Ohio News

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Columbus is one of the fastest growing cities in the Midwest. In order to keep up with that growth, city leaders are proposing changes to the city’s zoning code.

This will be the first time changes are made to the code in 70 years. City leaders said these changes will help address the current housing crisis – specifically affordability and demand.

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Mayor Andrew Ginther said this proposal will change the trajectory of the city. He said if we keep on the track we are now, the city will only create 6,000 new homes in the next 10 years. This new plan will bring that number to 88,000.

“Growth is coming. We have to embrace it,” Ginther said.

The proposed changes would create six districts. It is starting 12,300 thousand parcels of land.

It gives developers clearer building guidelines for each district.

“These standards will make buildings more attractive, create more room for housing and businesses, and make neighborhoods more walkable and transit more accessible,” Ginther said.

Ginther said another priority is height. There will be housing incentives. For example, builders will be allowed to build two to four stories taller than the base code allows if 20 to 30 percent of their units are for low income qualified housing.

“We need more workforce housing. We need more market rate housing. This supply crisis is affecting everybody, but it's affecting seniors, folks on fixed incomes and lower wage earners more. Now, it will continue to affect all of us in the future unless we act. And that's why this is so important,” Ginther said.

City leaders said cities like Charlotte and Atlanta have been successful with this initiative.

They say not only does this help the developer but it is also giving equal opportunities to people who otherwise would not live in that area.

“We want our kids to be able to live in the communities that we've raised them in, and we want our elders to be able to retire in the communities that they helped build,” said Carly Boos, the Director of the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio.

There will also be less of a focus on parking. This is to promote more walkable neighborhoods as well as rid the cost of parking for residents.

“So we know that a big change is going to be eliminating parking minimums, you know, allowing a more market driven approach to parking. We think we need to prioritize people over parking in this situation to make more housing happen. As we know, parking is one of the biggest drivers of housing costs in central Ohio," said Rob Dorans, the Columbus City Council President Pro Tempore.

Before this proposal moves any further, city leaders want to hear from residents. There will be options to do that in person or at the new “zone-in gallery” that is located at 141 N. Front Street in Downtown Columbus.

“The whole idea here is to make sure that this allows folks to have this conversation on the front end,” Dorans said. “We're going have public hearings. You know, we're going to have different events across town. This gallery here, you know, downtown is going to have the ability for sit down with the city planner and really understand the potential changes for their specific parcel that they own or that they live by.”

Monday city council is expected to adopt a resolution putting this into at least a 60 day discussion period.

The “zone in gallery” will open on Tuesday. It will be open six days a week. Residents can make an appointment to come in and talk with the city planner. They will also host events at the gallery. Once they’ve gathered all the knowledge they need, the council is hoping to vote on this plan in the summertime.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- April can be a fickle month, especially in the first few weeks, when winter often lingers into the lap of spring. The contrast of seasons often leads to severe weather in the form of flooding downpours, high winds and tornadoes, as we experienced Tuesday.

On Apr. 2, 1987, an area low pressure blossomed in the western Gulf of Mexico, bringing the latest trace of snow on record at Mobile, Alabama, the next morning. Two inches of snow accumulated at Meridian, Mississippi, 6 inches at Birmingham, Alabama, 8 inches at Nashville, Tennessee, and 12 inches at Asheville, North Carolina, as the storm moved northeast on Saturday, Apr. 3.

The late winter storm system continued to gain intensity marching up the western side of the Appalachians, drawing on enough cold air to generate a full-blown April blizzard in many parts of Ohio by late afternoon, as the surface pressure deepened rapidly.

The snow fell at the rate of one to two inches an hour, whipped by wind gusts between 30 to 40 miles per hour, causing blizzard conditions near and east of the Interstate 71 corridor. Blowing and drifting made travel hazardous in the blinding snow, eventually halting most transportation where roads became impassable.

By the time the snow tapered off shortly after midnight on Sunday, April 5, the final measurement at Port Columbus International Airport totaled 12.6 inches (12.3 inches fell in 24 hours on Apr. 4), smashing all modern April records for a snowstorm so late in the season in the city.

Areas east of Columbus received even more; 15 to 20 inches of snow piled up between Newark and Zanesville. Canton-Akron tallied 20.6 inches, setting a 24-hour snowfall record. Additional stunning spring totals included 22 inches at New Lexington and 21 inches at Coshocton. Charleston, W.V., recorded 20 inches.

Remarkably, this was the second snow storm that week, after up to eight inches fell on March 30-31, 1987, in northeastern Franklin County, and 5.7 inches in Columbus. Cleveland received 16.5 inches, a March record at the time.

An extending snowfall, likely several storms, from April 2-7, 1886, totaled 16.9 inches in Columbus, but the intensity was not nearly as heavy at any time during that period.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and organizations in central Ohio and across the nation are teaming up to raise awareness and build stronger community partnerships.

Franklin County Children’s Services is doing multiple things to raise awareness this month, including participating in Wear Blue for Child Abuse Prevention Day and lighting up the Leveque Tower, city hall and the children’s services buildings in bright blue.

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In 2023, the Franklin County Child Abuse Hotline received around 28,000 calls and nearly half of the calls raised concerns about a child being physically abused.

“Child abuse is something that affects every zip code in Franklin County, every part of our community no matter income, no matter, zip code, no matter neighborhood,” said Scott Varner, the spokesperson for Franklin County Children’s Services.

That’s why Varner said his team is working to spread awareness in Franklin County by lighting up those buildings blue and putting up six billboards across the county.

“So, this month we want to try to give attention to that, to make sure that our community is still aware that child abuse is something that is a challenge still in this community," Varner said. "But as a community we can also work together to provide our families those supports."

The theme for this year’s Child Abuse Prevention Month is building a hopeful future together. Varner said that means providing resources to families who are struggling and creating a supportive environment for children.

“When there are challenges, instead of reporting them to a child abuse hotline, how can we not only report but also support?” said Varner.

Varner said in those situations, people should try to help rather than judge.

“If you ever suspect a child is being abused or neglected we do have the Franklin County Child Abuse Hotline that they can call, but I would also say find those ways in which we can provide those families information about community support,” said Varner.

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Wear Blue for Child Abuse Prevention Day is Wednesday, April 20th here in Ohio. You are encouraged to post a picture of yourself, friends, family and others and use the hashtag #OhioWearsBlue2024.

Visit https://fccs.us/ to learn more about Child Abuse Prevention Month.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Fun and festivities are in store at a Columbus park, where a seasonal event lineup has been unveiled.

Columbus Commons is a six-acre park with plenty of green space in the downtown area. The park can be used for dates, family time, outdoor fun and more. On Thursday, Downtown Columbus Inc. revealed a list of events coming to the park soon.

Activities and events at Columbus Commons this year include food trucks from local vendors, free yoga and cardio classes, a free Family Fun Day, live music, free family movies or a Sunset Cinema series for adults, kickball leagues, and more. The announcement from Downtown Columbus Inc. highlighted some of the top events coming up.

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Here are events to enjoy at Columbus Commons soon.

Food trucks

Columbus Commons has a long-lasting tradition of food truck favorites appearing on its lawn every week. This will be the park's 14th year offering a selection of local vendors.

Food truck events include Breakfast at the Commons and Food Truck Food Court. The breakfast themed series will take place on Wednesdays from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. between May 1 and Oct. 30. The food truck series will take place on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. between May 2 and Oct. 31.

Free fitness classes

On a weekly basis between May 1 and Sept. 25, Columbus Commons will hold free cardio and yoga classes facilitated by RawYoga614 and Seven Studios. The classes will take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays on the following schedule:

• Cardio on Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m.
• Yoga on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m.
• Yoga on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m.
• Yoga on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m.

Free family fun

A variety of free outdoor events designed for the family will be held in Columbus Commons' wide-open greenspace. Family events will include Family Fun Day on Saturday, May 25, multiple family movie nights, and a Harvest Fair on Saturday, Sept. 7.

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Live music on the Columbus Commons lawn will take place on certain summer nights. The Navigators will play a concert on May 24, a local and live concert series will be every Thursday in August, and A Song Remains and The Dead Revival Band will perform "A Night of Led Zeppelin" and a Grateful Dead tribute.

Columbus Downtown Inc. said to stay tuned for more announcements.

Free Commons for kids

Columbus Commons' event lineup stated that Fridays are for the kids. Weekly events will feature a different theme each week, with fun for little and big kids alike. Activities will include balloon twisting, face painting, lawn games, carousel rides and more.

The weekly event for kids will take place on Fridays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. between June 7 and Aug. 9.

Brews in the Bosque + Sunset Cinema Series

A family-friendly event described as a "backyard-meets-beer garden happy hour" will offer a chance to enjoy a beverage and participate in a cornhole tournament will be available on Thursdays in September.

The weekly event will feature a new addition this year, a film series of adult-only movies. The event will be an outdoor spin on the CAPA Summer Movie Series, and offer a more mature counterpart to the family movie nights.

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Events that can be featured on a daily basis at Columbus Commons include a free carousel, operating from April 19 to Sept. 30, and Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream and Tortilla Mexican Street Food cafes.

Other events

Columbus Commons is hosting a variety of other events, which include:

• Cap City Half Marathon, Quarter Marathon and 5K
• Girls on the Run Spring 5K
• SUMMER614 Concert
• WoCO Summer Market
• Picnic with the Pops Concerts
• Stevie: Life in the Key of Wonder
• Comedy at the Commons
• 614 Funk Fest Concert
• World's Largest Sound Bath & Wellness Fair

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A prolific campaign treasurer for more than 100 Ohio political candidates, including many Republicans, has been federally charged with stealing almost $1 million in campaign funds.

William Curlis, 76, was charged with wire fraud Thursday for allegedly stealing more than $995,000 from various candidates' funds and a political action committee for which he was treasurer. Court documents show a proposed plea agreement, suggesting Curlis plans to plead guilty.

According to court documents, from 2008 until June 2023, Curlis wrote himself multiple checks from candidates' campaign funds and one PAC's fund while serving as treasurer. To conceal the theft, he allegedly transferred funds between accounts without candidates' knowledge and falsified corresponding campaign finance reports.

“As the campaign treasurer and only signatory on numerous bank accounts, Curlis took advantage of his trusted position and wrote checks to himself from the accounts of multiple candidates and one PAC,” U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker said in a news release. “I urge candidates, PACs, and businesses alike to protect themselves from future fraud by examining their accounting processes for vulnerabilities and other blind spots."

The court documents do not disclose which candidates Curlis defrauded. Multiple Republican politicians have filed complaints against Curlis with the Ohio Elections Commission, including Hilliard-area State Sen. Stephanie Kunze and former Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien.

The bill of information alleges that Curlis sold his residence in 2016 to cover the cost of campaign expenses and conceal account deficits caused by his theft.

BYESVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) -- A man drowned after apparently driving on a flooded roadway on Wednesday, according to the Guernsey County Sheriff.

Sheriff Jeffrey Paden said emergency responders found a 56-year-old man dead in his vehicle after extracting it from a flooded roadway in Jackson Township. His family had reported him missing on Wednesday afternoon after he didn't show up to work and was not answering his phone.

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After several hours of searching, Byesville volunteer firefighters found the man's vehicle completely submerged, the sheriff said. When the vehicle was removed from the water, the Guernsey County coroner pronounced the man dead and ruled his death an accident by drowning. The sheriff's office has not released the man's name because the family has not yet been notified.

Multiple roadways across central Ohio flooded after Tuesday's storms. On Wednesday morning, a man's Maserati SUV was towed to dry land after he drove past road closure signs and ended up in flood waters on U.S. 23 in south Columbus. Ohio Department of Transportation cameras caught the man wading through knee-high water toward Franklin County Sheriff's deputies.

Paden urged drivers to avoid flooded roadways, regardless of their depth, because water currents can often be stronger than they appear.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The total solar eclipse on Monday afternoon, April 8, will darken skies along the path of totality, which will average 115 miles from Texas to Maine across 13 states.

In Ohio, the path of totality will cover a corridor from Dayton to the northern suburbs of Columbus, Marion and Cleveland. The longer length of time that parts of Ohio will experience darkness is because the moon is closer to Earth than in a previous total solar eclipse observed in western Kentucky in August 2017.

The amount of time any region in the path spends when the moon completely blocks out the sun will determine how much the air cools at the surface.

Other factors include the time of day, existing cloud cover, and daylight which determine how much the temperature drops when the sun is briefly masked by the moon in the path of totality.

Current indications are that a band of cloud cover will overspread much of the Ohio Valley late Sunday, with a few showers, but begin to thin out on Monday afternoon. Although cloud forecast model data is based on probabilities that will be refined in the coming days, coverage will likely range from 40 to 80 percent of the sky in most areas by 3:15 p.m.

How much the air cools when sunlight disappears on Monday afternoon will also be affected by the type of local cloud cover present. The loss of sunlight will result in a decrease in winds, briefly, due to less vertical mixing of the atmosphere.

Thicker low clouds composed of water droplets will make the change in air temperature much less apparent. Patchy mid-level clouds prior to totality will allow much more sunshine to filter through, which creates a more dramatic cooling when the sun is covered by the moon's shadow for several minutes.

At that time, skies will grow dark like evening dusk, and animals are apt to grow quiet, reflecting their response to nightfall.

During the last total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017, the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn., looked at weather stations that had experienced several minutes of totality, which revealed a quick drop in temperature of 5 to 10 degrees.

Total solar eclipse viewed in Wyoming on Aug. 21, 2017. (Photo courtesy Don Stevens)

During an annular eclipse on May 10, 1994, the National Weather Service office at Capital Airport in Springfield, Ill., witnessed a dip of 4 degrees in the forenoon, under clear skies within the period of maximum eclipse, when a thin ring of outer sunlight was visible. (An annular eclipse does not fully cover the sun because the moon is farther away from Earth than in a total solar eclipse.

Columbus and Central Ohio Weather

A large storm system over the eastern Great Lakes and Northeast will combine to drive gusty winds and frequent rain showers, mixed with graupel, for another 24 hours, before moving away in time for the weekend.

Temperatures will dip into the 30s in the morning hours and only recover to the mid-40s, with gusty west-northwest winds creating an unpleasant April wind chill.

Skies will clear up this weekend as high pressure slides across the region. Clouds will increase later on Sunday, as the latest in a series of storm systems in the West causes low pressure to develop in the southern Plains.

Moisture will spread northward in the form of clouds and scattered showers, which will affect viewing of the total solar eclipse on Monday over portions of the path of totality.

Ideally, there will be some periods of sunshine in the Ohio Valley region Monday afternoon, with more precise forecasts regarding cloud cover not until the end of the weekend as a couple of upper-level disturbances move east.

Forecast

• Thursday: Showers, breezy, chilly. High 43
• Tonight: Spotty rain, wintry mix, cold. Low 35
• Friday: Cloudy, breezy, stray shower/flurry. High 46
• Saturday: Clouds linger. High 50 (32)
• Sunday: Partly cloudy. High 57 (31)
• Monday: Mix clouds and sun, isolated showers. High 66 (45)
• Tuesday: Mostly cloudy. High 70 (50)
• Wednesday: Showers. High 68 (52)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – While the total solar eclipse on April 8 will only last a few minutes, drivers could feel the effects for hours after the once-in-a-lifetime event ends.

The 124-mile-wide path of totality, where the sun will be 100% blocked by the moon, will span from the southwest to the northeast portion of the state. Everyone outside this coverage area will have a different view of the occurrence, but all of Ohio falls in at least a 95% coverage zone. 

Central Ohio forecast for the total solar eclipse

“We are treating it sort of as a major travel holiday, so Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Independence Day, those are among the major travel holidays,” said Matt Bruning, press secretary for the Ohio Department of Transportation. “So what we do around those travel holidays is we will limit any unnecessary maintenance work.”

Limiting construction is not possible on all roadways in the state – Bruning said drivers could face additional congestion in the following areas on eclipse day due to construction:

• Interstate 70 and Interstate 71 in downtown Columbus
• Interstate 70 in Zanesville
• Interstate 75 through Cincinnati and Dayton
• Interstate 475 on the southwest side of Toledo
• Interstate 76,  Interstate 77 and State Route 8 in Akron

ODOT also created an interactive map to display an hour-by-hour look at four potential traffic scenarios based on the number of visitors the state sees: 150,000, 350,000, 575,000 and 625,000. The department created the map by combining data on Ohio’s typical traffic patterns with Kentucky and Tennessee's travel data from the 2017 solar eclipse. 

“What we tried to do is to mash up that data and make some predictions based on roadway type and see where we thought maybe some of the heavier congestion points would be,” Bruning said. “This was intended really for [emergency management and law enforcement] to determine where they wanted to deploy their resources … but certainly the public can use it as a good gauge for what we think the travel patterns are going to look like.”

Total solar eclipse has potential for business boom around Columbus

Bruning expects weather in Ohio to play a role in the amount of visitors the state sees. He said if April 8 is a sunny day, the state will likely see more visitors, especially in northwest Ohio where he predicts people will travel from Michigan. If it’s cloudy, he said people will likely head to another state if they can. 

As for what time of day traffic will be the worst, Bruning said ODOT expects to see the worst traffic immediately after the eclipse. He compared the event to a fireworks display. All morning, afternoon and evening, people trickle in to see the display, but when the grand finale goes off and the fireworks are done, everyone leaves at the same time. 

“We’re telling people come early, stay late, have a plan for maybe doing something nearby that you could just walk to, or maybe you’re viewing from a place where there’s attractions like the zoo or an amusement park,” Bruning said. “Hopefully you can have something to do after the eclipse so that you can avoid immediately getting on the road.”

In Columbus, the eclipse will begin at 1:55 p.m. and achieve peak coverage at about 3:15 p.m., before ending at 4:27 p.m. ODOT’s traffic prediction map shows multiple parts of the state could face the worst traffic in the hours after the eclipse.

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“This is not going to be something where you’re going to be able to zip home,” Bruning said. “If, on a normal day, if going from point A to point B takes you an hour, I would probably double, triple, maybe even quadruple that just depending on how many people come into the state of Ohio.”

For the safety of eclipse viewers, motorists and first responders, Bruning urges the importance of not watching the eclipse from the side of the road. 

“Make sure you’re going to an approved place, that you have permission to be there or it's a public spot but the side of the roadway or the side of the highway is certainly not the spot to watch,” Bruning said.

In Bruning’s overall advice to drivers, he says to “plan, prepare and be patient.” He advises drivers to top off their fuel tank before leaving the spot where they watched the eclipse in case they get stuck in hours of traffic. 

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A Connecticut-based and family-owned restaurant serving Asian comfort food is set to open its doors this month in a building that once housed a White Castle.

Mecha Noodle Bar is opening a Short North restaurant located inside the former White Castle on 965 N. High St. The Asian-themed spot is set to open on April 12.

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Food served at Mecha includes pho, ramen and cocktails, riffing on food that can be found in the streets of Southeast Asia. Dishes include some of Asia's most comforting dishes.

According to a news release from Mecha, the noodle bar tries to be more than a dining destination, but an immersive journey into the heart of Southeast Asian culture. The restaurant offers an experience for everyone, whether its a Sunday lunch with family or a late-night cocktail with a date.

The family-founded and family-owned restaurant now has seven locations in Connecticut and Massachusetts, with more to come in Washington, D.C.; Colorado, and Ohio.

View the double rainbow that appeared during Tuesday's severe storms in the video player above.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A tornado touched down in central Ohio during Tuesday's strong line of thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service.

The "brief and weak" EFO tornado spanned 150 yards in Licking Country and developed in Franklin Township near Sand Hollow, then moving northeast causing mainly tree and minor structural damage, the weather service said. Minor damage to barns and outbuildings was also noted on Poplar Forks Road SE and Fairview Road.

Damage along the entire path was estimated to be caused by 70 to 75 mph winds, NWS said. Tree damage was seen in the path from Sand Hollow Road SE, then northeast along Fairview Road, Brownsville Road SE and across Popular Forks Road SE before the tornado dissipated.

The NWS confirmed on Wednesday that an EF1 tornado hit Adams County near West Union. The tornado started near the intersection of Brier Ridge Road and Robinson Hollow Road and lifted near Adams Lake State Park.

A lightning bolt is seen intersecting with a double rainbow in Clintonville during Tuesday's severe storms. (NBC4 Photo/Adam Conn)

Tuesday began with a strong line of storms that affected the morning commute. After the midday sun, scattered showers and storms came again during the late afternoon. But then came the double rainbow.

Dave Mazza, chief meteorologist of Storm Team 4, said the timing was perfect for a double rainbow, which is more common than a single rainbow when the conditions are right just before sunset.

“Behind the line of strong thunderstorms, we’re seeing a bit of clearing before sunset,” he said, “and that’s allowing us to see the scattering of the light that’s producing the rainbows.”

The NWS said further assessments in other areas for possible tornadoes and damage will continue on Thursday.

Stay weather aware with Storm Team 4 through live radar, weather alerts, closings and delays, live road conditions and push notifications from our apps.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- From Cirque Du Soleil's "Crystal" at the Schottenstein Center and comedian Matteo Lane at the Palace Theatre to the Columbus Clippers' six-game series, here are things to see and do this weekend in central Ohio.

Blue Jackets vs. Islanders

Nationwide Arena at 7 p.m. on Thursday

• The Columbus Blue Jackets face the New York Islanders.

Cirque Du Soleil 'Crystal'

Schottenstein Center Thursday through Sunday

• With seven jaw-dropping traditional circus acts all thrillingly adapted for Cirque du Soleil’s first foray into a brand-new creative territory, the ice, 'Crystal' takes audiences on an unforgettable journey into the vivid and whimsical world of imagination.

• 'Crystal' takes audiences on an unforgettable journey into the vivid and whimsical world of imagination. (Courtesy Photo/Matt Baker & Olivier Brajon)
• 'Crystal' takes audiences on an unforgettable journey into the vivid and whimsical world of imagination. (Courtesy Photo/Matt Baker & Olivier Brajon)
• 'Crystal' takes audiences on an unforgettable journey into the vivid and whimsical world of imagination. (Courtesy Photo/Matt Baker & Olivier Brajon)

Clippers vs. Storm Chasers

Huntington Park Thursday through Sunday

• The Columbus Clippers face the Omaha Storm Chasers in a six-game series.

Pianist Sara Davis Buechner with the Columbus Symphony

Ohio Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday

• Buechner appears for the first time with the Columbus Symphony in concerts featuring Beethoven’s delightful and virtuosic first piano concerto.

Matteo Lane | The Al Dente Tour

Palace Theatre at 7 p.m. on Saturday

• Lane is a New York-based comedian whose stand-up special can be seen on Netflix’s "The Comedy Lineup."

Blue Jackets vs. Flyers

Nationwide Arena at 7 p.m. on Saturday

• The Columbus Blue Jackets face the Philadelphia Flyers.

Crew vs. United

Lower.com Field at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday

• The Columbus Crew face the D.C. United.

'The Prom'

Short North Stage through Sunday

• 'The Prom' follows a group of Broadway actors who travel to a conservative town to support an LGBTQ+ teen's fight to attend her high school prom with her girlfriend.

'The Prom' follows a group of Broadway actors who travel to a conservative town to support an LGBTQ+ teen's fight to attend her high school prom. (Courtesy Photo/Short North Stage)

Top spring concerts and shows

• From the reimagined Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey at the Schottenstein Center to Olivia Rodrigo and Bruce Springsteen at Nationwide Arena, more than two dozen top artists and shows are performing in central Ohio this spring.

For more events, view NBC4’s community calendar.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- This spring in central Ohio is packed with highly anticipated festivals and shows, from the reimagined Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey at the Schottenstein Center and Disney's "The Lion King" at the Ohio Theatre to the Columbus Arts Festival.

Cirque Du Soleil 'Crystal'

Schottenstein Center on April 4-7

• With seven jaw-dropping traditional circus acts all thrillingly adapted for Cirque du Soleil’s first foray into a brand-new creative territory, the ice. 'Crystal' takes audiences on an unforgettable journey into the vivid and whimsical world of imagination.

• 'Crystal' takes audiences on an unforgettable journey into the vivid and whimsical world of imagination. (Courtesy Photo/Matt Baker & Olivier Brajon)
• 'Crystal' takes audiences on an unforgettable journey into the vivid and whimsical world of imagination. (Courtesy Photo/Matt Baker & Olivier Brajon)
• 'Crystal' takes audiences on an unforgettable journey into the vivid and whimsical world of imagination. (Courtesy Photo/Matt Baker & Olivier Brajon)

Matteo Lane | The Al Dente Tour

Palace Theatre at 7 p.m. on April 6

• Lane is a New York-based comedian whose stand-up special can be seen on Netflix’s "The Comedy Lineup."

'Clue'

Ohio Theatre on April 9 to 14

• The murder mystery comedy inspired by the Hasbro board game and adapted from the cult favorite film comes to Columbus for eight shows.

Nicki Minaj | Pink Friday 2 World Tour

Schottenstein Center at 8 p.m. on April 12

• The Columbus concert will be the only one in Ohio but she will have other stops in the Midwest in Detroit and Chicago. The hip-hop star is the first woman to have 100 songs featured in the Billboard Hot 100 list, which includes three different No. 1 songs.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band

Nationwide Arena at 7:30 p.m. on April 21

• The concert was originally supposed to take place on March 9, 2023. It was then postponed to Sept. 21 before he canceled the remainder of his tour for the calendar year “out of an abundance of caution," according to a September press release.

Bruce Springsteen performs onstage during the 17th Annual Stand Up For Heroes Benefit presented by Bob Woodruff Foundation and NY Comedy Festival at David Geffen Hall on Nov. 6, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

Toto | Dogz of Oz Tour

Schottenstein Center at 7:30 p.m. on April 21

• The total plays of the band’s collected works across all platforms is now approaching five billion. Amongst the most listened to recordings, “Africa” accounts for more than one billion streams on Spotify alone.

WWE Raw

Schottenstein Center at 7:30 p.m. on April 22

• WWE world heavyweight champion Seth Rollins, "The American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley, Nia Jax, "Main Event" Jey Uso, Damian Priest, Drew McIntyre and more.

Monster Jam

Schottenstein Center on April 26 to 28

• Witness world-class driver athletes and the most recognizable trucks tear up the dirt and compete in intense competitions of speed and skill.

Witness world-class driver athletes and the most recognizable trucks tear up the dirt and compete in intense competitions of speed and skill. (Courtesy Photo/Field Entertainment)

The Postal Service & Death Cab for Cutie

Schottenstein Center at 7:30 p.m. on April 30

• To celebrate two decades of ‘Give Up’ and ‘Transatlanticism’, The Postal Service & Death Cab for Cutie have joined forces for an unprecedented 20th-anniversary co-headline tour.

COSI Science Festival

COSI on May 1 to 4

• Ohio’s largest science festival will include events in Columbus and the surrounding communities, and will end with the Big Science Celebration at COSI. 

'Tina -- The Tina Turner Musical'

Ohio Theatre on May 7 to 12

• The musical is the inspiring journey of a woman who broke barriers and became the Queen of Rock n’ Roll. Set to the pulse-pounding soundtrack of her most beloved hits, this electrifying sensation will send you soaring to the rafters.

'Hair'

Short North Stage on May 9 to June 9

• "Hair" is the iconic original Broadway rock musical featuring chart-topping hits such as “Aquarius,” “Let the Sunshine In,” and “Good Morning, Starshine.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey

Schottenstein Center on May 10 to 12

• The reimagined Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey invites children of all ages to a spectacle of superhuman feats, pushing the limits of possibility and thrilling families and fans of all generations.

• The reimagined Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey invites children of all ages to a spectacle of superhuman feats, pushing the limits of possibility and thrilling families and fans of all generations. (Courtesy Photo/Field Entertainment)
• The reimagined Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey invites children of all ages to a spectacle of superhuman feats, pushing the limits of possibility and thrilling families and fans of all generations. (Courtesy Photo/Field Entertainment)
• The reimagined Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey invites children of all ages to a spectacle of superhuman feats, pushing the limits of possibility and thrilling families and fans of all generations. (Courtesy Photo/Field Entertainment)

Heart | Royal Flush Tour

Schottenstein Center at 8 p.m. on May 15

• With a career spanning nearly five decades, the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees have earned global recognition selling more than 35 million albums worldwide, with 20 Top 40 singles to their name.

Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival

Historic Crew Stadium from May 16 to 19

• The four-day mega rock festival is set to return with its largest lineup, which includes headliners such as Disturbed, The Original Misfits, Pantera, and Slipknot. Sonic Temple will take place once again at Historic Crew Stadium.

Columbus Chicken and Beer Festival

Dodge Park on June 1

• The Chicken and Beer Festival features local breweries, food trucks, live music, more than 50 artisans and more.

Columbus Arts Festival

Downtown riverfront from June 7 to 9

• The 62nd festival features more than 225 visual artists, three stages of performances and dozens of food vendors. 

The Columbus Arts Festival is one of the most highly acclaimed arts festivals in the nation.

Columbus Summer Wine Festival

McFerson Commons Park from 1 to 7 p.m. on June 8

• Wine enthusiasts can expect to taste some of the very best established and up-and-coming wine brands. 

Melanie Martinez | The Trilogy Tour

Nationwide Arena at 7 p.m. on June 13

• "The Trilogy Tour" will see the evolution of Martinez’s alter ego "Cry Baby" performed live. It will include hits from all three of her albums: "Cry Baby," "K-12," and "Portals" which have collectively amassed over 14 Billion streams worldwide.

Lionel Richie and Earth, Wind and Fire | Sing a Song All Night Long Tour

Schottenstein Center at 7:30 p.m. on June 13

• Funk band Earth, Wind & Fire will join the R&B legend in an extension of his "Sing A Song All Night" tour.

Disney's 'The Lion King'

Ohio Theatre from June 12 to July 17

• More than 100 million people around the world have seen Disney's Broadway production of "The Lion King." Winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, "The Lion King" features some of Broadway’s most recognizable music, by Tony Award-winning artists Elton John and Tim Rice.

More than 100 million people around the world have seen Disney's Broadway production of "The Lion King." (Courtesy Photo/CAPA)

Stonewall Columbus Pride

Goodale Park from June 14 to 15

• Stonewall’s annual Pride Festival and March serve as the organization’s largest annual fundraiser that secures the needed funds to support Stonewall’s community programs and annual operations.

Columbus Air Show

Rickenbacker International Airport from June 14 to 16

• After a nearly 20-year absence, the world-famous United States Air Force Thunderbirds will return to central Ohio for the 2024 Columbus Air Show. The weekend promises to be packed with heart-pounding air performances and family-friendly activities.

Juneteenth Ohio Festival

Genoa Park from June 15 to 16

• Juneteenth honors the end of slavery in the United States when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, in 1865 to inform the state’s residents that slavery had been abolished – 2 1/2 years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. 

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – After a night out at Easton Town Center to celebrate his wife Brittany’s birthday, Tyler Davis said he was going for a walk and never returned. Despite his disappearance gaining national attention, Brittany is still searching for answers five years later. 

“Tyler is very funny, he’s very sarcastic,” Brittany said. “He loved to spend time with his son and he was also a gamer so he was always playing different kinds of video games.”

• (Photo Courtesy/Brittany Davis)
• (Photo Courtesy/Brittany Davis)
• (Photo Courtesy/Brittany Davis)

On Feb. 23, 2019, Brittany and Tyler, 29, were getting ready to celebrate her 23rd birthday. They dropped their one-year-old son off with Tyler’s parents and headed to the Hilton hotel at Easton, checking in around 5 p.m. Brittany, of Wilmington, said it was her first time in the Columbus area.

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The couple invited multiple friends to go out for Brittany’s birthday, but only one of Tyler’s close friends from college came. Later that evening, the trio went to a couple of bars in the area and had some drinks. They took a rideshare back to the hotel around 3 a.m., according to Brittany. She said Tyler and his friend both fell asleep in the car.

“When we had gotten in front of the Hilton, it was almost like he was confused like he didn’t think that we were where we were supposed to be, and he just took off walking, and I went to go follow him, and his buddy was like ‘No, it’s fine, I got it, you go ahead,’” Brittany said. 

Tyler and his friend began walking south of the Hilton. Brittany went back inside the hotel because her phone was dying. Around 3:30 a.m., Tyler called Brittany, saying he was taking a walk and would be right back. Shortly after, Tyler's friend returned to the hotel alone.

“I had kept calling the both of them and they didn’t answer, and then [his friend] came back but he was by himself, and I was like, ‘Do you know what happened? What’s going on?’ and he’s like, ‘He just needs a minute, Brittany, he’s just taking a walk, he’ll be right back,’” Brittany said.

Tyler attempted to put the hotel in his phone GPS at 3:51 a.m., police revealed in an October 2019 news conference. Shortly after 4 a.m., Brittany received another phone call – it was Tyler. 

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“He had said something about walking through the woods, like, ‘I’m walking through the woods; I can see the hotel’ and so we get off the phone, and I immediately call him directly back,” Brittany said.

When she called him back the line stayed open for four seconds – Brittany assumed he had answered the call, but then the call dropped. When she tried to call him back, his phone went straight to voicemail and has ever since. 

Brittany said she began to get increasingly nervous as she could not get in contact with him. She began calling friends for advice and walking around looking for Tyler. A past roommate of the couple who lived in the area picked Brittany up and they continued searching.

“I didn’t know if something had happened, if we was in the hospital, or like maybe he got arrested,” Brittany said. “We checked all the bases, and then by that point, I was like, 'OK, so we need to call his parents, we need to call police,' and things got very real very fast.”

Around 10:30 a.m., she called Columbus police to report her husband missing. Five years later, what happened to Tyler that morning remains a mystery. A spokesperson with Columbus police said they do not have any update on the case to share at this time.

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“Logically, I know Tyler would have never left his son or his parents at all,” Brittany said. “I don’t know if he got hurt somehow, and I don’t really know what to think, because I, honestly, still can’t believe I’m still in this situation, and it's been ongoing and there are no answers.”

In the months after Tyler’s disappearance, the case captured the attention of social media users. Brittany was at the center of widespread speculation – she said her address and phone number were released online, and even her job received phone calls from people who knew of the case.

“I’ve been involved with many missing persons cases from Ohio over the years, and I have to say that they were absolutely brutal to Brittany and it was very, very hard to hear everybody speculate,” said Lori Davis, an advocate for missing persons. “It’s been brutal to sit back and even watch and it's not happening to me, it’s just happening to someone I care a lot about.”

Davis called the negative attention Brittany received the “ugly side” of social media but said the positive side was getting Tyler's name out there. Brittany said she would like to see law enforcement agencies improve the way adult missing persons cases are handled.

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“We need to have more written rules and laws in place because we do for children and we do for elderly, but we don’t for people that are over 18,” Brittany said. “[A detective] said, ‘I have 15 cases,’ and I said, ‘I have one husband and my son has one father,’ so people really do just kind of shove you down. … It’s sad to see how often that happens in this kind of situation.”

Brittany asks anyone with information on Tyler’s disappearance to contact police – and she has a message for Tyler himself. 

“I would tell him that I love him and I would tell him that he would be really really proud of [our son] and me,” Brittany said through tears. “I would tell him that I haven’t given up and I never will.”

At the time of his disappearance, Tyler Davis was 5 feet 10, 170 pounds and had brown hair and brown eyes. He had a large birthmark on his right arm, chest and neck. He was last seen wearing a blue and green flannel shirt, blue jeans and Nike shoes. As of Thursday, he would be 34 years old. 

Anyone with any information on the disappearance of Tyler Davis may contact Columbus police at 614-645-4545 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers’ anonymous tip line at 614-461-8477.

If you’re a family member of an individual with an unsolved missing persons or homicide case in Ohio, reach out to aboldizar@wcmh.com.

Columbus and Central Ohio Weather QUICK WEATHER FORECAST:

• Today: AM mix, PM rain, high 45
• Tonight: Sct'd mix, low 35
• Friday: Spotty showers, high 45
• Saturday: Few clouds, high 50
• Sunday: More sunshine, night shower, high 58
• Monday: Partly cloudy, iso. shower, high 66

FORECAST DISCUSSION:

Happy Thursday!

We start the day with a wintry mix across most of the region as temperatures start off close to freezing. We'll then see a transition to mainly rain showers this afternoon. Highs drop back to the middle 40s today, with a breeze.

Expect a bit of a wintry mix, once again, overnight into Friday morning. Our shower activity will become more isolated in nature Friday, but we will still see a few pockets of rain into the afternoon. Highs remain in the middle 40s.

We start to shape up in time for the weekend. Expect highs close to 50 on Saturday, with a few clouds out. By Sunday we're looking at highs in the upper 50s with more sunshine. Clouds then build in later Sunday, with just an isolated shower chance overnight into early Monday.

Monday is the day of the solar eclipse, and we are keeping a very close eye on the cloud forecast. It is looking like we will see partly cloudy skies that day, so it is something to watch. Temperatures will be mild, with highs in the middle 60s.

-McKenna

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Let's start this over. Let's start at the beginning. 

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WLW-C) -- On April 3, 1949, when NBC4 broadcast for the first time, it wasn't WCMH. It wasn't even Channel 4.

It was NBC, and that may be one of the few things that hasn't changed in 75 years. So much happened in the years before Kerry and Colleen, or Doug and Mona, or even “Hugh DeMoss and the News.” They encompass the first color broadcasts in Columbus, the first use of weather radar, and Ohio State’s first televised home football game. It’s a lot to tell.

In the beginning, Crosley Broadcasting Corporation launched Columbus’ first television station, and its third ever, under the call letters WLWC. They were often stylized with a hyphen before the C to associate it with Crosley’s super-powered AM station, WLW of Cincinnati, and its earlier television ventures there and in Dayton, WLW-T and WLW-D. Originating from the Seneca Hotel at the corner of East Broad and Grant streets Downtown, WLW-C took to the air that day on Channel 3.

1949-1953

Before Day 1, test patterns appeared over the course of two weeks as Crosley deployed a system where Cincinnati signals were picked up by Dayton and retransmitted to a receiver in Mechanicsburg that retransmitted them again to WLW-C. It was an early, and ultimately successful, attempt at regional television. But how many people were watching on April 3? Probably not a lot. A 1971 book, “Not Just a Sound: The Story of WLW” by Dick Perry, said the Columbus area had only 88 television receivers that day but that it jumped into the hundreds in a matter of weeks. “The first day WLWC was on the air for two and a half hours, took a dinner break, then came back for three more hours in the evening.”

An image of 3165 Olentangy River Road in Columbus, Ohio, sometime before 1964, the home of WLW-C, now WCMH/NBC4 (NBC4 archives)

On Sept. 14, operations transferred to new studios at 3165 Olentangy River Road, where, after several expansions and renovations, live broadcasts still originate every day. An early hire was Jimmy Crum, the eventual “Dean of Central Ohio Sportscasters,” who remained through 1994. By the end of 1949, programming had reached 85 hours a week, including rebroadcasts from WLW-T, shows from NBC and the Dumont network, and Ohio State football. That was two years before a big change for the Buckeyes, when Woody Hayes was hired as football coach and began a 28-year run. A longer-lasting change came to Channel 3 another two years after that.

1953-1976

The conversion to Channel 4 happened on June 28, 1953, one domino to fall in a series of frequency changes that year. In reporting the move, Broadcast magazine said WLW-C’s reach had grown to over 500,000 homes, with 129 hours of programming each week. The following year, the diamond-shaped TV 4 logo debuted and became identified with the station for at least the next 20 years. And for the first time, color television appeared in Columbus, with WLW-C’s broadcasts of NBC shows. In 1957, Hugh DeMoss joined as a news reporter, eventually anchoring the evening news and becoming news director until his departure in 1980. He later served as a Franklin County commissioner.

Ann B. Walker of WLW-C/WCMH/NBC4 in an undated photo (NBC4 archives)

Another who came to WLW-C was Ann B. Walker, a pioneering Black journalist who covered the Statehouse, became part of the station management team and later worked at the White House under President Jimmy Carter. Original programs included a local version of American Bandstand called “Dance Party,” hosted by Jerry Rasor, and a variety show called “Coffee Talk,” hosted by “Spook” Beckman. Regional programs from Crosley Broadcasting out of Cincinnati included shows hosted by “Paul Baby” Dixon, Ruth Lyons and Bob Braun. Over time, the Crosley owners decided to retire that name – still associated with Powel Crosley, the radio pioneer who had died in 1961 – and use the parent company’s name instead. Avco, founded as the Aviation Corporation, was a conglomerate that also owned a credit card company, a movie studio, an appliance manufacturer and more. David Letterman, whose talk-show antics were at least partly inspired by Dixon, was a weathercaster around that time at WLW-I in Indianapolis. “They did a lot of original broadcasting both on radio and television … so for me, it was a real exciting connection. Crosley was OK,” he said in a 1995 interview. “When Avco got to it, they were making flexible straws for the space program, and they spent more time worrying about that than they did broadcasting.” In the mid 1970s, Avco began selling off its broadcasting assets one by one.

1976-1983

“You are now seeing new call letters on Channel 4 … WCMH-TV. They signify that Outlet Broadcasting has come to Columbus,” read advertisements on Feb. 3, 1976, that advised viewers to “Stay with 4, where your friends are.” The purchase price was $16 million to become Outlet’s fifth television station, with the new call letters mirroring the airport code for what was originally called Columbus Municipal Hangar, later Port Columbus and today John Glenn International. Employees who spoke privately to Columbus Monthly magazine after the sale expressed hope that with their days as a kid brother to Cincinnati’s WLW-T behind them, the new owners would prioritize news enough to push the station out of second place in the market.

WCMH/NBC4 meteorologist Ben Gelber in an undated photo (NBC4 archives)

Newscasts continued around familiar names, with DeMoss, Crum and Rasor on news, sports and weather. In transitioning from “Dance Party” host to forecaster, Rasor was known for being a bit more silly than serious, although during this time, WCMH continued to innovate, becoming the city’s first station to use weather radar – as an intern, Ben Gelber, was there to witness. But that elusive spot as the top television station in Columbus wouldn’t come for a few more years.

1983-1996

The idea was brilliant: Take top-rated anchor Doug Adair, pair him with the young and personable Mona Scott, and let them play off each other as they presented the news every evening. Only this wasn't in Columbus at WCMH. This was in Cleveland, and the idea bombed. The Cleveland station had hired away Adair from a competitor and later added Scott to the mix. The move didn't make for ratings, but it did make for chemistry. Adair and Scott married the following year, in 1980. When WCMH brought in Cleveland native Ron Bilek as its news director, he knew what he wanted to do. "I never looked at the fact that they were married as a real gimmick,” he told Columbus Monthly in November 1983. “I looked at the softness they have. It's something you strive for on the air, and they have it."

Jimmy Crum, the Dean of Central Ohio Sportscasters, in 1989

“Let’s All Be There” was an NBC slogan that decade, but it might as well have described Columbus’ devotion to Doug and Mona, and with them, WCMH ascended to the top of the ratings. But nothing lasts forever. Scott left the station in 1990, she and Adair divorced in 1992, and he retired in 1994. The last person to share the anchor desk with Adair was the person who remains there to this day, Colleen Marshall. And change remained in the air over the following years. Outlet Broadcasting, by then Outlet Communications, was on its way out of the business, and another ’80s slogan, "Come Home to NBC," was about to take on a whole new meaning for WCMH.

1997-2006

NBC paid $396 million for Outlet’s cluster of stations and began putting its imprint upon WCMH. Out was the gold and red 4 logo, and in was a new identity: NBC4. Now it didn’t have sister stations just in places like Providence, Rhode Island, and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, but in New York, Los Angeles and Washington.

Cabot Rea and Colleen Marshall in 1995 (NBC4 archives)

With Adair’s retirement, Marshall settled into the evening anchor desk alongside Cabot Rea, a pairing that lasted 23 years. Also joining the station during this time were Monica Day, now anchor of NBC4 Today on weekday mornings, and Jerod Smalley, now anchor of First at 4 and NBC4 at 5. And the changes continued beyond television and into the internet world with the launch of nbc4columbus.com, the forerunner of NBC4i. But despite the expansive feel that came with being owned and operated by the network, the arrangement lasted only so long. NBC started to look at reducing the number of stations it owned, and not long after its makeover, NBC4 was once again on the move.

2007-today

A Virginia-based company, Media General, paid $600 million for NBC4 and three other stations at a time when change was obvious in the television world. People were ditching their tube televisions for high-definition models, and NBC4 unveiled its HD look in early 2008. In 2016, Nexstar bought Media General for $4.6 billion, and today NBC4 remains a part of what is the country’s largest group of television stations.

Kerry Charles and Monica Day at Red, White & BOOM! in 2022 (NBC4)

Familiar faces continued to arrive: present NBC4 Today anchor Matt Barnes in 2010, Chief Meteorologist Dave Mazza in 2012, and First at 4 and NBC4 at 5 anchor Jennifer Bullock in 2014. Rea retired in 2015, and Marshall was joined by Mike Jackson on the anchor desk until 2019, when he stepped down for medical reasons. After that came Kerry Charles, continuing NBC4’s trend of relying upon homegrown talent. Charles is from Columbus, as is Barnes. Day is from Whitehall and Bullock from Zanesville. In recent years, NBC4 has made a mission of using people from central Ohio whenever it can to tell the story of central Ohio.

When WLW-C turned 10 years old, Gov. Michael DiSalle congratulated the people of the station “for their many years of service to the community, with the hope that they may continue long in the future to extend the same kind of pleasure and entertainment and community service that they've rendered in the past.” And in looking back now at 75 years, Marshall, who’s been at NBC4 for over half of that time, can see how it’s so. “It’s been a privilege to be part of the history of this station,” Marshall said. “We try to serve the community, and the community gives us so much in return. I can’t think of a better city to work, to raise a family, to find friendship and to head toward a meaningful future.”

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A person is in critical condition after a reported stabbing in the South Campus section of Columbus.

Columbus police said the stabbing happened on the 1400 block of North High Street at approximately 11:01 p.m. Wednesday.

The victim was taken to Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

There is no further information available at this time.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Another Wednesday, another Powerball drawing.

With no players matching the five numbers and the Powerball number in Monday's drawing, Wednesday's Powerball jackpot is worth an estimated $1.131 billion.

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Wednesday's winning numbers are 11, 38, 41, 62, and 65; the Powerball is 15 and the Power Play multiplier is 3X.

Six tickets sold for Monday's drawing -- two in Maryland and one each in Florida, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Virginia -- matched the five white ball numbers, but missed the Powerball, netting the winners $1 million. More than 2.1 million tickets won a prize of at least $4 in the drawing.

Wednesday’s estimated jackpot will be the fourth-highest in the game’s history if claimed and marks the 40th drawing since the game’s last winner – a $842.4 million jackpot won on Jan. 1. It is also the fourth Powerball jackpot in less than two years to reach $1 billion.

The top ten Powerball jackpots are:

1. $2.04 billion – Nov. 7, 2022
2. $1.765 billion – Oct. 11, 2023
3. $1.586 billion – Jan. 13, 2016
4. $1.131 billion (estimated) -- April 1, 2024
5. $1.08 billion -- July 19, 2023
6. $842.4 million – January 1, 2024
7. $768.4 million – March 27, 2019
8. $758.7 million – Aug. 23, 2017
9. $754.6 million – Feb. 6, 2023
10. $731.1 million – Jan. 20, 2021

None of those top ten jackpots was won in Ohio.

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Winners have the option of being paid the full jackpot amount in annual payments over 30 years, or taking a lesser, one-time payment (Wednesday is an estimated $527.3 million). Lottery officials said most winners choose the one-time payment. All winnings are pre-federal tax, and most states also collect taxes on lottery winnings.

Players must match five balls numbered 1 to 69 plus a Powerball numbered between 1 through 26 to win the jackpot.

Powerball tickets are $2 per play and are sold in 45 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Players can opt to play the Power Play multiplier for an extra $1, which will multiply the player’s winnings by the drawn multiplier (this applies to all prizes except the jackpot and the $1 million prize, which tops out at $2 million).

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The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million; the odds of winning any one of the nine different prizes available is 1 in 24.9. Odds are not affected by the number of tickets sold; instead, they are based on the chances of selecting the right combination of numbers. Prizes start at $4 for matching either the Powerball or the Powerball and one other number.

Drawings are every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

LANCASTER, Ohio (WCMH) - Several inches of rain across central Ohio have resulted in road closures due to flooding and standing water in farmer's fields.

Early rain tends to help kickstart a crop in the spring, but not necessarily if the rain comes before planting season.

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Ty Higgins from the Ohio Farm Bureau said Wednesday the rain and subsequent flooding may not have too much of an impact on this spring's planting.

"No one's hitting the panic button right now," Higgins said. "But the concern is, does Mother Nature one just shut off and we plant into dry soil like we did last year? Or do we get into a spot where we can plant for a couple of days and we have another rainy pattern and not able to get the crops in in a timely manner. So those are the two things farmers are really thinking about right now."

Last year, farmers were planting crops in mostly dried out soil, which isn't ideal either. This year, Higgins and farmers across the state are hoping for more favorable planting conditions. Some moisture in the top three to four inches of the soil is ideal, but not so much moisture that tractors and farm implements drag through mud and risk getting stuck.

"With how much rain we've gotten over the last couple of days and weeks, really it's going to take a long time for those fields to dry out," Higgins said. "You never really set a schedule with Mother Nature, especially here in Ohio. I don't think we've had a really conducive weather pattern for spring planting in years."

The business of farming and agriculture has a long history of importance in the State of Ohio.

"Agriculture is Ohio's number one industry, $12 billion a year going to agriculture's bottom line," Higgins said. "One in eight jobs tied to food and farm production."

So, if crops don't get planted in time, that time is money. There's a trickle down, or trickle up, effect crops have on society. Everything from groceries to gasoline is impacted by the crops that are produced every year.

John Hummel has been farming the land in Franklin and Fairfield Counties for more than fifteen years. It's a family business for him.

"Weather affects all of us and it affects us in a big way," Hummel said. "But, you know, it's, it's what we love to do and we're passionate about it."

NBC4 visited one of his fields in Fairfield County on Wednesday. It was largely under water after several inches of rain fell on Monday and Tuesday. He's confident the water will clear up by the end of the week, leaving plenty of time for the soil to be dry enough for planting in a few weeks. But he knows the planting schedule isn't up to him.

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"We don't make a plan that, hey, we're going to start planting on April 15th," Hummel said. "And that's what's going to happen because Mother Nature, she's the one who says when we can or can't be in the field. And but so that that's a struggle."

A field full of water means planting gets pushed back. That pushes back everything else from treating the crops with nutrients all the way to harvest. Every minute delayed could mean a more expensive crop.

"As you get later, It just backs things up later, makes it makes the corn wetter in the fall, which is harder for us to handle," Hummel said. "We have to dry it more. It's more costly."

Hummel said if the rain we've seen in the first couple days of April were to come after the crops were planted, it could be catastrophic.

"There's times where you do have something, a field like this planted, and you get a big rain like this and it is it is one of the worst things that can happen to the crop," Hummel said.

In that case, he has replanted in past years when the crops were ruined early enough.

Hummel has been farming long enough to know that whatever Mother Nature brings, farmers will adjust.

"We have been pushed clear into June getting planted, which is not ideal, but it's still doable," Hummel said. "It seems like the weather patterns have pushed us later than we used to 10 to 15 years ago. But it's also allowed for better rainfall throughout the growing season."

Rain and floods aren't the only thing on the minds of farmers this time of year. They are also keeping an eye on Washington, D.C. Congress failed to pass a new Farm Bill in 2023 after the previous bill expired in September.

Higgins works to bridge the gap between lawmakers and farmers. He said Congress extended the previous Farm Bill which dates back to September 2018 in order to 'put off' passing a new one.

"They kicked it down the road another year," Higgins said. "And so we need a new five year farm bill here at the end of 2024. That is something that's on the farmers minds really heavily right now."

The Farm Bill provides funding for programs that largely benefit the agriculture and nutrition industries. One of the provisions is money for Crop Insurance, which, had a downpour happened after planting, could've put many farmers in a position to need it.

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"It's a tool that in in scenarios like we've got here in in natural catastrophes and whatnot, it can save it can really save a farm," Hummel said.

The extension on the 2018 Farm Bill is set to expire again in September 2024.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A coalition of public schools is looking to grow its ranks as its lawsuit against the state moves closer to its trial date.

The group, Vouchers Hurt Ohio, is pushing to eliminate the EdChoice vouchers that allow students in designated public schools to attend participating private schools.

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The lawsuit said these vouchers hurt public schools as more and more people apply for them.

Those who are pro-vouchers say it’s about parents having the ability to choose where to send their child. Those against the vouchers say it’s about separating church and state and because the program isn’t performing how it was promised.

Vouchers Hurt Ohio is suing to eliminate the EdChoice vouchers. Dozens of school districts have signed on, and the group is trying to get more on board.

"I spent 30 years in the Arlington schools and 34 years teaching, two of them were in a charter school," Retired UA School Teacher Betsy O'Brochta said. "But my best hope is that there is a value put to public education."

O’Brochta helped organize a Wednesday event where people came together to learn more about why there is a lawsuit suing the state for the voucher program. Former chair of the Ohio Democratic Party David Pepper was one speaker.

"For a long time, people talked about vouchers as if it was this narrow way to help people who were in poor districts go to a better school," Pepper said. 

He said now, that’s not the case.

"The people who are mostly getting dollars here already chose to go to the private school," Pepper said. "They've been going to that school, in many cases, their entire life. All they're doing now is getting public money to do what they were already doing."

Troy McIntosh is the executive director of Ohio Christian Education Network. This coalition is in support of the EdChoice voucher program.

"We don't believe the lawsuit really has any validity to it because there is nothing in the state constitution that disallows this type of program," McIntosh said. 

He said these vouchers are important.

"Vouchers are essentially a way of recognizing that parents are a much better determiner of what the best education for a child is than the government, which arbitrarily assigns kids to schools based on zip code," McIntosh said. 

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Vouchers Hurt Ohio argued the vouchers go against the Constitution.

"It was important to file the lawsuit rather than allow an unconstitutional law to continue," Former Worthington School Board President Charlie Wilson said. "My problem is, I don't want the state getting involved in religion or churches. And once the state starts funding religions and their schools, we are soon going to have the state very intertwined and auditing and looking over religions."

The lawsuit goes to trial in November.