January 5, 2019

Ford Credit won't approve proposed Reagor-Dykes Auto Group reorganization, asks to seize assets

LUBBOCK -- Ford Motor Credit Co. requested permission to seize its Reagor-Dykes Auto Group collateral, citing no confidence in the proposed, but not officially filed, reorganization plan for the auto group.

The Friday filing in bankruptcy court included a three-page memorandum dated Nov. 28, 2018 that briefly outlines the reorganization plan backed by investors Marc McDougal, Fin Ewing III and Rick Dykes. The plan was publicly announced in court on Nov. 29, but has not been filed.

“At this date, any plan of reorganization proposed by Debtors is certainly not in ‘prospect,’” the filing from Ford Credit states.

The plan states the McDougal-Dykes-Ewing Group would invest $20 million cash in Reagor-Dykes dealerships. Half of the $20 million would be earmarked for payments related to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, like partially paying Ford Credit and GM Financial. The McDougal-Dykes-Ewing Group would assume the balance of debt owed to floor plan financiers.

Read more: https://www.lubbockonline.com/news/20190104/ford-credit-wont-approve-proposed-rdag-reorganization-asks-to-seize-assets

January 5, 2019

Feds: Dayton-area woman made $2.5 million in sex-for-money scheme

A Michigan millionaire and his alleged $30,000-per-month escort — the aunt of a woman indicted in the murder-for-hire plot of Beavercreek’s Robert Caldwell — are being investigated for money laundering, conspiracy, illegal interstate sexual activity and tax crimes, according to federal court documents.

A federal search warrant filed in Dayton’s U.S. District Court lays out the probable cause case against George Helms and Lisa R. Thomas, the aunt of Tawnney (Thomas) Caldwell.

Helms allegedly paid $30,000 per month to Thomas for exclusive escort services that federal investigators said was a sex-for-money scheme that netted Thomas more than $2.5 million.

Helms and Thomas have not been indicted in the federal investigation, and law enforcement has not accused Helms as being connected to Caldwell’s death. Prosecutors have not brought charges against Thomas in Caldwell’s death or the disappearance of his son, but Thomas has been named as a plaintiff in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Caldwell’s widow.

Read more: https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/crime--law/feds-local-woman-made-million-sex-for-money-scheme/EL5UvRUot7kMWseC7mgeBI/

January 5, 2019

Ohio could soon raise minimum age to marry and ban child marriages

COLUMBUS - Ohio could soon ban marriages among underage boys and girls – treating both genders the same for the first time.

In the final days of 2018, Ohio lawmakers passed House Bill 511 to ban most marriages for children younger than 18. Children as young as 17 years old could marry if they get approval from their county's juvenile court and the couple's age gap is fewer than four years.

Under current law, boys are mostly banned from marrying before age 18, but girls can marry as young as 16 years old. Children of any age can marry if their parents and a juvenile court consent to the union.

Between 2000 and 2015, 4,443 girls age 17 or younger were married, including 59 girls under the age of 15.

Read more: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/02/ohio-ban-child-marriage-eliminate-double-standard-young-brides/2462266002/

January 5, 2019

What's on tap in the Kentucky legislature? Pensions, taxes and anger

FRANKFORT, Ky. – In 2019 the General Assembly will try pension reform again, and again it won't be easy.

Lawmakers are likely to fix parts of the big tax bill they rushed through last year. But don’t expect comprehensive tax reform.

And they may approve a way to pay for charter schools, though that measure might be restricted to paying only for charters in big districts, perhaps just Jefferson County.

Those issues and others will be on tap when restive lawmakers convene Tuesday in regular session. Majority Republicans are mad at a judiciary that struck down last year's pension bill. But they may be madder at Gov. Matt Bevin, who blasted them last week in a press release that accused them of “weak” and “hollow” excuses for adjourning a sudden special session he called last month to try to pass a pension bill.

Read more: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/kentucky-government/2019/01/04/kentucky-legislature-2019-pension-reform-taxes-key-topics/2480545002/

January 5, 2019

Cleveland investment firm fined $100,000 for campaign contributions that violated pay-to-play rule

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Securities and Exchange Commission has fined a Cleveland investment firm $100,000 over recent campaign contributions company executives made to state officials that violated federal “pay-to-play” rules.

In a Dec. 18 administrative order, the SEC identified $46,408 in campaign contributions a company official with Ancora Advisers made between 2013 and 2017 — $24,200 given to Gov. John Kasich, $5,000 given to state Treasurer Josh Mandel and $15,208 given in 2017 to an unnamed candidate for governor.

The complaint does not identify the company official who made the contributions, but state and federal campaign finance records show Fred DiSanto, Ancora’s chairman and CEO, in recent years has given tens of thousands of dollars of contributions to Ohio politicians, including Kasich and U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, who ran for governor in 2017.

A different unnamed company official gave $2,500 in June 2017 to an unidentified candidate for governor.

Read more: https://www.cleveland.com/open/2019/01/cleveland-investment-firm-fined-100000-for-campaign-contributions-that-violated-pay-to-play-rule.html

January 5, 2019

Drug companies want gag order against Ohio Governor-elect Mike DeWine and lawyers because of '60 Min

Drug companies want gag order against Ohio Governor-elect Mike DeWine and lawyers because of ’60 Minutes' opioid piece


CLEVELAND, Ohio – Several large drug companies named in lawsuits over the nation’s opioid epidemic asked a federal judge in Cleveland to sanction Ohio Attorney General and Governor-elect Mike DeWine and two other lawyers for statements they made about the cases on a recent episode of CBS’ “60 Minutes.”

The motion filed Friday says statements made by DeWine and attorneys Mike Moore and Burton LeBlanc were part of a “concerted campaign” by lawyers representing state and local governments “to taint potential jury pools … through misleading, inflammatory, and improper public statements.”

Their statements came in a segment that aired on a Dec. 16 episode of “60 Minutes” about the opioid litigation. The piece, hosted by correspondent Bill Whitaker, touched on topics ranging from potential damages to what a set of data collected by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration showed about the number of pills that flowed into cities and states across the country.

The motion was filed by attorneys for several drug manufacturers and distributors, including Ohio-based Cardinal Health, Endo, AmerisourceBergen and Purdue Pharma.

Read more: https://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/2019/01/drug-companies-want-gag-order-against-ohio-governor-elect-mike-dewine-and-lawyers-because-of-60-minutes-opioid-piece.html

January 5, 2019

Former Cleveland Clinic resident who posted anti-Semitic remarks apologizes

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A former Cleveland Clinic resident who posted anti-Semitic remarks on social media apologized and asked for forgiveness, saying she “would never intentionally cause harm to any patient seeking medical care.”

Lara Kollab, in a statement released by her lawyer Friday, said, “I wish sincerely and unequivocally to apologize for the offensive and hurtful language contained in those posts. This statement is not intended to excuse the content of the posts, but rather to demonstrate that those words do not represent who I am and the principles I stand for today.”

Kollab worked at the Clinic as a first-year resident from July to September 2018 and left the system after the Clinic learned of her social media posts. Her social media accounts have been deactivated.

In her statement, Kollab said the posts were made years before she was accepted into medical school when she was “a naïve, and impressionable girl barely out of high school.” She said she had visited Israel and the Palestinian territories every summer for years and “became incensed at the suffering of the Palestinians under the Israeli occupation.”

Read more: https://www.cleveland.com/business/2019/01/former-cleveland-clinic-resident-who-posted-anti-semitic-remarks-apologizes.html

January 5, 2019

Akron woman avoids jail time in Geauga County embezzlement case

There was a time in her life that Stephanie Stewart’s father was her best friend.

But, she said, her biggest mistake was trusting him.

Stewart on Jan. 4 avoided jail time for her role in an embezzlement scheme in Geauga County believed to have been masterminded by her father, Stephen Decatur, who was the county’s former IT director.

In January 2018, the 36-year-old Stewart of Akron, along with Decatur, were indicted on 334 counts alleging that they embezzled more than $1.8 million from the county. Decatur was believed to be the main beneficiary of the scheme, allegedly receiving about $1 million over a roughly nine-year period.

Read more: https://www.news-herald.com/news/akron-woman-avoids-jail-time-in-geauga-county-embezzlement-case/article_7ac39126-105a-11e9-ac87-3bbe894ab0b1.html

January 5, 2019

Cleveland Plain Dealer Busts Union, Moves Forward With Plan to Cut 29 Local Journalism Jobs

Plain Dealer editor George Rodrigue has announced that the paper will lay off nearly half of its unionized workforce in early 2019 as it transitions to a “centralized production hub.”

The announcement came only days after the Plain Dealer News Guild, fighting for its survival, presented a counter-proposal to the outsourcing plan that Advance Publications reportedly began to explore in October. Bargaining has been ongoing this month.

Rodrigue sent a letter to local news editors and published it on Cleveland.com Dec. 27 before employees themselves learned that their jobs would soon be gone.

Rodrigue has characterized the decision as an effort to preserve quality local coverage while creating efficiencies. Most of the employees and local observers, however, view the decision as a continuation of Advance’s union-busting efforts, which began with the strategic schism of the print (union, Plain Dealer) and digital (non-union, Cleveland.com) newsrooms.

Read more: https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2018/12/28/plain-dealer-busts-union-moves-forward-with-plan-to-cut-29-local-journalism-jobs

January 5, 2019

Mayor Cranley Proposes Bias Training for City Workers After Cincinnati PD Racial Slur Incidents

In the wake of recent revelations that two Cincinnati Police officers used racial slurs in unrelated incidents late last year, Mayor John Cranley has introduced legislation that would require training in implicit and explicit bias for new recruits to the city's police force as well as other new city workers.

Cranley also highlighted changes to city policy made by City Manager Patrick Duhaney earlier this year that clarifies penalties for city employees who use such language while in a work environment.

"We all know that racism is the original sin in American history," Cranley said during a news conference today about the legislation. "The use of the n-word is totally unacceptable, and we won't stand for it."

Duhaney says under old policies, discipline for discriminatory behavior like using racial slurs was unclear. Under the revisions put in place last August, an employee would be subject to 40 hours suspension without pay and mandatory retraining upon a first offense, and could be subject to dismissal after a second offense.

Read more: https://www.citybeat.com/news/blog/21039604/cranley-proposes-bias-training-for-city-workers-after-cpd-racial-slur-incidents