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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Chris Pan, Ohio State University's most recent commencement speaker, has told NBC4 what he should've changed about his speech while standing by certain portions.

Dubbed a "social entrepreneur" by Ohio State ahead of the speech, Pan is a 1999 graduate from the university with previous stints at PepsiCo China, McKinsey and Co., and Facebook. He now runs his own company called Spirit Labs, which includes custom bracelet-maker MyIntent in its fold.

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But Pan, returning to his alma mater on May 5, drew boos from an audience of graduates and parents at Ohio Stadium when he mentioned Bitcoin. Calling it a "misunderstood" asset, he encouraged attendees to keep an open mind and look into it as an investment while reminding them of runaway inflation in the U.S.

"I have tons of love mail, I have hate mail too," Pan acknowledged. "You get a little bit of both out of 70,000 people."

In an exclusive interview Friday with NBC4, Pan said the controversial moment was born from a March 8 email asking him to be the speaker.

"I asked all the faculty and staff that I know are at the university, 'Did you nominate me?' And nobody said they did," Pan said. "I couldn't really believe it. It was such a huge honor. And I immediately screenshotted it, and I texted to people here at the university. And I said, 'Is this what I think it is?' Like, just to confirm, because I didn't want to jump the gun."

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Pan was joined on stage for the speech by Ohio State President Ted Carter, who also happens to be on the board of directors for a nuclear-powered Bitcoin mining company. And while the pair shares what Carter called a "completely random" connection, Pan admitted the cryptocurrency was more of a new discovery for him. He doesn't think it had anything to do with his being picked to speak.

"People speculate that there was some Bitcoin conspiracy," Pan said. "I only got into Bitcoin like mid-February. That was when I got the news of the ETF and then I spent two weeks really understanding it for myself."

Chris Pan, right, discusses Bitcoin in his commencement speech alongside Ohio State President Ted Carter. (Courtesy Photo/Ohio State University)

Pan voiced support in his speech and the interview specifically for Bitcoin ETFs, a new investment option that lets people buy into a fund that tracks the price of the cryptocurrency. While Bitcoin ETFs simplify secure investing into it, they also come with some disadvantages compared to buying the coin outright.

An investor placing money in one of these funds won't directly own the cryptocurrency, meaning they can't use it outside of the ETF. And while direct cryptocurrency can be bought, sold, sent and received at any time, ETF buys and sales are limited by stock market hours, as well as accompanied by additional fees.

Pan noted he had "dabbled" directly with Bitcoin in 2020 before selling it at a loss. But he said he made his first social media post about the cryptocurrency on March 2, six days before he received the email inviting him to speak. Carter and Pan both acknowledged that they talked about Bitcoin at the dinner before commencement. There, the social entrepreneur also received another answer from the president: "This year, they wanted an alumni."

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"It's not surprising because I've done other events here, I was on the cover of the 2018
alumni magazine," Pan said. "And they did a big spread on me and the bracelets."

Pan also wasn't shy about how he made the speech, announcing on LinkedIn that he used the psychedelic drug ayahuasca to write it. He told NBC4 he has previously used the drug multiple times, starting out for therapy. Looking back, he doesn't regret doing so or speaking about it publicly.

"You look at John Lennon, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, these are all guys who've worked with psychedelics, you know, LSD, in particular, to fuel creativity," Pan said. "And obviously, this is the biggest speech of my life. Of course I was gonna do psychedelics, how could I not? It would be crazy for me not to, right? Because that's part of my practice."

Pan pointed out that Ohio State is home to a group whose entire focus is studying the drugs, alongside some states in the U.S. making moves toward legalizing certain psychedelics for therapy.

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"Over at Bricker Hall, we have one of a handful of psychedelic clinical research centers in the middle of campus that a lot of people probably don't know about," Pan said. "And it started with researching for veterans' PTSD. … By me talking about it, yes, I'm getting a lot of flack. But I do hope it's going to help a lot of people. And it's going to take ayahuasca from 'What the heck is this' to 'Oh, it's just another healing modality.'"

Chris Pan stands with professor Alan Davis inside Ohio State's Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education. (Courtesy Photo/Chris Pan)

On what was possibly the biggest point of conflict in his speech, Pan said he felt misinterpreted about Bitcoin, as well as comments about barriers to investing: "fear, laziness and closed-mindedness." NBC4 asked him if he saw how that could come off to an audience with fresh student debt.

"Some people took offense because they think I was calling them that," Pan said. "I was not, I was calling myself that. I was that person who was fearful and who was lazy and who was closed-minded. … In terms of debt, I actually had a section that I ended up cutting out, because I just didn't have time. And it was around, you know, we buy things we don't need to impress people we don't like. And we have an emptiness inside us, a sense of unworthiness, emptiness, you know, not being loved. And we use retail therapy."

The speaker also issued an apology, and separately explained what he would have changed in his message about Bitcoin.

"I think it comes from a notion, probably a couple of things. One is what is appropriate at a commencement, right? Because they're like, 'Well, you know, I didn't want to hear about this.' … Yeah, that's probably right, so I apologize. I didn't mean to offend you, I just thought it was really important," Pan said. "My main message isn't even around Bitcoin, it's around being open-minded, it's around love, it's around conflict resolution. If I were to do it over again, I would probably make it clear that I only got in three months ago."

At the same time, Pan stood by his message about researching cryptocurrency and investing in general.

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"I think don't put your rent money in there," Pan said. "Don't put money you need over the next two years, three years, right? If it's something you need in the short term, don't put it in there. But if it's long-term money, that's five years and up, which hopefully all of us are thinking about retirement. Obviously, the earlier we start saving for retirement, the bigger the nest egg is going to be and that's where we get to retire. For any long-term investment, I'm so bullish on Bitcoin. I've never been more bullish on an asset class."

Pan said while his speech may have been criticized, the boos he received on stage will be worth it if a graduate says he helped them years from now.

"I'm really sorry, if you had a bad experience. I genuinely am," Pan said. "That was not my intention. I have never had an intention to make people upset. … My intention was actually to be helpful."

Regarding the MyIntent bracelets he promised to the stadium at the end of his speech, Pan said his company sent codes to OSU for each student and three of their attendees to get free bracelets. He noted the university did not give students' emails to MyIntent, and OSU will handle sending the codes out. Redeeming the codes is optional.

Columbus and Central Ohio Weather QUICK WEATHER FORECAST:

• Today: Partly cloudy, high 88
• Tonight: Few clouds, low 69
• Wednesday: Storms later, high 83
• Thursday: Showers linger, high 76
• Friday: Spotty showers, high 80
• Saturday: Few showers, high 82

FORECAST DISCUSSION:

Happy Tuesday!

We continue our stretch of summer-like heat today, with highs returning to the upper 80s by this afternoon. We start the day with some cloud coverage, but we'll see lots of sunshine under just partly cloudy skies by the afternoon. Humidity starts to increase slightly, with a bit of a sticky feel.

By Wednesday, we start the day with a few isolated showers early on, with mainly dry conditions lingering through the daytime hours. Highs top out in the low to middle 80s. We'll then see showers and thunderstorms returning along a cold front during the evening and overnight into Thursday.

Expect showers to linger through at least the first half of Thursday, before gradually getting lighter and exiting during the afternoon. Highs fall back to the middle 70s, which is near normal.

We'll see a few spotty showers going into Friday afternoon, with highs warming back near 80.

This weekend will be warm, once again, with a few shower and storm chances.

-McKenna

Watch a previous report on the shooting in the video player above.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A Columbus man was found not guilty of all charges stemming from a fatal June 2023 shooting on the northeast side of the city.

On Monday, a jury found Thomas N. Hampton, 32, not guilty of the seven charges he was facing.

Thomas Hampton (Courtesy Franklin County Sheriff's Office)

Hampton was arrested on June 26 in connection with a shooting on the 1600 block of East 26th Avenue in Columbus' Argyle Park neighborhood.

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The jury found Hampton not guilty of two murder charges, two felonious assault charges, and one charge each of attempted murder, discharge of a firearm on or near a prohibited premise, and tampering with evidence.

James Cunningham, 31, died in the shooting. A second victim, a 32-year-old man, was hospitalized in critical condition.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Investigators with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office (FCSO) continue to investigate a crash which sent a construction worker to the hospital.

It happened a little after 9 p.m. Sunday on U.S. Route 23 just south of Interstate 270, according to FCSO. The latest update from the sheriff's office is that the construction worker was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

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The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) said the worker was a contractor for the department.

"Definitely has an impact on all of us,” said Hannah Salem, public information officer for ODOT District Six, said. “Most of our construction work is contracted out, but they work very closely with our staff here at ODOT, so it definitely hits home, too close to home for many of our workers who have experienced that or know someone who may have been struck in a work zone.”

Investigators said the worker was hit near the edge of the road, but it's unclear if they were in the road or not.

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“Working on the roads is a dangerous job," Bob McCaskill, business manager for Ohio Laborers Union Local 423, said.

McCaskill spent nearly 30 years working on the roads. He said what happened Sunday night is a scary reminder of the dangers those workers face.

“This is a very real thing, it's just not something that's just being talked about, but it happens and last night is a prime example of what can happen to you when you’re out there," he said.

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The warmer weather means it's ODOT's busy construction season. The area around US-23 and I-270 is one of many under construction around the state. ODOT wants to remind drivers to be extra cautious when driving through work zones.

“We have had 44 crews, ODOT crews struck throughout the state since Jan. 1 this year,” Salem said. “That's in comparison to 56 all of 2023, so we’re already seeing some higher numbers this year which is very unfortunate and as we head into the summer season.”

Anyone with information about Sunday’s crash is asked to call FCSO at 614-525-6113.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- This weekend the sun shone bright across central Ohio, but a shadow was cast after violence erupted in the city.

Five people were shot and killed and three others were injured in three separate incidents. Also this weekend, the city’s summer festival season got a rocky start with fights causing an event to shut down early.

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Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther believes that what happened this weekend was a one-time thing. The violence the City of Columbus experienced this weekend was one of the worst so far in 2024.

“It just shows that we have to be vigilant,” Ginther said.

Columbus city leaders have been touting 2024 as a productive year for slowing violence. There has been a 50 percent reduction in homicides, according to Columbus Police data, the lowest homicide rate year-to-date in eight years.

Some said they are concerned the warm weather will bring violence with it.

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The annual Taco Festival at Genoa Park was forced to close early Saturday due to large groups of teens fighting. Radio runs from Columbus Police describe the scene as “another 20 to 50 person fight.” The fights caused organizers to set an 18-and-over age restriction on Sunday after 7 p.m. and bring in a heavy police presence.

“The bottom line is that we're going to do whatever it takes to make Columbus safe, so that means we need more officers, a greater security presence and other types of things,” Ginther said about protecting summer events. “We feel like this was an isolated incident.”

Ginther said Columbus police officers have come under fire three times in the last two weeks. He said he wants to make it clear that if you come after officers, you will be held accountable.

The mayor said this past weekend is a perfect example of why the city needs to keep its eyes open.

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“Well, you're going to see more security presence, I think, throughout the city,” Ginther said. “It's not about any one neighborhood or one event. We're going to continue do everything we can.”

Ginther said the city is planning to make record investments into safety initiatives for the summer. He said he will talk more about those during his state of the city address Tuesday.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- One person is dead after ejecting from their motorcycle Monday morning in a northeast Columbus crash.

Columbus police said that someone was driving a Harley Davidson east on Morse Road just before 9:30 a.m. At the same time, a Toyota Camry was going west on Morse Road.

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As the Camry was turning to go into a private driveaway just west of Cleveland Avenue, the Camry and Harley Davidson collided in the intersection. The motorcyclist was ejected due to the crash and was pronounced dead at the scene at 9:35 a.m. The driver of the Toyota was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

The crash is being investigated by Columbus police's accident investigation unit.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Governor Mike DeWine has ordered U.S. and Ohio flags to be flown at half-staff.

Flags have been lowered to half-staff at all Ohio National Guard installations beginning Monday to honor the life and service of former Ohio Adjutant General Richard Alexander.

Major General Alexander, of Cleveland, joined the Marine Corps in 1954 and was honorably discharged in 1958 with the rank of Sergeant. He returned to Ohio and enlisted in the Ohio National Guard, serving under several promotions until eventually taking on the role of Adjutant General - the senior officer in the state's military structure - in 1987.

Alexander became the first Black general officer and first Black adjutant general in Ohio National Guard history.

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In a statement Governor DeWine praised Alexander’s efforts and commitment throughout his career, in particular during the 1993 Lucasville Prison riot.

“In 1993, the Ohio National Guard was called upon to respond to an inmate riot at the Lucasville Prison. General Alexander was part of our leadership team managing the crisis and offered wise counsel that no doubt helped save lives,” DeWine said. “In addition, I saw first-hand the tremendous service and professionalism of the National Guard under General Alexander when I toured areas of the state that were damaged by rain, flooding, and other natural disasters… His calm demeanor, thoroughness, and military preparedness served the citizens of Ohio well.”

Alexander’s leadership skills were recognized nationally by the National Guard Association of the United States, which appointed him to the position of president of the association in 1996.

In addition to all Ohio National Guard installations, flags should be flown at half-staff at the Ohio Statehouse, the Vern Riffe Center, and the Rhodes State Office Tower from sunrise to sunset on the day of his funeral. The Governor said all other public buildings and grounds throughout the state may fly the flags of the United States and the state of Ohio at half-staff at their discretion over the same time period.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A Columbus man who made the FBI’s most wanted list for charges stemming from swatting calls across the United States will appear in federal court Monday afternoon.

Brayden Grace, who was arrested May 16, is accused in multiple swatting calls across the country, including one to Hollywood Casino in west Columbus. He faces charges of conspiracy, interstate stalking, interstate threatening communication and interstate threat involving fire or explosives.

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Grace, 18 is scheduled to appear in federal court on Monday at 1 p.m. for a detention hearing, during which a judge will decide whether to release, assign bail or detain Grace.

Federal court documents stated that on Jan. 5, Grace called staff at the local Hollywood Casino and threatened a shooting, as well as burning down the building unless he received $100,000 in cash and a helicopter.

Two phone calls were placed, one from a person allegedly inside the casino in which the caller said he had a bomb strapped to his chest. The caller told a 911 operator that a second person had a sniper rifle on top of the parking garage.

Brayden Grace (Courtesy Photos/Federal Bureau of Investigation)

A second call came in from a person claiming to be in the parking garage with a sniper rifle in his hand. He told a 911 operator there was also a person inside the casino with a bomb who would “blow this place up”. Police combed the area and a Columbus Division of Police helicopter searched the entire perimeter. Investigators tried to ping multiple phone numbers during the investigation to find their location, but those attempts were unsuccessful.

The FBI said that Grace was part of a group active on Instagram and Telegram called “Purgatory,” which used the social media platforms to plan multiple swatting calls between December and January. Court documents said afterward, they would announce the swatting calls they made on the platforms.

The callers would reportedly use the nicknames “bit coin”, “Simswapping”, “user data god”, “Tuyal” and “yahoo.emails.”

In addition to the casino call, Grace and others in Purgatory were accused of the following other swatting calls in a federal indictment:

• A threat to burn down a residential trailer park in Alabama.
• A shooting threat against a teacher and unnamed students at a high school in the state of Delaware
• A shooting and bomb threat to the Albany International Airport in New York
• A multiple homicide event and shooting threat against individuals in a residence in Eastman, Georgia.

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If convicted, Grace faces a maximum sentence of 5 years in federal prison for each count of conspiracy, cyberstalking and interstate threat, and a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on each charge to damage or destroy by means of fire and explosives. 

The FBI did not share if it had found other members of Purgatory or if it was also looking for them in central Ohio. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland said that Grace conspired with with Owen Jarboe, of Hagerstown, Maryland, and Evan Strauss, of Moneta, Virginia, among others.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Budd Dairy Food Hall has announced what will be replacing the lobster roll spot among the options at its Italian Village home.

Zaki Mediterranean Grill, previously part of the rotation at its Hatch location for incubating new restaurant concepts, will move into a standalone spot and replace Cousin Maine Lobster, which will be leaving Budd Dairy Food Hall but still available at its standalone food trucks.

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Ahmed Garaja moved to the U.S. from Palestine in 2006. He established Zaki Mediterranean Grill, which operates three food trucks as well as the Budd Dairy location, which opened in February.

"Our team has appreciated the opportunity to grow our restaurant business in Hatch and
establish a loyal following of guests,” Qaraja said. “We look forward to … further developing our relationship with the Columbus community.”

The menu features chicken kebabs, gyros, bowls, shawarma, and an array of appetizers. "Zaki" translates to "delicious" in Arabic.

Cousins Maine Lobster will close its Budd Dairy location Monday. Franchise owner Kathryn Nuss said food trucks will continue in the Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati areas.

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"Cousins Maine Lobster has proudly served the Budd Dairy Food Hall Community for the past three years," Nuss said. "From the moment we opened, we were met with warm smiles, hungry bellies, and members of the community who wanted to get in on what we were doing -- people we proudly call our family."

Budd Dairy Food Hall, which opened in 2021 and is part of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, is located on North Fourth Street between East Third and East Fifth avenues. It has 10 restaurant locations and indoor and outdoor seating. It's named after the milk processing facility that used to be located there.

Columbus and Central Ohio Weather QUICK WEATHER FORECAST:

• Today: Few clouds, high 90
• Tonight: Partly cloudy, low 64
• Tuesday: Partly sunny, high 89 (69)
• Wednesday: Chance of t-storms, high 83 (64)
• Thursday: Scattered rain, high 76 (58)
• Friday: Chance of t-storms, high 79 (59)

FORECAST DISCUSSION:

The first half of the upcoming workweek will stay sunny and dry as well. Plenty of sunshine with very few clouds are expected on Monday. Highs will be near 90 degrees. The record high for this date is 91 set back in 1962.

Overnight will be very warm with temperatures running about 10 degrees above normal for this time of year. Lows will fall to the mid 60s. Skies will become partly cloudy. Winds will remain light coming from the south.

Sunshine will stay for Tuesday. Highs will be back int he upper 80s. By Wednesday a system will move through bringing showers and thunderstorms. Late Wednesday evening a few rounds of strong storms will kick off with some potentially becoming severe. Those storms will last through early Thursday morning.

As the storms move through and the cold front passes, cooler temperatures on the back end will not last for long. A rebound back to the 80s will return by the week’s end. Throughout Memorial Day weekend there will be several rounds of spotty showers and thunderstorms.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A 30-year-old man accused of shooting another man during his birthday party in east Columbus made his first court appearance on Monday.

Alsiaih Griffin was arraigned in Franklin County Municipal Court after being charged with the murder of 34-year-old Tyler Goins early Saturday morning. Griffin received a bond amount of $1.25 million and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 28. A judge's orders for Griffin includes no possession of weapons and having no contact with the victim's family.

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Police received a report of the shooting at 12:35 a.m. Saturday at the 4100 block of Vineshire Drive. Goins was celebrating his birthday with Griffin and another man when an argument began.

During the argument Griffin pulled out a gun and fatally shot Goins, who was pronounced dead by medics at 12:46 a.m., according to police. Griffin initially fled the scene but returned to surrender to police.

Saturday's shooting in east Columbus was one of three fatal shootings over the weekend in the city. Two hours after the east side shooting, three were killed and three were injured in a north Columbus shooting near Italian Village. On Sunday morning, one person was killed in a Downtown Columbus shooting near Franklin University.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio is celebrating its more than 400 wineries during June with the observance of Ohio Wine Month.

In a news release, the Ohio Grape Industries Committee shared some interesting facts about the state's grape and wine industry and Ohio Wine Month 2024.

As the seventh-largest wine-producing state, the commodity is worth $6.6 billion in economic activity for Ohio, including more than two million winery visits. The organization said, "Ohio's fertile soil and temperate growing climate are responsible for producing some 'best in show' winners in well-known national wine competitions."

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Ohio's wine industry began in the 1800s when the state was the leading producer of the fermented grape beverage. Now, more than 1.2 million gallons are made annually. Wine Month was established in 2012 to recognize the local industry's makers, craft, and economic value.

To mark Ohio Wine Month, the OGIC suggests visiting one of Ohio's hundreds of wineries or tasting some of Ohio's award-winning wines.

At establishments around the state, winery patrons will find various amenities like restaurants, lodging, outdoor spaces, live music, and vineyard tours. The OGIC notes wineries are "ideal for family excursions, get-togethers with friends, or pet-friendly day trips."

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – As gas prices continue to fall nationally, Columbus motorists and those in Ohio, aren’t reaping the benefits, at least not this week.

According to GasBuddy’s survey of 500 stations in the Columbus area, the average gas price rose for the second consecutive week, this time by 5.8 cents per gallon to $3.63. That current price is 7.8 cents per gallon lower than one month ago but stands 7.2 cents per gallon higher than this time one year ago.

In Ohio, the average price of gas also increased by 10.4 cents per gallon, from $3.50 per gallon to $3.61 per gallon.

The cheapest gas station in the Columbus area was priced at $3.06 a gallon, while the most expensive was $3.79, a difference of 73 cents per gallon. Nationally, gas prices fell slightly once again by 3.5 cents to $3.55 per gallon.

Columbus Gas Prices Tracker

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, once again expressed confidence that more relief at the pump is on the way, despite the rise in Ohio.

"The news continues to be good for motorists ahead of Memorial Day, with gasoline prices again falling, making it four straight weeks of declines for the national average," said De Haan. "The good news doesn't necessarily end there, either. GasBuddy's Summer Travel Forecast (predicts) that gas prices over the next few months will stay far under record levels and should continue trending lower as we get closer to July 4.”

As to why prices in Columbus are on the rise, bucking the national trend, De Haan said it is cyclical.

“Much of the Great Lakes sees prices cycle every one-to-two weeks,” he said. “They jump all in one day, but then fall over the course of the next week or so to a point where stations are selling below cost, which triggers them to raise prices again back to a profitable level.”

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A decades-long master plan to decide the direction of parks in the city is in the works.

The Columbus Recreation and Parks 2025-2035 Master Plan Project will help to set a vision for the department, said Craig Murphy, deputy director of capital, conservation and strategy.

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"We use it for planning short- and long-term strategies for the department," Murphy said. "It really sets the direction for the next 10 years, helps create a framework for us to make decisions."

Before the project, the department followed another 10-year master plan that began in 2014.

"We've accomplished many of those objectives," Murphy said. "It's helped us kind of stay focused on what's important to the community."

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The first step will be to collect and analyze data on topics including the level of service, operational practices and program services. This process -- which includes a community survey -- will help shape the goals. That process will last about six months.

On May 13, Columbus City Council approved a $790,080 contract between the Recreation and Parks Department and Design Workshop Inc. for the master plan. Murphy said Design Workshop will help lighten the department's workload.

"With this Design Workshop team and their consultants, this allows us to complete this in a timely way," Murphy said. "And also, it doesn't stop our production, because we're doing dozens and dozens of projects. So, having consultants focused on this really enables us to do more."

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Once the project is further along, Murphy said a website will launch exclusively for the master plan. He emphasized the need for community input and said more details are coming soon for how to participate.

"We want to hear from the community," Murphy said. "We'll begin doing our community engagement probably in the second half of the summer. There's a lot of ways to get involved in the process and a lot to look forward to."

For a previous report on this story view the video player above.

LANCASTER, Ohio (WCMH) – For the second time in three years, the Lancaster Fire Department suspect arson in a blaze that damaged a former Fraternal Order of Police building.

Early Monday morning firefighters responded to reports of a fire at the former FOP #50 Lodge, known as the abandoned Chesapeake & Ohio Freight House, on South High Street in Lancaster, Ohio.

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• The former Fraternal Order of Police building in Lancaster has been set on fire for the second time in just over three years. (NBC4/Ronald Clark)
• Firefighters respond to a reported arson at the Fraternal Order of Police building in February 2021. (Courtesy/Lancaster Fire Department)

It is the same building that was set fire in February 2021 when the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Kenneth Dawson in Mason, Ohio after fleeing the area. The building has been vacant ever since.

Authorities believe that once again arson is behind the fire set on Monday morning, though no suspects have been named at this time. No injuries were reported.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – This summer will be residents' last chance to visit Ohio Village in its current form before an “ambitious” and “comprehensive” renovation will close the history museum for two years.

The Ohio History Connection launched a renovation project called “Campus 2.OH” to enhance and expand its spaces. After the Ohio State Fair ends on Aug. 4, Ohio Village, located at 800 E. 17th Ave., will close until 2026 with a “new and improved” experience. 

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“When Ohio Village is closed temporarily for construction through early 2026, we’ll still have Signature Events, and plans for them are underway,” Executive Director and CEO Megan Wood said. “We can’t wait to let our members and visitors know more about these, and we are planning Ohio Village-related hard-hat tours and forum opportunities for Ohio History Connection members and other stakeholders.”

The project will include the addition of a nature-based play space, a reimagined town center, new experiences for visitors, expanded food and beverage offerings, as well as infrastructure and safety improvements. 

Additionally, the Collections Care Center, built on the northeast part of the Ohio History Center campus to house thousands of historical items, is slated to open in June. 

There is still time to visit Ohio Village before it closes this summer – on July 27, Ohio Village will celebrate its 50th anniversary from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Featured programs will include live music from American Musical Productions, an array of local artisans and Vaudeville, a genre of theater, performances. 

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“We are excited about this ongoing work on the Columbus campus, and we look forward to sharing the results with all Ohioans,” Ohio History Connection's Manager of Media and Public Relations Neil Thompson said. “But first, we will celebrate another opening for Ohio Village and embark on the next 50 years of telling Ohio’s history there. We hope our visitors and members will gain a better understanding of the changes in store as they also experience the same feelings of joy and wonder a late-19th-century exposition event would bring to an Ohio town.”

Ohio Village is a living history museum operated by the nonprofit the Ohio History Connection. The village, intended to provide a firsthand look at a 19th-century community, opened on July 27, 1974. 

Watch a previous NBC4 report on Ohio's HIV-criminalization laws in the video player above.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Ohio laws criminalizing HIV, including a statute barring those with the virus from donating blood, could soon be amended after nearly 80 faced prosecution for failing to disclose their HIV status to sexual partners. 

House Bill 498 has been introduced to repeal Ohio revised code penalizing individuals with HIV who attempt to donate blood, while House Bill 513 has been proposed to amend five other laws that have yielded more than 200 HIV-related criminal prosecutions. Introduced by Rep. Sara Carruthers (R-Hamilton), the bills are backed by a bipartisan group who said the current laws are "based on an outdated understanding of HIV and only help to further stigma."

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"It is crucial for Ohio lawmakers to recognize that HIV is not a crime; it is a health condition that requires that supportive network of healthcare professionals across the state dedicated to ending the HIV epidemic," said Nate Albright, the director-at-large of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care.

The proposals come after at least 214 Ohioans were charged from 2014 to 2020 under the laws, including seventy-seven cases litigated under a felonious assault charge that penalizes those with HIV for engaging in sexual conduct without divulging their medical history. The offense can result in a second-degree felony conviction, carrying a $15,000 fine and a two-to-eight-year prison sentence.

More than half, 120 cases, charged the defendants for exposing others to their bodily fluid, like by spitting or biting. The remaining 17 cases from 2014 to 2020 were related to sex work, under solicitation and prostitution laws that can penalize HIV-positive Ohioans for activities that don't lead to the transmission of the virus.

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Most recently, a Marietta sex worker was charged with engaging in solicitation after a positive HIV test, leading police to issue a public health notice. The woman was indicted in Washington County for allegedly engaging in sex acts with at least 211 individuals from early 2022 through May of this year.

The six Ohio laws were originally passed to reduce transmission and end the AIDS epidemic. However, the statutes have not been reviewed by the legislature since the 1990s and are outdated given they do not reflect current scientific understanding of HIV, the group said.

These claims are backed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which states HIV is not spread through saliva or unbroken skin and there are no documented cases of the virus spreading through spitting. Those living with HIV also cannot pass the virus through sex when they have reached an undetectable level of HIV in their blood, achieved through medication estimated to be 100% effective. 

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"HIV criminalization laws are informed by stigma, not science," said Rhea Debussy, director of external affairs at Equitas Health. "In our state, HIV criminalization laws are disproportionately used against women and Black Ohioans. Modernizing our laws will help to address the inequity and stigma facing people living with HIV here in Ohio."

The proposals also follow a recent federal ruling that struck down a provision requiring health insurance to provide free preventative care services in Ohio like PrEP, a once-daily pill taken to reduce a patient’s likelihood of developing HIV from sex or injection drug use. Nearly 9,000 Ohioans are taking a form of PrEP while more than 27,000 Ohioans are living with HIV, according to data from AIDSVu and the Ohio Department of Health. 

View a video showcasing TeraWulf's nuclear-powered Bitcoin mining facilities in the video player above.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- As AEP Ohio applies with a state regulator for tariffs and discounts for business customers' increasing electricity demand, it has mentioned that cryptocurrency miners are moving into its service area.

AEP Ohio's Vice President of Customer Service Lisa Kelso highlighted the clients, more commonly known for mining Bitcoin, as she described a shift toward IT industries -- miners and data centers included -- becoming the utility provider's "largest load."

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"Because cryptocurrency mining is an energy-intensive process that consumes significant electricity and creates a large amount of heat, Ohio’s cooler climate for much of the year is attractive to miners who need to cost-effectively keep their computers operating at moderate temperatures," Kelso wrote. "Multiple cryptocurrency miners have located on or near former utility generation station sites that have been abandoned after deregulation in Ohio because access to transmission capacity is readily available and cryptocurrency mining sites do not need to be near other load or population centers."

Kelso's testimony was part of AEP Ohio's request for two new tariffs, one targeting data centers with more than 25 megawatts of demand and the other focusing on cryptocurrency miners with more than one megawatt of demand. The power company argued it needs them to pressure the two types of customers to use a promised level of electricity if AEP Ohio builds nearby infrastructure to meet their power demands.

The data center tariff would apply a "minimum billing demand of no less than 90%" of its contract capacity, or highest monthly transmission billing demand. The tariff targeting crypto miners would change that percentage to 95%.

Large-scale operations, similar to the nuclear-powered farm connected to Ohio State's president, are basically a necessity for mining Bitcoin, the oldest and most valuable cryptocurrency. In these facilities, specialized computers perform the complex math calculations required to run the network's transactions in exchange for Bitcoin to call their own.

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NBC4 asked AEP Ohio's communications team for more information about the miners that Kelso mentioned in five separate paragraphs. They would not share the total number of clients in that category but described them in smaller terms.

"The growth in data center power demand in Central Ohio is driven mainly by data centers engaged in 'non-crypto' activities such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence, not by data centers engaged in cryptocurrency mining operations. … Less than 10% of this increased power demand in Central Ohio is from data centers AEP Ohio knows to be conducting cryptocurrency mining operations," a spokesperson wrote. "Outside of Central Ohio, AEP Ohio has signed ESAs approximately 200 MW of power demand from cryptocurrency mining operations."

To put that amount in perspective, 200 megawatts of power demand is equal to the miners' facilities drawing a maximum 200,000 kilowatts of power at any given time. AEP Ohio has said in the past that its average residential customer -- currently seeing their highest bills in a decade -- uses 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in a month. But it's not possible to do a direct comparison, because the two types of customers have very different bills. Kilowatts are not the same as kilowatt-hours.

"AEP Ohio’s residential customers have energy (kWh) charges but do not have demand (kW) charges," a spokesperson wrote. "For very large customers like data centers that shop for energy supply … their charges from AEP Ohio are predominantly demand (kW) charges with only a small energy (kWh) component."

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Separate from mining companies, researchers have already voiced environmental concerns about data centers' similar electricity usage. Ohio State University professor Jeff Bielicki said a “typical” data center can consume between 10 and 50 times the energy of a commercial building, per unit of area, or “about 16,000 60-watt light bulbs per square meter.”

At the same time that AEP Ohio filed for the new tariff, it separately applied to give a secret discount to Amazon as it ramps up building $7.8 billion worth of data centers in central Ohio. The application discloses that Amazon is already running a hidden number of data center campuses in Hilliard, Dublin and New Albany, and their discount would be applied in two phases.

During the first phase, for each data center that "reaches and maintains a monthly peak load" of a hidden amount in megawatts, Amazon will get a secret percentage discount on bills to each of those campuses. For each new data center campus that Amazon starts powering, the percent discount would increase. But besides this deal, AEP Ohio expects Amazon to pay all charges and riders, including tariffs.

The discount moves into a second stage once Amazon deploys a "battery storage system" at one of its local data center campuses. The campus will then lose the first-stage billing discount and decrease the secret percentage for the other campuses, but AEP Ohio would then calculate that battery-backed data center's transmission charges based on its "network service peak load value."

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AEP Ohio's communications team declined to share any details about the discount beyond what was in the documents.

"Competitively-sensitive and confidential information, including the information you are requesting, was filed under seal in the Amazon Data Services (ADS) proceeding based in part on ADS’s statement that its competitors could use this information 'to ascertain one of the most critical cost components for data center operations, which is energy, and thus place ADS at a competitive disadvantage in the global cloud computing market,'" a spokesperson wrote.

The pair's application for the secret discount comes on the heels of Amazon earning a 30-year tax break from New Albany City Council. For the first 15 years, its data centers in the area will be exempt from 100% of their property taxes.

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Amazon's $7.8 billion investment will expand its Ohio data center presence through 2030. It's among a litany of tech companies to gather around Intel's coming semiconductor fabrication plant. Next door to Amazon's existing New Albany data centers, Microsoft spent nearly $57 million on property that county commissioners theorized will become the same. Google has piled on with two data centers as well, one in Columbus and one in Lancaster.

Another $1 billion data center is also on the way from Washington D.C.-based DBT-Data. QTS out of Kansas is also putting $1.5 billion down to build one of its own in New Albany as well.

View Kelso's testimony on cryptocurrency miners here, and AEP Ohio and Amazon's application for a discount here.

Columbus and Central Ohio Weather QUICK WEATHER FORECAST:

• Today: Mostly sunny, high 88
• Tonight: Few clouds, low 66
• Tuesday: Mainly sunny, isolated sprinkle, high 88
• Wednesday: Storms later, high 85
• Thursday: Showers early, clearing, high 77
• Friday: Partly cloudy, showers late, high 78

FORECAST DISCUSSION:

Happy Monday!

We continue our stretch of hot, summer-like temperatures on this Monday, with highs warming to the upper 80s to near 90 this afternoon. We'll see mostly sunny skies, with only a few clouds out during the afternoon, and just a light wind. Luckily, humidity remains mostly pleasant, just nearing a "muggy" feel.

For our Tuesday, we remain mainly dry, with lots of sunshine, and highs warming back into the upper 80s. We'll see just a very isolated sprinkle chance for our Tuesday.

By Wednesday, the pattern starts to change. We start the day mainly dry, with increasing clouds, and highs warming into the middle 80s. Showers and thunderstorms then return later into the evening and overnight hours. This is a timeframe we'll be watching for the potential for some stronger storm activity.

Showers linger into at least the first half of our Thursday, but they'll gradually get lighter. Expect Highs Thursday to fall back to the upper 70s, with gradual clearing later in the day.

Friday looks to remain mostly dry, with highs in the upper 70s. We'll then see the chance for showers later Friday and overnight into early Saturday.

-McKenna