Badges for Baseball

Badges for Baseball was created by the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice to help at-risk youth and prevent juvenile crime. By pairing police and kids together playing baseball and softball, the program builds new relationships between youth and law enforcement. It reached more than 26,000 youngsters in 16 states last year.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine brought the program to Ohio through the Ohio Attorney General's Office commitment of almost $170,000 over two years to complement the $158,000 in goods and services being provided by the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation. Funds from the Attorney General's Office come from fines and penalties received by the Office's Charitable Law Section through its enforcement activities that ensure that monies raised by non-profits in Ohio go for charitable purposes.

Synthetic Drugs News Conference

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced that he is intensifying his efforts to fight the abuse and sale of synthetic drugs such as bath salts and herbal incense.
Synthetic drugs are often abused by people 25 and younger. The drugs are very addictive, and the high can induce violence and extreme paranoia. They are sold in stores and on the internet, which makes people think they are safe, when in fact, they can be deadly. Attorney General DeWine is asking retailers for help making sure illegal drugs are not sold in our state.

The Attorney General also announced new efforts to train law enforcement officers on how to investigate synthetic drug cases and how to build cases against synthetic drug distributors in Ohio.

BCI Marijuana Eradication

Each year, BCI agents help local law enforcement officers spot marijuana grows with the help of a helicopter between April and October, when growers typically plant and later harvest the drugs. Experts at BCI estimate that a fully mature marijuana plant can be worth between $1,000 and $1,500 once processed and sold on the streets. Higher quality plants can fetch up to $2,000.

Bank of America Settlement News Conference

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine will hold a media availability this morning after today's announcement of a milestone $2.43 billion settlement in a class-action lawsuit with Bank of America over claims it made, and information it omitted, about its acquisition of Merrill Lynch that led to losses for the bank's investors, including the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio and the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System. DeWine will deliver brief remarks and answer questions from the media.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's Child Safety Summits

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine discusses the Child Safety Summits he has been holding across Ohio during a recent summit in Youngstown. DeWine has called for a comprehensive, holistic review of the entire foster care system in this state. The Summits discuss several issues facing the foster care system, including recent deaths of foster children after being reunified with relatives. Between 2005 and 2009, 160 Ohio children - 85 percent of them under the age of five - died from child abuse and neglect. In the U.S. Senate, DeWine authored language in the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act clarifying laws that in issues of family reunification, the best interests of the child always have to come first. This is still the law of the land in all 50 states.

Moving Ohio Forward Demolition Program

Announced by Ohio Attorney general Mike DeWine in February 2012, the Moving Ohio Forward Demolition Program helps stabilize and improve communities by removing blighted and abandoned homes with funds from the national mortgage settlement reached earlier this year. While an exact total of abandoned homes is not available, conservative estimates place the number of vacant and abandoned properties in Ohio in need of immediate demolition at 100,000.

The Ohio Attorney General's office made $75 million from the settlement available statewide for Moving Ohio Forward demolition grants. In the Mahoning Valley, where DeWine attended the demolition today, Mahoning and Trumbull Counties received their full grant allocations of $1,531,680 and $1,275,797, respectively.

BCI Forensic Dive Team

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has announced that the newly formed Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) Forensic Dive Team is now available to help Ohio law enforcement agencies recover criminal evidence in water. The team is available to assist any hour of the day to recover any criminal evidence located in water such as human remains, weapons, clothing, or tools. When asked for assistance by any Ohio law enforcement agency, BCI's Forensic Dive Team members will search the water, identify and document evidence, and properly recover the evidence as well. Any item recovered would then be sent to the BCI Laboratory for analysis. The team will also work closely with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to assist in their investigations of crimes such as illegal underwater tire or barrel dumps.