Accused Chardon shooter back in court today
The teen charged with killing three students and wounding three others at Chardon High School is due back in court. A pretrial hearing is scheduled this morning for 17-year-old T.J. Lane. He's charged with the Feb. 27 shootings at Chardon High School and faces life in prison if convicted. Last week, the teen's attorneys asked a judge to move the trial because the community east of Cleveland is still grief-stricken by the shootings.  Prosecutor David Joyce says the defense move is premature since jury selection hasn't started.

Husted to meet with suspended elections officials
Ohio's Republican chief elections official is set to meet with two Democratic election officials from southwest Ohio who've been suspended. Secretary of State Jon Husted has told the two members of the Montgomery County Board of Elections to appear at his office this morning for a hearing about why they shouldn't be removed from the board. Husted suspended the officials after they voted to extend early voting hours beyond the uniform, statewide hours that he recently set. Husted has ordered all 88 county election boards to have the same hours on weekdays and to close on weekends.

Former Gov. Strickland scores prime-time convention slot
Former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland is getting top billing at the Democratic National Convention. The Columbus Dispatch reports Strickland will address a prime-time audience as a featured speaker during the Convention the first week of September in Charlotte, North Carolina. Strickland is a co-chairman of Obama’s re-election campaign. Governor John Kasich will be a headlining speaker the GOP convention next week in Tampa Florida, along with Senator Rob Portman.

Former Ohio superintendent used secretary to schedule Texas dinner, personal trips
State watchdog investigative files reviewed by The Associated Press show former Ohio Superintendent Stan Heffner dined in style with a Texas testing firm a week after testifying on testing matters in the Ohio Senate. Heffner resigned Aug. 4 after the state’s inspector general found he engaged in potentially wrongful conduct. Prosecutors are reviewing the case. Records show Heffner dined with Educational Testing Service vice president John Oswald and his wife at a San Antonio restaurant in 2011. State files also show he used his secretary at the Ohio Department of Education to schedule the trip and handle other personal matters. Heffner told investigators he wasn't thrilled about going through his state office but didn't know how else to do it.

Honda starting Accord production today in Marysville
Honda is ready to unwrap its new Ohio-made Accord. Production is scheduled to start today on the new Accord sedan at Honda's factory in Marysville near Columbus. Honda's plant in Marysville employs about 4,400 people. Area officials are hoping that Honda will choose the Marysville-area as the site for production of its new sports car. Honda has not yet announced the exact location, but says it will be near one of its Ohio plants.

Ohio second on list of toxic states
A new survey puts Ohio near the top of the country's top 20 toxic states. Ohio was No. 2 on a list of 20 states that are responsible for a disproportionate share of toxic emissions from the U.S. electric sector. That's according to a report this month by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. Kentucky was No. 1 on the list. The report said the emissions include key power plant pollutants such as mercury, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, ammonia and others.

Southeast Ohio pastor thinks his church was burned because of support for gays, lesbians
The pastor of a southeast Ohio church destroyed by an arsonist thinks the fire is related to the congregation's support for gays and lesbians. Investigators have ruled that the fire discovered early Friday was intentionally set. The Rev. Scott Davis of South Bloomingville Christian Church says they've received threats in the past. He says he thinks the church was a target of hate crime because it welcomes gay, lesbian and transgender worshippers. Davis bought the church near Hocking Hills State Park two years ago and opened it for services in 2011. He's vowing to rebuild.

New program lets cites, schools boost investments
More than 60 Ohio school districts, cities and local governments are taking part in a new state program that can triple the yield on their taxpayer investments. STAR Plus is a program that was launched in June. It adds the flexibility of some private-sector investment programs while securing public cash deposits through carefully screened federally insured banks. Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel says the program drives more public deposits to community banks. They hold a quarter of deposits nationally but issue half of all small-business loans.

Catholic diocese plans to help problem gamblers
The Cleveland Catholic Diocese wants to reach out and help problem gamblers. The Plain Dealer reports that with the opening of casinos in Cleveland and other Ohio cities, the Diocese committee wants to teach clergy, deacons, lay ministers and parishioners how to identify and assist problem gamblers. The effort began when a small group of priests met this past week to address the issue. Jennifer Clegg, who supervises the gambling-addiction program at Recovery Resources in Cleveland, told the priests that only 4 percent of people nationwide are considered to be problem gamblers, and only 1.5 percent reach the pathological stage. Still, that adds up to tens of thousands of Ohioans whose finances, relationships and lives could be severely damaged.