Jim Letizia

The Columbus Blue Jackets are scheduled to open the new season on October 13th at Chicago. But the opener may be put on hold. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman says the league will lock out the players if the sides can not reach a new collective bargaining agreement by the end of the current deal on September 15th. Bettman says player salaries are the main issue. The league also wants to cut the players share of revenues from 57 to 46 percent. Bettman says just over a third of the league's 30 teams are profitable. The last NHL lockout was before the 2004 season.

A Madison County motorist will serve 2-and-a-half years in prison for striking and killing a woman standing alongside a road earlier this year. 

The U.S. Agriculture Department says corn growers could end up with their lowest average yield in 17 years as the drought continues in Ohio and many other states. The Department is cutting its projected  corn production to 10.8 billion bushels from last month's forecast of nearly 13 billion bushels. The Department expects corn growers to average 123.4 bushels per acre, down 24 bushels from last year. That would be the lowest average yield since 1995. Soybean production is now forecast at 2.69 billion bushels, a 12 percent decline from last year.

Acting Ohio Schools Superintendent Michael Sawyers says he misused a Perry Local School district credit card two years ago. A State Education Department spokesperson says it was a mistake. John Charlton says Sawyers admitted it when he was hired as deputy State Superintendent in 2010. Charlton says it was not an issue then and is not an issue now. Sawyers says the district credit card looked similar to his personal card and he mixed them up. Sawyers is taking over today for Superintendent Stan Heffner, who resigned after he was found to have engaged in ethical violations. 

Major League Soccer has rescheduled Saturday's Columbus Crew match to allow the players to attend teammate Kirk Urso's funeral. The game will be played August 22nd. The 22-year-old Urso died Sunday after collapsing at a downtown bar. The Franklin County Coroner is awaiting toxicology test results before determining an official cause of death. 

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted says voters will now be able to update their addresses online. Husted says it should help voters meet the requirement of being registered at their current address 30 days before an election. He said it will also save tax dollars by reducing the workload at county elections offices and improve the security of voter rolls, leaving less room for fraud. But Democrats say they have some concerns about the new system. Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles reports. 

A new survey shows a majority of voters over age 50 in Ohio and across the country have serious reservations about when or if they'll be able to retire. Because of that, they're saying the presidential candidates need to talk more about Social Security and Medicare. The poll was commissioned by AARP, and surveyed voters in Ohio and five other states. Pollster Guy Molyneaux says 50 percent of baby boomer voters in Ohio believe they will retire at some point, but 64 percent think they will have to delay retirement. Molyneaux says overall, boomers are pessimistic.  

The Olentangy Local School Board last night approved three-year contracts with unions representing its maintenance staff and bus drivers. The contracts include 1 percent pay raises for the upcoming school year and half-percent hikes each of the following two years. The deals also include changes to health care coverage that gives employees a choice between two plans. The unions previously ratified the deals. The board also approved 2 percent pay hikes for school administrators over each of the next three years.  

The state auditor's office has set up a temporary hotline to allow Columbus City Schools employees to anonymously report attendance fixing cases without fear of reprisal. Auditor David Yost is investigating attendance manipulation by district officials designed to improve student scores on state tests. Yost says he's concerned that employees are afraid to talk. School officials discourage employees from talking to the media or others outside of the district about internal operations. The hotline number is (855) 554-1555. 

A memorial vigil is scheduled tonight at 8pm for a Hilliard Bradley High School band member killed in a crash late Wednesday. The gathering for 15-year-old David Phillips III will be held at the band's practice field.  The car Phillips was riding in crashed on Amity Road in Brown Township. Three other teens who were also members of the school's marching band were injured. Franklin County sheriff's deputies say they are investigating whether to charge the 16-year-old driver for having too many passengers in the vehicle. 

Columbus police are investigating the 16th report of an attack by the man they have dubbed the "Hilltop Creeper." Police say the man broke into a South Terrace Avenue home yesterday and groped a women inside. The suspect  has broken into the homes of women on the Hilltop and in Franklinton since December, including four in the past week. Police say he either watches or touches women as they sleep.

Columbus police officials say two officers were forced to shoot and kill an armed man overnight at a hotel near Busch Boulevard on the north side.  Police say 28-year-old James Hattersley threatened his wife, the clerk, and the officers before he was shot on the second floor of the hotel. Hattersley and his wife were seen arguing outside before the shooting, and she says he has a history of mental illness. Police say drugs and alcohol are also suspected to have been factors in the incident. 

The Centers for Disease Control reports a five-fold increase of cases of the H3N2 strain of swine flu. The number of people infected is now 158, thanks to a wave of new cases confirmed in Indiana and Ohio. Two people have been hospitalized.  

An arrest warrant has been issued for a man who Columbus Police say offered a stranded woman a ride, then kidnapped and raped her. Police say 44-year-old Robbie Jefferson assaulted the 34-year-old woman over the weekend after picking her up near her vehicle that was stranded on Norton Road. 

A Reynoldsburg motorist was sentenced Thursday to 3-and-a-half years in prison for a fatal accident that happened while he was texting behind the wheel. Prosecutors say 58-year-old Daniel Jacobs caused the death of a student driver from Pickerington. Prosecutors say Jacobs ran into a driver's education vehicle that was parked along the side of I-270 near route 33 last year, killing 16-year-old Dalton Ludwig. 

One day after snapping an 11-game losing streak, the Cleveland Indians fired pitching coach Scott Radinsky. Columbus Clippers Pitching coach Ruben Niebla was named an interim replacement Thursday. Indians General Manager Chris Antonetti says Niebla is in his 12th year in the organization, the last two in Columbus. Antonetti says the team has yet to name Nibla's replacement in Columbus.  

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien confirms Democratic State Representative Clayton Luckie is the subject of an ongoing investigation. But O'brien says the inquiry does not involve bribery as reported by the "Dayton Daily News." O'Brien did not specify what it involves or name the investigating agency. Luckie was appointed in 2006. 

Bond is set at 250-thousand dollars for the man charged with carrying a loaded gun, ammunition and knives into a showing of the latest Batman movie last weekend in Westlake. 37-year-old Scott Smith is due back in court on Tuesday to face charges of carrying concealed weapons and having weapons under disability.

Franklin County Sheriff Zach Scott says more than 600 concealed-carry permits in Franklin and surrounding counties are invalid because three men issued falsified training certificates to the applicants. Deputies have arrested the trio on charges of complicity to falsification to obtain a permit. Scott says one sold signed training certificates to the others, who did not fully conduct training sessions. Scott has notified the effected permit holders.  

Ohio sheriffs issued nearly 19-thousand concealed carry permits in the first three months of the year, a 40-percent increase from the same period in 2010. Gun rights advocates are crediting recent law changes with making it more comfortable for people to carry concealed weapons in restaurants and bars that serve liquor, as well as in school safety zones. Ohio was ranked 11th last year in estimated total active permits and 25th in percentage of the population holding one. Ohioans have been permitted to carry concealed weapons since 2004.