BLANCHESTER, Ohio - A life of farming taught Roger Winemiller plenty about harsh twists of fate: hailstorms and drought, ragweed infestations and jittery crop prices. He hadn't bargained on heroin.

Then, in March 2016, Mr. Winemiller's daughter, Heather Himes, 31, died of an opioid overdose at the family farmhouse, inside a first-floor bathroom overlooking fields of corn and soybeans. Mr. Winemiller was the one who unlocked the bathroom door and found her slumped over, a syringe by her side.

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The Town Center at Levis Commons, a retail center off State Rt. 25 in Perrysburg, said Wednesday it will train some of its security, cleaning, and management staff to administer a life-saving drug used to counteract opiate overdoses.

The center said it was important to acknowledge the heroin problem with training about a drug that can halt the affects of an opiate overdose.

Employees are to be trained by the end of next week by officials with the Urban Minority Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Outreach Program. Training will include how to identify a possible overdose and how to administer naloxone.

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LEXINGTON, Ky. -- One of the nation's largest pharmaceutical distributors allegedly failed to report suspicious orders in Kentucky and elsewhere, contributing to a spike in abuse of painkillers called opioids, federal authorities have charged.

McKesson Corp. agreed to pay a $150 million penalty for alleged violations of federal drug law, the U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday. The case was a civil, not criminal, matter.

The settlement resolves an investigation of a McKesson distribution center in Washington Court House, Ohio, by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency office in London and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky, based in Lexington, according to a news release.

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[photo] Tiffany Wigginton Carnal with her daughter Lyndi at Children's Hospital.(Photo: Provided)

Tiffany Wigginton Carnal is in the fight of her life to save her daughter.

Lyndi Carnal, 17, has Crohn's Disease, an inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract, which can lead to abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss and malnutrition. Lyndi was diagnosed when she was 14. Since that time, she and her mother have spent three Christmases, three New Year's Days and countless other days at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

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An addiction support group is partnering with a Florida treatment center to open a new opioid detox and treatment facility in Maumee - one of three potentially new detox centers in Lucas County.

Matt Bell, a former University of Toledo baseball player with the addiction support group Team Recovery, speaks about his fight against heroin addiction.

Team Recovery will work with Hollywood, Fla.,-based Recovery in the Light to open the center at Arrowhead Park. Using the business names Midwest Detox Center and Midwest Recovery Center, the new facility will have 22 beds for detox and 38 for treatment and recovery for those addicted to opiates, said Matt Bell, co-founder of Team Recovery. It will have medical directors, clinical directors, a 24-hour nursing staff, psychiatrists, and counselors. About 75 percent of staff will be in recovery themselves, as is Mr. Bell.

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COLUMBUS - Gov. John Kasich today signed another bill targeting Ohio's opiate and heroin epidemic.

In 2015, Ohio led the nation in opioid overdose deaths.

Senate Bill 319, sponsored by Sen. John Eklund (R., Chardon), expands access to the anti-overdose drug naloxone to entities such as homeless shelters, halfway houses, schools, and treatment centers that deal with populations at high risk of heroin overdose. It also offers civil immunity to law enforcement officers who carry and use naloxone.

"We have spent a billion dollars on this issue. A billion dollars...," Mr. Kasich said. "Thank God we expanded Medicaid, because that Medicaid money is helping to rehab people...There are going to be more tools to come, but we're not going to defeat this just from the top down."

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[photo] Trooper Mike Wilson of the Ohio Highway Patrol leads his canine partner, Pluto, past a truck on I-70 in Madison County. Last year, Ohio registered a record 3,050 overdose deaths, with many attributed to painkillers and heroin abuse.

Lt. Robert Sellers said state troopers' first job is to protect the public. Last year, troopers recovered 156 pounds of heroin and record amounts of painkillers and methamphetamines.

COLUMBUS - The Ohio Highway Patrol says the agency's new anti-drug emphasis is paying off with record seizures of heroin, opiates, and other illegal substances.

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Sgt. Kurt Beidelschies of the Ohio State Highway Patrol walks to his cruiser holding a truck driver's log books that will be examined for discrepancies after a drug-sniffing dog "alerted" to the presence of drugs on the truck along I-70 in Madison County.

Lt. Robert Sellers of the Ohio State Highway Patrol explains how his agency's new focus on stopping criminal activity along with its traditional role of traffic safety has led to record drug seizures in 2016, including a variety of drugs due for disposal.

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WASHINGTON - President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general is an outspoken foe of efforts to legalize marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes - and that has some wondering what it means for the 28 states that have legalized marijuana in some form.

Those states include Ohio, which is in the process of working on regulations for its own medical marijuana legalization. Aaron Marshall, a spokesman for Ohioans for Medical Marijuana, said his hope remains with Trump, who has repeatedly said he supports leaving marijuana legalization efforts to the states.

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COLUMBUS - In a case closely watched by law enforcement statewide, a sharply divided Ohio Supreme Court on Friday said prosecutors must prove the weight of the actual cocaine - and not fillers - to get stiffer sentences in drug busts.

For Rafael Gonzales, 58, convicted in Wood County in 2012 of first-degree felony cocaine possession, the 4-3 decision means his 11-year sentence could be slashed to one.

Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger, writing for the majority, said state law's definition of "cocaine" does not provide for fillers such as baking soda.

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Health officials in Lucas County are working to get the area's first needle exchange program up and running by the spring.

Health officials in Lucas County are working to get the area's first needle exchange program up and running by the spring, adding another weapon to their arsenal in the fight against the heroin and opioid epidemic.

Toledo will be the last large metro area in Ohio to adopt such an exchange. Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati all have them, as do the smaller cities of Dayton and Portsmouth. Such programs aim to decrease the likelihood of spreading HIV or hepatitis C among users who share needles.

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Findlay City Council made sure to give its two-year moratorium on medical marijuana a final vote Tuesday, but tabled legislation that would continue funding for the Arts Partnership of Greater Hancock County through the city's hotel/motel bed tax.

Council voted 9-1 to enact a ban on dispensing, cultivating or processing medical marijuana within city limits until Sept. 8, 2018. That will be exactly two years from the date the Ohio Legislature legalized the drug. Council plans to revisit the ban once state officials establish rules, which is expected to take at least two years.

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CINCINNATI - On the day he almost died, John Hatmaker bought a packet of Oreos and some ruby-red Swedish Fish at the corner store for his 5-year-old son. He was walking home when he spotted a man who used to sell him heroin.

Mr. Hatmaker, 29, had overdosed seven times in the four years he had been addicted to pain pills and heroin. But he hoped he was past all that. He had planned to spend that Saturday afternoon, Aug. 27, showing his son the motorcycles and enjoying the music at a prayer rally for Hope Over Heroin in this region stricken by soaring rates of drug overdoses and opioid deaths.

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Council Moving for Medical Marijuana Moratorium

With the term medical marijuana buzzing around, Avon Lake City Council's safety committee moved along a moratorium to a collective committee meeting during its meeting Aug. 24.

"A number of communities are doing this to allow for the dust to settle," said Safety Committee Chair David Kos, adding that they want to see how everything will land in place and how it will take effect.

Mayor Greg Zilka agreed with Kos that a lot of communities are taking action to give them some breathing room.

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President Barack Obama has said he considers marijuana no more dangerous than alcohol. More than three years ago, he said he had "bigger fish to fry" than targeting pot smokers in states that permit recreational use.

Federal officials remain in a haze when it comes to articulating a comprehensible policy on marijuana.

Perhaps last week's ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals curtailing the feds from prosecuting legitimate growers and distributors will help clear the air.

Half the nation's states, led by California, permit medicinal applications. Four states and the District of Columbia allow recreational use. In November, California could become the fifth.

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Six-Month Measure Needed to Evaluate Issue, City Officials Say.

MIAMISBURG - Miamisburg is moving to become the latest Miami Valley community to place a temporary ban on medical marijuana.

The city is considering a six-month ban on issuing and processing "any permits allowing retail dispensaries, cultivators, or processors of marijuana" in the city, according to a proposed ordinance.

Last month Beavercreek City Council approved a similar measure while Troy voted in favor of a 180-day moratorium.

Those cities' actions and the measure before Miamisburg City Council tonight follow Gov. John Kasich's signing in June of a bill that allows medical marijuana to be prescribed for certain ailments.

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COLUMBUS (AP) - An Ohio board that oversees attorney conduct said Thursday that attorneys aren't allowed to help someone establish a legal medical marijuana-related business in the state because using, growing and selling marijuana remains a federal crime.

The state Supreme Court's Board of Professional Conduct also said Ohio attorneys aren't legally permitted to use medical marijuana or to be personally involved in related businesses. Attorneys sought the opinion to determine whether a law barring employers from disciplining professionals from working with marijuana businesses applies to lawyers

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Sheffield Village Council will discuss Aug. 15 whether to prohibit the cultivation, processing and retail dispensing of marijuana for medical use in all its zoning districts during its regular meeting.

Mayor John Hunter said the Council also will have another option: a moratorium for up to six months.

Hunter said there is the moratorium for six months option because this will give the Village Council and the planning commission to review all Ohio statutes, criminal codes and the Village's zoning code.

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The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department will soon begin a local needle exchange program aimed at preventing intravenous drug users from contracting HIV or Hepatitis C.

The health board voted unanimously Thursday in support of starting a program which will be administered at two local sites. Both the Talbot Center, a drug addiction recovery center in East Toledo, and St. Paul United Methodist Church downtown have agreed to be access points for the exchanges, said Kelly Burkholder-Allen, acting director of health services.

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(AP) - Apparently unconstitutional portions of Ohio's medical marijuana law, which set aside a percentage of the state's pot licenses for minorities, were spotted during legislative debate but left in the bill to gain needed votes, a key lawmaker says.

State Sen. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican, said legally prickly provisions exposed by The Associated Press in June may require changes. The law takes effect Sept. 8, at which point a new panel will begin laying out a blueprint for how the new industry will work.

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