Ohio

Everything Dusty May said after Michigan's 86-83 win over Ohio State

Published

1 year ago

February 16, 2025

Everything Dusty May said after Michigan's 86-83 win over Ohio State

Opening Statement

Yeah. If you guys are going to put me up against those two guys, I’d like a booster suit. Just, you guys, so many guys contribute to this win, and you heard the humility from those guys, that they obviously played a starting role tonight and they made play after play, but they’re also appreciative of the screens and the cutting and the plays that their teammates make, the shooters being threats where the change is facing, but what a great college basketball game. Ohio State made play after play, and obviously, Royal was phenomenal, and then Mobley and Horton, they gave us everything that we asked for, everything that we wanted. They were good. I mean, for us to win the shot battle, to have a manageable amount of turnovers, and even our turnovers tonight, it’s been our Achilles heel, but I thought several of them when we played good basketball and maybe got it all stripped into paint, and so those are the ones that will live with dumps or layups, so we didn’t have very many unforced turnovers tonight, and it was a physical game. It was, I think, Ohio State’s, without a doubt, NCAA tournament team, so it’s two heavyweights battling it out, going hit for hit, round for round, and fortunately, we made the plays when we needed to.

On getting contributions from everybody

No question. I thought all the guys, you know, Rubinn Jones’ stat line, eight points, 100% from the field. I thought his defense was physical. He was aggressive. Roddy had eight rebounds. Namari made one of the biggest shots of the game, I think, in the four minute time, I’m sorry, between eight and four minutes. Trey didn’t have one of his better games, but he’s the one that got the win. When we were weathering a storm in the second half, he was the one that was getting down, no good pressure on the rim, so obviously, they’re all not going to be at their best, and then L.J. Cason on the offensive side brought a real boost, and then Will Cheddar did what he does almost every game, so I could go down, we’re winning these games because it’s a complete team effort, and the bond and relationship that our guys have in the locker room carries over into the games.

On whether the last play for designed for Roddy Gayle

That was option one. We felt like we’d been riding Danny, and just as if we’re coming out of timeouts anticipating what we might see, we felt like they were going to do something, whether it was trap Danny or whatever the case, they were going to do something out of a timeout to take away what had been our bread and butter, and so yeah, we tried to create an advantage for Roddy getting down the hill, and he made a big time play. He made a big time play.

On LJ Cason

Same thing. I mean, he’s a freshman, and for a freshman to do what we’re always doing in this league is incredibly impressive. For L.J. to stay ready and stay composed on the offensive side of the ball, he’s an impactful player every time he checks in, because he can get where he needs to get to, he can shoot the basketball, and he can really get to loose basketball. As one of our coaches on our staff says, he’s a retriever. He gets the ball. We don’t win this game without the contributions of everyone who checked in.

On teams adapting to four or five-man screens and Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin adapting to it

Every team has a different personnel that can allow and force certain things to happen. Purdue can’t do certain things that Ohio State can do, and Ohio State can’t do certain things that Michigan State can do. We can’t do certain things that Wisconsin can do. There’s a lot of factors. I’d rather not give my opinion of why it was tonight, other than just great personnel awareness and selflessness by our group of players.

On the potential of a new era in the rivalry

Well, I’d anticipate every single game being like this, hard fought to the very end with great support from the fans, with great interest throughout college basketball. It’s a big game, and I don’t want to speak for Coach Diva because we haven’t talked about it since our Big Ten meetings, but he came up last year when we were in California, Big Ten country, for our Big Ten meetings, and he said, hey, are you good with, let’s try to do this where we play home and home every year. Going forward that way, obviously it’s hard because it’s two rivalry games versus one, but it’s what’s good for the game. It’s what’s good for the sport. It’s what’s good for our players. It’s less travel. It’s big for TV. It’s big for our fan bases, so we both agreed that even though it might not be as fun as it could be, it’s a gut-wrenching preparation and anticipation for the game because of how much it means, but we both agreed that going forward we’d like for that to happen. I don’t know if we can do a quick flip next year if it happens the year after that, but yeah, we both request that from the league, so it was a lot of fun competing against those guys because we have a lot of respect. Like us, they played an incredibly difficult schedule which has prepared them for Big Ten play, and they’re a much better team now than they were six weeks ago. Much, much better basketball team. I looked at a couple texts from coaches that have played them earlier and they said, wow, they’ve improved, so that’s probably the most difficult thing to do in today’s climate is to keep a team together, fighting like crazy together, and then have them improve as you go through this long, grueling season of college basketball, especially in the Big Ten Conference.

On the team chanting Roddy Gayle’s name in the locker room

You know, it’s obviously tough. You know, if you step in that arena now as a modern athlete, there’s certain things that come with it. As a coach, there’s certain things that just, it’s part of it, and it’s more difficult on people that are great human beings, like Roddy Gale, and he’s a basketball player, he’s a son, he’s a brother, I mean, he’s a lot of things other than just a Michigan or Ohio State basketball player, so obviously, it’s tough at that age, but it’s part of it, and he handled this situation with grace, with dignity, with class, and he played a really good basketball game in a tough environment, and he’ll be better for this, because he powered through it.

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Ohio

Ohio woman sentenced in $775,000 Medicaid scheme

Published

4 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

COLUMBUS — A Lake County woman was sentenced this morning to jail time and ordered to pay $775,000 in restitution for fraudulently billing Medicaid, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced. “She inflated her earnings through brazen fraud, but her scheme burst wide open when our investigators got the case,” Yost said. “Cheating taxpayers comes with […]

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Ohio

‘Catastrophic’ Ohio farm fire kills 6,000 hogs and pigs, officials say

Published

16 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

‘Catastrophic’ Ohio farm fire kills 6,000 hogs and pigs, officials say

A wind-swept blaze at an Ohio hog farm complex caused “catastrophic” damage and left thousands of pigs dead, fire officials said, marking another devastating barn inferno contributing to the deaths of millions of animals in recent years.

The massive fire occurred on Wednesday, Feb. 25, at Fine Oak Farms in Union Township, Madison County, located west of Ohio’s capital of Columbus, according to the Central Townships Joint Fire District. Fire crews received a report of a barn fire shortly before 12 p.m. local time.

The incident was later upgraded to a commercial structure fire after Chief Brian Bennington observed a “large column of smoke visible from a distance” and requested additional resources. Multiple local fire departments, along with several other emergency agencies, were called to the scene.

“What our crews encountered upon arrival was a very difficult and heartbreaking incident,” Bennington said in a statement on Feb. 26.

The fire chief described the facility as a large farm complex used for hog production consisting of five large agricultural buildings, including four that housed about 7,500 hogs. When crews arrived at the scene, they found two of the barns engulfed in flames, Bennington said.

Crews were challenged by windy conditions that significantly impacted fire suppression efforts, according to Bennington. Three barns were destroyed in the fire, and about 6,000 hogs and pigs were killed.

Firefighters saved one barn and about 1,500 hogs, the fire chief added. No injuries were reported in the incident.

Bennington highlighted the assistance of the farming community throughout Madison and Clark counties, as multiple farmers responded with water trucks to help with water supply efforts. “Rural Ohio’s agricultural community is tight-knit, and they truly step up when one of their own is in need,” he said.

The incident remains under investigation, and the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office will determine the fire’s cause and origin. Bennington said there is no suspicion of arson and no ongoing threat to the public at this time.

‘Rapidly changing fire behavior conditions’

Heavy smoke from the fire could be seen for miles, and Bennington said first-arriving units were met with fire conditions coming from the opposite side of the hog farm complex.

The fire chief noted that the incident required extensive water-shuttle operations due to rural water-supply limitations in the area. Crews attempted to cut the fire off by deploying multiple handlines and using an aerial device, but “faced extremely challenging conditions throughout the incident,” according to Bennington.

Sustained winds of about 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph accelerated the fire’s spread, Bennington said. The high winds made it “extremely difficult” to contain forward fire progression and created “rapidly changing fire behavior conditions” across the agricultural complex, he added.

After about four to five hours, the fire was contained by fire personnel from four different counties, according to the fire chief.

“Unfortunately, the fire resulted in catastrophic damage to the business,” Bennington said in an earlier statement on Feb. 25. “A significant portion of the agricultural structures were destroyed.”

Latest major fire to impact an Ohio hog farm

The incident at Fine Oak Farms is the latest major fire to cause significant damage to an Ohio hog farm in recent years.

In August 2024, about 1,100 pigs were killed in Versailles, a village about 50 miles northwest of Dayton, Ohio, according to data from the nonprofit Animal Welfare Institute. In March 2022, about 2,000 hogs died in a barn fire at Kenneth Scholl Hog Farm in Brown Township, just west of Columbus.

Before the fire at Fine Oak Farms, the Animal Welfare Institute reported that other barn fires in Ohio this year killed 162 sheep, horses, cows, chickens, and other animals.

Hundreds of thousands of animals killed in barn fires each year

Data from the Animal Welfare Institute shows that hundreds of thousands of animals are killed in barn fires across the country each year. Since 2013, over 9 million farm animals have been killed in barn fires, according to the organization.

As of Feb. 26, the Animal Welfare Institute reported that 118,738 farm animals have died in U.S. barn fires this year, including the incident at Fine Oak Farms. The majority of farm animals killed were chickens in separate incidents in North Carolina and Georgia in January, and another incident in Missouri earlier this month.

“Most fatal barn fires occurred in colder states, particularly the Upper Midwest and the Northeast. New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois had the highest number of barn fires, respectively,” according to the organization. “The amount of cold weather a state experienced appeared to be a greater factor in the prevalence of barn fires than the intensity of a state’s animal agriculture production.”

In an updated report on farm animal deaths due to barn fires in 2025, the Animal Welfare Institute said more than 2.53 million farm animals were killed in barn fires from 2022 to 2024. The organization noted that the high death toll was “driven primarily” by fires at large operations that housed several thousand to over 1 million farm animals.

The majority of deaths in these incidents during that period, over 98%, were farmed birds, such as chickens and turkeys, according to the Animal Welfare Institute. But in 2023, a massive fire at a west Texas dairy farm became the single deadliest event involving livestock in the state’s history and the deadliest cattle fire in America in at least a decade.

18,000 head of cattle perished in the fire at the South Fork Dairy farm near Dimmitt, Texas. At the time, Roger Malone, who is the former mayor of Dimmitt, called the incident “mind-boggling.”

“I don’t think it’s ever happened before around here. It’s a real tragedy,” Malone said.

Contributing: Rick Jervis, USA TODAY; Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch

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Ohio

Ohio’s LaRose pushes back on voter fraud critics, Democrats

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Ohio’s LaRose pushes back on voter fraud critics, Democrats

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose discussed voter fraud and Ohio’s efforts to prevent it during a recent radio appearance.

LaRose appeared on “The Bill Cunningham” radio show, where he defended the state’s efforts to minimize voter fraud. A clip posted on X shows audio of LaRose arguing that policies aimed at preventing voter fraud are necessary even though cases are rare.

Here’s what to know.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose says voter fraud in Ohio is rare, compares prevention efforts to TSA security

In the clip, LaRose says that Democrats claim voter fraud is rare, and should be ignored.

“The left claims that voter fraud is rare, so we should just ignore it,” he said. “Well, airplane hijackings are also rare — we don’t abolish the TSA. The reason why we keep voter fraud rare in states like Ohio because we do these very things that they’re trying to take away from me.”

LaRose announced the inaugural meeting of the new Ohio Election Integrity Commission, which replaces what he called the flawed Ohio Elections Commission, in January 2026. The new committee, he says, will be used in “enforcing Ohio’s election laws, reviewing alleged violations, and ensuring accountability in matters relating to voting.”

In October 2025, LaRose said that he forwarded more than 1,000 cases of voter fraud to the U.S. Department of Justice. The cases involved 1,084 noncitizen individuals who appear to have registered to vote unlawfully in Ohio, and 167 noncitizens who appear to have also cast a ballot in a federal election since 2018.

In February 2026, President Donald Trump said Republicans should “nationalize” elections. He also accused Democrats of bringing migrants into the United States to illegally vote, a claim that is not backed by evidence, USA TODAY reports.

Voter fraud in the U.S. is considered rare nationwide, according to NPR, but there are still debates from both political sides on how frequently it occurs.

What is voter fraud?

Electoral fraud is defined as illegally interfering with the process of an election, according to Ballotpedia. This includes in-person voter fraud, absentee or mail ballots and illegal voter suppression.

Criminal penalties can include fines or imprisonment for up to five years, according to U.S. code. In Ohio, election interference can carry a felony of the fourth degree, according to Ohio Code.

Voter fraud is often a topic of debate among Democrats and Republicans, where organizations such as the conservative Heritage Foundation maintains a database claiming to show nearly 1,500 cases of election fraud since the year 2000.

Meanwhile, research by law professor Justin Leavitt published in 2014 found 31 cases of in-person voter fraud among billions of ballots cast from 2000–2014, according to Ballotpedia.

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