Ohio
Ohio Statehouse to unveil painting that pays homage to state's astronauts
When it comes to space, Ohio eclipses most other states in terms of its astronauts—and a new painting will pay homage to that in the halls of the state legislature.
The starry piece of art, with portraits of just some of the 25 astronauts hailing from Ohio, will become a permanent fixture at the Statehouse starting in January. It will be unveiled Wednesday and then hung Thursday, and is the first large-scale painting commissioned for the building in 66 years.
Toledo-based artist Bill Hinsch—selected for the job in early 2023—remembers sitting in his childhood rocking chair, glued to the television as John Glenn launched to orbit the Earth during the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission.
“I was there,” Hinsch said in an interview. “We were let out of school, and I had a pad on my, you know, I was always drawing, and I had a pad on my lap.”
More than sixty years later, Hinsch is preparing to land his own milestone mission. Although his work is already hung in the Pentagon and at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, he said this one feels “amazing.”
“It’s almost like bookends to my life,” Hinsch said.
Sketches and drafts, a color study, and then another eight months of work—or roughly 1,000 hours—were poured into his painting Ohioans in Space. Charles Moses, chairman of the Capitol Square Foundation, said in July the painting would cost $150,000, but that the foundation was raising $500,000.
“We want to collect more money to have an art fund here at the Statehouse, so when pieces of art become available or there are other pieces of art we want to commission, we will have the ability to do that,” Moses said.
The nine-foot by 12-foot oil piece features John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell, and Judith Resnik, and it will hang just off the Statehouse rotunda across from a painting honoring the Wright brothers after it is unveiled Wednesday night.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol arrested online political writer D.J. Byrnes, also known as The Rooster, at the statehouse on June 1 on a misdemeanor warrant.
A patrol spokesman said Byrnes, who posts his stories to his Substack subscribers, was arrested on an outstanding warrant. He was booked into the Franklin County Jail, records show. The patrol did not provide further details.
Byrnes’ colleague, Max Littman, said he believes the arrest is related to Byrnes texting photos of cartoon character Shrek’s penis to a state senator. “If that is in fact true, that he was arrested over that, then it’s blatant targeting a political opponent and journalist,” Littman said.
The arrest warrant for telecommunications harassment came from the city of Kirtland in Lake County. The warrant alleges that Byrnes sent two photos on May 6 to “J.C.” with the intent to harass.
State Sen. Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, did not return messages seeking comment.
Byrnes routinely works the halls power at Columbus City Hall, Ohio State University and the Ohio Statehouse, looking for tips and ambushing officeholders for his Substack reports. He can be both charming and confrontational.
Recently, he posted a story based on one anonymous source who told him that Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy tried to get into the New York Knicks locker room after the Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA playoffs.
The story, and its spread, so bothered Ramaswamy that he posted a lengthy refute on X, calling it 100% fake.
State government reporter Laura Bischoff can be reached at lbischoff@usatodayco.com and @lbischoff on X.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — A bird rarely seen in North America was apparently spotted in Northeast Ohio of all places recently.
A lesser frigatebird was seen flying over Sippo Lake near Canton, according to several bird enthusiasts and photographers.
A photographer named Alex Eberts was kind enough to share his photos with ABC 6. You can see them at the top of this page.
Another photographer named Austin Rice posted this photo on Instagram and shared the details of what he saw on the night of May 23 in Stark County.
If you don’t know much about the lesser frigatebird, a site called eBird.com offers this description:
The smallest of the frigatebirds, but note that the female is larger than the male. Adults are easier to identify than younger birds. Adult males are almost entirely black with a red throat and white spurs emanating outwards from the body onto the wing. Adult females have a black belly and throat, a white breast and hind collar, with similar white spurs on their sides. Juvenile and immature plumages are variable and are best separated from other frigatebirds by size when comparison is possible. Mostly silent except while breeding in oceanic islands. Strongly pelagic during non-breeding season but wind-blown or fatigued birds can be found from continental coasts.
Eberts said in his own Facebook post that the May 23 sighting in Stark County was only the seventh reported sighting of the lesser frigatebird in the contiguous United States. The bird is more likely to be seen near the Indian Ocean, the Southeast Asian seas, Northern Australia to Western and Central Pacific Ocean, according to birdsoftheworld.org.
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