Why Marriage Matters Ohio, a statewide coalition advocating to make same-sex marriages legal, today released an ad that will run in various cities around the state from Wednesday though Aug. 6. The ad features two elderly Ohio men, Henry Hawley and George Vassos of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, who were married last fall in New York after spending 50 years together as a couple.

DAYTON — Ohio’s largest military base is under pressure by the U.S. Department of Defense to fill more beds in its hospital. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton needs to boost the use of its 62-bed inpatient hospital, where the occupancy rate has been about 45 percent.

AKRON, Ohio — The Akron school district has agreed to pay just over $100,000 a year to send an autistic child to a private school after a longstanding challenge by the child’s parents.

CINCINNATI — A man has been charged with aggravated murder in the aftermath of a slow-speed chase on Cincinnati-area interstate highways in which police say he held a handgun to his head.

Ohio school districts that have spent four years implementing new Common Core standards might soon be told to change course. Hearings will begin in August in the Ohio House on a new bill designed to eliminate the Common Core math and English/language arts standards and begin developing new standards for the state. The bill also might rework new science and social studies standards, said Rep. Matt Huffman, R-Lima, the No. 2 leader of the House.

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.

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.

Police sources have confirmed that long-embattled Chillicothe Police Chief Roger Moore has been suspended. But no one is saying anything else. City Safety-Service Director Mike Green wouldn’t comment but released a statement saying only that more information will come when Everson returns on Friday from a planned vacation and that the police department is in the “capable hands” of three other commanders. Green’s statement said Moore’s suspension is a paid administrative leave. According to the city auditor’s office, Moore’s annual salary is $90,588.

The Muskingum County sheriff’s office is calling the death of a woman suspicious. A missing-person report was filed on Friday about a woman living in the Brookside Apartments just east of Zanesville.

TOLEDO (AP) — Ohio’s amusement ride inspectors won’t conduct an official investigation into an accident that injured two people when a cable snapped on a swing ride at Cedar Point.

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.

NEWARK, Ohio — The city council approved a new three-year contract last night for the largest of Newark’s three unions. The city’s 110 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2963 agreed to no raises through the remainder of 2014. Its members will then receive a 1 percent raise in 2015 and a 1.5 percent raise in 2016.

A Michigan woman attending an event at Legend Valley in southeastern Licking County died on Sunday. Kristal Tsosie, 27, of Flint, Mich., was attending the weekend-long Gathering of the Juggalos, a festival and concert event featuring 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 yesterday that Mapex Drum Co. and its primary local distributor, Columbus Pro Percussion, teamed to help outfit the Watkins Memorial High School drum line with new equipment.

MEDINA, Ohio — RPM International plans to spend nearly $800 million as part of a preliminary deal to fund a trust that resolves asbestos personal-injury claims tied to a business owned by its Specialty Products Holding Corp.

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.