July 13, 2023 

Ohio sees increase in fraudsters using fake credentials to access unemployment accounts

Cincinnati.com, July 11, 2023

Increased attempts to defraud Ohio's unemployment system have led to problems for Ohioans trying to access their accounts legitimately.

Fraudsters are using fake credentials to try to access Ohioans' unemployment accounts, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services spokesman Bill Teets said. Over the past few weeks, 70% of new unemployment claims, about 15,000 claims preliminarily, have been flagged for further review.

Not all of those claims will end up being fraud, but the increase is significant compared to previous weeks when under 30% of new claims were flagged.

"We have identified the issue, which involves criminals accessing an individual’s account using fake credentials and are working to address it," Teets said.

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High levels of a hazardous chemical polluted the air weeks after the Ohio train derailment, an analysis shows

NBC News, July 12, 2023

Soon after the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, Ohio, a team of researchers began roving the small town in a Nissan van.

It was February, less than three weeks after the disaster, and the van was outfitted with an instrument called a mass spectrometer, which can measure hundreds to thousands of compounds in the air every second.

The team was searching for harmful levels of air pollution. At the time, a primary concern was a flammable substance called vinyl chloride, because Norfolk Southern intentionally burned off the chemical in an attempt to avoid the chance of an explosion. Some environmental health experts thought the chemical may have contributed to the rashes, vomiting, bloody noses and bronchitis some residents reported.

But a new study from the team behind the research van — a group of scientists at Carnegie Mellon and Texas A&M universities — raises a flag about a different substance.

According to the study, levels of a chemical irritant called acrolein detected near the derailment site on Feb. 20 and 21 were up to six times higher than normal levels recorded before the disaster. But local and federal officials had told residents it was safe to return home on Feb. 8.

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FEMA Stretched Beyond Climate Response as Disasters Balloon

Bloomberglaw.com, July 12, 2023

Atmospheric rivers drenched California and deadly storms crept toward Mississippi as Deanne Criswell sat in her corner office in Washington, D.C., and tackled a loaded question: Is it all too much for FEMA?

Federal Emergency Management Agency workers form the government’s rapid-response team for natural disasters while juggling disparate tasks that now range from distributing vaccines to aiding migrant children at the border.

“Yeah, there’s a lot, right?” the FEMA administrator said in an interview. But she insisted the agency can meet the moment. “The role of the emergency manager really is the role of problem-solver.”

Former agency leaders, disaster specialists, and lawmakers are not all so confident. As demands snowball, some see an agency hobbled by bureaucracy and an overstretched workforce.

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Most youth would quit vaping if flavors, including menthol, were not available, research shows

Dayton Daily News, July 12, 2023

Flavoring is driving teenagers to use vaping products and a new Ohio State University study show teens would stop if they did not have multiple flavor choices available to them.

Nearly 71% of survey participants between the ages of 14 and 17 would quit vaping under a tobacco-only product standard, researchers from the Ohio State University found in the new study. Under a tobacco and menthol standard, nearly 39% of the participants said they would quit.

The current U.S. Food and Drug Administration flavor ban only applies to cartridge electronic cigarette devices. If you look behind the counter at your local gas station, you’ll see dozens of devices with different flavors available to purchase. Since the FDA began enforcing the flavor ban in 2020, sales for disposable e-cigarettes have increased from 24.7% to 51.8%.

“Our data add to an expanding body of evidence showing that youth have a preference for sweet flavorings that make vaping easier for novice users of e-cigarette products, priming them for a potential lifetime of dependency to nicotine,” said Alayna Tackett, senior author of the study and a researcher with the Center for Tobacco Research, which is part of OSU’s Comprehensive Cancer Center.

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'Dr. Roxy' loses medical license after accusations of live streaming surgeries on TikTok

The Columbus Dispatch, July 12, 2023

Dr. Katharine Roxanne Grawe, a Powell plastic surgeon accused of injuring patients while livestreaming some procedures online, will never again work as a doctor in Ohio.

The State Medical Board of Ohio on Wednesday voted to permanently revoke the medical license of Grawe, who also goes by "Dr. Roxy." Grawe's license had been suspended since Nov. 18, with further action pending a hearing that took place in May and a final decision Wednesday by the full medical board.

"This case isn't about some antiquated view of social media ... These patients trusted Dr. Roxy because of what they saw on social media. She made major surgeries with potentially life altering complications seem like one big party," an attorney representing the state's case against the doctor said while asking the board to revoke Grawe's license.

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