Ohio
How is Ohio State QB Will Howard different since the spring? Let us count the ‘weighs’
Will Howard spent several weeks in college football purgatory after entering the transfer portal in late November.
Ohio State wanted to wait until after the Cotton Bowl before giving the green light to the former Kansas State quarterback coming. Howard spent a little too much of that time eating.
When he arrived in January and first stepped on the scale, it wasn’t pretty: 249 pounds on his 6-foot-4 frame.
“A little portal weight put on,” Howard said Tuesday with a chuckle. “Coach Mick had some words for me.”
That would be OSU’s strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti. But Howard didn’t need to be told.
More: Reunited at last, Ryan Day and Chip Kelly hope for Ohio State football glory together
“I didn’t feel great myself,” Howard said. “I knew I had to lose some weight.”
Marotti and team dietitian Kaila Olson devised a plan to help Howard reshape his body, and he has done so. He said he now weighs between 233 and 235 pounds.
“All I had to do was listen to what they told me and follow the plan, and it worked out,” Howard said.
More: Reunited at last, Ryan Day and Chip Kelly hope for Ohio State football glory together
He did extra cardio work. He learned to cook.
“I felt a little more grown up,” he said. “I had fun with it. It was cool. It feels good to eat well and treat your body right.”
The body change is already paying dividends. Though offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Chip Kelly said no front-runner has emerged in the quarterback competition, Howard looks poised to assume that status whenever it is announced.
All five of Ohio State’s quarterbacks can run, but Howard is the fastest. Kelly said Howard exceeded 22 mph in testing. In Saturday’s practice, he outran OSU’s speedy defensive backs for a long touchdown run.
“Not only can you see his ability to run faster, but I think he’s got a lot more stamina,” Kelly said.
Howard and Kelly also said the quarterback has improved his passing since the spring.
“I’ve tweaked some things in my mechanics,” said Howard, who completed 58.8% of his passes at Kansas State. “I’m getting a deeper level of coaching than I ever have. I have a deeper understanding of the offense and what the defense is doing.”
It’s a significant change from the spring when Howard looked tentative at times. That wasn’t surprising given that Howard was learning a new system and even had to adjust to a different coordinator when Bill O’Brien left to become head coach at Boston College.
“I feel in the spring I was, at the beginning, drinking from a firehose a little bit, especially with the way the offense was installed,” Howard said. “But I think that was good for me – learning how to go through a couple of practices without having any prior experience with an offense and the struggles I had.”
It wasn’t until midway through spring practice that he began to feel comfortable. He continued that progress in the summer.
“Coming into fall camp, it’s been completely different,” Howard said. “You can’t replicate actually doing it. The only way to do it is to do it. It’s helped me a lot this fall camp to just play rather than think about things.”
In the four practices open to fans and media, Howard wasn’t spectacular, but he looked in command. He didn’t throw an interception and took what the defense allowed, which usually wasn’t much.
“Going against this defense every day is a blessing,” he said. “It sucks at times. (I know) in games that guys aren’t going to be guarded like that.
“We’re going to play some really good defenses, but I think we’re playing one of, if not the best, defense in the country, and that’s just making me and us better.”
Howard said he is unconcerned that coaches maintain there’s no pecking order yet. He figures that will take care of itself in time.
“That’s not my decision,” Howard said. “I’m just going to be myself and keep fighting to be the best version of myself every single day and make the most out of my reps and show this team I’m going to give it my all. That’s all I can do. We’re going to keep competing and make each other better and have fun.”
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Ohio
Decision 2024: Live Ohio Election Day coverage • Ohio Capital Journal
On Election Day, you must cast your ballot in your precinct at your designated polling place between the hours of 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.
If you are in line by 7:30 p.m., even if the polls close, stay in line, you can still cast your ballot.
If you do not know where your designated precinct or polling place is located, please contact your county board of elections or click here to search for your polling place online.
Voter ID
All voters will need to bring an acceptable photo identification to the poll in order to verify their identity. Click here for a list of acceptable forms of identification.
Absentee ballots
Absentee ballots returned by mail must be post-marked by Nov. 4.
If not returned by mail, absentee ballots may be personally delivered to your county board of elections. They must be received by your board of elections by 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 5
Nonpartisan voter helpline
If you have any questions or concerns about voting, or poll worker challenges to your voting status and registration, a nonpartisan helpline has been created.
Call or text 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) to speak with a trained Election Protection volunteer in English.
The hotline also comes in different languages
Spanish: 888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682)
Asian languages: 888-API-VOTE (888-274-8683)
Arabic: 844-YALLA-US (844-925-5287)
Marking your ballot
Instructions for marking and casting your ballot are posted in each polling place. If you have any questions about how to mark or cast your ballot, or if you have incorrectly marked a ballot, immediately contact a precinct election official for instructions before you continue.
Voting assistance
A voter with a physical or mental disability, or a voter who is unable to read or write, may be assisted by anyone of the voter’s choice, except a candidate who appears on the ballot in that precinct, the voter’s employer or the employer’s agent, or an officer or agent of the voter’s union. A voter may also be assisted by two poll workers (each of a different political party). No one who assists a voter may disclose any information about how that person voted. For more information about access for voters with disabilities, please click here.
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Ohio
Ohio Sen. JD Vance could be next vice president. What to know about him
Ohio Sen. JD Vance could be the next vice president of the United States if former President Donald Trump defeats Vice President Kamala Harris.
He has been a U.S. senator since January 2023 when he won the race to replace Sen. Rob Portman.
Here’s what you need to know about Vance.
Where is JD Vance from?
Vance grew up in Middletown, Ohio, and often spent summers with extended family in Jackson, Kentucky.
How old is JD Vance?
Vance turned 40 on Aug. 2. If elected, he would be the youngest vice president since Richard Nixon.
Did JD Vance serve in the military?
Vance joined the Marines Corp after high school and served as a public affairs marine in Iraq.
What is ‘Hillbilly Elegy?’
Vance first attracted national attention for his best-selling 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.” In the book, Vance recounted a turbulent childhood, his mother’s struggle with substance use disorder and the life-changing influence of his grandmother, known to him as Mamaw.
His broader commentary about the plight of the Rust Belt and Appalachia became a textbook for pundits trying to understand Donald Trump’s popularity with disaffected white Americans.
The book was later made into a movie by Ron Howard, starring Glenn Close and Amy Adams.
Watch: Usha Vance introduces husband JD Vance at 2024 RNC
Usha Chilukuri Vance, wife of Donald Trump’s running mate, delivered remarks at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Who is JD Vance’s wife Usha Vance?
Vance married Usha Chilukuri Vance in 2014 after the pair met at Yale Law School. She previously worked as a litigator at Munger, Tolles & Olson but left the firm when her husband secured the vice-presidential nomination.
How many kids does JD Vance have?
The couple has three young children: Ewan, 7, Vivek, 4, and Mirabel, 2.
Where does JD Vance live?
Vance and his family split their time between Cincinnati and Alexandria, Virginia.
Who is JD Vance’s mom?
Vance’s mom, Beverly Aikins, was raised by Kentucky-born parents in Middletown with her brother and sister. She has two children: Vance and his sister, Lindsay.
Aikins is 10 years sober, something Vance frequently mentions during his stump speeches. She has also traveled with him on the campaign trail.
“I want people to know to reach out, to try to get help, and that recovery is hard but it’s so worth it,” Aikins recently told the New York Times.
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JD Vance and Tim Walz might be on opposing sides, but they have one thing in common: their love for dogs.
What is JD Vance’s net worth?
Vance and Usha Vance have a combined net worth between $3.4 million and $10.2 million, according to his 2023 financial disclosure.
How long has JD Vance been in politics?
Vance was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022 after defeating former Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan for an open seat in Ohio.
What has JD Vance said about Donald Trump?
Vance was not always fond of the former president.
He previously suggested Trump could be “America’s Hitler” and compared him to an opioid − a quick fix who wouldn’t actually solve the country’s problems. Vance did not vote for Trump in 2016 and joked that he would rather write his dog on the ballot than back him or Hillary Clinton.
“I think that I’m going to vote third party because I can’t stomach Trump,” Vance told NPR. “I think that he’s noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place.”
Vance changed his tune as he geared up for his 2022 Senate run, deleting controversial tweets and crediting Trump for the work he did in office. He secured Trump’s endorsement in a chaotic Republican Senate primary and is now one of the former president’s most loyal allies.
Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
Ohio
Former Ohio police officer found guilty of shooting an unarmed black man
Andre Hill was holding his phone while walking toward a police officer when he was fatally shot
A jury in the United States has found a former police officer guilty in the state of Ohio four years after he shot a Black man holding keys and a phone in a garage.
Officer Adam Coy, who shot Andre Hill four times in 2020, faces at least 15 years in prison after the jury verdict on Monday.
Prosecutors asked that the former officer be sentenced immediately, but the judge set a sentencing date of November 25 instead.
Coy, who is white and had served 20 years on the Columbus, Ohio police force, told jurors that he thought Hill was holding a silver revolver.
“I thought I was going to die,” he testified. It was only after he rolled over Hill’s body and saw the keys that he realised there was no gun, Coy said. “I knew at that point I made a mistake. I was horrified.”
According to a police body cam recording, 47-year-old Hill was walking out of a friend’s garage, holding his phone in his left hand while his right hand was not visible, just seconds before he was shot.
It took ten minutes for police to provide aid to Hill, who lay bleeding on the floor of the garage. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Prosecutors argued that Hill, a father and grandfather, followed Coy’s commands and was never a threat to the police officer.
During the trial, Coy’s lawyers said that Hill’s lack of a weapon didn’t matter because the police officer thought his life was in danger. He had gone to the neighbourhood because of complaints about someone inside a running vehicle.
Police shootings
The conviction is the latest in a series of highly controversial incidents in the US involving white officers and Black victims. Brett Hankison, a former police officer in the state of Kentucky, was convicted last week of violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman whose death in a police raid ignited racial justice protests across the United States in 2020.
Taylor was shot to death by officers acting on a no-knock warrant.
Hankison was convicted on one count of civil rights abuse on Friday, with a 12-member federal jury determining that he used excessive force on Taylor during the raid.
Changes in policing
Coy was fired shortly after the fatal shooting, and the ensuing controversy over Hill’s death led to changes in the city’s policing.
The mayor forced the city’s police chief to resign after a series of fatal police shootings of Black men and children.
Columbus later reached a $10m settlement with Hill’s family, the largest in the city’s history. The Columbus City Council also passed Andre’s Law, which requires police officers to render immediate medical attention to an injured suspect.
The settlement announcement followed other large payouts by US cities over the killing of Black people by white officers.
The city of Minneapolis reached a $27m settlement with the family of George Floyd ahead of the trial of Derek Chauvin, the white former officer charged in Floyd’s death.
The city of Louisville, Kentucky, agreed to pay Breonna Taylor’s family $12m and reform police practices.
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