Ohio
Tallahassee rapper Ralan Styles killed in Columbus, Ohio, shooting, police say
Tallahassee rapper Ralan Styles was shot and killed Saturday night in Columbus, Ohio, according to the Columbus Division of Police.
Styles, whose real name was Michael Robinson, was 22.
Columbus police said officers were dispatched to the area on “an unknown type of complaint.” Officers “were then updated by dispatch about a rapid SOS in the area,” a news release says. (SOS is a distress signal that means someone needs immediate assistance.)
When they arrived at a home around 5 a.m., they were met by an individual who said a man was inside suffering from a gunshot wound.
A 24-year-old man named Mahamood Hassan was arrested and charged in the fatal shooting on a charge of first-degree murder, according to the release. The circumstances of the shooting were still unclear as of late Monday morning.
From lunch table to sound booth
Styles is best known for his viral hit “Baby Shark” and had over two million followers on social media.
“His passing is a significant loss not just for Tallahassee, but for the music industry as a whole,” according to a statement from Juming Delmas, his publicist. “Ralan was known for his deep connection with his community, empowering youth through his music, and inspiring those around him.”
Styles’ Apple Music page calls him a “confident, streetwise, Tallahassee, Florida peer of the more melancholic and insular Lil Goat.”
Styles “prolifically blends melodic trap and contemporary R&B. One of his earliest recordings, released in 2020, was a collaboration with Lil Goat on the mesmeric ‘Dancing with the Devil.’ … His debut album, 2021’s Radiance, was an expansive set that featured G-Real, Itstheangxl, and GHXSTBOYY. Two more albums were issued in 2022.”
The young rapper had an outpouring of social media posts following his death from many fans and loved ones honoring his memory.
“Michael Andre Robinson. My lovey my eternity my soulmate my everything,” Jillian Sperling, Styles’ girlfriend, wrote in an Instagram post. “I can’t believe you are really gone. I keep thinking I’m gonna wake up and you’ll be right there like you always are and I realized this wasn’t all just a horrible dream.”
According to one of Sperling’s post, Styles left behind a daughter he had with another woman.
Another rapper known as Lil Goat posted a collection of photos grieving the loss of his “lil brother.”
“We went from rapping at the lunch table together in middle school, to becoming superstars,” he wrote. “I love you bro, and as long as I’m alive you’ll never die.”
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Breaking & trending news reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.
Out of prison, Indiana’s caviar king back on Ohio River to find fishing holes taken
David Cox, of English, Indiana, says once he began setting his nets again after a two-year prison sentence and a three-year ban on commercial fishing, all of his once-secret spots were taken.
Can you eat fish from the Ohio River?
In 1975, future presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, bet 20 pounds of New England cod that the Red Sox would defeat the Reds in the World Series. If things went south for Boston, Ohio governor James Rhodes promised to send Dukakis 10 pounds of Lake Erie perch and 10 pounds of Ohio River catfish. The Reds ended up winning and the cod was sent to the Convalescent Home for Children, in Cincinnati.
At the time, people were still eating catfish from the Ohio without too much concern. The fish were also served at several restaurants along the river.
There were warnings in 1977
But two years later, in 1977, The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission released the results of a study of contaminants found in the tissues of Ohio River fish. They warned anglers in cities such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, Wheeling and Gallipolis that man-made chemicals known as PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, had been discovered in the river fish. Later, high concentrations of mercury were discovered in the fish, too.
Thanks to the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the environmental regulations that followed, the river is now cleaner than it was in the seventies. And it’s still teeming with a variety of fish, including catfish, striped bass, drum and black bass, among other species.
But even though PCBs were banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979, they are still found in fish, since they remain in the sediment in the bottom of the river. “Organisms live in the sediment and fish feed on them,” Rich Cogen, the executive director of the Ohio River Foundation told The Enquirer. Mercury is also a big problem, according to Cogen.
So the question is: Can you eat fish caught in the Ohio River?
The short answer is yes. But it depends on what species you are eating and where along the river you caught it.
There are also very strict limitations on how frequently you should eat them, according to the web site for the Ohio Sport Fish Consumption Advisory, part of the Ohio Department of Health.
In areas of the river between the Belleville Lock, located 204 miles downstream from the river’s origins in Pittsburgh, to the Indiana border, the advisory agency currently recommends consuming Ohio River fish no more than once a month max. That area includes Adams, Brown, Clermont, Gallia, Hamilton, Lawrence, Meigs and Scioto counties.
Here’s where to check
Recommendations change throughout the year, but you can keep up by visiting the Ohio Department of Health’s Sport Fish Consumption Advisory page, which provides updated information on when certain fish, usually bottom feeders such as carp, are deemed too dangerous to eat at all.
Here’s who should take a pass on Ohio River fish
The agency also warns that people who are more likely to have health effects from eating contaminated fish, includingchildren younger than 15 years old, pregnant women and women who are planning to become pregnant to avoid Ohio River fish altogether.
Just because you have to limit the amount of fish you eat, doesn’t mean the river is a bad place for fishing, as long as you limit your intake or do catch-and-release fishing. Just make sure you have a proper fishing license before casting your line.
Have a question for Just Askin’? Email us.
The Just Askin’ series aims to answer the questions that no one seems to have an answer for, except maybe Google.
Do you have a question you want answered? Send it to us at justaskin@enquirer.com, ideally with Just Askin’ in the subject line.
It isn’t over until it’s over. That’s the case for both the UCLA Bruins football program recruiting and for quarterback Brady Edmunds. Edmunds is currently committed to head to Ohio State but he took a visit from UCLA offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy earlier this week.
Kennedy met Edmunds on Thursday despite the fact that the quarterback has been committed to the Buckeyes since December of 2024 but could the UCLA Bruins be making a run at flipping the quarterback?
Edmunds has only had an official visit with Ohio State but could UCLA heave a heat check on the 6’5” quarterback? New UCLA head coach Bob Chesney is off to an unbelievable start to his recruiting with the Bruins and flipping a recruit of Edmunds’ caliber would be his most impressive move yet.
247 Sports has Edmunds as the No. 16 quarterback in the class, which would give UCLA a clear predecessor for Nico Iamaleava whenever the Bruins current starting quarterback decides to head to the professional level.
It’d be a full circle moment for the Bruins, as Edmunds was originally recruited to Ohio State by former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, who bailed on UCLA to go run the Buckeyes offense. Ohio State is a great spot for a developing quarterback, as the Buckeyes produce tons of NFL talent, especially at the wide receiver position, which would help Edmunds put up some gaudy numbers in Columbus.
Chesney and the Bruins have geography on their side, Edmunds attends Huntington Beach High School in Southern California, which could potentially become a factor if Edmunds views UCLA as a program on the rise that’d be much closer to his friends and family than out in Ohio.
Time will tell if Kennedy’s visit will make a difference but UCLA’s recruiting has made waves in the first offseason under Chesney and the new regime.
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