Portage County Legal News

Portage County Legal News.

Business

International turmoil, park pricing dents Orlando tourism

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A vacation in Orlando is almost a rite of passage for some well-off Brazilians who often bring back suitcases filled with electronics and clothes that are cheaper in Florida than they are at home.
But store manager Julio Martins has seen fewer of them this year at his Brazil Center Electronics store in ... (full story)

Young chocolate entrepreneurs emerge in world's cocoa leader

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — The smell of chocolate wafts from the door of an artisanal shop that would not be out of place in Brooklyn. Founder Dana Mroueh takes in the sun while riding her stationary bicycle-turned-cocoa grinder on an ambitious journey that began just four months ago.
She wants to introduce Ivory Coast, th ... (full story)

A sleeper investment

Dear Mr. Berko: What is your opinion of ADP LLC? The stock seems stuck at the same price it was a year ago. I'm 52. My portfolio is about 80 percent blue chip industrials and utilities, and I'd like a little more action. The company's business seems boring, and I can't imagine this stock being worth $200 in 10 years as my stockbroke ... (full story)

Mussels disappearing from New England waters, scientists say

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — New England is running out of mussels.
The Gulf of Maine's once strong population of wild blue mussels is disappearing, scientists say. A study led by marine ecologists at the University of California at Irvine found the numbers along the gulf coastline have declined by more than 60 percent over the l ... (full story)

Are store rewards programs worthwhile?

You grab the gallon of milk you forgot yesterday, pick up the cheapest toothpaste, and head over to the checkout line. Just when your quick trip to the grocery store is almost over, the employee at the register says, "Do you have a rewards card? It's free to join."
From department stores to drugstores, retailers are ask ... (full story)

Local

Summit County Clerk of Courts adds criminal cases to e-filing

The multi-year technology upgrade project to the Summit County Clerk of Courts office has just brought electronic court filing (e-filing, or sometimes abbreviated ECF) to criminal cases on the dockets of the Summit County Common Pleas Court.
That move adds to the clerk’s e-filing capabilities, which had previously included ... (full story)

National

Drug court can help some addicts get back on track

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) â€” From the time Iris Thompson was 18, she was addicted to crack cocaine.
She experimented with alcohol and other drugs like marijuana from the time she was 14, but at 18 crack became her drug of choice.
For 18 years she chased it, always living for the next high, doing whatever it took ... (full story)

Jewish avengers unapologetic for targeting Nazis after WWII

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Seventy years after the most daring attempt of Jewish Holocaust survivors to seek revenge, the leader of the plot has only one simple regret — that to his knowledge he didn't actually kill any Nazis.
Joseph Harmatz is one of the few remaining Jewish "Avengers" who carried out a mass p ... (full story)

1st South Dakota school appears poised to have armed staffer

COLTON, S.D. (AP) — The first South Dakota school district to allow approved employees to carry guns appears to be moving ahead with the program, though officials have declined to provide details, citing security reasons, and said they are "done talking about it."
One applicant from the Tri-Valley School District ... (full story)

State

Supreme Court adopts new ways for courts to inventory caseloads

The Ohio Supreme Court recently adopted several amendments related to case inventories in the Rules of Superintendence (Sup.R. 38). The new rules take effect on Jan. 1, 2017.
Under Sup.R. 38, judges are required to conduct a case inventory by Oct. 1 of each year. With today’s adoption, new judges will now be required to com ... (full story)

Senate panel backs bill to protect miners' retirement funds

WASHINGTON (AP) — An election-year bill to protect health care and pension benefits for about 120,000 retired coal miners and their families is one step closer to a vote in the full Senate.
The Senate Finance Committee approved the measure last Wednesday, 18-8. Six Republicans, including Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah ... (full story)

Two judges to receive mock trial coaching honors

Two judges will receive high honors at the Ohio Center for Law Related Education’s Law & Citizenship Conference today.
The Eiler Award for Mock Trial Coaching Excellence and the Founders’ Award will be presented at the 26th Annual Conference to retired Perrysburg Municipal Court Judge S. Dwight Osterud and Supreme ... (full story)

Bill would put merged school districts ahead of others on new building funding list

A pair of northeast Ohio lawmakers are looking to amend state law governing the methodology employed by the Ohio School Facilities Commission when funding construction of public school buildings.
Senate Bill 354, sponsored jointly by Republican Sen. John Eklund of Chardon and his Democrat colleague, Sen. Capri Cafaro of Hubbard, ... (full story)

Ohio Innocence Project lands $15 million donation

The Ohio Innocence Project at the University of Cincinnati College of Law has received the largest donation ever made to the college and any innocence program in the nation.
The record $15 million donation came from Richard Rosenthal, a longtime Cincinnati philanthropist.
In 2004, he and his late wife Lois gave $1 million to c ... (full story)

State Bar Assn. makes committee appointments

Ohio State Bar Association President Ronald Kopp has appointed 44 Ohio attorneys to chair committees and sections for the 2016-2017 year.
The 32 standing committees, 30 of which are public, and 11 sections each monitor a specific area of law, according to a statement from the OSBA.
“Committees and sections work to improv ... (full story)