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Haitian refugees ‘don’t understand the laws,’ former lawmaker says amid fatal wreck, cultural clashes

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Haitian refugees ‘don’t understand the laws,’ former lawmaker says amid fatal wreck, cultural clashes

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – An Ohio town that has seen its population swell with thousands of Haitian refugees has had to battle differences in culture and even driving practices as it adjusts to its new reality.

“We’ve got an influx of folks that have come in, and I think we were a little bit shocked that it was close to 20,000 people in a community of 60,000, and that’s caused some issues between the folks that live here and the folks that are coming in,” former Ohio State Rep. Kyle Koehler told Fox News Digital.

The comments come as Springfield, which is located roughly 50 miles west of Columbus, has entered the national spotlight in recent weeks, most recently when former President Donald Trump pointed to the town during one of his responses in Tuesday’s debate.

“They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” Trump said during a response to a question about immigration. “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”

RESIDENTS OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO ATTEND CITY COUNCIL MEETING TO SHARE FRUSTRATION ABOUT MIGRANT CRISIS HITTING THEIR COMMUNITY

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Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump, debates Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, for the first time during the presidential election campaign at The National Constitution Center on September 10, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After earning the Democratic Party nomination following President Joe Biden’s decision to leave the race, Harris faced off with Trump in what may be the only debate of the 2024 race for the White House. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) (Win McNamee)

The issue has also caught the attention of Ohio Republican senate candidate Bernie Moreno, who argued that the Biden administration’s “open border” policies “have flooded Springfield, Ohio, with thousands of illegal Haitians who are sucking up social services and destroying a small town here in Ohio.”

“We need to deport illegals, not invite them to wreak havoc on our communities like Sherrod Brown and Kamala Harris have done,” Moreno told Fox News Digital.

While local officials and multiple media outlets have disputed the point that Trump raised in the debate, there is still a new reality faced by longtime members of the Springfield community. Chief among them, according to Koehler, are cultural differences between locals and the Haitian refugees who are new to the town.

Haitian community center in Springfield, Ohio, is shown here. (Michael Lee/Fox News Digital)

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The lake at Snyder Park in Springfield, Ohio, from which local residents have claimed Haitian refugees have taken geese to slaughter and eat.  (Michael Lee/ Fox News Digital)

“They don’t understand the laws, they don’t understand some of our customs, we don’t understand some of their customs, and that clash and the overwhelming amount of people that have come at one point has really caused some issues,” Koehler, who is now running to represent the area in the state Senate, said.

One more extreme example of that, Koehler recalled hearing second hand, allegedly played out at a local Walmart, where he said there were stories of “people showing up at the Walmart on a Saturday morning, going into the bathroom, and stripping down and bathing themselves.”

State Rep. Kyle Koehler says he has heard secondhand of migrants stripping down to bathe in washrooms in the local Springfield Walmart.  (Michael Lee/Fox News Digital)

FOCUS GROUP REACTS TO TRUMP CLAIM THAT MIGRANTS ARE ‘EATING THE DOGS’ IN OHIO TOWN

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“Again, not something we do here, something someone might do in another culture, or something someone might do if they don’t understand the culture they’re in now,” Koehler said. “Whether that’s true or not, those stories get passed around, and it inflames the situation we have in our community.”

There have been no reports of people taking baths or showers in Walmart stores around Springfield, an individual familiar with the situation told Fox on background.

Another issue causing concern among the local population is road safety, Koehler noted.

“The driving in town is horrendous,” Koehler said, noting that a lot of that issue can also be chalked up to cultural differences.

One notable situation occurred last August, when a school bus carrying dozens of children in the area collided with a minivan, resulting in over 20 kids being hurt and one, Aiden Clark, being killed.

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The driver of the minivan was later identified as Hermanio Joseph, a Haitian immigrant who was found guilty earlier this year of involuntary manslaughter and vehicular homicide for his role in the incident.

The tragic incident inflamed tensions in the community, with Koehler noting that road safety had been one of the more visible concerns for locals.

Ohio State Rep. Kyle Koehler (Fox News) (Courtesy Kyle Koehler)

“We do have a really abnormal number of car accidents that are happening,” Koehler said. “And it’s not only the number, but the severity of them. When you go on a street that is a 35-mile-an-hour speed limit and there’s a car sitting on its hood, and I’m not talking about one, I’m talking about five or six accidents a week like that, you begin to wonder.”

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Nevertheless, Koehler stressed the positive attributes of Springfield, arguing that the town was once in decline but is now on the way back.

“We have a wonderful town,” Koehler said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Kyle Koehler is a former state representative. He was initially referred to as a current lawmaker.

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Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee man charged in fatal shooting near 20th and Burleigh

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Milwaukee man charged in fatal shooting near 20th and Burleigh


A Milwaukee man is accused of shooting and killing a 32-year-old after a hit-and-run on the city’s north side in April.

In court:

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Milwaukee County prosecutors charged 25-year-old Daniel Evans with first-degree reckless homicide and two counts of felony bail jumping. He’s being held in the Milwaukee County Jail on $100,000 cash bond.

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Court filings said Evans was out on bond for two different felony cases at the time of the shooting. He’d previously been convicted of misdemeanors in two other cases.

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Milwaukee County prosecutors also charged 22-year-old Joshua Evans with harboring/aiding a felon in the case. He’s being held in jail on $15,000 cash bond.

Daniel Evans, Joshua Evans

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20th and Burleigh

The backstory:

The shooting happened on April 23. The victim, who the medical examiner’s office identified as 32-year-old Terry Brown-Maben, died at the scene near 20th and Burleigh. A criminal complaint said police found nine bullet casings there.

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What they’re saying:

A witness told detectives that he and Brown-Maben had just left a liquor store when an SUV rear-ended them at 20th and Hopkins, according to the complaint. He said the crash snapped his car’s axle, and he was upset but told the people in the SUV to “just pull over” because he did not want to make a big deal of it. At the same time as the witness was talking to a passenger in the SUV, he said Brown-Maben was talking to the driver.

Scene near 20th and Burleigh (April 23, 2026)

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Court filings said the SUV drove away, and the witness and Brown-Maben began to walk because their car was left inoperable after the hit-and-run crash. A short time later, the witness said the SUV came back, and the passenger started to shoot at them.

The complaint said the witness told detectives that he took Brown-Maben’s gun and hid it after the shooting, adding he did not see Brown-Maben with the weapon before the shooting. The witness was also “adamant” that there had been no confrontation between them and the people in the SUV after the crash.

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Shooting investigation

Dig deeper:

Court filings said detectives watched surveillance video that showed an SUV turn near 20th and Burleigh, after which there appeared to be a muzzle flash from the passenger side of the vehicle. Video from the liquor store and a nearby gas station showed the SUV with front-end damage, and showed Joshua Evans getting out of the driver’s door.

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Detectives showed the witness photo lineups in an attempt to identify the driver and passenger in the SUV. Court filings said he identified Daniel Evans as the passenger and shooter, but he did not identify Joshua Evans as the driver.

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Police ran the SUV’s license plates, and determined Joshua Evans was the registered owner. When detectives interviewed him, he said he thought he might have been at work or “with a female” that night but identified himself and Daniel Evans in surveillance video from the liquor store.

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Another person told police that she spoke to Daniel Evans. According to the complaint, that person said Daniel Evans told her “Josh” hit someone’s car and there was a “shoot out.” When police showed her pictures of the SUV from the liquor store surveillance, she said she “thought it was Josh’s.”

Five days after the homicide, police interviewed someone who was arrested on unrelated charges. Court filings said he told police he’d bought his gun from “the Evans brothers” for $200. Ballistics tests of that gun determined it matched the casings recovered at the homicide scene near 20th and Burleigh.

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The Source: FOX6 News went to the shooting scene after it happened. Information in this story is from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office and Wisconsin Circuit Court.

Crime and Public SafetyNewsMilwaukee



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Minneapolis, MN

Break out the rhinestones for this book bedazzling event

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Break out the rhinestones for this book bedazzling event


Local romance authors Evi James and Alice Daniels will be at Yellowbird Coffee Bar NE on Friday, May 8th to meet the readers, sign books and bedazzle book covers. DabbleKit will be bringing all the supplies for bedazzling. The event is 18+ and you do need to reserve a spot to attend. There will be more bedazzling events throughout the summer.



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Indianapolis, IN

University of Indianapolis launches UIndy Online

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University of Indianapolis launches UIndy Online


INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The University of Indianapolis has launched an online learning platform designed to make college more flexible and affordable for working adults.

The university says UIndy Online, which will be offered beginning in the fall semester, will go beyond the traditional classroom. “As it shifts online, we have three new programs that we’re offering, said Chris Plouff, provost and executive vice president at UIndy.

The undergraduate degree programs include a bachelor’s degree in elementary education for paraprofessional educators, a bachelor’s degree in health sciences, and a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership.

Students can enroll in accelerated seven-week courses with tuition set at $400 per credit hour. Plouff said, “We are offering a lot of new incentives for a lot of students who are coming into the programs. We have our first course free for a number of the students who apply to the program who come from any of our corporate partners, as well as any area community college.”

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Veterans, and active-duty and reserve military personnel, and their families will also be eligible to have their first course free.

Plouff said the move is meant to reduce financial barriers while helping meet workforce needs across the state. “Because of the flexibility and how we build the program to be able to be workforce ready, as students come out of them, that the students will have lots of opportunities to be able to engage with their programs out in the fields of study while they’re doing that as well as being able to do that flexibly around their schedules.”

“We’re starting classes this fall, so we’re going to be ready to go in August with the program. Students are signing up today. We’ve had a number of students already contact us about getting started, and we’re really excited about launching those programs.”

UIndy is a private college affiliated with the United Methodist Church.

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