COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Grahm Jones had already photographed lions, zebras and gazelles on a recent weekday morning when he went nose-to-lens with a giraffe. Standing in the back of a Land Rover in the Heart of Africa area, the official photographer of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium clicked away as the inquisitive giraffe sniffed around for a few minutes …

FINDLAY, Ohio (AP) — Officials in northwest Ohio may be forced to abandon a flood control project or pay for it with local money as federal funding for the plan is in jeopardy.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Authorities say an Ohio State University drum major instructor accused of sexually assaulting a student has pleaded guilty to a sexual battery charge. A Franklin County prosecutor’s spokeswoman says 29-year-old Stewart Kitchen entered the plea Monday in Columbus. Court documents allege the assault occurred at Kitchen’s Columbus home in April 2015 after Kitchen and the 19-year-old …

NEWARK, Ohio (AP) — Mind-boggling, beloved, 160 times bigger than life— and soon to be empty. That’s the “Big Basket,” the headquarters of the Longaberger Co. In February, Longaberger parent JRJR Networks announced that it was moving the remaining workers from the Newark building to office space at the company’s manufacturing plant in Frazeysburg in the next few months. Since …

PIKETON, Ohio (AP) — Several mobile homes where eight relatives were found shot to death in southern Ohio are being moved to a secure location as the investigation into who targeted the family and why enters its fourth week, authorities said Thursday. The relocation is intended to preserve the gruesome crime scenes as they were found and to help with …

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A judge on Thursday said five tigers and five other animals seized from a northeast   Ohio farm should be returned, though the state stood by its actions and maintained that the owner hasn’t met Ohio’s tightened restrictions on keeping exotic animals. Owner Cyndi Huntsman of Stump Hill Farm in Massillon argued that her farm is a …

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The state seized five tigers and five other animals from a northeast Ohio farm Wednesday, saying it hasn’t met the requirements of a law cracking down on exotic animal ownership. The Ohio Department of Agriculture had worked with Stump Hill Farm in Massillon on its efforts to get accreditation from the Zoological Association of America and …

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — There will be “ample security” at the funeral for six of the eight people shot and killed in rural southern Ohio in what authorities call a planned attack targeting one family, Ohio’s attorney general said. The service Tuesday at a West Portsmouth church is the last of three funerals for the victims. Seven adults and a …

LIMA, Ohio (AP) — Police say a man drowned trying to save a boy who had fallen into a cold northwest Ohio river. Officials say Greg Stevenson jumped into the water — estimated at about 40 degrees at the time — to rescue the boy. City firefighters pulled him out further downstream. Officials say a police officer jumped into the …

PIKETON, Ohio (AP) — From her house on Union Hill Road, Brittany Barker heard the first sirens first thing in the morning. She looked out and saw four police vehicles rush past. That was only the beginning. “They just kept coming, kept coming, and kept coming,” she recalled. Authorities in this struggling corner of Appalachia were dealing with what turned …