Ohio
Ohio high school band instruments stolen while at Disney World
ASHLAND, Ohio (WJW) — An Ohio high school band got back into town Friday after a long week at Walt Disney World in Florida.
To get there, the 100 member band worked their tails off. So many fundraisers from car washes to coupon books. And don’t forget what probably seemed like a gazillion of hours of marching and practicing their music.
But all that hard work to get to the Magic Kingdom was almost wiped away after the first night.
“Well, if you picture all of our uniforms were shoved into there, they couldn’t really reach all the big stuff” band director Marty Kral said as he pointed at they partially empty band trailer.
The “they” in that sentence are the thief or thieves that ransacked the band’s parked and locked instrument trailer outside of their hotel near Disney.
Flutes, saxophones, trumpets, clarinets — about 20% of their instruments all gone.
“To have lost that, personally I feel that devastation for them we can replace that instrument but we can’t replace that emotion that story attached to it and that’s what breaks our heart the most.” said Brad Selan, who’s son is a drummer in the band.
The Ashland high band worked hard to get to Disney and Kral says there was no way they were going to perform without everyone.
“Our only consideration was not worrying about the vandalism or finding out who did it, the only concern was how was I going to get instruments in the hands of kids so they could have their moment the following morning,” Kral said.
Kral said their performance on Main Street USA was less than a day away. He said everyone on site and back in Ashland started working the phones. They found a music store that had happened to have an affiliate back home in Ashland that was open on a Sunday.
“We started there and within the next four hours through their stores in Orlando we had acquired everything we thought we needed for the kids to have a successful performance.” Kral said.
The next morning with unfamiliar rented instruments and no practice the day before, the Ashland High School Marching Band rose to the challenged and did its thing and didn’t miss a step or a note.
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Kral said they can’t thank their community enough for all their support. He said his kids are one of a kind and he’s so proud that they were able to rise to the occasion.
Meantime, the school district says it’s hoping that insurance will cover the cost of the bands instruments.
They’ve also started a GoFundMe page to help the students who lost instruments.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — As concerns have grown over the impact of social media on young people, lawmakers are pushing to keep protections in tact to keep children safe online.
This week the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Ohio’s law, the Social Media Parental Notification Act, requiring parental consent for children under the age of 16 to use social media must be restored. Gov. Mike DeWine signed the act into law in July 2023.
Netchoice, the trade group that represents Tik Tok, Snapchat, Meta and other tech companies contested Ohio’s law in 2024, arguing that it was overly broad, vague and represented an unconstitutional impediment to free speech.
“An unconstitutional law protects no one, and we remain focused on ensuring the First Amendment rights of Ohioans are protected,” Paul Taske, NetChoice Litigation Center Director said.
Cincinnati-based Sixth Circuit’s panel does not agree with this view point, determined that the law is not unconstitutional and had the block on the law’s enforcement vacated.
“At bottom, the Act imposes a parental consent requirement,” Judge Eric Clay wrote. “That requirement constitutes a marginal burden that precisely targets the multi-faceted problem that Ohio has identified: Children’s unsupervised assent to terms and conditions for use of platforms that take advantage of and harm them.”
The Social Media Parental Notification Act is a way to protect children’s mental health against the “intentionally addictive” nature of social media, according to U.S. senator Jon Husted.
The law requires companies to get parental permission for social media and gaming apps and to provide their privacy guidelines so families know what content would be censored or moderated on their child’s profile.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson says the ruling is “a win for Ohio families.”
“The court agreed that parents –- not social media companies –- should get a say in what kids see online,” he said in a statement. “We have an obligation to keep our children safe, and today, the most dangerous place for our kids is the internet. This decision gives parents the tools to be involved and provide oversight.”
LICKING COUNTY, Ohio (WCMH) — When you think of wild animals in central Ohio, a black bear likely isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. That’s why one Licking County family said they couldn’t believe their eyes.
It was an average afternoon drive home for father and son, Justin and Aaron Rhodes, when something walked into the road in front of them.
“I didn’t even think it was real at first, so that’s why I had to do the double take,” Justin said.
Aaron said he thought it was “just a weird looking dog”.
To their disbelief, it was a bear. The sighting comes just one year after the animal was spotted in Licking County for the first time in more than two decades.
“It’s kind of hard to believe that they’re even around this area,” Justin said. “I’ve lived in this area for about 24 years now, so it’s been quite a while, and I’ve never seen one before.”
These sightings are becoming more common. The Ohio Division of Wildlife said the black bear population is growing in the state, and they expect those trends to continue. Ohio saw a record number of confirmed sightings in 2025.
Lindsey Krusling, a wildlife communications specialist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, said they are seeing more breeding females establish homes in the state, signaling the species is returning. Experts said the work restoring natural forest land is a big reason why.
“We’re starting to get some black bears coming in from neighboring states like Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky,” Krusling said. “They’re naturally crossing those state borders and coming back to Ohio because we have more of that habitat available to them, especially those forested areas.”
As the black bear population grows, the Division of Wildlife is expanding its research. They are putting radio collars on some bears they find in the state to help track data, such as if the bears are staying here, how far they’ve traveled and if they’re successfully having cubs.
“We’re trying to get quite a bit of data from these bears, and we’re super excited to see where this takes us,” Krusling said.
The research is in the beginning stages, but they expect population growth to continue, Krusling said.
Sighting reports can be submitted here to help the Division of Wildlife track black bear populations throughout the state.
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