A jury in Highland County Common Pleas Court deliberated approximately half an hour Monday before returning a not guilty verdict for a Middletown man charged with disseminating matter harmful to a juvenile.
  Harold Birch had been indicted on the fifth-degree felony charge in March. The state alleged that on Dec. 12, 2010 he had sent six "obscene" photos of a former girlfriend to the woman's 17-year-old daughter.

Gov. John R. Kasich will convene the 2011 Board of Apportioning Persons on Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 2:30 p.m. in the Senate Finance Hearing Room in the Ohio Statehouse.

At least four departments battled this trailer fire Sunday morning in the 10000 block of Cinderella Drive near Rocky Fork Lake.
 Crews from Hillsboro Fire and Rescue responded with mutual aid from Marshall, Brushcreek and the Paint Creek Joint Fire and EMS District to 10906 Cinderella Drive at approximately 5 a.m.

At least four departments battled this trailer fire Sunday morning in the 10000 block of Cinderella Drive near Rocky Fork Lake.
 Crews from Hillsboro Fire and Rescue responded with mutual aid from Marshall, Brushcreek and the Paint Creek Joint Fire and EMS District to 10906 Cinderella Drive at approximately 5 a.m.

Highland County Sheriff Ron Ward has announced that the Highland County Central Dispatch/911 Center will conduct Tornado Siren Testing on Wednesday, July 27 at noon.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine praised his office's Health Care Fraud Section for a record-setting recovery of $103,768,000 for the state fiscal year that ended in June.

A report of a smoking gym bag in the parking lot of a Hillsboro car wash led Hillsboro police officers to the discovery of a small meth lab Sunday afternoon.

Hillsboro police and deputies, plus a K-9 unit, from the Highland County Sheriff's Office responded. Their search led them to an apartment on Cedarwood Drive. After receiving permission to conduct a search, officers arrested Darryl Watson, 25, of Cedarwood Drive, Hillsboro. Watson is being held at the Highland County Justice Center and will appear in Hillsboro Municipal Court on July 25.

The Hillsboro Police Department has arrested James Ray of East South Street, Hillsboro, and Alicia Ralston of South High Street, Hillsboro, in connection with a reported breaking and entering on July 23.

A number of Ohio Republican Party campaign contributors and attendees at the state GOP's dinner this weekend chose former Massachusetts. Gov. Mitt Romney in a straw poll as the Republican choice to take on President Barack Obama in 2012.

A motion to suppress a search that led to the alleged discovery of child pornography on the computer of a Hillsboro man was overruled Friday during a hearing in Highland County Common Pleas Court.
  Dana Jeter, 52, appeared for a suppression hearing before Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss, during which the judge determined that Jeter's fourth amendment rights were not violated because there was no actual search, and therefore a warrant was not needed.

U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio), former U.S. Trade Representative, and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), joined 10 of their Republican Senate colleagues this week to advance the pending export agreements with Korea, Colombia, and Panama.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has announced that former Adams County Prosecutor Aaron E. Haslam, co-coordinator of the Ohio Attorney General's Special Prosecutions Unit, was sworn in today as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (SAUSA) in the Southern District of Ohio in the United States Attorney's Office.