Mike Ward has been a radio news reporter and anchor for over 20 years, for a variety of stations in Ohio, Virginia, and California. For seven years, he was a news reporter and anchor for Sacramento's top-rated news/talk station, KFBK, and was also news director for WFIR in Roanoke, Virginia. He's also been heard on Cleveland stations. Mike has a special interest in technology, and was a regular on the nationally syndicated radio show "On Computers with Gina Smith". Despite his out-of-area experience, Mike is an Akron native. He was born at Akron City Hospital, and grew up in Cuyahoga Falls. He's been with AkronNewsNow since 2009. You can reach Mike through the newsroom at 330-864-6397, or by email mward@rcrg.net.
Two Cuyahoga Falls residents face drug charges, after Uniontown police say they discovered a mobile meth lab.
It happened during a traffic stop early Saturday morning on State Route 619 near Market Avenue, at about 12:35 AM.
Police say after pulling a car over for a moving violation, they found a "one-pot cook" setup to make meth in the car.
Arrested were 36 year-old Erik Yamokosi, who was driving the car, and his wife, 31 year-old Nicole Yamokoski, a passenger in the car.
They face felony charges of illegal assembly or possession of chemicals for the manufacture of drugs.
The shooting of a man late Thursday morning in Akron's North Hill neighborhood isn't even the worst shooting witnessed by neighbors on West Mildred Avenue.
Kevin Lewno says his 11 year old son saw the latest shooting, while in the attic of their home across the street, when he was home from school.
"He looked through the attic window, and saw the man being shot the first time, and he fell to his knees," Lewno tells AkronNewsNow.com. "And then the man being shot two more times."
But in the eight years Lewno's family has lived there, he says other family members saw an even more gruesome scene.
"Two years ago, a man was murdered right out in front of our house, was shot in the head," Lewno says. "And my youngest saw that, and my wife saw that one, too."
Lewno tells AkronNewsNow.com that a nearby park attracts drug dealers and other crime, and says he'd like the city of Akron to install cameras in the area to deter such activity.
He says the area off North Howard Street hears gunshots on a regular basis.
The victim of Thursday's shooting reportedly suffered injuries to his hip.
Akron police are looking into a shooting late Thursday morning in North Hill. It happened on West Mildred Avenue.
NewsChannel 5 reports that police responded to a report of shots fired at about 11:15 AM, and arriving officers found a man there with a gunshot wound.
The man went to an area hospital.
His name and condition are not yet known.
The bomb squad has been called out to a Canton home after police made a discovery.
The Canton Repository reports that police were responding to a call about a break-in at the home on Rowland Avenue Northeast and found "dangerous ordnances" inside the home. It's not yet known what kind of material was found.
A caller told police that there were broken windows and an open door at the home.
The Summit County Bomb Squad and the FBI have been called to the scene.
No arrests have yet been made.
Canton police tell the Repository that "no one is in danger". NewsChannel 5 reports that some nearby homes have been evacuated, and the television station calls the material found inside the home "bomb-making material".
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On the Web: Canton Repository, www.cantonrep.com
WEWS NewsChannel 5, www.newsnet5.com
In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, and a teen gunned down in Akron, Akron City Council passed a resolution urging laws to curb gun violence.
Council unanimously urged Congress and the Ohio General Assembly in the non-binding resolution to - quote - "enact meaningful and reasonable gun control laws", along with education and other solutions.
Council member at large Jeff Fusco says that after mass shootings like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary, there's often talk of solutions, but no action.
"I think over the last few years here, we've seen a number of incidents that have occurred," Fusco tells AkronNewsNow.com, "and you know, the discussion begins, and then it falls short, and nothing happens."
The resolution was already in the works before 16 year old Anna Karam - four months pregnant - was killed on East Archwood Avenue in Akron over the weekend.
Fusco says the problem of gun violence is complex, with legislation on gun control being just one part of the solution.
"I know the (Plusquellic) administration, obviously, and it's well-publicized that we're hiring more police officers, that's got to be part of it," Fusco says. "However, though, with regards to our resolution we passed...we added education initiatives as well...and that's got to be part of the national discussion."
Speaking in favor of the resolution, Ward 9 council member Mike Freeman - identifying himself as a gun owner and a member of the National Rifle Association - says he's been concerned about seeing such things as "assault rifles in outdoors stores".
UPDATE: 12:06PM
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A suspect in an Akron double shooting has been arrested in Wadsworth.
Akron police tipped off Wadsworth police to check out a vehicle parked at the Legacy Inn on High Street. Police spotted the vehicle at about 5 AM Sunday.
After confirming that 24 year-old David Stoddard of Barberton was registered at the hotel, officers from the Medina County SWAT team entered his room and arrested him at 8:21 Sunday morning.
Stoddard is charged with aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and felonious assault. He pled not guilty in Akron Municipal Court Monday morning to the charges, and was ordered held on a $250,000 bond.
According to NewsChannel 5, The Summit County Medical Examiner's office says 16 year-old Anna Karam died after a shooting early Sunday morning on East Archwood Avenue. Karam was four months pregnant at the time.
19-year-old Jessica Halman of Norton also suffered a gunshot wound. She was taken to a local hospital where her condition is unknown at this time.
Wadsworth police turned Stoddard over to Akron police, who are continuing their investigation.
A Portage County death row inmate is getting an Ohio Supreme Court review that he hopes will set him free.
Tyrone Noling wants DNA re-testing of evidence - a cigarette butt - that could point instead to a now-executed prisoner, in the shooting deaths of Bearnhardt and Cora Hartig, both 81, at their home in in Atwater in 1990.
Noling tried to get the testing under a new law passed in 2010, but was denied any new motions since earlier calls for retesting were denied. Noling is current serving his sentence at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution's Death Row.
It's that denial which is being reviewed by Ohio's top court on Tuesday.
Noling's lawyers say there's no physical evidence connecting him to the murders, and that previous witness statements implicating him, given by alleged accomplices, have been retracted.
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(Supreme Court of Ohio) The Supreme Court of Ohio will hear oral arguments on Tuesday January 8 in a case involving a request by death row prisoner Tyrone Noling for retesting of DNA evidence that was recovered from the scene of the 1990 double murder for which he was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996.
The court’s Office of Public Information today released previews of that case and six others to be argued next week.
In State v. Noling, initial testing of saliva from a cigarette butt found in the driveway of the victims’ home, conducted in 1993, excluded both Noling (seen at left; photo Ohio Department of Corrections) and a co-defendant, Gary St. Clair, as the source of the saliva. Testing techniques available at the time were not able to link the saliva sample to any one individual, and a Portage County jury convicted Noling based primarily on trial testimony by two alleged accomplices who said they had waited in a car while Noling and St. Clair entered the victims’ home to rob it, and that Noling had admitted shooting the victims. Noling, who was serving a prison term for breaking into and robbing two homes in Alliance on the same day as the murders, which took place 20 minutes away in Atwater, denied any involvement in the robbery or killing of the victims. The alleged accomplices have since recanted their testimony.
In 2008, Noling, represented by attorneys from the Ohio Innocence Project, filed a motion in the trial court seeking to have the DNA on the cigarette butt retested. The basis for that motion was Noling’s discovery that police investigating the murders had also compared the saliva to a sample taken from another man, Daniel Wilson, and found that Wilson was not excluded as a possible source of the saliva. Wilson lived near the crime scene in Atwater in 1990, and was later convicted of murder and sentenced to death in an unrelated case. He was executed on June 3, 2009, but his DNA profile is on file in the state’s CODIS database.
The court overruled Noling’s 2008 motion for new testing, holding that, under then-current state law, a new DNA test could be ordered only if there had not been a prior “definitive” test of that evidence. The court found that the 1993 test had been “definitive” because it had positively excluded Noling and his alleged accomplices as the source of saliva on the cigarette butt, and therefore the law did not allow new testing. In 2010, the General Assembly enacted S.B. 77, which allows retesting of biological evidence if the defendant can show that because of advances in testing procedures, a new test could disclose information that the first test could not, and there is a strong probability the new test would identify the true perpetrator of the crime.
Shortly after the new law took effect, Noling filed a new motion seeking a retest of the saliva on the cigarette butt to determine if it matched Wilson’s DNA profile. The trial court again denied his motion, this time citing a separate provision of the law stating that, once a defendant’s motion for new DNA testing of evidence has been denied, a court may not entertain any subsequent motions seeking retesting of the same evidence. The court held that, because Noling’s 2008 motion seeking retesting of the cigarette butt had been denied, the court could not consider any new motions to retest that same evidence. Noling sought and was granted Supreme Court review of the trial court’s ruling.
A Mogadore police officer is in trouble with the law, accused of pointing a gun at another officer during a party at his home on Tuesday.
The Record-Courier reports that 43 year-old Mark Halliwill was drinking when he pulled a handgun at another officer during an off-duty party on New Year's Day.
Halliwill faces charges of felonious assault and havingg a weapon while intoxicated.
Halliwill was arraigned Wednesday in a Portage County court, and posted bond at 10 percent of $40,000.
Mogadore police tell the Record-Courier that no shots were fired, and that there were no injuries.
Halliwill is now on unpaid administrative leave pending the resolution of the case, according to Mogadore police.
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On the Web: Record-Courier, www.recordpub.com
Summit County has a new leader of its Environmental Services Department.
County Executive Russ Pry announced the appointment of Michael Weant as the county's new director of Environmental Services.
He moves up from the post of Deputy Director of Administration for that department, a post he's heald for nine years.
Weant has 22 years of Ohio county government experience, and spent 10 years with CSX Railways, mostly in operations.
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(Summit County Executive Russ Pry - news release) Summit County Executive Russ Pry has appointed Michael A. Weant as the new Director of Environmental Services. Michael has served as Deputy Director of Administration for the Department of Environmental Services for the past nine years.
Prior to working for Environmental Services, Michael served in several senior management positions within the Office of the Summit County Engineer. Overall, Michael has 22 years experience in Ohio county government and 10 years experience with CSX Railways, Inc., mainly in operations management.
Michael has a Bachelor’s of Science Degree from Marshall University and a Masters in Business Administration from Miami University of Ohio.
“Michael Weant is a valuable addition to my cabinet,” stated Executive Pry. “His experience in government and operations will provide strong leadership in the Department of Environmental Services.”
“I am excited and honored to become a member of Executive Pry’s senior management team. The
Department of Environmental Services has made significant improvements in our work processes over
the last 9 years. Many of these improvements can be attributed to the commitment of our employees. Their ability to adopt and apply change has enhanced our operations and services. Cooperation between labor and management combined with partnerships with municipalities, townships and private developers are primary keys to our continued success,” Weant stated.
Akron teachers are not lining up to get firearms training being offered in Ohio, in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings.
That's according to Akron Education Association president Jeff Moats.
Moats says that secondary schools in the Akron district have police officers on duty, and training to handle dangerous situations.
"All of our secondary schools, middle schools and high schools, have Akron police officers assigned on duty, all during the school days," Moats tells AkronNewsNow.com. "I know they've instituted a new program calls the ALICE program, in regards to any threats that would come into the building."
Moats says Akron teachers aren't worried about safety.
"We have excellent results at Akron," Moats says, "and I think our schools are...our teachers feel very safe."
And Moats says that teachers are trained what to look for, to help keep classrooms free of trouble.
"Our teachers are made aware of all signs to look for," Moats tells AkronNewsNow.com, "and report any incidents immediately to our supervisors."
He says teachers and administrators shouldn't be armed...saying teachers "are not police officers" and shouldn't be expected to be so.
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