The release did not give an exact date or location.

The OVI checkpoint, funded by federal grant funds, is planned to deter and intercept impaired drivers, the release said.

Already in 2021, there have been 13 fatal crashes, compared to 15 for all of 2020, with 40% of them being alcohol related, according to the release.

If you plan to consume alcohol, designate a driver or make other arrangements before you drink, the release said.

Manuel DeJesus Jr. was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash on Ohio Route 58 north of Ohio Route 113.

A 25-year-old South Amherst woman suffered serious injuries and was taken to Mercy Health Lorain Hospital, according to the release.

At 12:53 a.m., a 2013 Kia Optima driven by DeJesus was northbound on Route 58 as a 2009 Jeep Liberty driven by a South Amherst woman was southbound on Route 58, the release said.

The Jeep drove left of the center line and struck the Kia head on, the release said.

The woman was not wearing a seatbelt and Amherst firefighters had to cut her out of the Jeep, the release said.

A condition update for the woman was not immediately available.

“Impairment is suspected and the crash remains under investigation,” the release said. “Any charges would be pending the results of the investigation.”

LifeCare EMS, the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office, Lorain County Coroner’s Office and D&A Towing assisted at the scene.

According to a news release from the Westlake Police Department, the 19-year-old woman and 24-year-old man were identified after the restaurant was able to piece together a phone number used to make the reservation earlier in the evening.

Investigators were able to identify both individuals and misdemeanor theft warrants were issued for the couple, the release said.

Cincinnati police said 31-year-old Michelle McDonald died at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center following the shooting shortly after 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Medical center staff were able to deliver the baby, but the child — Aaliyah Marie McCoy — died on Saturday, police said Monday.

Police say a 31-year-old man is facing charges. Police called the deaths of mother and child “a true tragedy” and vowed to do “everything possible” to hold him accountable. The investigation by the department’s homicide unit continues.

Men of Courage held a community open house July 15 inside Sunset Terrace at Lakeview Park in Lorain.

Founded by Anthony B. Jones, the group aims to develop men to become priests in their homes as well as leaders and role models in the community.

Jones, a native of Lorain, lived in Columbus when he began the organization in 2010.

“We started out as a men’s group,” he said. “We focused on trying to help men become better fathers and husbands, and it eventually grew into the youth aspect.”

The organization currently operates in multiple series: men’s development; youth mentoring; and community.

“We are primarily a school-based mentoring program,” Jones said. “Our signature is the youth piece.”

In an attempt to reach youth outside of the schools, Men of Courage does mentoring at the Harrison Cultural Community Centre in Lorain twice a month on Saturdays.

Although Jones has relocated to Lorain, Men of Courage still operates in Columbus.

Jones said he has aspirations to become a state-wide organization.

“I’ve always wanted to have a presence in all counties inside Ohio, and this is the beginning of that expansion,” he said.

The Lorain County chapter has 10 mentors of different backgrounds, but with a common interest to help develop men.

“We’re trying to work together to keep kids off the street and make better decisions,” Jones said.

He said Men of Courage also partnered with Lorain Professional Firefighters Local 267 and the Lorain Police Department.

Jones said he hopes to provide opportunities for young men to explore these career pathways and interact with the person behind the uniform.

He said he hopes the group will help and impact young men to grow up to become mentors themselves.

“As we plant a seed into the lives of these men and grow older, I hope that they will want to take over and continue the legacy,” Jones said.

Interested participants can contact Jones at 216-307-2277.

That changed Thursday when the first payment of $1,000 hit Daniel’s bank account — and dollars started flowing to the pockets of more than 35 million families around the country. Daniel, a 35-year-old mother of four, didn’t even know the tax credit existed until President Joe Biden expanded it for one year as part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that passed in March.

Previously, only people who earned enough money to owe income taxes could qualify for the credit. Daniel went nearly a decade without a job because her eldest son is autistic and needed her. So she got by on Social Security payments. And she had to live at Fairfield Court, a public housing project that dead-ends at Interstate 64 as the highway cuts through the Virginia capital of Richmond.

But the extra $1,000 a month for the next year could be a life-changer for Daniel, who now works as a community organizer for a Richmond nonprofit. It will help provide a security deposit on a new apartment.

“It’s actually coming right on time,” she said. “We have a lot going on. This definitely helps to take a load off.”

Biden has held out the new monthly payments, which will average $423 per family, as the key to halving child poverty rates. But he is also setting up a broader philosophical battle about the role of government and the responsibilities of parents.

Democrats see this as a landmark program along the same lines as Social Security, saying it will lead to better outcomes in adulthood that will help economic growth. But many Republicans warn that the payments will discourage parents from working and ultimately feed into long-term poverty.

Some 15 million households will now receive the full credit. The monthly payments amount to $300 for each child who is 5 and younger and $250 for those between 5 and 17. The payments are set to lapse after a year, but Biden is pushing to extend them through at least 2025.

The president ultimately would like to make the payments permanent — and that makes this first round of payments a test as to whether the government can improve the lives of families.

Biden invited beneficiaries to the White House to mark the first round of payments, saying in a Thursday speech that the day carried a historic resonance because of the boost it will give families across the nation.

“This would be the largest ever one-year decrease in child poverty in the history of the United States of America,” the president said. “Millions of children and their families, starting today, their lives are about to change for the better. And our country would be better off for it as well.”

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who successfully championed increasing the credit in 2017, said that the Democrats’ plans will turn the benefits into an “anti-work welfare check” because almost every family can now qualify for the payment regardless of whether the parents have a job.

“Not only does Biden’s plan abandon incentives for marriage and requirements for work, but it will also destroy the child-support enforcement system as we know it by sending cash payments to single parents without ensuring child-support orders are established,” Rubio said in a statement Wednesday.

The administration disputed those claims. Treasury Department estimates indicate that 97% of recipients of the tax credit have wages or self-employment income, while the other 3% are grandparents or have health issues. The credit also starts to phase out at $150,000 for joint filers, so there is no disincentive for the poor to work because a job would just give them more income.

Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet said the problem is one of inequality. He said that economic growth has benefited the top 10% of earners in recent decades, while families are struggling with the rising costs of housing, child care and health care. He said his voters back in Colorado are concerned that their children will be poorer than previous generations and that requires the expansion of the child tax credit.

“It’s the most progressive change to America’s tax code ever,” Bennet told reporters.

Parenthood is an expensive undertaking. The Agriculture Department estimated in 2017, the last year it published such a report, that a typical family spends $233,610 to raise a child from birth to the age of 17. But wealthier children get far more invested in their education and upbringing, while poorer children face a constant disadvantage. Families in the top third of incomes spend about $10,000 more annually per child than families in the lower third.

The child tax credit was created in 1997 to be a source of relief, yet it also became a driver of economic and racial inequality as only parents who owed the federal government taxes could qualify for its full payment. Academic research in 2020 found that about three-quarters of white and Asian children were eligible for the full credit, but only about half of Black and Hispanic children qualified.

In the census tract where Daniel lives in Richmond, the median household income is $14,725 —almost five times lower than the national median. Three out of every 4 children live in poverty. For a typical parent with two children in that part of Richmond, the expanded tax credit would raise income by almost 41%.

The tax credit is as much about keeping people in the middle class as it is about lifting up the poor.

Katie Strelka, of Brookfield, Wisconsin, was laid off from her job as a beauty and hair care products buyer for the Kohl’s department store chain in September as the pandemic tightened its grip on the country. She and her sons, 3-year-old Oliver and 7-year-old Robert, were left to depend on her husband’s income as a consultant for retirement services. The family was already struggling to pay for her husband’s kidney transplant five years earlier and his ongoing therapies before she was laid off, she said.

With no job prospects, Strelka reenrolled in college to study social work in February. Last month she landed a new job as an assistant executive director for the nonprofit International Association for Orthodontics. Now she needs day care again. That amounts to $1,000 a month for both kids.

All the tax credit money will go to cover that, said Strelka, 37.

“Every little bit is going to help right now,” she said. “I’m paying for school out-of-pocket. I’m paying for the boys’ stuff. The cost of food and everything else has gone up. We’re just really thankful. The tide feels like it’s turning.”

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Associated Press writer Todd Richmond in Madison, Wis., contributed to this report.

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This story has been updated to correct that Katie Strelka pays $1,000 a month for day care, not $1,000 a week. It has also been corrected to fix the spelling of Fairfield Court, not Courts. And it has been corrected to show the spelling of the Wisconsin mother’s last name is Strelka, not Stekla.

The decision released July 19 in favor of Durham Ridge Investments LLC, sends the case back to Common Pleas Court.

Durham Ridge owns several parcels which make up the golf course.

In 2010, the Lorain County Auditor’s Office set the combined value at $4,658,000.

Durham Ridge contested the valuation, arguing the parcels were worth $1.8 million based on a separate appraisal completed in April 2010.

Upon submitting a copy of the $1.8 million appraisal, the Board of Revision did not adjust the valuation, concluding the auditor’s value was fair and equitable, according to the decision.

An appeal to Common Pleas Court affirmed the $4.6 million valuation, ruling Durham Ridge did not provide “competent and credible” evidence to support a decrease in the value of the parcels.

In a hearing before the Board of Revision, Durham Ridge managing member Donald Keehan indicated a full appraisal could be submitted, but the record transmitted to Common Pleas Court did not contain a copy of the appraisal.

Common Pleas Court subsequently ruled Durham Ridge had “offered several pages of an appraisal” and the appraisal “was not offered into evidence in its entirety at the hearing.”

The court also ruled Durham Ridge had failed to authenticate the appraisal.

“The trial court’s findings about what was submitted at the hearing are not supported by the record,” Appeals Court Judge Jennifer Hensal wrote. “There is no indication in the transcript that Mr. Keehan offered only several pages of the appraisal as opposed to the entire document.

“Mr. Keehan repeatedly stated at the hearing that he had the ‘full appraisal’ and never indicated that he had, or was offering only part of it.”

The Ninth District declined to rule on a second assignment of error arguing Common Pleas Court erred in refusing to hold an evidentiary hearing stating the issue was moot.

A third assignment of error arguing Common Pleas Court’s affirmation the Board of Revision’s valuation was premature.

Hensal was joined by Judges Thomas Teodisio and Lynne Callahan in concurring opinions in the 3-0 decision by the court.

Representatives from the Lorain County Auditor’s Office were not immediately available for comment.

A flood of memories came back to me as I realized that it has been 50 years since I had taken part in this annual race.

My brother, Kim, was the first one in my family to race in the derby held in Amherst. He won locally and continued on to compete in Akron, only to lose by inches in the semifinal race. With a win, he would have qualified for a college scholarship.

The real motivator behind my brother and me taking part in the derby was my father, Richard Meyers. Back in the ’60s, and ’70s, this was a huge local event in Amherst, across the country, and even the world.

After my brother won in 1969, my dad turned his attention to me. The rules stated that you could only win once locally and move on to the national derby in Akron. The age limits were 11—16, and guess what, I was turning 11 in 1971.

With my family support behind me I decided to enter the race in Amherst. We went to several of the instructional meetings, and I met many of the other kids who were racing.

In 1971 there were really no restrictions other than your age and the combined weight limit of the car and driver.

You were able to build any shape or style of soap box car that you wanted. My dad knew what he wanted to build that year. He had scouted the previous year’s championship racer who was from Midland, Texas. We did pattern my car after the Texas car — a sleek, lay back design, dark red in color. The driver is lying on his back, peering through the steering assembly, and braking with one foot after a race. There was not much room in the cockpit, and luckily I was pretty small.

At age 11, I had obviously never driven any type of car on the road. After months of building the car with my dad and my brother at my side, it was time to practice, and see how the it handled. We took the car out to Quarry Road in New Russia Township for a drive.

With my dad at the top of the hill and my brother at the bottom, away I went. Lying on your back only three inches off of the ground, gives you the feeling that you are flying down the hill. I could feel the rush of the wind through the cockpit. I began to feel more confident with each practice run.

The local derby in Amherst was July 19, 1971. Large ramps were in place on Route 58 at Cleveland Avenue. The racers would travel about 1/4 mile north to the finish line, at speeds of 25-35 mph. I really started to get nervous prior to the start of the race, because of the media attention, along with the fact that several hundred spectators lined both sides of Route 58. After winning my first heat I began to settle down and enjoyed the experience.

I did not officially know who won the final heat, until we stopped well past the finish line, and I was yanked from my car by family members yelling “you won.”

What a rush for a young kid, as I was now taken to the media circle with my car, given a boatload of trophies, along with a $500 savings bond.

From that moment and into the next month I was treated like a local celebrity. People I didn’t know would come up to me wanting an autograph or a photo. The local media followed me and my family through the process of getting ready for the national race in Akron.

When arriving at Derby Downs in Akron, all of the racers were called “champs” and nothing else.

We spent a week at Derby camp, building up to the final race day. Over 500 kids qualified for Akron by winning their local races. I roomed with the “A” city kids from all over the country (Akron, Amherst, Amarillo, Aberdeen, etc).

I also met kids from all over the world, and it was customary to exchange buttons, all of which I still have today. And where else could you meet stars like Oscar Robertson, Jim Backus (“Mr. Magoo,” “Gilligan’s Island”), Lorne Greene (“Bonanza”), and of course the Banana Splits.

I did have some hard times that week, though.

During trial runs, I wrecked my car when the steering went out and I hit a retaining wall. I was crushed. My family believed that the car had been tampered with, although nothing could be proven. We patched things and got ready to race.

On the race day, looking down this large track and seeing 75,000 people in the stands really, really, made me nervous. I also knew that my car was not quite the same, but I had to do my best. That effort did get me through a fast — 50 mph speeds on this track — and competitive heat, although I finished a close second and was eliminated.

Even though the derby was now over, my family held a large party with the derby families we had met because of this great event.

It was a shame that the All American Derby took a huge hit in the 1980s due to a cheating scandal. Many of the top sponsors dropped out, and the race was almost cancelled for good. The administrators in Akron refused to let this happen, and it seems to be on the rebound now as the races continue into their 83rd year.

My brother and I still have our race cars in storage. We will occasionally pull them out, put the wheels on, and let our kids and now grandkids play with them. Of course we will also tell the stories that are behind the cars, and our experiences. Even though the derby is a smaller version of what it once was, I will always cherish those memories.

The Ave Festival is making its debut at 11087 Middle Ave. in Elyria.

The three-day event began July 16 and concludes July 18.

Festival hours are from noon until 9 p.m.

Organizer Brittany Jackson is a serial entrepreneur whose name is known for her different endeavors, most notably Trench Way Boxing.

“I grew up in Elyria, so I’ve always wanted to be able to give back to my community,” Jackson said.

The event was inspired by the slew of festivals which take place throughout Lorain County, she said.

“I always went to different festivals around town, and believed one day I, would do something similar,” Jackson said. “This is the first annual festival, so I’m going to pull out all the stops.”

Jackson said she’s most inspired by the lack of community events and opportunities.

“We don’t have much going on, so I always felt like I could do more,” she said. “I just believe in myself, so I knew I could make it happen.”

The first night of the festival included a boxing match with multiple fight cards.

“Boxing is my life, I don’t box, but I love it,” Jackson said. “So, if there is any way I can get my fighters into the limelight, I will make it happen.”

Overall, the festival incorporates more than 25 vendors who sell a variety of products and merchandise, ranging from home-cooked meals to custom made T-shirts.

“I want to make a difference in my community,” Jackson said. “A part of that is to provide avenues for businesses to be known and make money.”

Vendor Tammie Carroll-Smith of Tammie’s Touch, which specializes in custom-made items, said she wants to demonstrate successful small business ownership.

“There are positive Black-owned business owners,” Carroll-Smith said. “I just want to encourage the young people and plant a seed in their lives so they can give back to the community.”

Jackson said this is the first event of many she will produce in the county.

“Don’t get tired of me, because I’m not going to stop,” she said.