GRANVILLE, Ohio — Declining golf revenues and an aging ownership group have made some realize that, without action, the vaunted Granville Golf Course might not always be a pristine open space. Last night, the Granville Township trustees took steps toward partnering with the village of Granville to place the course’s 138 acres in a conservation easement that would ensure it’s never developed.

Ohio’s largest pension system has set aside $3.03 million for a new building that could be used in case a disaster strikes. The Public Employee Retirement System currently leases a facility for that purpose. But the price could increase by about seven times to nearly $500,000 a year, Director Karen Carraher told the Ohio Retirement Study Council yesterday.

NEWARK, Ohio — Don Ellington retired as Newark City Council president on Nov. 30. Come Monday, he’ll be back in his old seat at the center of the council dais. The clerk never even bothered to remove his nameplate.

Nearly four times as many Ohioans chose a private health-insurance plan through HealthCare.gov in November than in October, but state and national signup totals still lag the government’s original forecasts. New data released by the federal government yesterday show that 5,672 Ohioans had chosen a plan through HealthCare.gov through the end of November, up from 1,150 as of Nov. 2.

The Ohio Lottery’s Classic Lotto jackpot will be $54.4 million for the drawing on Saturday. There were no tickets with the correct combination for last night’s drawing.

Ohio is “the best-looking girl at the dance” because its utility regulators are looking to expand electricity competition at a time when several other states are holding steady.

People who live in the 740 area code should prepare to see a new area code, 220, popping up in their neighborhoods beginning in early 2015. But current 740 customers will be allowed to retain their existing numbers under an “overlay” plan approved yesterday by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

Denison University has paid $1.15 million for the Granville Inn and plans to seek historic tax credits to renovate the 86-year-old landmark.

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Police in Peru say they’ve arrested a 59-year-old man wanted in Ohio for an alleged Ponzi scheme in which $65 million was raised from at least 800 investors in the United States and Latin America more than a decade ago.

House Speaker John Boehner teed off on outside groups that oppose a budget deal between House and Senate leaders, saying the groups were “using our members and using the American people for their own goals.”

CINCINNATI — A 14-year-old Virginia girl preparing for brain surgery in Ohio has worked the past few months to collect thousands of toys for patients who will be in the hospital with her at Christmas.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Officials say an 82-year-old deckhand on an Ohio River ferry is dead after falling into the water.

A sweeping bipartisan package of drug legislation that would, among other things, infuse $180 million into “recovery housing” for people working to kick an addiction, was unveiled yesterday by Ohio House lawmakers.

Viewed through a health-conscious lens, Ohio remains among the worst states, according to an annual report out today. Ohio is ranked 40th, having dropped five places from last year’s ranking of 35th to its worst spot in the 24 years of America’s Health Rankings, an analysis by the United Health Foundation. Hawaii was named healthiest. Mississippi brought up the rear.

More than a third of Ohio third-graders failed the state reading test this fall, putting them at risk of being held back if they don’t improve their scores. State Superintendent Richard Ross told members of the Ohio Board of Education yesterday that the students will get two more chances to take the test — in the spring and again next summer.

Just 20 days after its formation, the Democratic gubernatorial ticket stumbled to an inevitable conclusion yesterday when state Sen. Eric H. Kearney dropped his candidacy for lieutenant governor, unable to overcome the damage caused by his tax problems. It was a short-lived candidacy for Kearney, the Cincinnatian who was announced as FitzGerald’s running mate on Nov. 20 and almost immediately faced nagging questions about his taxes.

NORTH CANTON, Ohio (AP) — Relatives of a recently deceased 66-year-old woman discovered the skeletal remains of two infants in a footlocker in her northeastern Ohio home, police said yesterday.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Police in Cleveland are searching for three suspects after a man was fatally shot during an apparent robbery at a commuter rail station.

MARENGO, Ohio — Elder Bryan Miller watched his church burn from among snow-covered trees. Smoke poured out a hole in the now-charred roof where the church steeple once stood. Flames flickered from broken basement windows. Miller stuck his hands into his pockets and shook his head.

WASHINGTON — Defying a request from the Obama administration, Senate and House negotiators will provide as much as $90 million to help keep alive the production line at the Army tank plant in Lima, Ohio.

DELAWARE, Ohio — A Delaware County man who punched a bicyclist this summer in an apparent bout of road rage pleaded guilty yesterday to assault. William Hamilton, 52, encountered the cyclist, Dave Chambers, while Chambers was on a weeknight training ride with 11 others on Troy Road, north of downtown Delaware, on Aug. 27.

LANCASTER, Ohio — The former Fairfield County clerk of courts kept the records of employees who worked on county time for her political campaign off the books, according to newly released documents.

The public will be able to see which companies get JobsOhio money each month beginning early next year. “This is all part of us being more transparent,” said John Minor, JobsOhio president and chief investment officer. “We are going to report things more than they were reported before.”

NEWARK, Ohio — The pain of losing a loved one to violence still showed a year later in the tears shed yesterday by Shane Hillis’ family as they watched the man responsible for his death be found guilty in a Licking County courtroom. Common Pleas Judge David Branstool found Jamie Calendine guilty of involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence. An original charge of murder was reduced in exchange for Calendine’s no-contest pleas to both charges.

CINCINNATI — Former Ohio legislator William L. Mallory, who was the state’s first black House majority leader and longest-serving in its history, died yesterday in Cincinnati at age 82.