Ohio Law

Ford Motor Co., recognizing the extent of consumer outrage over the defective 3.8-liter V-6 engine in a wide range of its vehicles, took another major step last week toward extending warranty coverage to owners saddled with costly blown head gaskets. The world's No. 2 auto maker said it would cover repairs on the engines of 300,000 additional vehicles, going back to 1994 and 1995 model years. The action marks the third time Ford has expanded warranty coverage for the 3.

Cincinnati must be one sleepy hamlet come summertime. While crime continued unabated in other big cities, Cincinnati cops and prosecutors kept themselves busy last month poring over records of telephone calls made by and to Wall Street Journal reporter Alecia Swasy. Swasy's alleged offense? In June she reported on personnel and organizational changes in the offing at Cincinnati's corporate giant Procter & Gamble. That's hardly unusual fodder for a reporter.

The tragic carnage and panic that unfolded this week outside Zanesville, Ohio, after a man set free the 56 wild animals he kept on his property were clearly extraordinary events set in motion by a deeply troubled person who later killed himself. But the fact that Terry Thompson — who had been convicted of animal cruelty in 2005 — was even allowed to own lions, tigers and wolves, among other dangerous animals, spotlights the disturbing inadequacy of Ohio law on the issue. Two years ago, the Humane Society of the U.S. singled out Ohio along with Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina and Oklahoma for having the fewest restrictions on keeping wild animals as pets.

The Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a publicly funded scholarship program for low-income students in Cleveland to attend private schools. In a 5-2 decision, the state's highest court expressed support for the merits of the voucher initiative on a limited scale but rejected the provision on a legislative technicality. The ruling takes effect June 30. The Legislature passed the voucher measure in 1995 but improperly tucked it into an appropriations bill, the court found.

Philip Morris Cos., the world's largest tobacco company, and other U.S. cigarette makers will again face a lawsuit by an Ohio smoker's widow who says the companies are responsible for her husband's death. The ruling by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati reverses a lower court's decision to throw out the suit. The district court had said that Jocelyn Tompkin's claims were barred under the Ohio Products Liability Act.

California's law requiring candidates to identify themselves in mailings to voters is unconstitutional, a state appeals court ruled Friday. With apparent reluctance, the 4th District Court of Appeal said the law violates the historic right to speak and write anonymously. The California law had been upheld in 1994 by the state Supreme Court, which found that it was justified by "the state's interest in a well-informed electorate." In Friday's 2-1 ruling, the appeals court cited a 1995 U.S.

Lawyers for the Contemporary Arts Center and its director pleaded innocent today to misdemeanor charges alleging that photographs in an exhibit of the late Robert Mapplethorpe are obscene. Attorney H. Louis Sirkin entered the plea in Hamilton County Municipal Court on behalf of the center and Director Dennis Barrie. The court's assignment commissioner referred the case for trial to Municipal Judge David Albanese and scheduled a pretrial hearing April 30 when a trial date may be set.

Rep. Donald E. Lukens (R-Ohio) resigned from Congress today to avoid facing a second sexual misconduct allegation. "Effective immediately, for the good of the Congress and the integrity of the institution, I resign my seat in the U.S. House of Representatives," Lukens said in a letter to Ohio Gov. Richard Celeste that was read on the floor of the House. Lukens resigned two days after being accused of making sexual advances to a House elevator operator who said he fondled her.

Atlanta Brave third baseman Chipper Jones is upset over what he calls racially motivated criticism from former teammate David Justice. Jones, who acknowledged publicly in 1998 that he had fathered a child out of wedlock, signed a six-year, $90-million contract extension in August. Justice, now with the New York Yankees three years after the Braves traded him away, told Atlanta radio station WQXI-AM that the Braves "look the opposite way on certain guys."