COLUMBUS — State lawmakers’ last-minute data center legislation was approved by the Ohio Senate Energy Committee on Wednesday morning.

House Bill 646, formerly the Data Center Study Commission bill, is now a wide-ranging measure that addresses data center taxes, energy policy, water use, and local government protections, among other provisions. The Senate Energy Committee held three hearings on the bill after introducing it on Tuesday morning.

The bill was approved along party lines with Democrats voting against it. 

State Sen. Brian Chavez (R., Marietta), chairman of the Senate Energy Committee and co-chairman of the Joint Data Center Committee, emphasized that H.B. 646 is not the final word on Ohio data center policy.

“A lot of the conversations that we’re having is, ‘We wish this bill would do this, we wish it would do this’ — whatever,” Mr. Chavez said. “We did the best that we could in the time that we had. This is a first step. There will be more bills.” 

State Sen. Kent Smith (D., Euclid) said H.B. 646 is a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t go far enough for Democrats to support it. 

“This bill is a substantial improvement over where we are right now,” Mr. Smith said, pointing specifically to provisions protecting electric ratepayers. 

“That being said, it doesn’t get to the literal billion dollar problem of agreements that were signed during the Kasich administration,” Mr. Smith said. “We’ve got to figure out a way that the three largest billion-dollar tech corporations are not getting billions of Ohio taxpayer dollars when we can’t fund SNAP administration and we can’t fund the Fair School Funding Plan.” 

Data center sales tax exemption

According to copies of contracts provided by the Ohio Department of Development, tech giants Meta, Google, and Amazon all received 100 percent sales tax exemptions for up to 40 years for data centers built in the state. Those contracts were signed during the administration of former Gov. John Kasich. 

The Ohio Department of Development currently holds data center sales and use tax exemption agreements with 18 companies around the state, agency Director Lydia Mihalik said. 

“As Ohio’s position within the industry has strengthened and the market has evolved, the DeWine administration has taken a more targeted approach,” Ms. Mihalik said. “Earlier deals often included 100 percent tax exemptions for terms of up to 40 years, while more recent ones have generally been structured at a 50 percent exemption rate for terms of 10 to 15 years.” 

According to Ohio Department of Taxation spokesman Andrea Lannom, the data center sales tax break cost the state nearly $555 million in 2024 and nearly $1.6 billion in 2025 — much higher than the expected totals of around $135 million. 

Gov. Mike DeWine recently paused data center sales and use tax exemption requests. 

Language in H.B. 646 would limit data center sales and use tax exemptions to 50 percent moving forward, Mr. Chavez said. 

“We have the benefit of hindsight. You make a deal that you feel is a good deal at the time, and hopefully you have all the good intentions,” Mr. Chavez said. “What we learned from this is ultra long-term deals are probably not in the best interest of the state. We need to be able to have the benefit of going back and modifying.”

Mr. Smith offered an amendment that would have levied an additional tax on large capacity data centers in an effort to recoup some of the forgone revenue, but it was blocked by Republicans.

Mr. Chavez said the amendment is worth considering in the future, but it didn’t have enough support to pass Wednesday. 

Dan Diorio, vice president of state policy for the Data Center Coalition, said capping the sales and use tax exemption at 50 percent would make Ohio less competitive.

“A 50 percent cap risks shifting future projects to more attractive states, resulting in lost investment, lost construction jobs, and lost long-term economic activity in Ohio,” Mr. Diorio said.

“No other state has a discretionary sales and use tax exemption structured like Ohio’s current program,” he continued. “Reducing the total value of the exemption while maintaining discretion would insert significant uncertainty into the market at the exact time Ohio is competing for major technology infrastructure investment.”

Other provisions in bill

In addition to the modified sales tax break, the following provisions are among those included in the bill:

● Removes the ability of a data center to receive the 30-year job creation mega project grant.

● Limits local property tax abatements for data centers to 50 percent. 

● Requires the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to establish a water quality baseline for data centers.

● Data centers are required to track water withdrawals and report that information to the state.

● Data centers are required to use a closed-loop system or other water conservation method.

● Creates a data center rate class for electric distribution utilities. 

● Creates a collaboration surety bond that data centers must deposit with the tax commissioner to ensure local governments are financially protected. 

● The Ohio Department of Development is required to publish a comprehensive toolkit that local governments can use to evaluate data center projects. 

Kids and counselors come together during the eighth annual Camp Invention for STEM learning at Grove Patterson Academy on Wednesday in West Toledo.

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A 33-year-old-man has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting Wednesday morning in North Toledo.

Marquan Whitiker, 22, was found shot in the 800 block of Woodward Avenue at 12:47 a.m. after officers were dispatched on a report of a person shot. He was taken to Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center, where he later died.

On Wednesday afternoon, police announced they had issued a warrant for Raheem Nicholson for murder for Whitiker’s killing.

Whitiker is the city of Toledo’s 10th homicide of the year. 

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call or text the Crime Stopper program at 419-255-1111. Callers may remain anonymous and could be eligible for a reward.

In Poland, a piknik is a weekend staple for a lot of communities.

To honor the Polish heritage of those locally, the Toledo Area Polka Society continues that tradition through its annual Polish Summer Picnic, featuring live polka music and more, said Joe Zalewski, treasurer and entertainment chairman of the organization.

“We felt there was an opportunity to create this event once the Green Street Polish Festival [shut down],” Mr. Zalewski said. “We saw an opportunity to establish a new tradition in the Toledo area. … We’ve been going strong ever since.”

The Polish Summer Picnic returns for its 11th year at the Oak Shade Grove pavilion in Oregon on Friday and Saturday. Friday’s picnic will be held from 5 to 11 p.m. and Saturday’s will be from noon to 10 p.m. 

Mr. Zalewski said people can look forward to live entertainment as soon as the gates open, with a pierogi-eating contest at 4 p.m. Saturday; dance performances from local group Echoes of Poland; and food from vendors including Stanley’s Market, the Toledo Swiss Society, Focaccia’s, and I Love Busia’s Pierogi. 

General admission is $10. Children under 16 get in free. 

Dave Glaza, president of the Toledo Area Polka Society, said considers the picnic a “good, family-friendly event.” 

“We’ve got some of the awesome top-tier bands in the country going to be there playing,” Mr. Glaza said. “We’ve got a good selection of Polish food and Polish beers and soft drinks and hopefully sunshine and beautiful weather. It’s just a great time.” 

He said the music is always incredible when he stops by the picnic every year. 

“A lot of people are familiar with the [German-American Festival] and they’d have their bands or polka bands,” he said. “Ours is Polish style, which is a little different.”

The picnic will also feature live performances from Randy Krajewski & Badinov, Seven, the Toledo-Polish American Concert Band, and DynaBrass, of which Mr. Zalewski is a member.

“You can bring your lawn chairs,” Mr. Zalewski said. “We have plenty of seating and picnic tables. … It’s really just a family celebration of our Polish heritage for a couple of days.”

A free community celebration of America 250 is set for Sunday at South Shore Veterans Park in Oregon.

The city will provide hot dogs and root beer floats, while participants can bring their own food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Activities include a patriotic golf cart parade, a 5K race, food trucks on site, lawn games, and a kids’ area with a bounce house and other activities. 

Oregon Goes on a Picnic runs from 1 to 5 p.m. at 5700 Bayshore Rd. 

The Old Orchard Garden Tour returns Sunday, starring vibrant flower beds and tranquil outdoor spaces. 

The event, which organizers said welcomed nearly 700 attendees last year, features self-guided tours of six gardens with owners on hand to answer questions. 

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance at oldorchardgardens.org, where a map of the tour route and garden bios are also available.

Day-of tickets, sold cash only, will be available at SIP Coffee, 3160 Markway Rd., and at a ticket tent at the intersection of Darlington Road and Barrington Drive starting at 10 a.m. Proceeds support neighborhood beautification efforts.

Admission for children 12 and younger is free, but they must be accompanied by an adult.

Hours for the garden tour are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The judge overseeing the Kei’mani Latigue murder case has received and initially reviewed a trove of documents from Cuyahoga County Children Services relating to her alleged killer and relatives.

Now he and the case’s lawyers need to come up with a way to filter that material to identify what is relevant to the case while protecting the confidentiality of others named in the documents.

After a discussion with those lawyers — in particular, defense lawyer David Klucas — Judge Michael Goulding said during a pretrial hearing Wednesday he will direct Lucas County Common Pleas Court staff to inquire of several potential companies to scan and analyze the documents contained in four banker’s boxes the Cleveland-area agency provided in response to a subpoena for records relating to Darnell Jones.

Jones, 34, of the 600 block of Willard Street, is charged with aggravated murder with capital specifications, kidnapping, rape, and other counts relating to the March, 2025, disappearance and death of Kei’mani, his 13-year-old daughter.

Judge Goulding said the Cuyahoga County records are rife with personally identifying information about Jones and his relatives that will need to be redacted before it can become evidence. And many of the records are hand-written photocopies and sometimes of poor quality, making them difficult to read, the judge said.

Mr. Klucas named several companies that can digitally scan and then analyze documents of that nature and named one in particular — Oakland, Calif.-based Everlaw — as having provided such services for lawyers trying the recent Northwest Capital securities fraud case in a neighboring courtroom as well as being “the most user-friendly.”

The next scheduled event on the case’s calendar is a hearing regarding a motion to suppress evidence that is scheduled for July 24. Judge Goulding said he may schedule a conference before then once he has a recommendation regarding a document-review firm.

The expense of employing such a firm will be borne by the court, the judge said.

A 37-year-old man has been indicted for the 2017 murder of a South Toledo man.

James Powell III, 37, was indicted by a Lucas County grand jury on Wednesday on two counts of murder and single counts of felonious assault and aggravated murder with a firearm specification.

The charges stem from the Nov. 10, 2017, homicide of Richmond Felix, 29, of the 1700 block of Spencer Street. 

He was found fatally shot in a driveway in the 800 block of Atlantic Avenue. He had been shot three times in the head and torso.

A neighbor told police she heard seven to 10 gunshots at the time of the incident. She viewed security camera footage from a monitor, showing what appeared to be a white vehicle stop in front of her home, police said.

Powell is already in custody in West Virginia on unrelated charges, police said. 

Kids get relief from the heat at a new splash pad at Jamie Farr Park in Toledo on Sunday.

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The Springfield Board of Education has begun talking about placing a new levy on the Nov. 3 ballot, but what type of levy will be in front of voters remains to be seen.

During its Wednesday meeting, Treasurer Ryan Lockwood presented the board with three options, including another 3.9-mill property tax, or possibly adding an income tax request.

“These are all viable options,” Mr. Lockwood said. “When you look at the last ballot in May, there were quite a few income tax levies. It looks like our neighboring communities are also looking at different options as well.”

On Monday both the Maumee and Sylvania Boards of Education discussed whether the property tax or an income tax option would be placed on the November ballot.

Springfield’s 3.9-mill operating levy was defeated in May. It would have generated $4 million a year for the district. Mr. Lockwood said he still believes the district needs an additional $4 million to have a balanced budget.

Administrators have pointed to a significant reduction in state and federal funding for the district. Springfield lost 11 teachers through a reduction in work force in February.

One high school counselor and nine teachers will be moving into new positions for the 2026-27 school year. An additional four teachers and an eighth-grade football coach either resigned or were terminated.

The school board is looking at several options including placing another 3.9-mill property tax on the ballot or going with a traditional or an earned income levy. The income tax levies would not affect retirees who are not working, Mr. Lockwood said. The district can also decide on a continuing or renewable levies with all three options as well, he said.

According to Mr. Lockwood, a 3.9-mill property tax or a 0.50 percent income tax would bring in “just over $4 million” for the district.

Mr. Lockwood said if the board wants to put the property tax measure on the ballot, it would have to submit the proposal to the Lucas County Board of Elections by Aug. 5.

If the board goes with either the traditional income tax or earned-income tax option, the proposal would have to be filed by July 24.

Superintendent Matt Geha said the board began looking at the income tax options right after the levy loss.

“With all of the attention on property taxes and rising costs for residents it is not surprising that the levy failed,” Mr. Geha said. “It is now 11 years since we passed a levy asking for new money. With the rapidly changing environment and economics we have to look at all of the options. The income tax options do assist retirees compared to the other option.”

Mr. Geha said he was hoping a decision would be made by the board at its June 24 meeting.

“If the board decides on an income tax levy then the paperwork has to be submitted to the Ohio Department of Taxation in Columbus,” Mr. Geha said. “I believe many districts across the state will put an income tax levy on the ballot so I would like to see us getting in there early so we meet the timelines.”

The Harvard Elementary School PTO will host a farewell celebration for “the Castle on the Hill” on June 17. 

Alumni and other community members will be able to tour the building and connect with participants before Harvard Elementary ultimately closes. 

The celebration is from 5 to 7 p.m. at the school, 1949 Glendale Ave. Hot dogs will be provided.

Members of the community will also be able to visit the school from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. through June 22, the PTO said. 

Metroparks Toledo officials have been in near-constant conversations with law enforcement and city leaders since gunfire injured 12 people at the Old West End Festival, reviewing safety plans and adding precautions ahead of the upcoming Watershed Weekend celebration.

“We haven’t talked about anything else,” Metroparks spokesman Scott Carpenter said.

Among the changes, organizers have increased the presence of Metroparks Rangers, Toledo police officers, and sheriff’s deputies throughout this weekend’s activities.

Additional checkpoints will be staffed by both law enforcement and private security personnel, while some access points will be narrowed or blocked with heavy vehicles to create more controlled entry and exit points. Certain events will also feature bag checks and screenings using handheld metal-detection wands.

Watershed Weekend runs Thursday through Sunday along the Glass City Riverwalk, with about 40 activities celebrating the project’s halfway point.

As large-scale public events continue across the Toledo area in the coming weeks, organizers are taking a closer look at security measures and emergency planning in the wake of Saturday’s shooting.

“We have dramatically increased law enforcement presence,” Mr. Carpenter said.

This weekend’s expanded security presence will also be visible at Friday’s Party in the Park at Promenade Park, part of the larger Watershed Weekend. 

Cheryl Hardy, a consultant involved in downtown Toledo event planning, said organizers have added designated emergency vehicle access lanes and strengthened communication plans in addition to the increased law enforcement presence. 

While the measures are more extensive because of the event’s size, the heightened focus on safety will continue throughout the summer.

“I believe we’ve done the things that we can and need to do to make the community safe this weekend,” she said.

Other organizers are making similar adjustments.

For Springfield Township’s 21st annual Freedom Celebration on June 27, Assistant Fire Chief Andrew Sauder said attendees will see a larger law enforcement presence than in previous years.

“The number of bodies of law enforcement will be noticeable,” Chief Sauder said. 

Since beginning two decades ago, the Freedom Celebration has grown significantly, prompting organizers to continually expand their safety planning. Chief Sauder said the township spends nearly a year preparing for the event, developing a detailed incident action plan that outlines everything from parking and emergency vehicle access to staffing assignments and crowd management.

The township has also increased fire department staffing for the event to ensure emergency response capabilities remain available both at the celebration and throughout the rest of the community.

While the Old West End shooting was shocking, Chief Sauder said it reinforced the importance of the emergency planning that organizers already conduct for large public gatherings.

Mr. Carpenter acknowledged that no organizer can guarantee absolute safety, but he said the visible increase in security personnel and screening measures is intended to help attendees feel comfortable returning to public events.

He said that organizers hope heightened security measures and close coordination with law enforcement will allow residents to gather with confidence while demonstrating that the violence at the Old West End Festival does not define Toledo.

“We will increase security and increase resolve,” he said.

The city of Toledo is moving forward with the excavation of its spent lime, but this time with a different company.

Toledo City Council voted 10-0 to allow the mayor to accept bids and award a contract for the removal, hauling, and beneficial reuse of spent lime produced from the Collins Park Water Treatment Plant. Councilmen George Sarantou and Adam Martinez were absent from the meeting because of travels.

After the meeting, Councilman Theresa Morris said the city was moving forward with the second-lowest bidder, Piqua, Ohio-based Pohlkat LLC.

“If [the city] doesn’t, I think that [council] would have some real issues with that,” Ms. Morris said.

A city spokesman confirmed Pohlkat will remove the city’s spent lime.

The city previously contracted with Sylvania-based Rocky Ridge Development LLC and intended to contract with the company again, but on May 29, the company was subjected to state and federal searches.

In an affidavit signed by an agent with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the agent said he believes there is sufficient evidence that Rocky Ridge and its owner, Charles Stansley, were dumping solid waste at a property in Ottawa County in violation of the Ohio Revised Code.

Rocky Ridge and Mr. Stansley have not been charged with any wrongdoing.

According to Planet Bids, a third-party site the city uses to post job opportunities, Rocky Ridge submitted the lowest bid, removing spent lime from the lagoon for $48.99 per cubic yard. Pohlkat stated it could remove spent lime from the lagoon for $49.29 per cubic yard.

Even though Rocky Ridge was the lowest bid, the city’s municipal code does not require the city to award the lowest contractor. The code allows bids to be awarded to the lowest and best submission.

Although Mr. Martinez was not present to vote on the ordinance, he issued a statement ahead of the vote applauding the city’s redirection.

“Given the uncertainty and political influence surrounding this contract, I feel cautiously optimistic that the spent lime will be disposed of in a responsible manner,” his statement said. “After a long, drawn-out process over the past 18 months, I am relieved that we have reached a resolution that promotes responsible contractors and takes into account the very real concerns of our residents.”

Pohlkat was awarded a two-year contract with the option for the city to renew an additional year. It will cost the city $5.5 million annually.

In other business, Toledo City Council:

● Voted 10-0 to waive admission fees to all city-owned public swimming pools during declared heat emergencies this summer.

● Voted 8-2 to grant a special use permit for a standalone solar field in South Toledo. Councilmen Theresa Gadus and Brittany Jones voted against the permit. Ms. Jones said she isn’t against solar energy but wished the developers would have created a community-benefits agreement with the neighbors.

● Voted 10-0 to urge the Ohio General Assembly to vote against House Bill 795. The motion came at the request of the Ability Center of Greater Toledo and was brought forth by Ms. Gadus. The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Josh Williams (R., Sylvania Township), would ban family members of Medicaid recipients from becoming certified caregivers, but Ms. Gadus pointed to the expansion of the GPS-based verification requirements, which raises concerns of privacy and access to critical support.

Video of Saturday’s shooting at the Old West End Festival shows a man police have identified as Ka Nye Taylor, 20, shooting at another man and then into the crowd indiscriminately, police said.

Arrest warrants have been issued for Taylor for 11 counts of felonious assault. The second-degree felony charges offer additional insight into the shooting that sent 12 people to area hospitals with gunshot wounds.

Taylor is seen on video “near a beverage truck in the arboretum, firing a gun during a fight, as participants of the fight were separating,” according to affidavits filed by police. 

He is also seen “firing toward another male who is shooting, then indiscriminately throughout the crowd,” according to the documents. 

The affidavits describe the injuries sustained by 11 of the victims, with one person being shot in the head while another was shot in the abdomen and a third in the back. Multiple people were also hit in either the leg, arm, or foot. 

The victims ranged in age from 14 to 61. At least nine of the victims have been released from area hospitals, and those remaining hospitalized are in stable condition, officials said.

Just after 5:30 p.m. Saturday, police responded to reports of a shooting in the area of Delaware and Glenwood avenues. The investigation also included scenes near Delaware and Robinwood avenues. 

Emergency crews first on scene found victims near the gazebo in the Agnes Reynolds Jackson Arboretum at Delaware and Robinwood.

Police had interviewed Taylor, and, while reviewing video of the shooting later, a detective recognized him as one of the gunmen. 

Taylor has a prior conviction stemming from a case in April, 2024, when he was seen getting out of a car in South Toledo with an AR-15 in his waistband. He pleaded guilty in November, 2024, to improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle, a fourth-degree felony, and was placed on three years of community control in February, 2025. 

As part of his probation, he was prohibited from possessing or purchasing a firearm. According to court records, he violated the terms of his probation within a month of sentencing and ended up serving 270 days in the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio.

Taylor is a Black male, 5 feet 11 inches tall, and weighs about 130 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes. 

Investigators have photographs of a second gunman and are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying him.

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Taylor or the identity of the second shooter is asked to call or text Crime Stoppers at 419-255-1111. Tipsters may remain anonymous.

A reward of up to $10,000 is available through Crime Stoppers for information leading to their arrests. The U.S. Marshals Service has also offered an award of up to $5,000. 

When Horace Oates, Jr., of Toledo woke up in the wee hours of April 7 in a burning house, he made sure all eight of his family members and friends made it out alive.

The 60-year-old Marine Corps veteran of Operation Desert Storm got the mother of his children, her 3-month-old foster baby, and an older child down the stairs and out of the house and rushed back into the house to save the rest as flames spread throughout the structure.

Once back upstairs, he pushed some of them out of the windows and dropped the younger children into the arms of the adults who had already made it out of the house.

Unfortunately, he himself did not.

Yvonne Blackwell, the baby’s mother, said her last memory of Mr. Oates is him screaming, “Our kids, our kids,” as he rushed back inside.

“When all the kids were out, I tried to run up the stairs to see where he was, but the fire pushed me back down,” she said. “I couldn’t go further.”

Once the fire was largely under control, firefighters found his body in an upstairs bedroom.

Some of those rescued were hospitalized for various injuries, including Ms. Blackwell, who was on a ventilator for a time.

On Thursday, Mr. Oates will be posthumously recognized as a 2026 Award of Heroism recipient during the Safety Council of Northwest Ohio’s 57th Hero Awards banquet at the Pinnacle in Maumee, one of six people to get the distinction.

About 200 people are expected to attend.

“I’m sad, but I feel good about him being recognized for what he was like,” Ms. Blackwell said. “He deserves it, you know.”

Also on Thursday, 18 people will be honored as Good Samaritans, and five will receive Certificates of Appreciation. All are from northwest Ohio.

Among those five is Maurice Morris, a former 13-year Lucas County deputy sheriff, who in 2020 unsuccessfully ran for Lucas County sheriff.

He is being recognized “for going above and beyond the call of duty to render life-saving efforts,” event organizers said.

Employed by Veterans Securing America, the Miracle Mile Kroger security officer was nominated by store management and employees for his role in several incidents over the past year.

In three of those, he administered naloxone to overdosing customers.

During the latest incident, on July 23, he talked down an irate customer who threatened to “shoot up” the store after disputing a charge at the store checkout.

Mr. Morris was in the middle of a dinner break at 6:34 p.m. when he responded to a report of a “potential active shooter” at the store.

While trying to defuse the situation, he stood between the man and the store manager after the argument spilled out into the store parking lot.

He later admitted that he did not know whether the customer was armed. He still doesn’t.

Mr. Morris said he doesn’t consider himself special, saying that he just did his job.

“But it does feel great, because, you know, there was no loss of life and no injury,” he said.

Bob Momany, Safety Council of Northwest Ohio executive director, said the banquet “is all about the positive,” as opposed to the reports of the negative things that happen too often.

“The individuals being recognized at the Hero Awards Banquet never sought recognition for their actions,” he said. “They acted swiftly and selflessly to help their fellow citizens during times of great need. Some even placed their own safety at risk to aid others.”

The three-wheelers ride low on the ground with open tops and lots of flash.

Not quite a car, not quite a bike, they are called Slingshots, and thousands of fans of the customized vehicles will convene this weekend for the Mud City Classic at the Lucas County Fairgrounds.

Joy and Steven Parker are producing the event along with members of the Slang Gang, a local community of Slingshot enthusiasts with members in 10 cities across five states. 

“The Slingshot culture started with the Polaris Slingshot,” said Roderick “Lyte N Rod” King. “It came out in 2015. By 2017, they were a phenomenon. A lot of older bikers were switching over to the three-wheelers.”

With more than 100 of them on Toledo’s streets alone and thousands across the country, particularly in the South, “I call it a cult,” Mr. King said. 

Members of the Slang Gang attended the April 4 Maumee City Council meeting, where they got the blessing and enthusiastic support from council members for the event. 

“It was important to present to council because we wanted the support of Maumee City Council,” Mrs. Parker said after that meeting. “We’ve already sold out one hotel. It’s an event for everyone.”

By early June, the group put the estimate of attendees at 3,000 to 5,000. 

Getting buy-in from city leaders was important to the group, Mr. King said, because the fairgrounds are in Maumee.

“There have been some issues with people renting [the fairgrounds] and then the police coming,” he said. “We wanted to do our homework, know the rules to follow. They respected that.”

The Thursday-through-Sunday event will feature more than Slingshots.

“We’re expecting 200 to 300 motorcycles just from the RSVPs,” Mr. King said. “The golf cart thing is big here in Toledo, so we’ll be having that as well. The best pimped out golf carts will win prizes.”

Mr. King’s company, Lyte House Customs, does aftermarket custom design and installation for Slingshots, motorcycles, golf carts, and other vehicles.

His own Slingshot, a Model R, has “about $50,000 in upgrades so far, LED and sound, custom paint, seven TVs, custom seating, and luggage racks because I travel in it.”

An owner putting in more than $100,000 in after-market upgrades is not unusual, he said. 

“He’s probably the biggest Slingshot fan I’ve met. He knows everything,” Ron Brazee, manager at Monroe Motorsports, said of Mr. King. 

Steve Lands, sales manager at the dealership that is a sponsor for the rally, said Monroe Motorsports has sold hundreds of the vehicles since they were launched by Polaris in 2015.

“The government classification is an autocycle, but everyone just calls them Slingshots,” he said. “You don’t need a motorcycle endorsement to drive one, but they’re plated as motorcycles.”

The basic cost for a Slingshot, Mr. Lands said, is about $24,000 to $40,000. From there, buyers add their customization at shops like Mr. King’s.

That work will be celebrated at the Mud City Classic with more than $10,000 in cash prizes offered in categories ranging from best lighting, loudest sound, and most blinged-out golf cart.

“It’s really nice to see the cool stuff they do with their machines,” Mr. Lands said. “To see what they take that we sell them and what they turn them into, seeing that is my favorite thing about the Slingshots.” 

While Polaris is not a sponsor of this Toledo-area event, a company spokesman said, “We love to see all the owner groups that rally around Slingshot.”  

Tickets are available for riders and for spectators. A headlining Friday concert features pioneering West Coast rappers DJ Quik and Too Short, performers Mr. King called “the big draw.”

The Slang Gang regularly holds meetups in Toledo during which owners show off their Slingshots. They also host events, but this weekend’s is the biggest.

What he’s looking forward to the most is people coming out and having fun, Mr. King said.

“I want to see the different Slingshots. I want to see a great turnout for the Parkers. They’ve invested a lot of money into this — for us.” 

Tickets are available online and at the gate. Find details and the event schedule for the Slang Gang Weekend Reloaded Mud City Classic at mudcityclassic.com.

Toledo City Council is taking a look at its public safety efforts in the aftermath of Saturday’s mass shooting, but many members are also calling on the state for help.

“We have to attack this on multiple fronts, no doubt about it,” Councilman Mac Driscoll said. “And an adequately funded public safety force is a piece of that puzzle.”

But the city of Toledo, and cities across Ohio, are grappling with the rising costs of public safety while also getting less money back from the state.

Public safety budgets make up the majority of the city’s general fund, but the council was forced to cut about $923,000 from the Toledo Police Department’s budget this year, along with a myriad of cuts across other departments. Among those cutbacks was a smaller recruitment class and a reduction in trauma kit supplies.

Despite a tight budget, some city council members are looking at opportunities to bolster the city’s public safety efforts.

Mr. Driscoll pointed to capital investments that were on council’s agenda Tuesday. However, not all of those initiatives were approved.

An ordinance that would have allowed the police department a two-year continuation of portable automatic license plate readers from Flock Group Inc. failed to pass in a vote of 6-4. The item needed seven votes to be approved.

Councilmen Erin Kramer, Brittany Jones, Nick Komives, and Theresa Gadus voted against the ordinance.

Councilmen Sam Melden, Vanice Williams, John Hobbs III, Cerssandra McPherson, Theresa Morris, and Mr. Driscoll voted for the ordinance.

Councilmen Adam Martinez and George Sarantou were absent from Tuesday’s meeting because of travels.

Ms. Morris called the license plate readers “a tool.”

“Not voting for a law enforcement tool when you’ve just had a mass shooting, I don’t get it,” she said.

Ms. Kramer said she voted against the license plate readers after doing more research into Flock Group. While she said she trusts the Toledo Police Department, she was unsure of how the company uses the information it gathers.

“I did some research into Flock, and I also listened to our residents,” she said. “We got a lot of emails from residents against Flock and against the Flock cameras, so whenever we get emails like that, it always makes me pause and look into stuff a little more.”

Ms. Kramer, Ms. Gadus, and Mr. Komives also voted against a separate ordinance that would allow the police department to amend an existing agreement with Flock Group for a one-year continuation of drone technology.

The ordinance for the drone technology passed in a vote of 7-3, but the loss of the license plate readers comes during a time when the department is also parting ways with ShotSpotter, which uses an array of acoustic sensors to reliably detect and accurately locate gunshots.

Ms. Morris attempted to add a budget amendment that would have renewed ShotSpotter for another year, but it did not pass a vote by her colleagues.

When asked if she was considering a mid-year budget adjustment to add in additional funding for ShotSpotter, Ms. Morris said she was not considering it currently.

“I’m not hearing from the police department that they want us to do that again,” she said. “I mean, we didn’t pass the Flock camera [license plate] readers today, and to me, those are invaluable.”

While council members reflect on the budget, some are also calling on the state for help through the Local Government Fund.

That fund is supported by a designated portion of state revenue. The revenue comes from taxes paid by Ohioans on income, sales, and commercial activity. The fund is then disbursed among local entities.

This year, Toledo is budgeting to receive about $10.5 million from the Local Government Fund, but 16 years ago, the city received about $20 million.

“If the state reversed those cuts, and they gave us $20 million next year, we’d be hiring a whole heck of a lot more police officers, I can tell you that much,” Mr. Driscoll said.

As the city’s budget grows tighter, with less money from the state, Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz has floated the idea of a public safety levy.

Mr. Driscoll acknowledged that it is a conversation the city needs to consider.

“If we were successful in that regard, it would give us the ability to staff up [the police department] to what I think we all feel is an appropriate level,” he said.

Ms. Morris agreed with Mr. Driscoll, but also acknowledged that people are “levied out.” Still, Ms. Morris said the money has to come from somewhere.

“However it gets here,” she said. “It will be appreciated.”

Toledo residents on Tuesday continued to discuss ways to fight gun violence in the wake of the Saturday shootings at the Old West End Festival in West Toledo.

“This [event] was traumatizing and troubling,” said Jannell Ector of Toledo. “... [But] we can’t live in fear, if you see something — say something.” 

Ms. Ector, who lost her 20-year-old son, Treasure Wiley, to gun violence on Oct. 8, 2019, was one of at least a dozen community activists who spoke during a Community Action Table event.

About 25 people attended the meeting at One Government Center.

Hosted by the Toledo Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, the event immediately followed the approval by the city council of a mayoral proclamation of June as Gun Violence Awareness Month.

The shooting at the Old West End Festival sent 12 people to area hospitals with gunshot wounds suffered in a gunfight involving two rival groups, police said Tuesday. Nine of the victims have been released from area hospitals, and the remaining three are in stable condition.

Justyce Meredith of Toledo, a member of a Violence Interrupters group that targets street crime indirectly by working in specific neighborhoods, talked about the importance of leading Toledo youth by personal example to fight youth gun violence.

“We can change the narrative of what’s cool and what it means to be popular,” she said. “We could change that narrative, because when you see youth like us who are in the community and actually making change, then that can become the new cool.”

Just before heading to the event at a Government Center meeting room, Miss Meredith was among community activists who joined city council members and Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz on the podium for a photo opportunity once the council issued the proclamation.

“It’s like, ‘Dang, she got pictures with the mayor, she got pictures with the city council. That’s cool, that’s things that actually matter,’” she said.

 “Because when you start that young, you grow up, you could be the next mayor, you could be on the city council board, with all this reputation behind you of the work that you’ve been doing,” Miss Meredith said.

The Violence Interrupters program is modeled on the Cure Violence strategy developed by Gary Slutkin, a physician at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

By treating widespread gun violence in specific neighborhoods much like a public health epidemic, the Cure Violence method identifies community members most at-risk of “spreading” gun violence and “treats” their behavior and attitudes.

Another violence interrupter who spoke on Tuesday, Christopher Matthews, said the incident has prompted him to talk to a local songwriter. 

“I challenged him,” he said. “I said, ‘Well, why don’t you make a song about what happened with the Old West End Festival, and how you are basically telling the youths, ‘You know, we came here to have fun, but instead you brought guns,’ or whatever?”

Let music be the voice of reason, he said.

“‘Think about how to channel the music to get them thinking,’” Mr. Matthews continued. “I said, ‘You know, talk about socioeconomic situations, financial literacy, things of that nature.’ And he is like, ‘Yeah, I appreciate that.’”

MONSE Director Malcolm Cunningham said there are “no words to express the blend of sorrow, anger, and heartbreak” in the aftermath of the shooting.

“‘Whether injured, witnessed, or in any way connected to the shooting at the Old West End Festival this weekend, our community is hurting,” he said.

“It is understandable to feel discouraged,” he said.  “But we do this work so that multiple people shot in such a short period of time is an anomaly and not the norm in any neighborhood. We all have to continue to lean into this work.”

The scene witnesses described was pure chaos, as people fled or took cover when rapid gunfire erupted near an outdoor gathering.

A spray of bullets hit cars and a nearby building as well as several people, including one who was mortally wounded.

This was not the Old West End Festival shooting Saturday, but the remnants of a Halloween party last fall at an after-hours club near Reynolds Road and Hill Avenue. Tuesday marked the start of an aggravated murder trial for a man accused of being one of two gunmen involved in the shooting during the wee hours of Nov. 2.

None of the first day’s testimony in Lucas County Common Pleas Court identified Marshaun Purley, 18, in any way. But a prosecutor said evidence to be presented later in the trial, expected to run at least into Friday if not early next week, will show how he and Marvin Pettaway, also 18, cased the area around the shopping plaza that housed The Weekend and then were interrupted while fleeing the area by another vehicle.

Jasmine Queen, 19, a popular waitress at Doc Watson’s restaurant, was fatally shot in the lower back as she ran from the gunfire.

Prosecutor Garrett Dolly told a jury of nine men and four women including an alternate about Ms. Queen and two other people shot during the incident. Yet another was injured by flying glass when two of her car’s windows were shattered by bullets.

Mr. Dolly said security camera footage from the surrounding area to be shown during the trial will depict both Pettaway, who pleaded out last month, and Purley at the scene along with a red Honda automobile that was later recovered. Photos from a female co-defendant’s phone will show Purley wearing the same clothes as are seen in some of that footage, he said.

“The chaos and carnage wasn’t an accident, it wasn’t a surprise,” but rather was the result of an attack Purley and Pettaway planned, the prosecutor said.

Furthering the prosecution’s case, he said, was Purley’s alleged attempt last week to bribe the female co-defendant to sway her expected testimony.

But defense lawyer Drew Griffin said the only proven gunman in the case was Pettaway, whose argument with a girlfriend prompted the shooting.

Even the five 911 calls authorities received after the shooting testified to the panic and chaos that pervaded the scene, with the callers shrieking in terror and struggling to gather themselves enough to describe where they were and what they had observed.

Ta’jaye Darrington, Ms. Queen’s boyfriend, testified that the couple had been inside The Weekend when fights among other patrons prompted security to usher everyone out of the club and pepper spray some of them.

Mr. Darrington said he had gone ahead to get a car in the parking lot while Ms. Queen lingered to help a person who had been pepper sprayed when the shooting started.

“It felt like an eternity. That entire moment felt like a life sentence,” Mr. Darrington said.

He came upon Ms. Queen’s fallen body, with several friends attending to her, when he approached with the car.

Like others who testified, Mr. Darrington said he never saw who was shooting. But he said there was clearly more than one shooter based on the different sounds of the shots, and there were several distinct bursts of gunfire.

Javier Ramirez, a crime-scene investigation detective for the Toledo Police Department, said there were so many shell casings that the first arriving police didn’t have enough cones to mark them all, so they marked clusters instead.

His testimony, which was incomplete at the end of proceedings Tuesday, showed bullet damage at multiple locations in the strip mall and “20 to 25” shell casings in just one location at the L-shaped plaza’s Reynolds Road end. Those casings came from two distinct types of firearms, he said, a pistol and a rifle.

The other person shot at the scene was Alyvia Piddock, who said from the witness stand that she and some friends were in the parking lot when the shooting started.

She said she didn’t realize she had been shot until one of her friends pulled her into the car. They tried to drive away but had to stop about a mile away when it turned out another bullet had flattened one of the car’s tires.

Ms. Piddock said her right big toe had to be amputated at the hospital where she was treated because of damage from the bullet. The night’s psychological harm also persists, she said.

Mr. Dolly said a person in a black Jeep, that happened upon the shooters’ Honda as it fled, also was shot.

Pretrial activity 

Before jury selection began Monday afternoon, Judge Lindsay Navarre denied a defense motion to postpone the trial because of publicity about Saturday’s shootings in the Old West End. At least a dozen people were wounded at the festival, and that could prejudice any Lucas County jury pool, the defense argued.

Angela Zavac, the lead assistant county prosecutor for Purley’s trial, countered that juror candidate interviews would include exploring how they felt about the more recent shooting and anyone who seemed particularly upset about it would be excused.

Purley himself asked Judge Navarre for a postponement on the grounds that he wanted new lawyers and that a requested “bill of particulars” — a document with a more detailed account of what he was charged with — was not provided in a timely fashion. A defense attorney acknowledged that a technology glitch didn’t allow the lawyers to find it right away. 

Purley also told the judge that prosecutors added new witnesses to their lineup too recently to proceed with the case. But Judge Navarre denied all three requests.

Ms. Zavac said one of the new witnesses arose because Purley, through an intermediary, tried last week to bribe a co-defendant into lying on the witness stand in his case.

A new charge

A Lucas County grand jury indicted Purley on Thursday, the day after the phone call, on one court of third-degree bribery.

Ms. Zavac said Monday that while that count would not be added to the current trial, related testimony will be offered under the principle of “consciousness of guilt.”

Brooklyn Cobian, the co-defendant who reported the alleged bribery attempt Wednesday, pleaded guilty June 2 to a reduced charge of attempted obstructing official business, a first-degree misdemeanor, for lying to investigators after the shooting.

In his brief opening argument, Mr. Griffith described Ms. Cobian as a “serial liar” whose expected testimony implicating Purley would not be trustworthy.

At least four firearms were found in the parking lot, the defense lawyer said, and the fights inside the club further compromised the allegation that Purley was to blame in any way.