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Ohio funeral home to be first in state to serve alcohol during services: ‘Party planner for the dead’

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Ohio funeral home to be first in state to serve alcohol during services: ‘Party planner for the dead’


If you can’t raise the dead, might as well raise a glass to them!

An Ohio funeral-home owner says he wants to be “a party planner for the dead”  — by opening the state’s first bereavement center with booze.

Evergreen Funeral Cremation and Reception in Columbus hopes to soon have a liquor license to allow his patrons to mix mourning with merriment.

“My role in this position is to kind of be a party planner for the dead,” Hunter Triplett, the owner of Evergreen Funeral Cremation and Reception in Columbus, told WSYX.

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“Be more of a celebration of life than more of the multi-day traditional services.”

Evergreen would be the first funeral home in Ohio to serve alcohol if it receives its license. Google Maps

As his family was applying for the liquor license, Triplett said inspectors told them Evergreen would be the first funeral home in the state allowed to serve alcohol.

“We will only be serving alcohol when people are on this premises and remain on the premises until the continuation of the services just for the safety of the people in the community around,” said Triplett, whose family bought the property in 2015.

A funeral home bar would not only allow mourners to send off their loved ones in a spirit of festivity, Triplett thinks, but would help them save possibly thousands by rolling the whole funeral experience — wake, service, burial, reception — into one package.

Located in an old chocolate factory building since 2015, Evergreen has sprawling facilities and is located directly across the street from a cemetery.

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Evergreen owner Hunter Triplett says he’s becoming a “party planner for the dead” by encouraging festive services. WSYX ABC 6

“It’s kind of like a one-stop shop for funeral service. The package being around $5,000-$6,000, contrary to the national average, which can be upwards of $10,000.”

If approved for a D3 license, Evergreen would be permitted to sell beer, wine and hard liquor for consumption on-site.

Though some states ban the service of food or drinks at funeral homes — including New Jersey, North Dakota, Massachusetts, and Connecticut — alcohol at funeral homes has been on the rise in recent years.

“People used the phrase over and over again that the funeral homes were like a ‘dark lifeless tomb’ with a certain smell to them and certain look to them,” said Scott Mueller of Mueller Memorial in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.

Evergreen hopes to roll the entire process of a funeral — from wake to service to reception — into one package WSYX ABC 6

“People said, ‘When we go, we want to have a party atmosphere. More of a celebration.’ So we decided to put a bar in,” he told NBC News in 2017. “People used to say, ‘I can’t believe you used to keep the hearses in here,’ or say, ‘I think I can smell something.”

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And at Monahan Funeral Home in Providence, Rhode Island, the owners’ converted their old attached garage into a fully functioning pub — which mourners often pour into once they finish the funeral service.

New York state revised its laws in 2016 to allow food and beverages to be served at funeral homes.

Evergreen hopes to have its license and begin serving in early 2025.



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Multiple homes destroyed by fire in Meigs County, Ohio

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Multiple homes destroyed by fire in Meigs County, Ohio


A fire destroyed one home and damaged two others Wednesday evening, but then rekindled early Thursday morning and destroyed another home, police said.

The fire was first reported just after 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday night in the 300 block of Wetzgall Street in Pomeroy, according to a press release from the Pomeroy Police Department.

According to police, the fire spread to the two homes on either side of the original home on fire. Firefighters contained the fire and saved the two surrounding homes, but the home that first caught fire was deemed a total loss.

Then, just after 3 a.m. on Thursday morning, the fire rekindled and spread to one of the other homes, resulting in a total loss of that home as well, police said.

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Pomeroy police said both homes were occupied at the time of the fires, but all occupants of each home were able to exit their homes safely. Police also said that there were no reported injuries, though both families lost everything they owned due to the total losses of the homes.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, and the incident is still under active investigation by the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office, according to police.



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DOE aims to end Biden student loan repayment plan. What it means for Ohio

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DOE aims to end Biden student loan repayment plan. What it means for Ohio


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  • The Department of Education has agreed to a settlement to end the Biden-era SAVE student loan repayment plan.
  • Over seven million borrowers currently on the SAVE plan will need to select a new repayment program if the court approves the settlement.
  • Ohio has about 1.7 million student loan borrowers and over $60 billion in debt. The average student loan debt in the state is approximately $35,072.

Student loan borrowers under the Biden-era student loan repayment plan, Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE), may soon have to select a new repayment plan after the U.S. Department of Education agreed to a measure to permanently end the program.

A proposed joint settlement agreement announced Tuesday between the DOE and the State of Missouri seeks to end what officials call the “illegal” SAVE program, impacting more than seven million SAVE borrowers who would have to enroll in another program. The settlement must be approved by the court before it can be implemented.

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Ohio borrowers carry some of the nation’s highest student loan debt. Here’s how the proposed change could affect them.

What is the SAVE plan?

Originally known as REPAYE, the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan was created to deliver the lowest monthly payments among income-driven repayment programs. Under the Biden administration, it became the most affordable option for borrowers.

According to USA TODAY, the SAVE plan was part of Biden’s push to deliver nearly $200 billion in student loan relief to more than 5 million Americans. It wiped out $5.5 billion in debt for nearly half a million borrowers and cut many monthly payments down to $0.

But officials in President Donald Trump’s administration claim the Biden plan was illegal.

Why does the Department of Education want to end the SAVE plan?

The DOE says the SAVE plan aimed to provide mass forgiveness without congressional approval, costing taxpayers $342 billion over 10 years. In a press release, the Department said the administration promised unrealistically low payments and quick forgiveness without legal authority.

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“The Trump administration is righting this wrong and bringing an end to this deceptive scheme,” Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said in a release. “Thanks to the State of Missouri and other states fighting against this egregious federal overreach, American taxpayers can now rest assured they will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for illegal and irresponsible student loan policies.”  

If the agreement is approved by the court, no new borrowers will be able to enroll in the SAVE plan. The agency says it will deny any pending applications and move all SAVE borrowers back into other repayment plans.

Borrowers currently enrolled in the SAVE Plan would have a limited time to select a new repayment plan and begin repaying their student loans.

The DOE adds that it is working on the loan repayment provisions of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act, which created a new Income-Driven Repayment plan called the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), that will be available to borrowers by July 1, 2026.

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How many people in Ohio have student loan debt?

Numbers from the Education Data Initiative show that there are about 1.7 million student loan borrowers in Ohio, carrying over $60 billion in debt. The average student loan debt is approximately $35,072.

Ohio also ranks No. 10 among the states with the most student debt, according to personal finance site WalletHub.

How much money does Ohio get from the Department of Education?

The DOE budget for Ohio for fiscal year 2025 is estimated to be more than $5.65 billion, The Columbus Dispatch previously reported.

President Trump announced his intentions to eliminate the Department of Education earlier this year, meaning that Ohio could lose more than $5 billion in annual funding.



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Papa Johns employee in Ohio accused of shooting, killing man inside store

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Papa Johns employee in Ohio accused of shooting, killing man inside store



An employee of a Papa Johns restaurant in Cincinnati, Ohio, is accused of shooting and killing a man inside the store on Tuesday night. 

Police in Cincinnati said Murphy Tilk, 21, fatally shot 23-year-old Nawaf Althawadi inside the West Price Hill restaurant around 11 p.m., CBS affiliate WKRC reported. When first responders arrived at the restaurant on West Eighth Street, they performed life-saving measures on Althawadi, who died at the scene. Officials said the 21-year-old Tilk, who was taken into custody without incident and charged, is a Papa Johns employee, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Tilk booked into the Hamilton County Justice Center on a first-degree murder charge, the center’s records show. During Tilk’s initial court appearance on Wednesday, he was held without bond. The 21-year-old man has a bond hearing set for Saturday.

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Law enforcement has not said what led up to the shooting or if Tilk and Althawadi knew each other. Police are investigating the shooting. 

KDKA reached out to Papa Johns on Wednesday evening for comment, but has not heard back. 

Papa Johns is a pizza chain with 6,000 locations globally, according to its website. It has 15 locations in Cincinnati. 



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