Statehouse passes bill requiring certification for health exchange advisers
The Ohio House has passed a bill to require training and certification for a new group of professionals who will be available to guide consumers through the new health insurance exchange. These so-called health navigators will help educate consumers and small businesses about the new online markets created by the federal health care law. Through these exchanges, consumers will be able to buy individual private policies and apply for government subsidies to help pay their premiums. Ohio's bill requires navigators to pass background checks and specifies they can't sell, solicit or negotiate health insurance.

Obese condemned killer focusing on innocence in request for clemency
A condemned Ohio killer who says he's too obese to be put to death humanely is asking the state parole board for mercy in a claim focusing on his innocence, not his weight. Lawyers for death row inmate Ronald Post will argue today that claims that Post confessed to the 1983 shooting death of Elyria motel clerk Helen Vantz have been falsely exaggerated. The Lorain County prosecutor says Post told the parole board in an interview last month that he was involved in the robbery that led to the death but he did not pull the trigger. The prosecutor's office disputes that claim and plans during a two-day hearing to present evidence that Post was the killer. The 53-year-old Post is scheduled to die next month.

Former Jackson basketball coach indicted in locker room taping
A former Stark County high school basketball coach accused of videotaping freshman boys in the locker room has been indicted.  46-year-old Scott Studer faces eight counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material. The former Jackson High School coach was arrested in November after investigators searched his home. The Stark County prosecutor’s office says Studer could be sentenced to up to 64 years in prison if he's convicted of all charges.

Nationwide Insurance computers attacked, personal information likely breached
Columbus-based Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. says someone attacked part of its computer network and likely stole personal information in a data breach that affects more than 1.1 million people. Letters will go out to Nationwide customers and they’ll get free credit monitoring and identity theft protection for a year.

Payday lender reimbursing customers
The payday lender Cash America says about 14,000 customers in Ohio who've been taken to court for not paying their debts are going to get some money back. The reason, according is that most of the company's employees failed to prepare documents properly in legal proceedings to recover the money. The total cost of the reimbursement program is expected to be $13.4 million. The company operates 120 Cashland and Cash America stores in Ohio.

Two face murder charges in cold case killings
Authorities say two Cleveland men are facing murder charges for two cold-case slayings, one going back 13 years. Police say fingerprints led to charges against 49-year-old Eric Register in the 1989 slaying of a man in his apartment in Maple Heights.  The other cold case police believe they have solved is the 2006 slaying of Mary Hudson. She was found dead in her East Cleveland apartment. Police say 63-year-old Jerome Wade has been charged after evidence was found under Hudson's fingernails.

Whirlpool allows chemical testing in Clyde park
The owner of a former park in an area of northern Ohio where cancer has sickened dozens of children for more than a decade is agreeing to allow tests of the site. The Whirlpool Corporation owned the former park near the town of Clyde. This comes just weeks the announcement that soil samples at the now-closed park showed high levels of a chemical believed to increase the risk of certain cancers. The Whirlpool Corporation owned the former park near the town of Clyde.

Kent State football coach takes job at Purdue
Kent State football coach Darrell Hazell made it official on Wednesday; He’s leaving to coach at Purdue. The Beacon Journal reports Hazell will earn $2 million a year under the six year deal and Purdue will pay the remaining $900,000 left on his contract at Kent. The two schools have agreed to let Hazell coach the Golden Flashes in the GoDaddy.com Bowl January 6th.

Natural History Museum kicks off renovations
Cleveland Museum of Natural History is kicking off a decade-long, $125 million expansion and makeover campaign. The renovation will make some major exhibits visible from the outside. Green roofs, solar-power, a new lobby and parking garage, will make the museum about a third bigger than it is today. Groundbreaking will begin when 70 percent of the cost is raised.