Ohio
Ohio State Univ. trademarks name of Woody Hayes
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - After trademarking the name of current Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer, the university has done the same with a predecessor, Woody Hayes.
The university filed for the trademark earlier this year from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
The director of trademark and licensing services at Ohio State, Rick Van Brimmer, said the school has used the late coach's name or face on T-shirts, hats and bobblehead figures over the years. He said it started "innocently" with the name "Woody" on the back of a hat, just like the kind the coach wore.
The director sought out Haye's widow, Anne Hayes, to determine what to do about royalties.
"The family has always been wonderful," Van Brimmer said. "They've never received anything. They've directed royalties to Woody Hayes and/or Anne Hayes scholarship funds."
After Anne Hayes' death in 1998, the university began discussing royalties with the couple's son, Steven Hayes.
"As Steve and I talked, we realized that nothing was in writing or formalized and we weren't going to live forever," Van Brimmer said. "We realized there was a need to formalize our relationship with the family and how we use the name."
That prompted the university to file for the trademark on Jan. 27.
Hayes had a 205-61-10 record at Ohio State from 1951-1978. He died in 1987.
Virginia
Gov. restores voting rights to 200K felons
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - More than 200,000 convicted felons will be eligible to vote and run for public office in Virginia under a sweeping executive order announced Friday by Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
McAuliffe said his actions would help undo Virginia's long history of trying to suppress the black vote.
He said he was certain he had the legal authority for the massive extension of voting rights, adding that he'd consulted with legal and constitutional experts, including Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring.
"Too often in both our distant and recent history, politicians have used their authority to restrict people's ability to participate in our democracy," McAuliffe said in a statement. "Today we are reversing that disturbing trend and restoring the rights of more than 200,000 of our fellow Virginians who work, raise families and pay taxes in every corner of our Commonwealth."
McAuliffe has made the restoration of rights of former convicts a priority of his administration. Before Friday's order, the administration had restored the rights of more than 18,000 felons, which officials said is more than the past seven governors combined.
New Jersey
Woman who set newborn on fire receives 30 years
MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. (AP) - A woman who set her newborn on fire and left her in the middle of a New Jersey street has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Hyphernkemberly Dorvilier was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty in February to aggravated manslaughter.
Authorities say the 23-year-old Pemberton Township woman doused her newborn with accelerant and set her on fire in January 2015. The baby had third-degree burns over 60 percent of her body. She died two hours after she was flown to a Philadelphia hospital.
Prosecutors had recommended the 30-year sentence.
Prosecutors say she hid her pregnancy from her mother and sister. Investigators say the baby was found with her umbilical cord and placenta attached.
Ohio
Judge overturns man's conviction in wife's death
NORWALK, Ohio (AP) - A judge has thrown out the conviction of a dying Ohio inmate who has spent the last two decades in prison for allegedly killing his wife in 1981.
A judge ruled Thursday that Huron County prosecutors withheld evidence that would have helped attorneys for 78-year-old James Parsons. The judge ordered a new trial and says Parsons can be released without bond on Monday.
A message seeking comment from the county prosecutor wasn't immediately returned Friday.
Parsons has terminal cancer, congestive heart disease and dementia and will be moved to a nursing home.
He was arrested in 1993 and convicted in the slaying of his wife, Barbara, who died after she was struck 15 times in the head with a heavy object. Parsons said he was away from home that day.
New York
NYC reaches $40M settlement with 5 ex-inmates
NEW YORK (AP) - Authorities say New York City has agreed to pay $40 million to settle civil rights lawsuits filed by five people who claimed they were wrongfully convicted of murder in the Bronx.
The New York Times reports the Law Department said Thursday it had agreements with three plaintiffs and agreed to two more in principle.
The plaintiffs are to receive $8 million each. Their lawsuits accused two police detectives of misconduct during the investigation. Each of the plaintiffs spent over 17 years behind bars.
Three of the plaintiffs were convicted in the 1995 killings of a livery cab driver and a Federal Express executive. The other two were convicted only in the cab driver's slaying.
The Law Department says the settlements are in the best interest of the city.
Vermont
Police: Man drove tractor into credit union deposit box
RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) - Police have arrested a 30-year-old Vermont man who they say attempted to rob a credit union branch's night deposit box by slamming into it with a tractor.
The Rutland Herald reports Chase Siliski will be arraigned in Rutland criminal court in May on charges of felony grand larceny, felony attempted grand larceny and a misdemeanor count of unlawful mischief.
Police say Fair Haven Rescue Squad members observed Siliski repeatedly ramming the night deposit box of the Green Mountain Credit Union's Cold River Road branch in November.
The Proctor man allegedly fled the scene in the tractor and ran into the woods near the Adele Stanley apartment complex in Rutland. He was apprehended on April 10.
Siliski could not be reached for comment.
Published: Mon, Apr 25, 2016
