. 10 · recording

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 06:23:29 -0500

Defiance City Council — Tuesday, Nov. 10 · recording

Defiance sends data-center zoning back to planners as cap appears to pass

Voters appear to have written a cap on data centers larger than 25 megawatts into the city charter. Council was told the board of elections would confirm the count later in the week. Council then tabled one data-center zoning ordinance. It sent the rewrite back to the planning commission, to be bundled with noise and vibration rules. A study session and a new public hearing follow. Two residents argued opposite ways over whether smaller data centers should be allowed on M1 industrial land. Staff agreed the agenda item as written was confusing. The 2027 budget gets its first reading Nov. 24.

Defiance City Council, Nov. 10 meeting recording.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Appeals court upholds caregiver’s conviction in disabled man’s harness death

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 06:23:29 -0500

Appeals court upholds caregiver’s conviction in disabled man’s harness death

A caregiver who stayed in the front seat of a group-home van while a disabled 19-year-old died tangled in his safety harness was reckless, not just careless, an Ohio appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The Sixth District Court of Appeals in Toledo upheld Jeffery King’s conviction for patient endangerment and his 12-month prison sentence. King, 42, is in a state prison. His expected release date is Dec. 3, prison records show.

The man who died had autism and a seizure disorder and could not speak. He lived in a Wood County group home where King had worked for about three weeks. The court identified him only by his initials.

His care plan called for a caregiver within arm’s reach at all times. On March 3, 2024, King and a coworker took him for a ride in the home’s van. The coworker went into a house for about five minutes to pick up dinner. She testified that she came back to find the man tangled and turning purple, and King on his phone.

King told police he heard the struggle. “I just sat there watching him slip out of it,” he said, according to the opinion. “But I thought he gave up.”

On appeal, King argued that he had not been trained on the harness, which was new that day. He said doing nothing was negligence, a lower level of fault than the recklessness the crime requires. He also pointed to the conduct of others.

Judge Gene Zmuda, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, said a failure to act can be reckless. King knew the plan required constant supervision and ignored it, the court found.

A first jury deadlocked. A second jury convicted King after a trial that began Nov. 4, 2025.

King can ask the Ohio Supreme Court to take the case. A search of that court’s online docket under both spellings of his first name found no appeal in this case Tuesday night.

State v. King, 2026-Ohio-4465, Sixth District Court of Appeals, Nov. 10. Ohio prison record, Ohio Supreme Court docket and Toledo Municipal Court records, Nov. 10.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Northwood mobile home park files nine eviction cases in one day

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 06:23:29 -0500

Northwood mobile home park files nine eviction cases in one day

Residents of Northwood Estates, a manufactured-home park on Tracy Road, are due in court Dec. 1 in nine eviction cases the park’s owner filed Tuesday. That brings the park’s eviction cases this year to 67. Court records list 14 for all of 2025.

Northwood Estates MHC LLC filed the nine cases in Perrysburg Municipal Court. Together they name 19 people. Each asks only for possession of the lot, not for money, the dockets show.

The dockets do not say why the owner wants the residents out. The complaints themselves are not posted online. No judge has ruled, and no resident had filed an answer by Tuesday night.

All nine cases have hearings listed for Dec. 1 before Judge Aram Ohanian at the court, 300 Walnut St. in Perrysburg. The case-information pages list 2:30 p.m., but one docket entry gives a different time; residents should confirm the time on their summons with the court. An eviction filing is a request. A resident who comes to the hearing can contest it.

Thirty of this year’s cases were filed on or after Aug. 11, the court’s index shows. It listed 23 cases in 2024.

Those counts come from a search of the court’s records for the park’s name. A case filed under another name would not appear.

Perrysburg Municipal Court case records, cases CVG2601928 through CVG2601936 and a name search for Northwood Estates, Nov. 10.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

QTS tells Van Wert its data center would bring 90 jobs

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 06:23:29 -0500

QTS tells Van Wert its data center would bring 90 jobs

The company that wants to build a data center campus on Stripe Road in Van Wert has put its promises on one page: up to $4 billion in buildings and up to 90 full-time jobs.

That is fewer than half the 200 jobs tied to the project in earlier accounts, as reported here Oct. 11.

The page is the tax-break application QTS Van Wert LLC filed with the city. Mayor Kenneth Markward released it to the Lake Erie Inquiry on Monday in answer to a public records request.

QTS lists four data center buildings at 7927 Stripe Road. It expects the new workers to earn at least about $75,000 a year on average. That comes to a yearly payroll of $6.75 million. Nobody works at the site now.

The form asks why the company wants the break. QTS wrote that it is “part of a negotiated economic development agreement.” That deal, the company wrote, would support public works and “community betterment through 100% PILOT payments to the community.” PILOT stands for payments in lieu of taxes: money a company pays in place of a tax it has been excused from.

The page does not say how big the tax break would be or how long it would last. It has no signature and no filing date.

The city held back the second record the paper asked for. That is a term sheet spelling out the community benefits under negotiation. Markward called it an attorney work product, which Ohio’s records law lets a city withhold.

“If a CRA is eventually approved by City Council, the items you requested in #2 will be public,” Markward wrote. CRA is short for Community Reinvestment Area, the name of the tax-break program.

The reply does not say when council will vote.

Sources: City of Van Wert, Community Reinvestment Area commercial and industrial application of QTS Van Wert LLC, and Mayor Kenneth Markward’s Nov. 9, 2026 reply to the Lake Erie Inquiry’s Nov. 2 records request, citing R.C. 149.43(A)(1)(zz).

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Williams County’s one-center 911 plan has a vote but no date

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 06:23:29 -0500

Williams County’s one-center 911 plan has a vote but no date

The vote to send every Williams County 911 call to one center was 5-1, and the only no came from Bryan’s mayor. Three weeks later, the county has no date for the switch.

“We do not have a set timeline yet,” Heather Mercer, the county’s 911 director, wrote Monday in answer to questions from the Lake Erie Inquiry. She said it depends on which dispatch software Bryan police choose, on the county’s phone upgrade and on when the county joins the state’s new 911 network.

Mercer also released draft minutes of the Oct. 21 meeting. They show how little the vote itself settled.

The motion was one sentence. The county would go to one answering center “with the understanding that The City of Bryan will have a seat.” What happens next would be “a collaborative discussion based on what the mayor and city council determines.” The minutes do not say what the seat is.

Matt Grube of Center Township made the motion. Before the vote, the minutes say, he told the room that closing Bryan’s dispatch center was never the plan. Mayor Carrie Schlade said she felt the city had been given no choice.

Mercer talked about adding two county dispatchers for the hours after the day shift if the county takes on Bryan’s police calls, the minutes show.

Bryan City Council voted Nov. 3 to keep its own dispatchers, as reported here Nov. 6. City and county staff are due to meet this month to work out how calls will pass between the two centers.

Voting yes with Grube were Commissioner Scott Lirot, County Auditor Vickie Grimm, Edon Mayor Duane Thiel and Berdon Short of Millcreek Township.

Sources: Williams County NG911 Program Review Committee, draft minutes of Oct. 21, 2026, and a Nov. 9, 2026 email from Heather Mercer, director of Williams County 911 Communications & Emergency Management, both released to the Lake Erie Inquiry.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Van Wert's water is still over a disinfection byproduct limit

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 06:23:29 -0500

Van Wert's water is still over a disinfection byproduct limit

Van Wert's drinking water measured 0.081 milligrams per liter for total trihalomethanes, Mayor Kenneth J. Markward told council Nov. 9. The federal limit is 0.080 milligrams per liter. Trihalomethanes form when chlorine used to disinfect water reacts with organic matter; the rule is based on long-term exposure, not a single reading. The city told customers in June that the level was 0.083 milligrams per liter. Mixers installed in the water towers brought it down, the mayor said, and the next fix is aeration at the treatment plant, with the contractor's materials on order.

Van Wert City Council, Nov. 9 meeting recording.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Moonshine Bandits bring their country rap to the Cla-zel

The Lake Erie Inquiry — 2026-11-10

THE LAKE ERIE INQUIRY

No. 8NOV 2026

LINERNOTES

Moonshine Bandits bring their country rap to the Cla-zel

“Apparently we were just early to the party.”

Dusty “Tex” Dahlgren, in his own words

What makes a ShinerQUESTION 04

Six
questionsin their own words

CLA-ZEL THEATER · BOWLING GREEN · FRIDAY, NOV. 13

No. 08 · 11 · 2026

Photo courtesy of Moonshine Bandits.

Liner Notes

Long before rappers like Jelly Roll and Post Malone landed on the country charts, a duo from Los Banos, Calif., was mixing the two. Moonshine Bandits, Dusty “Tex” Dahlgren and Brett “Bird” Brooks, got together in 2003. Their new album, Handcuffs & Honkytonks, came out in August. On Friday, they play the Cla-zel in Bowling Green.

NOV 13FRIDAY · 7 P.M.The Cla-zel Theater127 N. Main St. · Bowling GreenWith J. Michael Phillips, Xipilli and HiZe.General admission: $25 in advance, $30 the day of the show. Mezzanine seats are $50, and the venue sells general-admission four-packs and seated tables. Add $5 if under 21.

Answers by Dusty “Tex” Dahlgren via email. Lightly edited.

Handcuffs & Honkytonks came out in August. What’s the story behind the title?

We’ve always had one foot in a honkytonk and the other somewhere we probably shouldn’t be. The title pretty much sums up the lifestyle we’ve been writing about for over two decades.

You were mixing country and rap back in 2003. Now rappers like Jelly Roll and Post Malone top the country charts. What’s it like watching the mainstream come around?

It’s funny watching an industry spend 20 years telling you something doesn’t belong, then turn around and build a whole business around it. When we started, country radio thought we were too rap and rap radio thought we were too country. Apparently we were just early to the party. But seriously, I’m happy to see artists breaking those barriers. We’ve toured 49 states, taken our music overseas, charted in both country and rap, and built a career without waiting for Nashville to give us permission. The mainstream catching up is great, but we weren’t exactly sitting around waiting for an invitation.

You’ve been a duo for more than 20 years. What do you two still argue about?

After this many years together, you learn which battles are worth fighting and which ones you just let the other guy think he won.

FEATURED SONGAin’t Living Right

Listen: “Ain’t Living Right” on YouTube, the opening track of Handcuffs & Honkytonks. The album is on Apple Music.

Your fans call themselves Shiners. What makes somebody one?

You can’t buy your way into being a Shiner. It’s not about owning a shirt or knowing every lyric. It’s a mentality. Loyalty, independence, looking out for your people and not giving a damn about fitting somebody else’s definition of normal. We’ve watched complete strangers become lifelong friends through our music.

Operation Packing Company sends care packages to troops. How did that start?

We started Operation Packing Company as a way to turn the support we’ve received into something meaningful for the men and women serving overseas. It originated in Modesto, and we expanded the effort into our hometown of Los Banos in 2018. It’s a registered nonprofit, and with the help of volunteers, local businesses, schools and our supporters, we put together care packages with everyday necessities and reminders of home. We’ve had kids write personal letters to troops they’ve never met. That’s the part that really sticks with me. Those service members sacrifice a hell of a lot more than most people realize. Sending a box isn’t going to repay that debt, but it can remind somebody halfway around the world that people back home haven’t forgotten them.

What’s a first-timer in for at the Cla-zel?

Our job is to make sure you forget about everything else going on in your life for a couple hours. We don’t care if you listen to rock, country, hip-hop or polka. If you came to have a good time, we’ll find some common ground. And if you’re the type who stands in the back with your arms crossed judging everybody, don’t worry. We’ve converted a few of those too.

Handcuffs & Honkytonks is on Apple Music and other services. More of the band’s music is on Spotify and YouTube, and more about them is on their website.

THE CLA-ZEL THEATER · BOWLING GREEN

MOONSHINE BANDITS

J. MICHAEL PHILLIPS · XIPILLI · HIZE

FRIDAY, NOV. 13, 2026
7 P.M.

127 N. MAIN ST. · BOWLING GREEN, OHIO

$25 ADVANCE · $30 DAY OF SHOW · GENERAL ADMISSION
MEZZANINE $50 · +$5 UNDER 21

ADMIT
ONE

13 · 11 · 2026

BUY TICKETS ↗

+ ADD TO CALENDAR

Sources: Moonshine Bandits, by email from Dusty Dahlgren, Nov. 10; the Cla-zel Theater, for the show, time, address and prices; Apple Music, for the album’s Aug. 7 release; TKO, the band’s booking agency, for the members and the 2003 start in Los Banos; the band’s YouTube channel.

Share this piece: its own page, free to read.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Toledo’s November is warm and nearly rainless

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 06:23:29 -0500

Toledo’s November is warm and nearly rainless

Toledo has gone from a 76-degree afternoon to a 33-degree morning since November began.

The month is still running warm. Through Nov. 9 it averaged 53.7 degrees, 6.8 above normal.

It has been dry, too. Six of those nine days recorded no measurable rain, and the month’s 0.18 inch stands against a normal 0.77.

Toledo against 1991–2020 normals · through Nov. 9
Period	Mean °F	Normal °F	Difference °F	Rain, inches	Normal rain
Nov. 1–9	53.7	46.9	+6.8	0.18	0.77
Sept. 1–Nov. 9	61.6	58.7	+2.9	5.28	6.29

Nov.	High / low °F	Normal °F	Rain, inches	Normal rain
3	76 / 58	57 / 39	0.00	0.08
4	69 / 59	56 / 38	0.11	0.09
5	61 / 49	56 / 38	0.01	0.08
6	51 / 41	56 / 38	0.06	0.09
7	49 / 35	55 / 37	0.00	0.08
8	60 / 33	55 / 37	0.00	0.09
9	58 / 38	54 / 37	0.00	0.09

Toledo Area threaded NWS record (TOLthr), NOAA Regional Climate Centers’ ACIS; normals 1991–2020. Observations through Nov. 9, 2026; Nov. 10 had not reported. Airport sky observations were unavailable; sky symbols are omitted.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Corn harvest gains ground but still trails normal

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 06:23:29 -0500

Corn harvest gains ground but still trails normal

Corn harvest remains behind its usual pace in Ohio and Michigan, even as soybean harvest runs ahead. Ohio growers brought in another 16 percentage points of corn in a week; Michigan growers advanced 18 points.

Harvest through Nov. 8 · percent complete
Crop / state	Nov. 1	Nov. 8	2021–25 average
Ohio corn	53%	69%	75%
Michigan corn	43%	61%	66%
Ohio soybeans	83%	92%	90%
Michigan soybeans	81%	86%	82%
Michigan sugarbeets	50%	60%	82%

USDA NASS Crop Progress, released Nov. 9, 2026; week ending Nov. 8. Statewide estimates. The 2021–25 averages include imputed 2025 estimates because those reports were canceled.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Can less fertilizer leave more money on the farm?

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 06:23:29 -0500

Can less fertilizer leave more money on the farm?

A northwest Ohio conservation project is testing whether farmers can cut fertilizer bills without sacrificing income. Its published trials show why the answer depends on the field.

The Conservation Action Project is continuing the work with H2Ohio support, BG Independent News reported Nov. 8. The project’s 2024 report found that phosphorus fertilizer reduced income in three replicated trials in Sandusky, Henry and Fulton counties. Even in Fulton County, where fertilizer raised yield, the extra crop did not cover its cost.

A separate Lucas County trial tells a different story. For 2025 soybeans, phosphorus starter applied the previous year increased yield from 55.1 to 58.2 bushels an acre. At the report’s assumed $10 a bushel, the extra grain covered the fertilizer charge and left $7.75 more per acre. Those are trial results and assumed prices, not a forecast for another farm.

BG Independent News, Nov. 8; CAP’s 2024 H2Ohio report and 2024–25 Lucas County trial.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.

Algae still lines the Monroe shore in November

The Lake Erie Inquiry — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 06:23:29 -0500

Algae still lines the Monroe shore in November

Lake Erie’s algae bloom is still visible along the Michigan shore from Monroe to north of Stony Point, NOAA reported Tuesday. Its Nov. 10 update puts concentrations there at low to moderate and says patches may remain near Ohio’s shore, including Maumee Bay.

Clouds and wind prevented a reliable area measurement. NOAA reported no toxins detected in the western basin; it did not declare the bloom gone. The agency advises avoiding water discolored by algae or visible scum.

NOAA NCCOS, Nov. 10 bulletin; NOAA safety guidance.

Originally published by The Lake Erie Inquiry. Read the original and corrections.