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Ohio Medical Doctor Sentenced to Prison for Health Care Fraud Scheme
July 19, 2024, Press Release from the United States Attorney's Office, Northern District of Ohio: TOLEDO – Ankita Singh, 42, formerly of Maumee, Ohio, was sentenced to 26 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary, for her role in a durable medical equipment (DME) scheme that defrauded the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicare Program. She was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $4,470,931.02, serve two years of supervised release, and pay a special assessment fee of $600.
Meeting to address Maumee River fish, wildlife improvements near Towpath Park
Maumee-area residents are being asked to weigh in on $2 million to $5 million of fish and wildlife habitat improvements planned for the Maumee River near the city’s Towpath Park. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is hosting a public information session at 5:30 p.m. on July 30 about the work, called the Great Lakes Fisheries and Ecosystem Restoration Towpath Park project. The 90-minute meeting will be inside the Maumee High School Performing Arts Center, 1147 Saco St., Maumee. Three potential locations are under consideration. They include sites adjacent to existing walking paths west or east of the Conant Street Bridge, or a portion of the river further downstream, northeast of the Audubon Islands State Nature Preserve. A river-adjacent wetland complex, vernal pools, and softening streambank features to stabilize the bank and slow water velocity near the shoreline are being contemplated.
Maumee's murky waters: The ruinous consequences of an environmental crime
For more than 24 years, city of Maumee employees routinely reported to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency that the town was not discharging sewage into the Maumee River. Those affirmations were manifestly untrue. In fact, between 1996 and 2020, the city of Maumee dumped millions of gallons of sewage-contaminated water into the city’s namesake river. What’s more, during portions of that time, the city’s sewer system was not overseen by an appropriately certified sewer collection operator.
State issues first algae advisory of 2024 at Maumee Bay State Park
Maumee Bay State Park’s Lake Erie Beach got its first state health advisory for algae a little after 4 p.m. on Friday. The warning was issued by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The toxin concentration was not disclosed, but swimmers are advised to stay out of the lake and be careful around the shoreline because of a new recreational public health advisory. It is especially important to keep dogs and young children out of the water. A scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told The Blade on Thursday that Lake Erie’s Summer 2024 algal bloom began south of Monroe and in north Maumee Bay during the first of July, earlier than normal. It is expanding, last known to cover 180 square miles of the lake, and is becoming stronger along familiar territory in the warm, shallow water along the Toledo-to-Monroe shoreline.
Global software outages affect northwest Ohio
TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Several local agencies and businesses were affected by Friday’s global outages from a faulty cybersecurity update. CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm, said one of its updates affected customers using Microsoft Windows -- leaving behind technological problems across the world. Read more about the incident at the link here.
Local Democrats praise Biden's decision, ready for new candidate
After Joe Biden announced Sunday afternoon that he was suspending his presidential re-election campaign, Democrats in Toledo, Lucas County, and Ohio expressed both gratitude to the President and excitement to rally behind his ballot replacement. “My first reaction was to thank the President for this major sacrifice,” state Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson (D., Toledo) said. “As someone who has reached such a pinnacle of success and then seeing that it’s for the good of the country, for the good of the party that he stepped aside.” Mr. Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place atop the Democratic Party ticket “makes good sense,” Ms. Hicks-Hudson said. “Not only has she been his partner for the last four years, she’s actually probably the most qualified of all the candidates,” the state senator said.
Old West End neighborhood struggling with trash removal
TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - One neighborhood in Toledo’s Old West End is struggling with their trash removal. Homeowners say they’re frustrated after their trash wasn’t picked up this week. Sheena Swick, a Birckhead Place resident and Vice President of the neighborhood’s homeowners association, said another neighbor told...
Point Place business gets approval from city council to rebuild after tornado damage last year
TOLEDO, Ohio — After thirteen months of patience and persistence, a Point Place business will be getting back to work. Gary's Automotive received damage after an EF-2 tornado touched down in the area last June. "After the tornado, within a few weeks, we found out we were underinsured, by...
Turnpike event serves as venue to raise awareness of human trafficking
Along the Ohio Turnpike, outside the Glacier Hills Service Plaza - lots of food and fun. Inside - all sorts of family activities, and even a therapy dog. It's all part of the Turnpike Commission's customer appreciation day. Bowling Green State University professor Tracy McGinley is also set up inside.
This Week In Toledo History
1915 - Toledo Housewives League protests the demolition of the farmer's market on Superior Street. 1927 - Dancer Fritzi Bigelow dances to the “Black Bottom” on a wing of a large airplane flying over Toledo’s Maumee River. She was accompanied by her musical group, which usually plays at the Bayshore Inn.
To the editor: We had a reason for 2-term cap for Toledo mayor
The Blade’s lead headline “Abolish charter review,” July 14, was right on target! The city-appointed Charter Review Commission has acted irresponsibly for the past few years — or ever since Mayor Kapszukiewicz was elected. They’re supposed to act on behalf of Toledo’s citizens. Instead, they do what the mayor wishes them to do — which is help his political career. Submit a letter to the editor Now for a little Toledo history.
Toledo unveils options for Jamie Farr Park pool
The city of Toledo is seeking public help choosing one of three options for changes and upgrades to the Jamie Farr Park pool, which authorities say can’t reopen without major repairs once this season is over. The 50-by-80-foot North Toledo pool is in need of $2 million in repairs, Joe Fausnaugh, director of parks and youth services, said Thursday when the city used Jamie Farr Shelter House to unveil the plans. Rather than suggest a $2 million “status-quo” option to repair the pool “as is,” he said, the city is offering the public to choose one of three alternative projects that would each replace the existing pool with one of the following: “This pool is extremely popular,” said Alfonso Narvaez, a neighborhood community leader who attended the event. “I like all three [options], but at the end of the day you see investments into this neighborhood. And that’s really what matters the most, because when you talk to residents they will tell you that they feel forgotten, that the city has left them behind.”
Bilingual Spanish-English campaign educates on opioid crisis
Zulay Sierra was driving in Lucas County last spring when a billboard caught her eye. “¡QUIERETE!” the black billboard read — a Spanish phrase translating roughly as “care for yourself.” Before arriving in Toledo in 2021, Ms. Sierra worked as an intensive care unit nurse in her home country of Venezuela. When Ms. Sierra discovered that the billboard was part of a bilingual opioid education campaign, she reached out to the organizers, eager to use her medical expertise to help Spanish-speakers in Toledo. “I wanted to support my Latino community,” Ms. Sierra said in Spanish. “This campaign is not only for Hispanics, but also for the American community, to become aware of the damage that the excessive consumption of these narcotics is causing in the new generations — to the point of death.”
Toledo groups tackling polarization with cross-partisan events
Second of two parts Thinking about the challenges facing American political discourse, Alfonso Narvaez, a self-described community leader in Toledo, harkened back to the words of Abraham Lincoln: “A house divided cannot stand.” Dan Messina, who works with a group focused on creating political dialogue, found inspiration in a different Lincoln quote: “I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.” The fact that both men looked to President Lincoln, who guided the nation through its most divisive political moment, for inspiration in the present seems apt as the Pew Research Center reports that Democrats and Republicans feel farther apart than they have in decades.
Chinese sister city delegation coming to Toledo
A delegation from Nanchong, China, will visit Toledo on Monday. While tensions between the United States and China may be high as national politicians threaten trade wars and arm themselves in the Taiwan Strait, the cities are looking forward to renewing their friendship. “Given that this is a visit with Chinese officials and a Chinese sister city, I think that there is an additional layer to this visit,” Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said. “Whatever the national politicians might have to say about China, I think at the grassroots level here in Toledo, we can transcend a lot of that just by focusing on the human needs that all people have whether they’re Chinese or American.” He went on to talk about the importance of bringing the delegation to the middle of the country, to give them a fuller picture of what American life actually entails outside of the coasts that receive much of the media attention. While much of the visit will focus on simply getting to know Nanchong’s new mayor, Yin Nianhong, he hopes that visiting Toledo will shed new light on how the trade war affects midwestern cities.
Road Warrior: Building construction to affect 14th Street, ProMedica Parkway
One of the feeds to downtown Toledo’s main entrance to northbound I-75 will be constricted this week during construction at Lucas County’s new dog shelter. Lane closings will affect 14th Street between Monroe and Washington streets for five days, starting Monday. Commuters planning to enter the freeway from the 14th Street ramp should consider using Washington Street to approach it rather than taking Monroe or other downtown streets west and turning left on 14th during peak travel times. Another off-street construction project will require lane closings this week on ProMedica Parkway just north of the ProMedica Toledo Hospital area. Northbound ProMedica’s right lane will be closed through Friday between Monroe and Central Avenue. Also downtown, a sign repair will restrict part of Summit Street for three days. Summit’s southbound right lane will be closed between Jefferson Avenue and Monroe. Consider Huron Street as an alternative.
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