Ohio

Ohio State's reputation is on the line against Oregon

Published

1 year ago

October 10, 2024

Ohio State's reputation is on the line against Oregon

The byproduct of Ohio State having a schedule that featured five consecutive games against overmatched opponents to begin the season is the Buckeyes haven’t really been a fixture of the national conversation.

Blowouts of inferior opponents prove nothing. We know Ohio State is good. But it’s been a long, boring wait until Oct. 12, the day Ohio State travels to Oregon to prove just how good it is.

“I think it’s great because we get to control own destiny,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said of the matchup with the Ducks. “You’re playing the best teams in the league on our schedule. That part is great. Every time you’re you’re playing one of these teams, you’re fighting for opportunity to go to Indianapolis. That’s important. There’s that part of it, and there’s obviously the Playoff scenario. So, a lot is at stake this weekend.”

A lot is at stake this weekend, but not as much with the College Football Playoff as you think. This could be the first of two (or even three) Ohio State matchups with Oregon this season. The loser of this game isn’t going to be any less in the Playoff picture than the winner. That’s the reality of the sport now with the 12-team Playoff field.

How the country continues to view Day, and this Ohio State program is at stake. Everyone knows Ohio State can be a giant against smaller teams. Can it be a giant against other giants? This is a huge game for Day to prove that it can.

Ohio State doesn’t lose games it shouldn’t under his leadership. The Buckeyes have yet to drop a game to an unranked team or suffer an embarrassing upset like the one Alabama just lived through Saturday. But in the last three years, the Buckeyes have only been so-so when as it pertains to winning games the Buckeyes fan base craves. And, as a result, it hasn’t gone to Indianapolis to play for the Big Ten Championship since 2020.

The first thing many fans think about Day is how his Buckeyes have lost three-consecutive games to Michigan. Those losses hurt because it’s a passionate rivalry and Ohio State had become so used to winning it. It’s the one game on the schedule — regardless of conference title hunts or Playoff situation — Ohio State has to win. And it hasn’t been winning.

But in totality? Ohio State is 3-5 against top-10 opponents since the beginning of the 2021 season. It beat Notre Dame on the road a year ago. It blew out a Michigan State team that was ranked in the top-10 a few years ago. But it lost to Michigan three times and fell short against Georgia in the Playoff two years ago. The games Ohio State fans really, really wanted the Buckeyes didn’t get.

For some Ohio State fans, that has called into question whether Day — inarguably a great program-builder — has what is needed to get these Buckeyes to where they need to go. A coach can do everything right at Ohio State. He could build a great roster, win a bunch of games, compete for national titles, all of it. But if he can’t beat Michigan, that overshadows proficiency in all other areas.

As things look right now, Michigan may not be an issue for Ohio State this year. There is plenty of time for the Wolverines to figure its offense to give the Buckeyes a problem in November in Ohio Stadium. Go look a how the 1990s went if you need an example of how things can go haywire. Still, Ohio State may be a three-score favorite in that matchup.

In the present moment? This Oregon game is the one Ohio State has to have. Oregon is a supremely-talented team, is now a conference foe and the Ducks have national title aspirations of their own. This is good on good.

This isn’t a win or go home scenario. But if Ohio State loses? That would mean the Ohio State trend of coming up short in the games Buckeyes fans crave the most is continuing into this season. It casts doubt on where Ohio State seems to be headed.

Ohio State should be considered the favorite to win it all this year. By many, it is. In the AP Poll, five of the top-10 teams in the country have already lost. Georgia has lost. Alabama has lost. Tennessee has lost. Clemson has lost. Ole Miss has lost. Many of the preseason national title contenders have already either lost or shown weakness. At times on Saturday, it truly did feel like everyone sucks.

Texas remains unbeaten and Miami avoided a disaster of its own Saturday night with a thrilling comeback victory over Cal. But Ohio State and Oregon? These are two teams who have yet to lose that many thought could win a national title this year, and even the Ducks have looked shaky at times this season.

There are plenty of people who are waiting for Ohio State to be the next to fall. They’ve looked at all the blowouts the Buckeyes have racked up this year and are unmoved by what they’ve seen. They shouldn’t be. Day isn’t at Ohio State to blow out Western Michigan. So doubters have started with the go-to lines:

“They’ll blow it when it matters”

“Ohio State comes up short against the good teams”

“The Buckeyes are a fraud like they always are. You’ll see.”

People have a right to say those things. Ohio State has come up short far too often the last three years. But have those people really taken the time to examine what Ohio State built this year?

This Ohio State team is what Michigan was last year, except it is starting at a higher baseline talent level. It has a ton of players who should be in the NFL right now who instead opted to return to Columbus to get back to winning.

Guys like defensive linemen J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer, receiver Emeka Egbuka and cornerback Denzel Burke — among others — are still in college. Then the Buckeyes added quarterback Will Howard, running back Quinshon Judkins and star safety Caleb Downs to the mix through the portal. Oh, and Ohio State’s leading receiver is true freshman Jeremiah Smith, who, despite his age, already has a case for being the best wideout in the sport.

Ohio State has never been short of talent and it has lost some games to teams that don’t stack up in that department. Stars matter. They aren’t everything anymore.

But when you hear former coach Urban Meyer say this is the most impressive collection of talent he’s seen at Ohio State, know he isn’t being hyperbolic. The coach who won the 2014 national title with an immensely deep and talented Buckeyes roster is looking at this group with googly eyes.

There is no reason Ohio State shouldn’t be dominant this year. Ohio State’s reputation — which has been earned through losing these types of games — is still getting in the way of how it’s perceived publicly.

Against Oregon? Yes, there is a ton of pressure.

“Which is exactly how we want it,” Day said.

That’s nice to say.

Now is time for Day to get the job done.

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Ohio

Ohio woman sentenced in $775,000 Medicaid scheme

Published

4 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

COLUMBUS — A Lake County woman was sentenced this morning to jail time and ordered to pay $775,000 in restitution for fraudulently billing Medicaid, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced. “She inflated her earnings through brazen fraud, but her scheme burst wide open when our investigators got the case,” Yost said. “Cheating taxpayers comes with […]

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Ohio

‘Catastrophic’ Ohio farm fire kills 6,000 hogs and pigs, officials say

Published

16 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

‘Catastrophic’ Ohio farm fire kills 6,000 hogs and pigs, officials say

A wind-swept blaze at an Ohio hog farm complex caused “catastrophic” damage and left thousands of pigs dead, fire officials said, marking another devastating barn inferno contributing to the deaths of millions of animals in recent years.

The massive fire occurred on Wednesday, Feb. 25, at Fine Oak Farms in Union Township, Madison County, located west of Ohio’s capital of Columbus, according to the Central Townships Joint Fire District. Fire crews received a report of a barn fire shortly before 12 p.m. local time.

The incident was later upgraded to a commercial structure fire after Chief Brian Bennington observed a “large column of smoke visible from a distance” and requested additional resources. Multiple local fire departments, along with several other emergency agencies, were called to the scene.

“What our crews encountered upon arrival was a very difficult and heartbreaking incident,” Bennington said in a statement on Feb. 26.

The fire chief described the facility as a large farm complex used for hog production consisting of five large agricultural buildings, including four that housed about 7,500 hogs. When crews arrived at the scene, they found two of the barns engulfed in flames, Bennington said.

Crews were challenged by windy conditions that significantly impacted fire suppression efforts, according to Bennington. Three barns were destroyed in the fire, and about 6,000 hogs and pigs were killed.

Firefighters saved one barn and about 1,500 hogs, the fire chief added. No injuries were reported in the incident.

Bennington highlighted the assistance of the farming community throughout Madison and Clark counties, as multiple farmers responded with water trucks to help with water supply efforts. “Rural Ohio’s agricultural community is tight-knit, and they truly step up when one of their own is in need,” he said.

The incident remains under investigation, and the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office will determine the fire’s cause and origin. Bennington said there is no suspicion of arson and no ongoing threat to the public at this time.

‘Rapidly changing fire behavior conditions’

Heavy smoke from the fire could be seen for miles, and Bennington said first-arriving units were met with fire conditions coming from the opposite side of the hog farm complex.

The fire chief noted that the incident required extensive water-shuttle operations due to rural water-supply limitations in the area. Crews attempted to cut the fire off by deploying multiple handlines and using an aerial device, but “faced extremely challenging conditions throughout the incident,” according to Bennington.

Sustained winds of about 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph accelerated the fire’s spread, Bennington said. The high winds made it “extremely difficult” to contain forward fire progression and created “rapidly changing fire behavior conditions” across the agricultural complex, he added.

After about four to five hours, the fire was contained by fire personnel from four different counties, according to the fire chief.

“Unfortunately, the fire resulted in catastrophic damage to the business,” Bennington said in an earlier statement on Feb. 25. “A significant portion of the agricultural structures were destroyed.”

Latest major fire to impact an Ohio hog farm

The incident at Fine Oak Farms is the latest major fire to cause significant damage to an Ohio hog farm in recent years.

In August 2024, about 1,100 pigs were killed in Versailles, a village about 50 miles northwest of Dayton, Ohio, according to data from the nonprofit Animal Welfare Institute. In March 2022, about 2,000 hogs died in a barn fire at Kenneth Scholl Hog Farm in Brown Township, just west of Columbus.

Before the fire at Fine Oak Farms, the Animal Welfare Institute reported that other barn fires in Ohio this year killed 162 sheep, horses, cows, chickens, and other animals.

Hundreds of thousands of animals killed in barn fires each year

Data from the Animal Welfare Institute shows that hundreds of thousands of animals are killed in barn fires across the country each year. Since 2013, over 9 million farm animals have been killed in barn fires, according to the organization.

As of Feb. 26, the Animal Welfare Institute reported that 118,738 farm animals have died in U.S. barn fires this year, including the incident at Fine Oak Farms. The majority of farm animals killed were chickens in separate incidents in North Carolina and Georgia in January, and another incident in Missouri earlier this month.

“Most fatal barn fires occurred in colder states, particularly the Upper Midwest and the Northeast. New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois had the highest number of barn fires, respectively,” according to the organization. “The amount of cold weather a state experienced appeared to be a greater factor in the prevalence of barn fires than the intensity of a state’s animal agriculture production.”

In an updated report on farm animal deaths due to barn fires in 2025, the Animal Welfare Institute said more than 2.53 million farm animals were killed in barn fires from 2022 to 2024. The organization noted that the high death toll was “driven primarily” by fires at large operations that housed several thousand to over 1 million farm animals.

The majority of deaths in these incidents during that period, over 98%, were farmed birds, such as chickens and turkeys, according to the Animal Welfare Institute. But in 2023, a massive fire at a west Texas dairy farm became the single deadliest event involving livestock in the state’s history and the deadliest cattle fire in America in at least a decade.

18,000 head of cattle perished in the fire at the South Fork Dairy farm near Dimmitt, Texas. At the time, Roger Malone, who is the former mayor of Dimmitt, called the incident “mind-boggling.”

“I don’t think it’s ever happened before around here. It’s a real tragedy,” Malone said.

Contributing: Rick Jervis, USA TODAY; Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch

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Ohio

Ohio’s LaRose pushes back on voter fraud critics, Democrats

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Ohio’s LaRose pushes back on voter fraud critics, Democrats

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose discussed voter fraud and Ohio’s efforts to prevent it during a recent radio appearance.

LaRose appeared on “The Bill Cunningham” radio show, where he defended the state’s efforts to minimize voter fraud. A clip posted on X shows audio of LaRose arguing that policies aimed at preventing voter fraud are necessary even though cases are rare.

Here’s what to know.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose says voter fraud in Ohio is rare, compares prevention efforts to TSA security

In the clip, LaRose says that Democrats claim voter fraud is rare, and should be ignored.

“The left claims that voter fraud is rare, so we should just ignore it,” he said. “Well, airplane hijackings are also rare — we don’t abolish the TSA. The reason why we keep voter fraud rare in states like Ohio because we do these very things that they’re trying to take away from me.”

LaRose announced the inaugural meeting of the new Ohio Election Integrity Commission, which replaces what he called the flawed Ohio Elections Commission, in January 2026. The new committee, he says, will be used in “enforcing Ohio’s election laws, reviewing alleged violations, and ensuring accountability in matters relating to voting.”

In October 2025, LaRose said that he forwarded more than 1,000 cases of voter fraud to the U.S. Department of Justice. The cases involved 1,084 noncitizen individuals who appear to have registered to vote unlawfully in Ohio, and 167 noncitizens who appear to have also cast a ballot in a federal election since 2018.

In February 2026, President Donald Trump said Republicans should “nationalize” elections. He also accused Democrats of bringing migrants into the United States to illegally vote, a claim that is not backed by evidence, USA TODAY reports.

Voter fraud in the U.S. is considered rare nationwide, according to NPR, but there are still debates from both political sides on how frequently it occurs.

What is voter fraud?

Electoral fraud is defined as illegally interfering with the process of an election, according to Ballotpedia. This includes in-person voter fraud, absentee or mail ballots and illegal voter suppression.

Criminal penalties can include fines or imprisonment for up to five years, according to U.S. code. In Ohio, election interference can carry a felony of the fourth degree, according to Ohio Code.

Voter fraud is often a topic of debate among Democrats and Republicans, where organizations such as the conservative Heritage Foundation maintains a database claiming to show nearly 1,500 cases of election fraud since the year 2000.

Meanwhile, research by law professor Justin Leavitt published in 2014 found 31 cases of in-person voter fraud among billions of ballots cast from 2000–2014, according to Ballotpedia.

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