Speed not a factor in train derailment
Investigators have begun searching for clues to the train derailment that caused spectacular explosions in Columbus, but a preliminary report is a month away. A National Transportation Safety Board team is reviewing data from the early-Wednesday morning derailment on the Norfolk Southern tracks, north of downtown. Three tank cars each carrying 30,000 gallons of ethanol exploded. Investigators have confirmed that the train was not speeding when it derailed around a curve. A black box-like device on board shows the train was going 23 miles per hour. That's below the recommended speed.

Train derailment in Akron
Crews are clearing away a train derailment that occurred in Akron early this morning. Reports say one CSX train rear-ended another, pushing the cars into a parking near the Quaker Square area. Both trains were empty and no one was hurt.  

Voters will say whether Cleveland mayor can appoint fire chief
Voters in the city of Cleveland will decide this fall on whether to give the mayor the power to appoint the city’s fire chief and his top staff. City council approved the measure Wednesday night that’s in response to wide ranging payroll abuses. Audits of the department have revealed numerous ploys, including firefighters illegally paying colleagues to work their shifts while still collecting their salaries and benefits. If the city’s voters approve giving Jackson the appointing authority in November, the mayor could make his selections from inside or outside the city’s fire department.

Cleveland music venues get tax break
Cleveland’s small music venues are getting a break on admissions taxes after a nearly year-long battle with the city. Cleveland City Council passed the measure Wednesday that cuts in half the tax rate on ticket sales to four percent. Clubs that hold fewer than 150 people will be exempt from the tax. Venues have argued Cleveland has the highest tax rate in the country and that makes it too expensive to book acts.  The legislation, does not offer relief to clubs facing back taxes. The Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood faces $400,000 including penalties and interest. 

Cleveland second in nation for political ad spending
Cleveland has become the nation’s second-biggest television market for political ads this year. Media Daily News reports that Cleveland, which has the 18th largest television market in the nation, trailed only Los Angeles in political ads for the first half of this year. Much of that spending has been directed at the Ohio senate race between incumbent Sherrod Brown and challenger Josh Mandel. It is one of the most expensive races in the country and independent groups have spent more than $10 million against Brown. 

Ohio sued over prison sales
The state of Ohio is being sued over its move to privatize several prisons last year. The largest state employee union, The Ohio Civil Services Employees Association, claims more than 250 members  were "laid off or otherwise negatively affected" when the state turned over Marion’s North Central Correctional Institution to a private operator and sold the Lake Erie Correctional Facility in Conneaut. The union wants the private prisons contract overturned and for the employees to get their old jobs back. 

Supreme Court hears arguments over fuel tax
The Ohio Supreme Court has heard arguments from builders, contractors and paving companies that a tax on motor fuel sales unconstitutionally diverts $140 million a year from road and bridge repair. An excavating company alleges in a lawsuit that the state constitution bars money raised from the sale of fuel being used on anything but highway upkeep. At issue is a 2005 rewrite of Ohio's tax code that taxes a wide variety of business activity, not just a company's revenue. The state argues that the tax is not on gasoline itself but on companies that make money selling fuel.

E. coli outbreak widens
Health officials investigating an E. coli outbreak among people who ate at a southwest Ohio picnic say they've identified more cases, bringing the total to 55. The illnesses were reported in Germantown, southwest of Dayton. Ten people have been hospitalized. It's not yet known what food caused the illness. 

Reward grows for missing Ashland woman
Businesses in Ashland are offering more than $7,000 in rewards for information on the whereabouts of a woman who vanished on vacation in North Carolina. Lynn Jackenheimer went to the Outer Banks last week with her boyfriend Nate Summerfield, and her two children but didn't return with them. Summerfield's brother called police to say Summerfield told him he strangled the woman.