Ohio News

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Governor Mike DeWine, Lt. Governor Jon Husted, and Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton will hold a briefing Tuesday afternoon to discuss the status of coronavirus in Ohio and efforts to reopen the state’s economy.

That briefing begins around 2 p.m. and can be streamed live right here.

As of Monday, 35,984 cases and 2,206 deaths were reported to date in Ohio with 6,112 hospitalizations and 1,569 ICU admissions.

The Department of Health adds the data as soon as it is informed of a case or death. The information is backdated to the actual date the person started exhibiting symptoms or the date the person died.

Daycares in Ohio were officially allowed to reopen Sunday, as long as they follow guidelines by the state to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Saturday that the order to reopen the daycare providers was signed by Ohio Director of Health Dr. Amy Acton.

At Thursday’s briefing, DeWine announced the state is expanding its criteria for who can get tested for coronavirus. He also touched on the role of pharmacists, as they are at the front line of our health care system. DeWine said the Ohio Pharmacy Board will allow pharmacists to order and administer COVID-19 tests in Ohio.

Starting June 8, assisted living facilities and intermediate care facilities for people with developmental disabilities can allow outside visitation in Ohio. As for visitation in nursing homes, DeWine says we’re not there yet. DeWine said they will continue to lift restrictions slowly if things go well. Facilities will be asked to create a plan for social distancing, masks and taking the temperature of visitors.

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — The exit from northbound I-270 to Morse Road is closed due to flooding cause by a water main break.

Columbus Public Utilities are headed to the area to fix the issue.

There is no timetable as to when this will be repaired, at the time of publishing this story.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)– African American community leaders from government, nonprofit and religious sectors in Central Ohio will hold a joint press conference Tuesday to reveal steps to “reform practices that create and protect a culture of systemic racism.”

The leaders are calling for immediate action and plant to announce their plan at 1:30 p.m. at the Columbus Urban League.

Scheduled speakers include:

• Stephanie Hightower, President & CEO, Columbus Urban League
• Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, 3rd District of Ohio
• Kevin Boyce, Franklin County Commissioner
• Shannon Hardin, President, Columbus City Council
• Christie Angel, President & CEO, YWCA Columbus
• Bishop Timothy Clarke, First Church of God

NBC4 will stream their press conference on social media and on NBC4i.com.

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Mayor Andrew Ginther and Columbus Division of Police Chief Thomas Quinlan held a briefing Tuesday morning to address recent protests in Columbus.

Monday evening, hundreds of protesters were joined by a number of Columbus Police officers, including Chief Thomas Quinlan, at a march in the wake of the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis.

“I want them to have their voices heard,” Quinlan said. “As the chief, I want to hear what they have to say. I want to fix problems, that’s what I’m here for.”

After days of downtown protests, the Columbus Police Department is facing accusations of aggressive policing, with officers using tear gas and pepper spray.

The chief said his goal during these protests is to protect the rights of those who want to protest peacefully while still protecting the city from those who would do it harm.

Monday, Mayor Ginther asked for people to send evidence of excessive force by the Columbus Division of Police during protests to a special email address for civilian review.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine's budget director said she's seeking pay freezes and cuts for state employees as the coronavirus pandemic continues to depress tax revenue.

Updated forecasts for the budget year beginning July 1 show an even deeper hole of $2.5 billion in state funding, according to Kimberly Murnieks, DeWine’s director of the Office of Budget and Management.

In response, Murnieks said her office will ask lawmakers to freeze pay and step advancement increases for non-union employees beginning in July. A hiring freeze will also continue except for employees providing a direct response to the pandemic.

Murnieks also ordered pay cuts of 3.8% for non-union workers and 4% for cabinet directors, which would include her own salary. The office is also asking unions beginning June 15 to discuss ways to reduce personnel costs for the employees they represent.

Ohio’s unemployment rate hit nearly 17% in April, the highest since the state’s current record-keeping system was developed almost 50 years ago. In the past 10 weeks, about 1.3 million people have filed for unemployment, more than the total in the past three years.

The state Health Department said Monday Ohio has nearly 36,000 confirmed and probable coronavirus cases and 2,206 confirmed and probably deaths.

Coronavirus: What you need to know

There are now 33,501 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ohio; 1,993 people have died from the virus and 6,067 were hospitalized, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Breakdown of Ohio cases by county >>

For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up in a couple of weeks. Older adults and people with existing health problems are at higher risk of more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.

10TV is committed to bringing you a FACTS NOT FEAR approach to our coronavirus reporting. You can count on 10TV to give you the latest developments and the impacts on you and your family. For complete coverage, visit: 10TV.com/coronavirus.

COLUMBUS – On Monday Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan and other officers joined demonstrators in downtown Columbus as several thousand gathered for a peaceful protest.

Quinlan spoke with protesters saying he believes the way to positive change is through conversation.

“We like change and this is how it happens; by talking to people and finding out what the needs of our community are and being able to respond to our community because Whitehall and Worthington and Dayton and San Francisco may have different needs than what the people in Columbus have,” Quinlan said.

10TV also talked with Nana Watson, president of the Greater Columbus NAACP chapter, who explained that there is still a long way to go.

“Why is there unemployment? Why do some people have jobs and some don’t? Why is some education better, some bad? It needs to be a different conversation and a deeper conversation about racism in our community,” Watson said.

10TV asked Watson what changes the organization would like to see.

“We need to begin to be proactive rather than reactionary, “Watson said.

One way she says the NAACP wants to ensure that is through the use of a citizen’s review board, with the understanding that the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) would be engaged in some way or another.

Watson says that NAACP chapters nationwide will be pushing for those citizen’s review boards and that more information on their strategy can be expected to be released by the end of the week.

“I don't want to say demands yet. Recommendations – We’re going to start with the recommendations and the recommendation is going to be you need to get that civilian review board up and running ASAP and we're going to push for that and we're going to push for it hard.”

Another element, Watson said, is having more police living in the communities they police in.

“Maybe the police officers need to treat us like they treat their family,” she said. “They say they protect our community but what community are they referring to? Is it the black community or is it the community where they live?”

On Monday, protesters echoed that thought in discussions with Chief Quinlan.

In response to a woman who asked if the department has looked into having police officers police their own neighborhoods, Quinlan responded that it has been looked at many times.

“There’s a lot of civil service rules that go along with that and a lot of Ohio legislative issues that go along with that,” he said, but he continued on to say that he is looking into creating an incentive program for officers who want to live and work in a neighborhood.

Along with learning what the NAACP believes local leaders and law enforcement can do to fight racism, 10TV asked how non-minority community members can play a role.

“Over the weekend, glass windows were broken, buildings were defaced, but when that’s all cleaned up, you know what’s still there? Racism and white privilege. It’s still there,” Watson said.

Watson explained non-minority people can begin to understand how white privilege has affected the black community.

“Who are you really? What are you doing? What are you thinking about black people?” Watson asked.

As for the current protests, both Watson and Quinlan denounce vandalism.

Watson suggests taking a closer look at who is showing up.

“I’d like to ask this: Who were the protesters? Where did they come from? Why are they here in Columbus?” she asked.

While Quinlan says he wants to hear protesters’ voices, he also said demonstrators need to give police the space to keep things safe.

“Their voices are being silenced by the people who are committing violence in our city and destroying property so we need to get a handle on that so we can turn our full attention and our full intent to implement change to hear the people who need to be heard in this city,” Quinlan said.

Animal activist Carole Baskin has been awarded control of a zoo property in Oklahoma that was formerly owned by "Joe Exotic," from the hit Netflix docuseries "Tiger King," according to multiple reports. Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was convicted of trying to hire a hit man to kill Baskin.

Fox 25 reports the G.W. Exotic Animal Memorial Park in Wynnewood, Okla., is being handed over to Baskin and her company, Big Cat Rescue. It's recently been in the control of Jeff Lowe.

A federal judge awarded Baskin the 16-acre property, complete with portable buildings and vehicles, after the judge ruled the property was fraudulently transferred by Exotic to his mother to avoid paying Baskin her settlement in a trademark infringement lawsuit.

Now Lowe has 120 days to vacate the property, according to FOX 25. All animals must be taken off the property too.

Federal prosecutors said Exotic tried to have Baskin killed after the two had been feuding for years. He offered undercover federal agents $10,000 to do the job.

Exotic is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of that murder-for-hire plot, and for killing tigers in his animal park. His legal team has launched a 1,350-mile bus tour to try and lobby President Donald Trump to issue a pardon for the "Tiger King" star.

(AP)– Throughout January, the World Health Organization publicly praised China for what it called a speedy response to the new coronavirus.

It repeatedly thanked the Chinese government for sharing the genetic map of the virus “immediately” and said its work and commitment to transparency were “very impressive, and beyond words.” But behind the scenes, there were significant delays by China and considerable frustration among WHO officials over the lack of outbreak data, The Associated Press has found.

China sat on releasing the genetic sequence for more than a week and stalled on sharing critical epidemic details with WHO throughout January.

The global race for a COVID-19 vaccine boils down to some critical questions: How much must the shots rev up someone’s immune system to really work? And could revving it the wrong way cause harm?

Even as companies recruit tens of thousands of people for larger vaccine studies this summer, behind the scenes scientists still are testing ferrets, monkeys and other animals in hopes of clues to those basic questions — steps that in a pre-pandemic era would have been finished first.

“We are in essence doing a great experiment,” said Ralph Baric, a coronavirus expert at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, whose lab is testing several vaccine candidates in animals.

The speed-up is necessary to try to stop a virus that has triggered a pandemic, killing more than 360,000 worldwide and shuttering economies. But “there’s no question there is more risk in the current strategy than what has ever been done before," Baric said.

The animal testing lets scientists see how the body reacts to vaccines in ways studies in people never can, said Kate Broderick, research chief at Inovio Pharmaceuticals.

With animals, “we’re able to perform autopsies and look specifically at their lung tissue and get a really deep dive in looking at how their lungs have reacted,” Broderick said.

She’s awaiting results from mice, ferrets and monkeys that are being exposed to the coronavirus after receiving Inovio’s vaccine. Since no species perfectly mimics human infection, testing a trio broadens the look at safety.

And there's some good news on the safety front as the first animal data from various research teams starts to trickle out. So far, there are no signs of a worrisome side effect called disease enhancement, which Dr. Anthony Fauci of the U.S. National Institutes of Health calls reassuring.

Enhancement is just what the name implies: Very rarely, a vaccine doesn’t stimulate the immune system in quite the right way, producing antibodies that not only can’t fully block infection but that make any resulting disease worse.

That first happened in the 1960s with failure of a vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus, RSV, an infection dangerous to young children. More recently, it has complicated efforts at vaccines against mosquito-spread dengue fever.

And some attempted vaccines for SARS, a cousin of COVID-19, seemed to cause enhancement in animal testing.

Fast forward to the pandemic. Three recently reported studies in monkeys tested different COVID-19 vaccine approaches, including shots made by Oxford University and China’s Sinovac. The studies were small, but none of the monkeys showed evidence of immune-enhanced disease when scientists later dripped the coronavirus directly into the animals’ noses or windpipes.

Some of the best evidence so far that a vaccine might work also comes from those monkey studies. Oxford and Sinovac created very different types of COVID-19 vaccines, and in separate studies, each team recently reported that vaccinated monkeys were protected from pneumonia while monkeys given a dummy shot got sick.

But protection against severe disease is just a first step. Could a vaccine also stop the virus’s spread? The Oxford study raises some doubt.

Those researchers found as much virus lingering in the vaccinated monkeys’ noses as in the unvaccinated. Even though the experiment exposed moneys to high levels of the coronavirus, it raised troubling questions.

The type of vaccine -- how it targets the “spike” protein that coats the coronavirus -- may make a difference. Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston designed six different vaccine prototypes. Some only partially protected monkeys -- but one fully protected eight monkeys from any sign of the virus, said Dr. Dan Barouch, who is working with Johnson & Johnson on yet another COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

In monkeys, the new coronavirus lodges in the lungs but seldom makes them super sick. Ferrets — the preferred animal for flu vaccine development — may help tell if potential COVID-19 vaccines might stop the viral spread.

“Ferrets develop a fever. They also cough and sneeze,” infecting each other much like people do, said vaccine researcher Alyson Kelvin of Canada’s Dalhousie University.

And while COVID-19 is a huge risk to the elderly, vaccines often don't rev up an older person's immune system as well as a younger person's. So Kelvin also is studying older ferrets.

Some vaccine makers are reporting promising immune reactions in the first people given the experimental shots, including production of “neutralizing” antibodies, a kind that latches onto the virus and blocks it from infecting cells. But there's a hitch.

Said Inovio's Broderick: "Let me be honest. We’re still not clear at all on what those correlates of protection are” — meaning what mix of immune reactions, and how much, are needed.

Some clues come from the blood of COVID-19 survivors, although "there’s a huge variation” in immune reactions between the severely and mildly ill, Broderick added.

Still, if vaccinated animals that produce the same neutralizing antibody levels as certain COVID-19 survivors are protected — and people given test doses likewise produce the same amount — “that is great comfort that your vaccine approach actually may work," said Kathrin Jansen, head of Pfizer Inc.'s vaccine research.

But ultimately the real proof won't come before huge studies of whether vaccinated people get sick less often than the unvaccinated.

Coronavirus: What you need to know

There are now 33,501 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ohio; 1,993 people have died from the virus and 6,067 were hospitalized, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Breakdown of Ohio cases by county >>

For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up in a couple of weeks. Older adults and people with existing health problems are at higher risk of more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.

10TV is committed to bringing you a FACTS NOT FEAR approach to our coronavirus reporting. You can count on 10TV to give you the latest developments and the impacts on you and your family. For complete coverage, visit: 10TV.com/coronavirus.

As thousands of protesters take to the streets in response to police killings of black people, companies are wading into the national conversation but taking care to get their messaging right.

Netflix’s normally lighthearted Twitter account took on a more somber tone on Saturday: “To be silent is to be complicit. Black lives matter. We have a platform, and we have a duty to our Black members, employees, creators and talent to speak up.” That got retweeted over 216,000 times and “liked” over a million times.

The streaming service is just one of many corporate brands that have turned to social media to voice concerns over racial injustice after the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for several minutes.

At the same time, companies must consider whether it makes sense for them to weigh in, especially on an issue as sensitive as race.

“It’s brand activism,” said Alexander Chernev, a professor of marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. “It’s not surprising. But companies have to think very carefully before they take a stand on these issues.”

There are plenty of examples of brands speaking out forcefully on social media, particularly in industries where cultural awareness is crucial. WarnerMedia, which is owned by AT&T and includes brands like HBO and TBS, changed their handles to #BlackLivesMatter and all posted the same James Baldwin quote: “Neither love nor terror makes one blind: indifference makes one blind.”

Twitter changed its iconic profile image to black with the Black Lives Matter hashtag. Media giant ViacomCBS tweeted “Black Lives Matter. Black Culture Matters. Black Communities Matter,” and on Monday announced that its cable properties like MTV and Comedy Central will go dark for 8 minutes and 46 seconds to honor Floyd.

Nike, which famously took on the racial injustice issue head-on with its ad campaign featuring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, revealed a new video ad on Friday that bore the words: “For once, don’t do it.” The ad, a twist on its “Do it” motto, urged viewers not to “pretend there’s not a problem in America.”

But some companies that offered up statements of support were called out on their own track records on race. L’Oreal, one of the world’s biggest cosmetics companies, tweeted Monday: “Speaking out is worth it,” and pledged a “commitment” to the NAACP. That drew swift criticism online from those who see the company’s business model and advertising as focused on white consumers.

Likewise, Amazon’s tweet urging the end of ″the inequitable and brutal treatment of black people” received backlash from followers, who questioned the company's own commitment during the coronavirus pandemic in which employees have been complaining about unsafe working conditions.

Other companies have been kept their messages broad. For instance, The Walt Disney Co. and its brands, like Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar, all posted the same statement on Twitter about standing for inclusion and with the black community. Starbucks, which took heat in 2018 when two black men in one of its Philadelphia stores were arrested for not ordering anything, simply said it will stand in solidarity with black partners, customers and communities: “We will not be bystanders.”

Brand experts say corporate America needs to go beyond statements and outline what they plan to do to combat racism.

“Expressing solidarity with the Black Lives Movement is the right message, but everyone is jumping in on that bandwagon,” said Allen Adamson, co-founder and managing partner of Metaforce a marketing and product consultancy. “Just saying you are standing with them is nice but probably isn’t going to be meaningful for them or for the brand. It can be seen as opportunistic.”

Wendy Liebmann, founder and CEO of WSL Strategic Retail, agrees, saying there is no reason to make a public statement unless the company actually has a concrete plan to help resolve the issue of racism. She praised Peloton’s Twitter pledge to donate $500,000 to the NAACP legal defense fund as an example.

Jeans giant Levi Strauss & Co. is also backing its statements with money, committing $100,000 to its longstanding partner ACLU. YouTube pledged $1 million to support efforts addressing social injustice. And semiconductor chip manufacturer Intel is pledging $1 million to address social justice and racism.

Some of the most moving statements so far have come from corporate executives who are black.

Marvin Ellison, president and CEO of home improvement chain Lowe’s tweeted a statement about growing up in the Jim Crow South and the company’s zero tolerance for racism, discrimination and hate. Citigroup’s Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason repeated Floyd’s words “I can’t breathe” in an emotional corporate blog post.

And Jide Zeitlin, chairman and CEO of Kate Spade, Coach and Stuart Weitzman parent Tapestry Inc., who along with Ellison is one of only a handful of black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, noted in a heartfelt LinkedIn post to his employees that some of Tapestry’s stores had been damaged during the protests but he said his focus quickly turned to the looters after determining his staff was safe.

“What was going through their minds as they acted? Has our society truly left them with little to lose and few other ways to force the rest of us to come to the negotiating table?” he wrote. “We can replace our windows and handbags, but we cannot bring back George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Emmett Till, and too many others. Each of these black lives matter.”

LAS VEGAS (AP) — An officer has been shot in Las Vegas and authorities are responding to another shooting as people protest the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, authorities said.

The officer was shot in the area of the Las Vegas Strip and an officer was involved in a shooting in the downtown area, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reported early Tuesday.

Protesters have been rallying for days across the country over the death of George Floyd, who was seen on video pleading that he couldn’t breathe with a white police officer pressing his knee into his neck for several minutes before he stopped moving.

Police in Las Vegas said Monday that 338 people were arrested during three nights of protests. Officers used tear gas and pepper balls to disperse crowds late Saturday downtown and Sunday on the Las Vegas Strip.

Police said suspects were jailed despite a local court policy calling for most people accused of misdemeanor crimes to receive court summonses instead of time behind bars to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State issued an alert Monday around 10:20 p.m. asking people to avoid the area of High Street and Lane Avenue because of police activity and reports of damage.

The Ohio State student-run newspaper, The Lantern, reported around the same time that police were clearing the intersection. Video from the newspaper shows a large number of protesters in the street.

Police are now using an aerosol to clear the intersection of Lane Avenue and North High Street. #columbusprotest pic.twitter.com/sCMYr99is0

— The Lantern (@TheLantern) June 2, 2020

Shortly after, the newspaper said its reporters were sprayed by officers trying to clear the area after the reporters identified themselves as news media.

Our reporters were sprayed by police after identifying themselves as "news media" repeatedly. News media are exempt from the curfew. #columbusprotest pic.twitter.com/GOzptPjZD9

— The Lantern (@TheLantern) June 2, 2020

According to a release from the City of Columbus, members of the news media are exempt from the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew along with law enforcement, fire and medical personnel. people traveling directly to and from work, people seeking care, fleeing dangerous circumstances, or experiencing homelessness.

Sarah Szilagy, a reporter for the Lantern, says she is ok after being sprayed in the face.

Hi everyone: this was me. I was sprayed in the face after we identified ourselves and presented our press passes multiple times. Media are exempt from curfew. Media are exempt from curfew. https://t.co/DAIDudVpud

— Sarah Szilagy (@sarahszilagy) June 2, 2020

Columbus police said officers issued multiple warnings to everyone gathered in that area to clear the scene due to public safety. They added that members of the media are exempt from the city's curfew but that anyone who is asked to clear an active crime scene is expected to comply.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – On the fifth consecutive day of demonstrations in downtown Columbus, police officers marched with protesters.

Protesters in Columbus, and around the nation, have been gathering after the death of George Floyd in Minnesota last week.

Police and protesters have clashed since Thursday in Columbus, with some gatherings leading to rioters damaging buildings and businesses.

On Monday night, a large number of people participated in a "face down" protest at the Statehouse, where they laid on the ground with the hands behind their back saying “I can’t breathe.”

“There's just way too many stories of too many black men, too many black women, too many people of color, too many people of varying sexualities facing police brutality and I'm honestly sick of it. It has brought me to tears so many times and I'm tired of it happening,” said Kenneth Braggs, an Ohio State University student who attended Monday night’s protest.

Columbus Division of Police Chief Thomas Quinlan was among those who marched with protesters.

Earlier in the day, Stonewall Columbus called on Quinlan to resign over the recent action taken by police, saying officers were attacking peaceful protesters.

The tone changed on Monday night as the protests were peaceful, which was highlighted with police and protesters walking together.

Quinlan talked with protesters and reporters about his relationship with the community.

“I respect other’s rights to disagree with what I do in this division and call for change whether it be me or whether it be within the division they have the right to say that and I welcome everyone’s input,” Quinlan said.

At the end of the march, protesters and police knelt down at High Street & Nationwide Blvd. and prayed together before the city’s curfew at 10 p.m.

MARYSVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) — When Governor Mike DeWine announced in-person high school sports workouts could resume on May 26, a buzz began percolating through Ohio: football in the fall is a possibility. For coaches, that date seemed a bit ambitious.

“My phone blew up with parents and kids, ‘Hey we’re coming back Tuesday,’” said Marysville head coach Brent Johnson. “We had to kinda pull the reigns back to get our plan together.”

About a week later, many student athletes took the field to put those plans into action.

“There was some excitement last night like first day back,” Johnson said. “Parents wanted their kids to come back, they wanted us to have a safe process in place. Our administration here in Marysville, as well as the health department and Memorial Health, put together a great plan we’re following.”

That plan starts before the players arrive for practice.

“So they’re having a self-check at home, where they’re checking temps and filling out a form at home, and then when they arrive, they’ve got to sign another form saying they did that. And then once we have those two forms, they’re ready to go,” Johnson said.

Organizing where they go was the hardest part of bringing the players back to practice.

“The biggest challenge is we’ve got about 115 athletes to get through each day, so how do you do that in groups on 10 and you’re efficient and they’re getting a good workout,” Johnson said.

The answer: six groups with 10 players per group and two workout sessions at different times.

“Everything’s a gym,” Johnson said while watching a group of players do sprints in the parking lot. “We’ve actually made a make-shift weight room in our early college, so we’re lifting there and our weight room, we’ve got two fields conditioning, and two fields doing skill work.”

Marysville football has a lot of room and space to use, but at Worthington Kilbourne, that is not the case. Coach Michael Edwards also has his guys in groups of 10 players, and they are having to schedule many more practice times.

“Right now, we are on a two-group rotation. One group is in the weight room, one group is out on the turf, and then there’s a half-hour cleaning session in between,” Edwards said while explaining the process. “Four days a week we have guys here from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. filtering in and out.”

Edwards said on day one of practice, they had perfect attendance, and that parents and players were all ready to get back and get going. The coaching staff wants to keep that attendance rate high, so they are monitoring players’ health with an online spreadsheet.

“It’s really important for our school district and us to keep track of not only attendance but also symptoms of COVID-19. So you’ll see on there, ‘Did you have a headache? Were you vomiting? Did you have contact with other COVID-19 people?’ And if those are a yes, in any of those boxes, number one, we ask don’t even come. But if you do come and tell us yes on one of those, you’re positive on one of those, we send them home,” Edwards said.

He said it is all about clarity and transparency and taking the extra steps with health and safety because, in the end, there is one goal: to have a football season in the fall.

“I think the one thing we have to continue to stress to our parents and players and everybody, is if we do this right and we get through phase one as a success, we’re onto phase two. And if we get phase two right, then we’re onto phase three,” Edwards said. “Phase three starts becoming a lot more of what we are used to in a normalcy aspect. We just have to take the right steps once again, being smart, being safe, be leaders in this and just hope that progression continues.”

Coronavirus in Ohio resources:

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COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Players from Ohio State University’s football team as well as head coach Ryan Day released a video in support of the message at the center of protests which have risen up across the country, including in Columbus.

Posted to OSU quarterback Justin Fields’ Twitter account, the message features a number of players coming out in support of police reform in the wake of the death of George Floyd while in police custody.

The minute-long black and white video ends with the hashtags #blacklivesmatter and #fightforchange.

#BlackLivesMatter #FightForChange pic.twitter.com/G7SbRrtCf8

— Justin Fields (@justnfields) June 2, 2020

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Ohio State University Emergency Management has issued an alert warning of ongoing police activity near campus related to protesters in downtown Columbus.

The alert warns of police activity in the area of High and Lane streets with reports of damage.

People are urged to avoid the area and remain inside, with the alert reminding recipients of the ongoing curfew in effect for the city from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m.

Buckeye Alert: Ongoing police activity on/near High St Reports of damage. Avoid the area and remain inside. Curfew in effect 10pm – 6am.

— OSU Emergency Mngmnt (@OSU_EMFP) June 2, 2020

Members of The Lantern, OSU’s student newspaper, were pepper sprayed by police.

In a video provided to NBC4 courtesy of The Lantern, the students are heard telling Columbus Police they are members of the media and are exempt from the 10 p.m. curfew set by Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther.

A group of police officers then turn the corner toward the students in the video and releases pepper spray in their direction. One of the students can be heard saying, “I got it on me,” before the video cuts out.

According to the order signed by Ginther, members of the media are among the exemptions allowed while the city is under curfew.

View the full march in the video above.

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Hundreds of protesters were joined by a number of Columbus Police officer, including Chief Thomas Quinlan, at a march Monday night in the wake of the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis.

“We completely disagree with the actions of that officer,” Quinlan said of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with murder in Floyd’s death. “He should have been fired, and he should have been charged.”

Starting at Broad and High streets, the large crowd marched for about 20 minutes, with protesters mingling with officers as they moved.

While some protesters became emotional, mostly there were calm conversations between the protesters and the officers.

Earlier in the day, Quinlan answered some tough questions about how his department has handled this weekend’s protest, which at times turned violent.

“I want them to have their voices heard,” Quinlan said. “As the chief, I want to hear what they have to say. I want to fix problems, that’s what I’m here for.”

After days of downtown protests, the Columbus Police Department is facing accusations of aggressive policing, with officers using tear gas and pepper spray.

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“Everybody wants to say something should be done differently,” Quinlan said. “I get that, I understand it, and I respect it.”

He said it is his job to protect the city and the people in it, and he believes his officers are doing just that.

“The facts are, there are people here, that are going to hurt others, have hurt others, and are destroying businesses and landmarks and we have to put a stop to it,” Quinlan said.

Columbus remains under a state of emergency declared by Mayor Andrew Ginther, imposing a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew on the city. The curfew remains in effect indefinitely until lifted by the mayor.

Police are also facing scrutiny after Congresswoman Joyce Beatty was pepper sprayed while she said she was trying to diffuse a tense situation.

Quinlan said all actions by officers will face appropriate consequences.

“Mistakes can be made, but that’s why we train, that’s why we discipline, and that’s why we hold people accountable,” Quinlan said. “And we will do that, we will continue to do that, and we’ve always done that.”

Moving forward, his message to the public is Columbus will get through this together, and calls for change will be heard.

“We are going to work together to get this done, and they have a commitment from all 2,300 members of the Columbus Division of Police that that will happen,” Quinlan said.

The chief said his goal during these protests is to protect the rights of those who want to protest peacefully while still protecting the city from those who would do it harm.

Earlier in the day, Stonewall Columbus called for Quinlan’s resignation, among other changes within the city’s police department.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Chants of “What's his name? George Floyd!” filled the air Monday as a large crowd gathered at the spot where the black man who became the latest symbol of racial injustice in America lay dying as a white police officer pressed his knee into his neck.

Wearing a face mask with George’s Floyd's image on it, his brother Terrence Floyd dropped to his knees at the storefront that has been turned into a memorial covered with flowers and signs. As he kneeled silently, many who were around him joined him on the ground.

The memorial site was a space of calm compared to the devastation left in the wake of fires and violence that paralyzed the city for days last week before it spread nationwide.

“I understand y’all are upset. I doubt y’all are half as upset as I am,” said Terrence Floyd, who lives in New York. “What are y’all doing? ... That’s not going to bring my brother back at all.”

George Floyd, 46, died last week after he was arrested in Minneapolis, accused of using a forged $20 bill to pay for goods at a grocery store. The white officer, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with murder.

Terrence Floyd took several minutes sitting in the spot where the officer pinned his brother, and he sobbed.

Addressing the crowd, he said he did not understand why the three other police officers who arrested Floyd and who were fired with Chauvin have not also been arrested and charged.

Still, he said, the Floyd family, which he described as “peaceful” and “God-fearing,” wants calm protests at this time with hopes that justice will follow.

“In every case of police brutality the same thing has been happening. You have protests, you destroy stuff ... so they want us to destroy ourselves. Let’s do this another way,” he said, encouraging the crowd to vote and to educate themselves. “Let’s switch it up, y’all.”

Before his death, George Floyd — like millions of Americans during the coronavirus pandemic — was out of work and looking for a new job.

He and some friends moved to Minneapolis from his native Houston around 2014 to find work and start a new life, his lifelong friend Christopher Harris has said. But he was laid off when Minnesota shut down restaurants as part of a stay-at-home order.

“My brother moved here from Houston. He loved it here,” Terrence Floyd said Monday. "So I know he would not want you all to be doing this.”

He said he appreciates the show of support and love for his brother and their family.

Civil rights leader Rev. Kevin McCall of New York, said he brought Terrence Floyd, community members and others out to the memorial site to urge calm.

“We’re sending a message to people all over the country,” he said. “Stop the looting and throw up the peace sign. Don’t stop protesting, but throw up the peace sign.”

At the end of his remarks, Terrence Floyd led the crowd in more chants.

“What’s his name?” he said.

“George Floyd!” the crowd answered back.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- One person is dead after a shooting that happened Monday night in east Columbus.

Police said the shooting happened in the 1900 block of Maryland Avenue around 7:30 p.m.

Suspect information was not available from police.

Police have not identified the person who died.

Maryland Avenue is shut down between Chancery Way and Murray Hill Drive because of the investigation.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump visited a 200-year-old church near the White House Monday that was set on fire as demonstrators clashed with police over the weekend.

Beginning with James Madison, every person who has held the office of president has attended a service at St. John’s Church.

Law enforcement cleared protesters out of the area with tear gas before Trump’s visit. Tear gas canisters could be heard exploding as Trump spoke in the Rose Garden. He then walked over to the church.

The protesters appeared to be acting peacefully before they were dispersed by force.

Trump is urging the nation’s governors to get tougher with violent protesters and to deploy the National Guard.

He said in the Rose Garden that he is ally of peaceful protesters, but he stressed that “I am your president of law and order.”