Woman jailed, accused of shooting woman in back during argument in Middletown
Credit: Middletown Division of Police
Credit: Middletown Division of Police
A woman was shot in the back late Saturday during an argument inside a car in Middletown.
Police were called around 11:40 p.m. to Kettering Health Middletown for a woman suffering from a gunshot wound, according to a release from the Middletown Division of Police.
The gunshot victim told police that she had an argument with another woman while sitting in a car in the 1900 block of Minnesota Street. The victim was taken to the hospital by private vehicle.
With Butler County birds dying, officials ask people to take down bird feeders and their baths
Large numbers of birds are dying in Butler County and several surrounding counties for unexplained reasons, and state naturalists are asking the public to take down bird feeders and bird baths and stop feeding birds to keep the apparent disease from spreading among birds.
“There’s quite a bit that we don’t know” about why the birds are dying, said Brian Plasters, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Wildlife.
The primary birds that have been dying are blue jays, common grackles, European starlings, American robins, and house sparrows.
Deal will bring 171 new jobs to Butler County aluminum manufacturer
The Butler County Port Authority approved a new development deal with aluminum manufacturer Magnode that provides a sales tax exemption on construction materials for a new $28.4 million addition that will bring 171 new jobs.
Butler County Development Director David Fehr told the Journal-News the exemption is worth about $924,223 on sales tax for construction materials to the company that is building a 317,000-square-foot addition to the aluminum manufacturing facility on Kennel Road in Trenton. The port will collect a $161,739 fee for services.
“They do a lot of work in the automotive industry and they found this is a very good location to expand their facility,” Fehr told the port board members. “In the current economic environment the building costs have increased, just availability of building supplies and materials have increased, labor shortages, so it makes building a new building challenging that’s why they’re coming to the port authority for some assistance.”
Attorney for man charged in teen’s 2018 shooting death says right violated, statements should be thrown out
Credit: Provided
Credit: Provided
The attorney for a Hamilton man charged with murder in the 2018 shooting death of a 16-year-old girl has filed a motion to suppress statements he made to police.
Markeylnd Townsend, 22, of Hamilton, was indicted in April for murder with a gun specification and felonious assault stemming from a July 2018 incident in Fairfield Twp. He is accused of firing a weapon into a car full of people driven by Sydney Garcia-Tovar, 16, of Hamilton, who died.
Townsend, who is in prison serving a sentence for aggravated robbery not related to the slaying, was in Butler County Common Pleas Court last week for a pre-trial hearing.
Competency questions, insanity pleas involved in multiple high-profile Butler County cases
The comments of a Middletown mother accused of running over and killing her 6-year-old son in February caught the attention of her attorney, prompting him to ask a judge to order a forensic psychological evaluation to determine her competency for trial.
Brittany Gosney, 29, and James Hamilton, 43, were indicted March 5 on a combined 31-count indictment for the slaying of 6-year-old James Hutchinson on Feb. 26 in rural Preble County and the disposal of his body days later in the Ohio River near Lawrenceburg, Indiana.
Ultimately, Gosney was found competent based on the psychological report, and defense attorney David Washington withdrew a tandem plea of not guilty by reason of insanity for Gosney.
AND, for an extra sixth story of the day ...
Debate over new Butler County mental health center continues: Here’s the latest
Butler County officials have been talking about creating an emergency mental health crisis stabilization center for years, and now the county commissioners have received requests by two different entities for federal rescue funding.
The county was awarded nearly $75 million in federal American Rescue Plan funding and ideas for spending the windfall have slowing been coming in. Two proposals are for an emergency mental health crisis stabilization center, a place where law enforcement and others can take people who need help but not necessarily breaking the law. One came from the county mental health board, and the other came from a private service provider.
Shortly after the windfall was announced the Butler County Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Services Board indicated it would like funding, at least $1 million or so, for a crisis center. Executive Director Scott Rasmus told the Journal-News recently he is taking a step back to do a more in-depth analysis of the project.