Ohio
When will Buckeyes Meechie Johnson, Aaron Bradshaw return? Here’s what Jake Diebler said
Video: Ohio State coach Jake Diebler after beating Valparaiso 95-73
Ohio State coach Jake Diebler’s full press conference after beating Valparaiso 95-73 on Dec. 17, 2024.
Ohio State’s availability took another unforeseen turn Tuesday evening.
As the Buckeyes took the floor to host Valparaiso at Value City Arena, two injured players remained unavailable. Ques Glover and Colin White, who have now missed eight and five consecutive games, respectively, are dealing with ankle injuries they suffered while playing in games. The two continue to progress, coach Jake Diebler has said, but it’s not clear how quickly they will heal.
The other half of the availability report was a lot less cut-and-dry. Sophomore center Aaron Bradshaw, although technically available to play, was again out for a second consecutive game while working his way back into the mix after not being allowed to participate in team activities for nearly a month due to a university investigation into an alleged domestic incident at his off-campus apartment.
Joining him on the list was fifth-year guard Meechie Johnson Jr., who along with Bradshaw was a critical part of a transfer recruiting class for Diebler’s first full year. A starter for the first 10 games and the team’s second-most-used player, Johnson played 29:30 in Saturday’s 91-53 loss to No. 2 Auburn in Atlanta.
After Tuesday’s 95-73 win against the Beacons, Diebler made reference to Johnson in his opening statement.
“Thoughts and prayers are with Meechie as he’s dealing with some personal matters right now,” he said. “Don’t have a timetable on that yet, but obviously thinking about him as well.”
Following that 38-point loss to the Tigers, tied for Ohio State’s most lopsided loss in nearly 30 years, junior Evan Mahaffey and sophomore Devin Royal said Tuesday that the players had a postgame meeting where they collectively said what they felt they needed to say in order to try and turn the season around. When the Buckeyes resumed practice to prepare for Valparaiso, a game they won 95-73, Johnson was not with them.
“He and I have been having some dialogue the last couple days,” Diebler said. “He wasn’t able to practice the last couple days.”
It’s been a challenging return to Ohio State for Johnson, who was a second-team all-SEC pick at South Carolina last year while averaging 14.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists while helping the Gamecocks win their most games since 2016-17 (26) and return to the NCAA Tournament. While his 3-point shooting has gone up to a career-best 35.7%, his scoring is down (9.1 points per game), his turnover average is up, his free-throw rate is half what it was a year ago and his two-point shooting percentage is down from 47.1% a season ago to 35.3%.
Clearly, his homecoming hasn’t yet lived up to the hopes he laid out during the preseason, when he represented Ohio State as one of two players at Big Ten media day. Did any of that lead to Johnson’s leave of absence from the team due to what was described by an Ohio State team spokesman as a personal matter?
“I don’t think that’s something we can get into right now,” Diebler said. “That would be pure speculation at this point. One thing I know, I know how important family is to him. He’s really important to me, so we’re just supporting him through this.”
It was more candor Diebler was able to share compared to when Bradshaw’s absence was announced shortly before a Dec. 22 home game against Campbell, when he referred to the statement released by the university and said he was unable to provide further context.
Bradshaw watched his second consecutive game while wearing street clothes on the team bench. He has not played since logging 26:33 against Evansville on Nov. 19, moving him to 7.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in 23.4 minutes per game through the first four games of the year.
Ohio State played five games with Bradshaw not participating in any team activities before Diebler said on his Dec. 11 radio show that he had been allowed to return to the team. That came with a return-to-play progression, Diebler said, and it’s also not clear when that will be complete.
Diebler said Tuesday that the 7-1, 215-pound center is allowed to play once he’s physically ready to play.
“He’s still got to build up to get there,” the coach said. “Wasn’t ready to go today. This is an ongoing evaluation really one day at a time.”
The Buckeyes are utilizing their sport science staff as well as the training and conditioning staff to try and get him back into action. Ohio State’s next game is Saturday against No. 5 Kentucky, Bradshaw’s former team, and it seems a stretch to think he could go more than a month without playing and then jump back in against a top-five team that he shares an emotional tie with.
“There’s a level he needs to play at and practice reps he’s got to get at to where he’s able to get out there and certainly play well for him but also for us,” Diebler said. “I just wish I could say it’s this-day thing. Our whole performance team, it’s all hands on deck. Believe me, it would help us if we had this exact timeline but it really is a day-to-day thing right now. He’s working to do it and we’re seeing progress, which is the encouraging part.”
When that will result in an on-court impact remains anyone’s guess.
ajardy@dispatch.com
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How robots and AI are changing farming
Robotics and AI are reshaping how food is grown. An innovative robotics farm equipment company shares how AI is impacting the future of farming.
Bloomberg – Quicktake
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
Trump announces ‘War on Fraud’ at State of the Union 2026
President Donald Trump announced a “War on Fraud” during his State of the Union address, saying it’d be spearheaded by Vice President JD Vance.
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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Olivia Olson scored a career-high 31 points and hit the game-winning jumper as No. 8 Michigan edged No. 13 Ohio State 88-86 in overtime in a Big Ten classic in Columbus, Ohio.
Olson also had nine rebounds while Syla Swords added 22 points for the Wolverines (23-5, 14-3 Big Ten), who moved ahead of Iowa for second place in the conference behind UCLA.
Swords’ 3-pointer with 10 seconds left in regulation seemed to decide it, but a foul by Brooke Daniels with no time left saved the Buckeyes. Jaloni Cambridge (22 points) sank three straight free throws to force the extra session.
Ohio State (23-6, 12-5) then forged an eight-point lead with 1:40 left in overtime before the Wolverines came all the way back.
Macy Brown scored eight straight for Michigan, including two triples, to tie it 86-all with 15 seconds remaining and set up Olson’s game-winner.
Horizon League men
Oakland 86, (at) IU Indy 74: Oakland (16-14, 12-7 HL) picked up its 12th conference win of the season and defeated IU Indy (7-23, 3-16 HL).
Oakland maintained a steady performance, scoring 43 points in both halves and dominating the paint with 60 points, never trailing at any point of the game.
“The first seven minutes of this game, we played really good basketball,” head coach Greg Kampe said. “We needed to get that confidence back in ourselves, playing good again right into March. Today we were really good.
“We guarded really well, we guarded with physicality today, we guarded with energy, we flew through the passing lanes. And the big thing is, we followed the game plan.”
Senior Brody Robinson led the way with 19 points, including two three-pointers from beyond the arc, and recorded a career-high 13 assists, to land him in the program’s top-10 in a single game in the Division I era.
As losses mount, Bulls ‘move forward’
The Chicago Bulls look to avoid matching the third-longest losing streak in franchise history when they host the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night.
Chicago has dropped 10 straight games this month since last winning against the Miami Heat on Jan. 31.
The Bulls are 0-4 on a seven-game homestand as the Charlotte Hornets ran roughshod at Chicago with a 131-99 victory Tuesday.
Chicago revamped its roster at the trading deadline with players like Nikola Vucevic, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Kevin Huerter going to new destinations.
Roles have changed and the club is without recent acquisitions Jaden Ivey (left knee) and Anfernee Simons (fractured left wrist) due to injuries. Collin Sexton also was acquired during the flurry of activity.
“The trades happened. You’ve got to move forward and you’ve got to figure it out,” second-year forward Matas Buzelis told reporters. “I know we are capable when we are on the same page. We have to come in every day ready to work and try to get better. When you trade half the team and bring in new guys, it’s tough. But it’s no excuse.
“When we control the things we can control, we are going to be a great team. (Coach) Billy (Donovan) always says you get 10 guys who are on the same page and ready to fight and you can win anything.”
Buzelis exploded with a career-best 32 points during the loss to the Hornets. He knocked down six 3-pointers – his second most of the season – while topping 20 points for the third time this month.
The 21-year-old from Lithuania is averaging 15.3 points while starting all 59 games.
“I am going to be what the team needs me to be,” Buzelis said. “If that’s scoring, that’s what it’s going to be. I try to figure out during the game what the team needs.”
Local schedules
Men
Wednesday
▶ Oakland 86, IU Indy 74
▶ Robert Morris 73, Detroit Mercy 62
Thursday
▶ Michigan State at Purdue, 8
▶ Ferris State at Grand Valley State, 7:30
▶ Parkside at Michigan Tech, 7:30
▶ Roosevelt at Northern Michigan, 7:30
▶ Lake Superior State at Wayne State, 7:30
▶ Saginaw Valley State at Purdue Northwest, 8
Friday
▶ Michigan at Illinois, 8
▶ Miami at Western Michigan, 6
Saturday
▶ Parkside at Northern Michigan, 3
▶ Roosevelt at Michigan Tech, 3
▶ Ferris State at Davenport, 3
▶ Saginaw Valley State at Wayne State, 3
▶ Lake Superior State at Purdue Northwest, 4
▶ Central Michigan at Buffalo, 2
▶ Detroit Mercy at Oakland, 3
Women
Wednesday
Michigan 88, Ohio State 86 (OT)
Western Michigan 58, Buffalo 43
Miami 78, Eastern Michigan 60
Central Michigan 68, Toledo 64
Youngstown State 72, Detroit Mercy 60
Northern Kentucky 84, Oakland 59
Thursday
Ferris State at Grand Valley State, 5:30
Parkside at Michigan Tech, 5:30
Roosevelt at Northern Michigan, 5:30
Lake Superior State at Wayne State, 5:30
Saginaw Valley State at Purdue Northwest, 6
Saturday
Maryland at Michigan, 2:30
Roosevelt at Michigan Tech, 1
Parkside at Northern Michigan, 1
Ferris State at Davenport, 1
Saginaw Valley State at Wayne State, 1
Lake Superior State at Purdue Northwest, 2
Massachesetts at Western Michigan, noon
Central Michigan at Kent State, 1
Eastern Michigan at Northern Illinois, 2
Northern Kentucky at Detroit Mercy, 1
Oakland at Cleveland State, 2
Sunday
Ohio State at Michigan State, noon
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