Ohio
Crews work overnight to recover 26 barges that broke loose on Ohio River
![Crews work overnight to recover 26 barges that broke loose on Ohio River Crews work overnight to recover 26 barges that broke loose on Ohio River](https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/04/14/ae7e2b8c-0584-47ab-8d1d-ea7c799bec90/thumbnail/1200x630/5a60bebb3f3afb08eac86c5390e2f049/download-5.png?v=c0ff3069549804234360eec4c5e30dea)
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Twenty-six barges that broke loose from a towboat on the Ohio River Friday night are accounted for, according to the Pittsburgh District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Now, crews are recovering them after they damaged local marinas and rest at a local lock and dam.
Wayne Jones was sick to stomach Saturday morning, looking at what was left of the marina he’s owned for more than 40 years.
“I could cry,” Jones said. “It’s my whole life.”
After breaking free on Friday night on the Ohio River, 26 barges now accounted for
The Branchport Boat Club in Pittsburgh’s Chateau neighborhood was torn apart after runaway barges smashed the docks to pieces, just two weeks before it was set to open for the season.
“I built this place. It’s my baby,” Jones said. “I can’t make no money.”
Pittsburgh police said 26 barges got loose around 11:30 p.m. Friday, and started floating down the Ohio River.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard and Colonel Nicholas Melin with the Pittsburgh District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told KDKA that they broke away from a towboat by the West End Bridge.
Twenty-three barges were carrying dry cargo like coal, but no hazardous materials. The three others were empty.
At this time, they said there were no contamination or pollution reports, and no one was hurt.
Eleven of the barges got pinned against the riverbank by Brunot Island. Col. Melin said nine stopped at the Emsworth Dam. The last six went through the dam and were accounted for downstream. Officials believe one barge sunk between the Emsworth Dam and the Dashields Dam.
In the process, the barges took out Jones’ club and a part of Peggy’s Marina in Chateau.
“It’s a nightmare, total absolute nightmare,” Melin said. “What am I going to do?”
Col. Melin said the Emsworth Dam is functioning normally.
“There’s no concerns with respect to passing water and the safety of the waterway at this time,” Col. Melin said.
While a cause is unclear, he believes the high water levels played a factor.
Campbell Transportation Company owns and operates the barges, located just downstream from the West End Bridge.
In a statement to KDKA, a spokesperson for the company reiterated this happened under “strong currents due to flooding in the area.” He also said their “immediate priority is ensuring public safety and minimizing any potential environmental impact.”
“Those docks give me about $200,000 a year,” Jones said.
As for Jones, he’s said it will cost him just under $1 million to replace the marina. He’s trying to figure out what to do for the 85 boats that planned to dock at Branchport on May 1, hoping he’ll still get to take some of them in, in some way.
“Property is property, it’ll get fixed,” Jones said.
The incident remains under investigation as crews work to recover the barges.
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Ohio
Man involved in Monongahela standoff, another suspect charged in Ohio Township homicide
![Man involved in Monongahela standoff, another suspect charged in Ohio Township homicide Man involved in Monongahela standoff, another suspect charged in Ohio Township homicide](https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/06/02/ca0335ea-a97f-415c-9371-57c34150e145/thumbnail/1200x630/1a011e25e5bda7ceac573613c67194f0/gettyimages-1327894263.jpg?v=d8f7565ef3e8b72561ee316b5993cbf9)
OHIO TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) — The Allegheny County Magistrate’s Office has filed homicide charges against the man who led police on a chase through two counties before ending in an hours-long stand-off in Monongahela.
Emmanuel Houghton, 19, is now charged with killing 18-year-old Jordan Geiger in Ohio Township. Tyler Stewart, 22, is also charged.
Geiger was found injured in a crashed car on Ben Avon Heights Road and later died of a gunshot wound in the hospital.
State police said earlier this week that Houghton drove away from a traffic stop in a reported stolen car.
Following the pursuit, Houghton later ran into a home in Monongahela, barricaded himself, and threatened to shoot himself and officers.
Stewart is also facing separate charges after Allegheny County deputies say he led them on a chase before crashing on Banksville Road and trying to carjack an elderly man.
Stewart was stopped by two witnesses.
Houghton and Stewart are both charged with criminal homicide, conspiracy, robbery, and firearm violations.
Both men are now in the Allegheny County Jail pending preliminary arraignment.
Ohio
Man hospitalized after shooting near downtown Lexington, police say
![Man hospitalized after shooting near downtown Lexington, police say Man hospitalized after shooting near downtown Lexington, police say](https://gray-wkyt-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/YOWJFS7BRFCN3BVN5A426I2YDU.jpeg?auth=db294ff5cdbe104b03a3239e1a49cb603e95f0af625c79c2f58c941be86c9f65&width=1200&height=600&smart=true)
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – Lexington police are investigating a shooting near downtown.
Police say officers responded to a reported shooting with a victim at the 300 block of Ohio Street.
They say an adult victim was transported to a nearby hospital with reported non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.
There is no suspect information at this time.
Officers are working to determine what led to the incident.
The investigation is ongoing.
Copyright 2024 WKYT. All rights reserved.
Ohio
Ohio Republicans approve misleading ballot language to favor gerrymandering
![Ohio Republicans approve misleading ballot language to favor gerrymandering Ohio Republicans approve misleading ballot language to favor gerrymandering](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/4aea43a454013715a471be17e3cd430c0ce792ba/0_152_3600_2159/master/3600.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=9d0bb8c5eca31aa438c00a4d0880704a)
Ohio voters could see an extremely misleading description of a proposal to curb extreme partisan gerrymandering on their November ballots after Republicans approved controversial language on Friday.
At issue is how to describe a proposal that would create a 15-person citizen commission to draw congressional and state legislative districts in Ohio. The commission – five Democrats, five Republicans and five independents – would be prohibited from drawing districts that “that favor one political party and disfavor others”.
But the language approved on Friday by the Republican-controlled Ohio ballot board misrepresents the proposal – instead leading voters to think they have less power in the process. It says the commissioners would be “required to gerrymander the boundaries of state legislative and congressional districts to favor the two largest political parties in the state of Ohio”.
The GOP-approved summary also misrepresents how difficult it would be to remove a commissioner from the panel, telling voters the proposal would “prevent a commission member from being removed, except by a vote of their fellow commission members, even for incapacity, willful neglect of duty or gross misconduct”.
But the proposal expressly says that commissioners can be removed from “wanton and willful neglect of duty or gross misconduct or malfeasance in office, incapacity or inability to perform his or her duties, or behavior involving moral turpitude or other acts that undermine the public’s trust in the commission and the redistricting process”. It says that only the commission can remove a commissioner after giving public notice and holding a hearing with public comment.
Supporters of the amendment, a coalition called Citizens not Politicians, said they would sue over the language in the Ohio supreme court next week.
“It’s one grotesque abuse of power after another from politicians desperate to protect the current system that only benefits themselves and their lobbyist friends,” said Maureen O’Connor, a Republican who recently retired from the state supreme court and helped draft the amendment. “Do the politicians not see how angry voters are when they keep breaking the law to protect their own power? Secretary of State Frank LaRose voted seven times for maps that courts ruled were unconstitutional, and this week he violates the constitution with objectively false ballot language. It’s a desperate abuse of power, and it’s not going to work.”
Ohio’s current districts are heavily tilted in favor of the GOP and Republicans defied several rulings from the state supreme court to make the districts more fair. Republicans also unsuccessfully sought to make it nearly impossible to pass a constitutional amendment last summer.
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The language approved on Friday, reportedly drafted by Ohio’s secretary of state, Frank LaRose, also says the measure would “repeal constitutional protections against gerrymandering approved by nearly three quarters of Ohio electors participating in the statewide elections of 2015 and 2018”. While Ohio voters did approve anti-gerrymandering reforms in those years, Republicans ignored them when they redrew districts after the 2020 census. Organizers drafted the amendment pushing for the independent commission after Republicans were able to keep gerrymandered districts in place in 2022.
“I’ve never seen ballot language this dishonest and so blatantly illegal,” Don McTigue, a lawyer representing the group pushing for the anti-gerrymandering amendment, said in a statement. “Ohio’s constitution and Ohio state law explicitly require the secretary of state and ballot board to provide voters with accurate and fair language about constitutional amendments when they vote. It’s insulting to voters, and I’m embarrassed for the secretary of state.”
This is not the first time the Ohio ballot board has tried to put misleading language on the ballot. Last year, the board tried to distort language on a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights and replace the word “fetus” with “unborn child” and omit forms of reproductive healthcare the amendment would guarantee. The Ohio supreme court ordered the board to rewrite some of the language.
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