Ohio

Nov. 21 (UPI) — Former U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, has decided not to run for governor of his state in 2026.

“After careful consideration, much prayer and reflection, and after long conversations with my family, my closest friends and advisors, I’ve made the decision not to run for governor in 2026,” Ryan said in a statement.

His bowing out will ease the path for former state health director Amy Acton, who will likely be the nominee against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump.

Gov. Mike DeWine can’t run again due to term limits.

Ryan has faced criticism from Democrats for his ties to cryptocurrency. He represented some of the Akron and Youngstown areas for 20 years in Congress and ran for Senate in 2021, but lost to Vice President JD Vance.

Recently, he has been considering running for governor. An advisor said Ryan’s interest in running for governor was “renewed and heightened” by former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown‘s decision to run for Senate again instead of Ohio governor, Cleveland.com reported.

Ryan ran for president in 2019.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Going into the first start of his career, Luke Duncan would be facing the nation’s top-ranked team in one of the most intimidating environments in college football with an offensive line missing its most veteran starter.

It went about as well as one might expect.

Don’t blame Duncan, the UCLA backup quarterback who did his best with a conservative game plan in the absence of Nico Iamaleava. It was just that the Bruins were so thoroughly outclassed that they basically had no chance with their star quarterback sidelined by concussion symptoms he experienced earlier in the week.

Ohio State scored on its first five drives on the way to a 48-10 victory on Saturday at Ohio Stadium, the highlights for the Bruins sporadic enough to be counted on one hand.

There was a sack by linebacker Jalen Woods to end a Buckeyes drive early in the third quarter, forcing them to punt. There was a fourth-down stop on Ohio State’s next drive that gave the ball back to the Bruins. Duncan finally put his team on the board late in the third quarter when he found Kwazi Gilmer cutting across the field for an 18-yard touchdown.

“He got more and more comfortable, that’s what I was proud to see of him,” UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper said of Duncan. “That’s a tough deal and just proud of that kid for fighting. He never blinked an eye and just kept moving forward, so he’ll build off of that.”

There was little to celebrate for the Bruins (3-7 overall, 3-4 Big Ten) on a night they were outgained, 440-222, in total yardage even after tightening up considerably on defense in the second half.

Duncan increasingly found a rhythm after halftime and completed 16 of 23 passes for 154 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. The redshirt sophomore was never sacked, an offensive line that was missing guard Garrett DiGiorgio holding up against the Buckeyes’ pressure.

“It was nice to get in that rhythm,” Duncan said, “and just wish we could have started earlier.”

Ohio State defensive lineman Kenyatta Jackson, top, tackles UCLA running back Jaivian Thomas during the first half Saturday.

(Jay LaPrete / Associated Press)

Playcaller Jerry Neuheisel tried to help Duncan with a game plan that called for lots of short passes and a few direct snaps to running backs. It led to a relatively efficient performance from a quarterback who had not previously thrown a pass at the college level but did not help the Bruins build any momentum as they managed only two first downs in the first half.

“He had his little package of plays that we had for him,” Skipper said. “We were trying to get him going, you know, get him to ease into the game.”

UCLA didn’t cross midfield until wide receiver Rico Flores Jr. hauled in a 51-yard pass late in the third quarter. The Bruins eventually scored on Gilmer’s touchdown, but the momentum was only momentary given that the Buckeyes (10-0, 7-0) returned the resulting kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown as Lorenzo Styles Jr. successfully navigated the coverage.

“It was a no-DNA touchdown,” Skipper said, “I don’t think anybody touched him.”

Ohio State’s offense produced most of the memorable moments in building a 27-0 halftime lead. Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith snagged a pass with one hand near the sideline, drawing audible amazement from the crowd of 104,168. Running back James Peoples hurdled UCLA defensive back Cole Martin on a 19-yard touchdown run, thrilling those fans anew.

Ohio State running back James Peoples, top, hurdles over UCLA defensive back Cole Martin to score a touchdown during the first half Saturday.

(Jay LaPrete / Associated Press)

Just when it seemed as if things couldn’t get worse for a team facing a 24-0 deficit in the final minute before halftime, Will Karoll’s punt went off the side of his foot and into the body of an Ohio State player. The Buckeyes kicked a field goal two plays later.

There was little slowing Ohio State’s offense. Running back Bo Jackson rushed for 112 yards and one touchdown and quarterback Julian Sayin completed his first 11 passes on the way to throwing for 184 yards and one touchdown before giving way to a backup midway through the fourth quarter.

The Bruins waved the white flag in the final two minutes, allowing Madden Iamaleava to make his collegiate debut in relief of Duncan.

Duncan said he found out he was starting Friday during a team meeting on the field, going on to lead the offense through a mock game.

“I gave him the [best] advice ever — just throw the ball to our color jersey,” Skipper cracked, “that’s all I told him.”

As Duncan warmed up more than two hours before kickoff, Nico Iamaleava stood behind his understudy, wearing sunglasses and the hood of his windbreaker pulled over his head. Duncan appeared confident and poised as he took underhanded tosses from a team manager and fired passes, even bopping his head ever so slightly as Blink-182’s “All the Small Things” blared over the stadium loudspeakers.

Duncan said Iamaleava rewatched plays on an iPad with him during the game, helping Duncan diagnose the Buckeyes’ defense. Other teammates encouraged Duncan, even after the score became lopsided.

“The whole O-line was cheering me on the whole time, and nobody got negative,” Duncan said. “It’s just a great group. No one gave up.”

Iamaleava was ruled out after he absorbed a series of punishing hits the previous weekend against Nebraska.

There was no relief in what he would see Saturday night.

All those hits finally caught up with Nico Iamaleava.

After absorbing one punishing blow after another, the UCLA quarterback will miss Saturday’s game against top-ranked Ohio State at Ohio Stadium because of concussion symptoms related to hits he sustained last weekend against Nebraska, a person with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly said.

Iamaleava was participating in the early portion of practice Tuesday, the last session observed by reporters this week.

His absence against the Buckeyes presumably means that top backup Luke Duncan, a redshirt sophomore who has never thrown a pass at the college level, will make his first career start.

Iamaleava’s ability to take hits and keep on playing had been a major topic of discussion early this week between reporters and UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper. The quarterback was easily his team’s leading rusher, his average of 52.7 yards per game nearly doubling the output of running back Jaivian Thomas (30.8), the team’s second-leading rusher.

Skipper had praised Iamaleava’s fearlessness, saying the 6-foot-6, 215-pound redshirt sophomore didn’t want to slide or run out of bounds.

“Nico’s the first like tall, skinny dude that I know that will lower the pads on you and is not afraid, he’s going to always be going forward and getting yards and things like that,” Skipper said Monday. “He’s got little legs and skinny arms but has no fear at all.”

Skipper also acknowledged the need to preserve Iamaleava’s availability by preventing him from taking more hits than necessary.

“Obviously, he’s your starting quarterback,” Skipper said. “You don’t want him taking big hits and things like that, but if they’re going to give him running lanes, you might as well take them. I kid with him all the time, ‘Hey every now and then, you might want to slide a little bit.’ But you know, when you have a natural runner like he is, you kind of just let them go do their thing.”

Immediately after UCLA’s 28-21 loss to Nebraska, Iamaleava did not indicate that all the hits he had taken impacted his performance. He completed 17 of 25 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns without an interception while also running 15 times for 86 yards.

“Yeah man, shoot, I’ve played football a long time and I’ve gotten hit a lot of times in many games,” Iamaleava said. “So, I don’t think it affected me in that way. Overall, we just gotta play better as a whole and finish games.”

A young Cleveland attorney who worked his way through law school as a clerk with the Ohio Lottery and went on to become the agency’s legal counsel is the leading choice for the job of running California’s lottery, a state official involved in the selection process indicated Tuesday.

M. Mark Michalko, 31, is favored for the job of California lottery director, according to state Lottery Commissioner Laverta Montgomery, who interviewed candidates for the position.

The appointment will be made by Gov. George Deukmejian, but Montgomery said, “I think the governor and I are agreed on the top candidate.” Montgomery’s comments came after a Lottery Commission meeting in Compton, where she is city manager.

Asked the identity of the candidate, Montgomery hesitated, then replied, “I think Mr. Michalko is a very good candidate.”

Later she said:

“I just felt that he was knowledgeable and that he would present a very good image. . . . He knows the (legal) pitfalls.”

Asked about Michalko’s relative youth, Montgomery replied:

“But it’s a young industry. . . . We can’t go by age.”

Deukemjian said in Sacramento on Tuesday that he expects to make an announcement regarding the appointment of a director “around the end of the week.” However, he did not name the candidate, and a press aide later refused to confirm that Michalko is the top choice.

“I can’t confirm,” said assistant press secretary Kevin Brett. “Our policy is. . . we do not discuss appointments until the appointment is made.”

Michalko, who is considered an expert in computerized “on-line” lottery gaming, began his career with the Ohio Lottery Commission in 1977 as a 23-year-old graduate of Cleveland’s John Carroll University, according to the commission’s public information director, Anne Bloomberg. He worked as a legal aide researching contracts and other legal matters while attending Cleveland Marshall School of Law.

He became the commission’s chief counsel shortly after graduating from law school in 1980.

Michalko turns 31 years old today.

He is a native of Garfield Heights, Ohio, and his wife, Kim, is an official with a downtown Cleveland department store.

During the last year, Michalko has been devising a new specifications form for gaming manufacturers vying for Ohio’s multimillion-dollar lottery contract.

The specifications form, according to Bloomberg, has become a model for lotteries around the nation and “is unique in that it finally puts lotteries in the driver’s seat as opposed to vendors.”

Bloomberg said Michalko’s work with the form and his knowledge of on-line gaming systems were among the reasons he gained the attention of California lottery officials.

According to Bloomberg, Michalko’s salary is in the $25,000 to $30,000 range, less than half the salary to be paid California’s lottery chief. Some out-of-state lottery officials considered the California salary too low to apply for the director’s job.

Deukmejian was angered and embarrassed in March, when his first choice as lottery director, Thomas O’Heir, assistant director of the Massachusetts lottery, turned down the job at the last minute because the $73,780 annual salary was inadequate.

Deukmejian then appointed Commission Chairman Howard E. Varner as interim director, and the search for an executive officer was renewed.

The state lottery initiative, approved by voters last November, called for appointment of five commissioners and a lottery director within 30 days and sale of tickets by March 21. The commissioners were not appointed until six weeks after the deadline, however, and ticket sales are not expected until September.

The Lottery Commission, meeting with only three members Tuesday, took several steps toward beginning California’s first lottery game. With Commissioner John Price in Europe and Varner serving as interim chairman, the commission unanimously voted to:

– Approve the final draft of a “request for proposals for instant game tickets”–a document to be used by suppliers of instant “scratch-off” lottery tickets to submit bids to the commission by May 17.

The commission is expected to award the contract, which could be worth almost $50 million, in early June. Some estimate that as many as 1.9 billion tickets will be needed for the first year of the lottery, including tickets given away as prizes, as well as those that go unsold.

– Approve application forms and procedures for lottery ticket retailers. Prospective retailers will be charged a $30 application fee, plus $20 for each retail location. The commission estimates that about 20,000 retail outlets will be needed for instant game tickets.

– Approve a draft of bid specifications for advertising firms seeking to promote the lottery.

The advertising contract could total $15 million during the first year of sales. The commission approved a staff recommendation that 1.5% of gross lottery sales–estimated at $1 billion the first year–be earmarked for advertising and promotions.

The lottery initiative calls for about 3.5% of gross sales to go toward “advertising, promotion, public relations, incentives and other aspects of communications” for at least the first year of the lottery.

It has been widely speculated that this clause in the initiative could mean a $35-million bonanza to an advertising firm. Varner maintained after the meeting, however, that more than half of the 3.5% could legally go toward incentives, public relations and other non-advertising uses.

– Approve a minor change of language in the advertising bid specifications in order to stress requirements that prospective contractors submit plans to subcontract with small businesses or firms run by minorities or women.

Times staff writer Richard C. Paddock in Sacramento contributed to this story.

Nov. 2 (UPI) — Nine people were wounded Sunday in a shooting that erupted at a party being held at a large Airbnb in northern Ohio, authorities said.

Vito Sinopoli, chief of police for Bath Township, located about 26 miles due south of Cleveland, told reporters during a press conference that officers were working to identify the victims.

He said they were a “mix” of adults and youth. At least one suffered a leg injury in a fall, he said, stating they were unsure of how many suffered gunshot wounds.

Their conditions were unknown.

“This kind of violence is unacceptable in our community, and we’re committed to applying all available resources to this investigation,” he said.

Police were notified of the shooting at a residence in the 900 block of Top O Hill Drive at about midnight Saturday.

Officers arrived to find what Sinopoli described as a “chaotic scene” and began administering life-saving aid to the victims, who were then transported to area hospitals.

The shooting disrupted a “large party” at the residence that Sinopoli said had been advertised on social media as a birthday party that was to begin at 9:30 p.m.

Attendees fled when the shots were fired, he said, adding that preliminary information indicates that the majority of the shots were fired on the ground floor.

No arrests have been made. The number of shooters, if more than one, was unknown.

“We don’t have a clear indication yet of the number of individuals who may have been responsible,” he said.

Evidence was being gathered, surveillance was being reviewed and witnesses were being interviewed, he said, while calling on members of the public with information about the shooting, no matter how seemingly insignificant, to contact the authorities.

Police are in contact with Airbnb and the property owner.

There is a zoning prohibition on short-term rentals, such as those offered by Airbnb, Sinopoli said.

“Typically in a situation like this, there’d be a compliance letter issued to the property owner,” he said.

In July 2017, a shooting was reported at an Airbnb in Bath township, resulting in one person sustaining a leg wound.

On Monday, Airbnb announced an “anti-party system” to be in effect for the Halloween weekend.

It said the system uses “machine learning” on bookings to identify potential party risks. Employed last year, the system “deterred” 38,000 people in the United States and 6,300 people in Canada from booking listings over Halloween.

In a statement to ABC News, Airbnb said it was “heartbroken by this senseless act of gun violence.”

“Unauthorized and disruptive gatherings are strictly prohibited on Airbnb and our Safety team acted immediately to remove the account of the individual who deliberately broke rules by booking this stay,” the company said.

According to The Gun Violence Archive, which tallies gun violence across the United States, there have been at least 358 mass shootings involving four or more victims in the country so far this year.

Oct. 31 (UPI) — Ohio’s representatives approved a bi-partisan redistricting map that might help Republicans gain more seats, but Democrats OK’d the plan because the others offered were worse for them.

The Ohio Redistricting Commission approved the measure unanimously Friday.

“Coming to an agreement that is in the best interest of the state, not just the most vocal elements of either party, I think is some of the toughest things that we can do as elected leaders in 2025,” said state Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

But Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio said it was the best option among bad ones.

“Facing this impossible challenge with no certain path to preserve a fair map, we worked toward compromise,” said Antonio, D-Lakewood.

Democrats faced a Friday deadline because the Ohio constitution allows Republicans to create a map without Democrats in November. They were also concerned about a case before the U.S. Supreme Court on the Voting Rights Act.

Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes of Akron will get a slightly more favorable northeast Ohio district, but it will still be very competitive, Punchbowl News reported.

Toledo Rep. Marcy Kaptur‘s district will be more difficult to win, but not impossible. She’s the longest-serving representative in the United States, and she won a close race in 2024. Her district chose President Donald Trump by seven points.

“Let the Columbus politicians make their self-serving maps and play musical chairs, I will fight on for the people and ask the voters for their support next year,” she wrote on X.

Cincinnati Rep. Greg Landsman also saw his chances at re-election diminished.

Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, said all of Ohio’s Democratic congresspeople could still win.

“This is a district Greg Landsman can and will win in, and that’s what the people of Cincinnati deserve,” Isaacsohn said.

Ohio had a failed ballot measure in 2024 that would have put residents in charge of making district maps.

“There’s a lot of anger and frustration in this room, and it’s not just the result of this most recent betrayal. The anger and frustration has been years in the making,” said Mia Lewis, associate director at Common Cause Ohio, the Dispatch reported.

“You have shown all of us, all of Ohio, that politicians cannot be involved in drawing district lines.”

Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, said the people were denied being part of the process. “Republican and Democratic voters feel like their parties sold them out — and they’re both right.”