To some, going from Michigan to Ohio might feel like breaking into prison. But for any Michigan movie fan brave enough to skip over the border, the city of Mansfield — just over a two-hour drive from Detroit — is a destination spot for fans of “Shawshank Redemption.” The best part: To get there, there is no tunneling or sewage pipe climbing required. You can see it all from the comfort of your car. 

For the 30th anniversary of the film, released in 1994 and shot in Mansfield, the town is celebrating its release with a weekend-long special event along the Shawshank Trail, a series of 15 locations winding through the small towns where the movie was filmed. 

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Visitors are encouraged to take themselves on the self-guided tour across Ohio, which will be celebrating the anniversary through the weekend of Aug. 9, while enjoying a number of special events, such as screenings of the film, autograph sessions with the cast, bus tours and photo opportunities. In attendance for the special weekend will be the director, Frank Darabont, and actors like Bob Gunton, Alfonso Freeman, William Sadler and more cast members. 

The trail begins at the Ohio State Reformatory, which served as the setting of the fictional Shawshank State Prison. It continues through Mansfield past the pawn shop Red looks into, stopping at Brooks’ bench on its way to the grocery store where Brooks and Red both work while on parole. All destinations are marked with Shawshank Trail signage. 

The trail continues through Ohio, along the roads traveled by the film’s characters. After a few recognizable stops in Malabar Farm State Park in Lucas, Ohio, the trail winds up to Ashland, Ohio, where tourists can see the setting of the Maine State Bank and walk through the massive depression-era safe at Crosby Advisory Group. 

The final stop on the driving tour is in Sandusky, Ohio — along the route home for travelers from Michigan — at the Shawshank Woodshop. Visitors can see props used on screen by Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman in the same place Freeman uttered, “Every last man at Shawshank felt free.”

That is where the driving tour ends, but as fans of “Shawshank” will know, that’s not where the character’s stories end. For the most ambitious tourists, the final stop of the tour is in Frederiksted, St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. St. Croix is where Darabont shot the final scene, with Red and Andy in Mexico. 

The celebration of the 30th anniversary of the award-winning film IMDB ranks the best movie of all time begins on Friday, Aug. 9, and goes until Sunday. For more information, visit the Shawshank Trail site here.

For Michiganders hesitant to cross into Ohio, Jackson Historic Prison in Jackson offers more than 200 years of Michigan prison history, and more information can be found here.

Ohio Congressmen Jim Jordan and Mike Turner serve on House Oversight Committee which is launching an investigation into assassination attempt on Trump

The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability will hold a hearing on Monday, July 22 on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

Committee Chairman James Comer plans to subpoena Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify. The House’s second top Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise called on Cheatle to resign on Monday.

U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, and Mike Turner, R-Dayton, serve on the panel.

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Jim Jordan: ‘There’s one fundamental question’

During a podcast interview at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Jordan questioned why nearby buildings at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, were not secured.

“In my mind, there’s one fundamental question. There’s a finite number of buildings in that area where a bad guy could get on top of and do what happened. It’s probably not one hundred buildings, it’s probably not 10, it may be three, four, five. And one of those buildings was occupied by the good guys, right?” Jordan said.

Jordan said he would like to hear from the local police officer who reportedly climbed up to the roof of the building with the sniper just before the deadly shooting and the Secret Service counter-sniper.

Mike Turner: ‘You don’t have to be a security expert to see the failures’

Turner, who also is chair of the House Intelligence Committee, praised the Secret Service agents on the stage with Trump and told CNN there are going to be lots of questions about the shooter and his motivations.

“You don’t have to be a security expert to see the failures here,” Turner said. “The fact that the perimeter was not secure really is just astounding I think to anyone who looks at it. The fact that he was able to get off shots where he had already been identified, his position had been identified is really confusing and astounding.”

How to watch hearing on Trump assassination attempt

 The hearing will be live-streamed at oversight.house.gov. at 10 a.m. on Monday, July 22.

Erin Glynn 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.

Both the defensive line and secondary for the Ohio State Buckeyes certainly deserve a bunch of recognition headed into this next season. On the line, they have two veteran edge rushers in Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau, along with an excellent defensive tackle in Tyleik Williams. Ty Hamilton rounds out that group of four players and has plenty of starting experience, himself. In his 41 games played for Ohio State, he has started in 13.

In addition to lots of skill and experience on the projected starting defensive line, the projected starting five in the secondary is Denzel Burke and Davison Igbinosun as the outside corners, Jordan Hancock as the nickel corner and Lathan Ransom and Caleb Downs as the safeties. That is another experienced and extraordinarily talented group.

Despite the least amount of college starting experience coming from the linebacking corps, the talent and potential to be dominant is still there. Graduate student Cody Simon is in-line to be the leader of the linebacker room not only because he is an upper classman, but also because he has played in 44 games with the Buckeyes and started in 15. In that time, he has tallied 147 tackles and 11 tackles-for-loss. Last season, he had 57 total tackles which was fourth-best on the team.

With Tommy Eichenberg and Steele Chambers no longer members of the Buckeyes roster as they pursue NFL opportunities, Cody Simon truly gets the opportunity to let loose and show what he can do. Next to him, redshirt sophomore C.J. Hicks is expected to get a chance to flash his ability. Hicks has been a player Buckeye Nation has been excited about even prior to his arrival on campus. He was a five-star prospect and the No. 2 linebacker in the entire 2022 recruiting class on 247 Sports.

When defensive coordinator Jim Knowles only has two linebackers on the field, Simon and Hicks will most likely get the majority of the reps. In three-linebacker sets or even on definite passing downs, converted safety Sonny Styles should get lots of work at linebacker. The 6’4″, 235-pound junior had 53 tackles, two sacks and one forced fumble as a safety last season. His versatility could really make him a threat in so many different scenarios.

Even with a bunch of moving parts at linebacker in preparation for this season, there is a chance that Ohio State’s linebackers perform at an even higher level this season than last. Hicks and Styles offer more in coverage than Eichenberg and Chambers and they have the speed to cover a ton of ground sideline-to-sideline. Simon still offers the more traditional linebacker build at a stout 6’2″ and 235 pounds. He should not have a problem filling gaps against the run.

Behind this group of three linebackers, Arvell Reese and Gabe Powers may get some reps of their own.

If this linebacker group surpasses the expectations of most people around the country, then this Ohio State team may end up being historically good from a statistics standpoint. They will then also increase the chances of a National Championship at the end of this season.