Ohio House Republican leaders say they will begin hearings in August on a new bill to eliminate Common Core education standards in Ohio, with the hopes of passing it in early November when lawmakers return to action.

Police sources have confirmed that long-embattled Chillicothe Police Chief Roger Moore has been suspended. But no one is saying anything else.

A former Las Vegas contractor who was extradited from Iraq has pleaded not guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges for attempting to bribe U.S. officials to steer multimillion-dollar contracts his way. Metin Atilan, 54, is the first person to be returned to the United States under the U.S.-Iraq extradition treaty of 1936, federal officials said in a statement today.

A Michigan woman attending an event at Legend Valley in southeastern Licking County died yesterday. Kristal Tsosie, 27, of Flint, Mich., was attending the weekend-long Gathering of the Juggalos, a festival and concert event by the band Insane Clown Posse, whose fans are known as Juggalos.

One marching band story had a happy ending this week. Drum Corps International announced today that it, Mapex Drum Co. and its primary local distributor, Columbus Pro Percussion, teamed together to help outfit the Watkins Memorial High School drum line with new equipment.

Smokey Bear, who has greeted tens of thousands of visitors by name at the Ohio State Fair since 1959, is going to be replaced. Like many other aging workers, old Smokey is a victim of technology, in this case an $80,250 “animatronic” Smokey Bear to be manufactured by LifeFormations, a Cincinnati company.

The Muskingum County sheriff’s office is calling the death of a woman “suspicious.” A missing person’s report was filed on Friday for a woman living in the Brookside Apartments. Sunday at about 4 p.m., the sheriff’s office was notified of a body found in a wooded area off of Brookside Drive.

Voters in the Walnut Township Local school district in Fairfield County will be asked to approve an emergency operating levy on the November ballot that would increase their property taxes. The school board voted last week to ask for an 8.8-mill levy for five years that would generate about $1.25 million annually for operating expenses.

They’re called down-ticket races, but Ohioans have a big stake this fall in electing the state’s top cop, banker, vote-counter and financial watchdog.

DAYTON — A congressman and other southwest Ohio officials are countering the welcome Dayton’s mayor is offering immigrant children.

ERIE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A 34-year-old Toledo-area man apparently drowned on Saturday night after falling from a personal watercraft on a private lake in Michigan.

CINCINNATI (AP) — A 44-year-old man was in jail yesterday on charges including inducing panic after leading police on a low-speed chase during which he held a gun to his head, officials said.

FINDLAY (AP) — Two people were killed in a small-plane crash early yesterday, authorities in northwestern Ohio said.

HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) — A southwestern Ohio city will help some of its Latino residents celebrate one of their nation’s patriotic holidays.

BERGHOLZ, Ohio — Amish farmer Raymond Miller developed a taste for Mountain Dew soda, got his GED and wonders if he should get a pool table after learning to play in prison.

SANDUSKY, Ohio — An amusement park ride that swings riders as high as 125 feet has been closed after a cable snapped late on Saturday and injured two people. Cedar Point spokesman Bryan Edwards said a cable on one of the Skyhawk ride’s carriages disconnected.

Ohio ranks 44th among states in meeting the long-term-care needs of its older and disabled residents, according to a recent scorecard by AARP. The study examined 26 indicators in five broad areas: affordability and access; choice of setting and provider; quality of care and quality of life; support of family caregivers; and effective transitions (from long-term care to home- and community-based services).

PIKETON, Ohio — The former security guard remembers the long lines that would form in the morning, people coming in for work at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. But during his 31 years on the job, they dwindled.

CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio — Nestled among acres of rolling Pickaway County farmland, the newly christened Bartley Preserve stands out. The property, formerly owned by the List family, contains slopes and ridges created by glaciers, allowing rare and endangered plants to thrive in seasonal wetlands.

I grew up in Mississippi, but now I call Ohio home, and we, too, are plagued with an unacceptable rate of infant mortality, currently ranking 43rd in the nation. (The United States ranks 34th among developed countries.) How can it be that great states such as Ohio and the world’s most technologically advanced country are so dismal in caring for its most vulnerable?

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — They might not have heard much about Ed FitzGerald in this southwestern Ohio city, but they do know one thing. “He’s not (Gov. John) Kasich,” as Joe Wittman put it. And that’s good news for the Cleveland Democrat who wants Kasich’s job.

COMMERCIAL POINT, Ohio — On his shift on Thursday morning, the most excitement Officer Kevin Kelly had was surveilling a dog wandering the streets. But before he got his cruiser turned around to corral it, the Labrador retriever had settled into what appeared to be his regular comfy spot in a nearby yard.

LOGAN, Ohio — Hocking County officials were already furious with the county coroner on July 19 when a man was shot to death and the doctor was not around. Dr. David L. Cummin wasn’t doing his job, they said, because he didn’t provide coverage for coroner’s services when he was out of town.

Local hospitals have to serve fewer uninsured patients as a result of Ohio’s expanded Medicaid program. To a lesser extent, subsidized private health coverage available through the new government-run insurance marketplace also has thinned the ranks of Ohio’s uninsured, though that coverage often comes with high deductibles that sometimes turn into bad debt for hospitals.

DAYTON (AP) — The man who built the engine for Orville and Wilbur Wright’s first powered aircraft has finally gotten his due. It was Charles Taylor — a mechanic in the brothers’ Dayton bicycle shop — who built the engine for the airplane that first took flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C., on Dec. 17, 1903.