Deerfield Township, Ohio – The Deerfield Township Board of Trustees and Deerfield Township Fire Rescue Department dedicated a “state-of-the-art” baby box at Fire Rescue Station 57 (3435 US Route 22) on March 19.
The baby box provides an anonymous alternative for individuals who make the difficult decision to surrender an infant.
The box is designed with safety features and installed on an exterior wall of the fire station. The exterior door locks automatically when a newborn is placed inside, and an interior door allows medical personnel to promptly and securely retrieve the baby, ensuring immediate care and protection.
According to Monica Kelsey with Safe Haven Baby Box, the new baby box would not have been possible without the support of the Deerfield Township Trustees, especially Trustee Lelle Lutts Hedding. Kelsey says, “We would like to thank the Deerfield Township Board of Trustees and Deerfield Township Fire Rescue for bringing this important initiative to their community.”
Loveland, Ohio – the madness that is the NCAA Tournament is here! And though the Bearcats might not be in it this year, there are still plenty of thrilling storylines to get to. And after a brief hiatus these past few weeks, Chris and Mark are here to break it all down. The guys talk about the first round and some memorable upsets by Drake and McNeese State. Chris and Mark also break down the Wolverines’ wild 68-65 nail-biter over UC San Diego. Michigan nearly fumbled away another double-digit lead, but managed to hold on for another win. Their streak of coming up big in close games is something to see.
Mark and Chris also bring you the latest on the extensions for Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Those extensions have created a lot of content across the internet but they are music to Bengals’ fans ears. They have been years in the making, and now that they are done, the focus can go to building a more complete team around our trio of offensive stars. But as the guys caution, this is the beginning, not the end, of what the Bengals need to do in order to make it back to the Super Bowl.
Finally, Mark gives us a post-mortem on the UC Bearcats’ basketball season. Now that it’s all over (but the Crown), it’s the perfect time to look at what went wrong, and what Cincinnati can do in a critical year 5 for head coach Wes Miller.
Have a listen and don’t forget to leave your comments and feedback!
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Hey readers… have an opinion about sports? How about a topic you’d like to see written about in Loveland Magazine or a thought about one of our articles?
Just need to vent and get out your frustration about the Reds, Bengals, or any other sports issues?
Christopher Ball is a longtime Loveland resident and an attorney. He graduated from Loveland High School in 2003 and was a member of the football team before going on to become a coach’s assistant at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. He has been following and rooting for the Reds and Bengals since the early 1990s and has been through the many ups and downs that fandom has wrought over the years.
I am grateful to share my Natural Wonderings/Wanderings. I write them as time and spirit allow. The idea and title were conceived one day many years ago when exploring outside with my young family. It would be quite a few years more before I began writing them in 2008. There are many connecting points over the years in observations of nature, life, and seasons. One for me is a strong sense of home-place, specifically in our little corner of the world here, in Southwestern Ohio. This sense of place helps carry interrelatedness over time and retains a comforting, familiar thread over endless variations within the cycle of nature and life.
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In late February and early March, I am feeling a change.
Pondering what lies waiting under the dark, wet earth, my mind’s eye roams just below the surface. I feel a pulse, visualizing millions-billions-of innumerable seed varieties unfurling. Nascent palest sprouts of white/green creeping steadily and relentlessly toward the increasing light. The earth’s surface still belies the magnitude of activity I know is imminent. The Magnificent Mystery of Creation is again beginning to unfold in this just Spring-ing time of the year.
We are in the lion and lamb “fickles” of March. The stalwart yet delicately lovely Snowdrops and Winter Aconite, the first harbingers of spring, were a welcomed surprise, blooming through late February snow and ice. Now, in the gathering warmth of mid-March, they are making their final curtsies as ceremonial marshals of the Spring Parade, leavening our yearning for all we know will follow.
Daffodils, sure spreaders of sunshine, are beginning to bloom, swaying and bowing in spring breezes. Crocuses greet us, and the tiniest Bluets and Salt-and-Pepper diminutives are peeking into grasses at our feet. “Please, notice me! Look at us! We are here for your Joy!” The pulse is quickening…
Lordy, Lordy, my husband is talking about planting spring lettuce!
This is The MARCH of New Life
With all Creation, we shout for Joy, “Alleluia!”
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Elizabeth (Schickel) Robinson has always lived in Loveland, married and raised a family here. Family, faith, service, community and creativity are most important to her. She is an artist driven to notice and bring beauty to others including creating commissioned works of art for hospitals and churches. She cares about our culture and wants to build opportunities for community and connection to God, each other and creation. She recently retired as a Registered Nurse at Cincinnati Children’s where she was privileged to care for patients and their families. She strives to live with her eyes wide open, seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary in life and nature that surrounds her.
In 2018, a driver drove his Jeep into the flood waters of East Kemper Road and the occupants had to swim to safety. The automobile remained almost completely submerged overnight and the driver was cited by the Loveland Police because he ignored “Road Closed” signs. (Loveland Magazine file photo)
by Julie Watson
Wait five minutes and the weather will change; You can experience all four seasons in the span of a few hours; Mother Nature can’t seem to make up her mind.
Spring is the season when Ohio weather is the most unpredictable. Spring weather can be downright dangerous, even deadly. Rain and warming temperatures can cause flooding and fog. Changing temperatures can result in strong storms bringing lightning, high winds, hail, and tornadoes. 2024 saw a record breaking 74 tornadoes in the Buckeye State. Six of them were in Warren County alone.
Here are some tips to stay safe in Ohio weather this spring:
• Never drive through flood water. Water is the strongest force on earth. Even if flood water appears to be shallow, currents can carry dangerous debris and weaken infrastructure foundations. Water levels can also rise quicker than expected. The National Weather Service slogan ‘Turn around, don’t drown’ is good advice.
• When driving in foggy conditions reduce your speed accordingly. Be sure to leave plenty of distance between you and vehicles in front of you. If fog is heavy, turn your hazard lights on, and your headlights even if it is daylight. Just remember to use your low beams. High beams will reflect more off of the fog making it even more difficult to see. If fog is too thick, consider pulling off the road.
• In stormy weather, there are some basic rules to remember. If you are at home, keep an emergency storm kit stocked and handy. It should contain a flashlight (with good batteries), bottled water, blankets, hand sanitizer, a first aid kit. You can add more things to it if you choose.
• When it is storming, avoid touching any device that is plugged in including corded phones. Avoid plumbing and water including washing hands, showering, washing dishes. Stay away from doors and windows that may contain metal.
• If tornadic activity is expected, go to the lowest level of the building taking your storm kit and charged cell phone with you. If you cannot get below ground level the next best place is in an interior room with no windows, in a bathtub (dry of course), or under a sturdy piece of furniture like a table or workbench. Crouch down and cover your head with your hands.
• If you are outdoors during sever weather take shelter from hail and high winds. Do not shelter under or near trees. Watch out for blowing debris.
• During a lightning storm remember that thunder is the sound that lightning makes. If you hear thunder, there is lightning in the area even if you cannot see it. Lightning wants to find the quickest path to the ground, so it tends to strike the tallest object around; do not shelter under trees. If you are the tallest thing around, stay low. Another quick path for lightning to travel is through conductors like metal, water, and electric lines. Avoid touching concrete structures which contain metal rebar. Stay away from water and power lines.
• If a tornado is near, evacuate all vehicles and find the lowest spot possible, like a ditch (as long as its not filled with water). Lie flat or crouch down covering your head with a blanket, jacket, or your hands. Do not seek shelter under an overpass or bridge.
Marijuana advocates called bills to change Ohio’s weed laws “a slap in the face” to voters.
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws hosted a webinar last week about two bills that are trying to change Ohio’s marijuana laws.
“Whether one believes that cannabis ought to be legal or not is almost a secondary issue,” said NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano. “The primary issue ought to be that elections have consequences, and the results of elections should matter.”
“Ohio looks like it has been rolling along very smoothly, and implementation has been going well,” said NORML Political Director Morgan Fox. “There have been no major complaints from Ohioans, and it’s premature for the legislature to try to interfere with it.”
“It’s not as if this pushback is coming because there have been negative or adverse consequences of Issue Two being implemented,” Armentano said. “The law is working just fine, and Ohioans are happy with it. Lawmakers are trying to meddle with it and act as if there are issues with the law, when in fact, we’re seeing the laws playing out the way voters intended.”
These bills would be dangerous for cannabis users in Ohio, said Cat Packer, director of drug markets and legal regulation at Drug Policy Alliance.
“There are so many ways that if you are a cannabis consumer in Ohio, with either of these bills passed, you should consider that the law will consider you a criminal,” she said.
S.B. 56 would cut the number of Ohio’s home grow plants in half from 12 plants down to six, reduce the THC levels in adult-use marijuana extracts from a maximum of 90% down to a maximum of 70%, and require marijuana can only be used in a private residence.
THC potency caps are a solution in search of a problem, Armentano said.
“Voters, by and large, don’t like potency caps for cannabis,” he said. “If we simply remove these products from the market, we’re not going to get rid of the demand, but what we’re going to do is drive the production of these products to the unregulated market.”
S.B. 56 does allow someone to apply to the sentencing court to have their record expunged, but they would have to pay a $50 filing fee. The bill would require marijuana to only be transported in the trunk of a car when traveling and would limit the number of active dispensaries to 350.
The Ohio Senate passed S.B. 56 last month, which would ban Ohioans from using marijuana that is not either from a licensed Ohio dispensary or cultivated at a consumer’s home — meaning it would be illegal for Ohioans to drive up to Michigan to buy marijuana and bring it back over state lines. The bill has yet to have a hearing in the House.
“If you were to pass a joint or share your home grown cannabis, or share your cannabis with your spouse or your roommate, you would be a criminal again,” said Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies at Marijuana Policy Project.
House Bill 160 would keep home grow and tax levels the same, but reduce THC levels and redirect most of the tax revenue to the state’s general fund.
The current tax revenue is divided up in several ways — 36% to the cannabis social equity and jobs fund, 36% to the host community cannabis fund, 25% to the substance abuse and addiction fund and 3% to the Division of Cannabis Control and Tax Commissioner Fund.
“My concern is we wouldn’t be dedicating those monies where voters decided that the money should go,” Packer said.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s budget proposal would increase the tax on marijuana from 10% to 20%. The Ohio House is currently working on the budget, which is due July 1.
Megan Henry is a reporter for the Ohio Capital Journal and has spent the past five years reporting in Ohio on various topics including education, healthcare, business and crime. She previously worked at The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA Today Network.
Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
Miami Township, Ohio – The Township has announced that curb and gutter replacements will begin as soon as weather allows. The paving will be scheduled for summer when school is not in session.
If you have invisible dog fences or sprinkler systems within 2 feet of the back of the curb, you will need to mark their locations. The Township says that they will not be responsible for any damage that occurs to them during the replacement of bad curb sections.
Streets will be posted “no parking” 24 hours in advance of the start of work. You may lose access to your driveway temporarily if the curb in front of your drive apron needs replacement or repair.
Notify the Township if you have any special access needs by calling the Service Department at (513) 248-3728, or if you have additional questions.
2025 Street List
Glen Echo Ln
Cottontail Dr.
Drumhill Ln
Silvermine Rd
Weber Rd
Weber Oaks Dr
Old Silo Dr
Smoke House Way
Wheatfield Way
Summit Ridge
Field Stream Ct
Lewis Rd (Upper)
Lewis Rd (Lower)
Heatherstone Way
Briar Hill Dr
Briar Hill Cir
Broadview Place
Wardwood Ct
Woodsway Dr
Westward Dr
Northward Ct
Deerhaven Ct (Branch
Hill Guinea to Olde
Gate)
Meadow Lark Ct
Olde Gate Ct
Wildflower Ct
Windrow Ln
Heiserman Rd
Whitney Dr
Tech Dr
Tech Valley Dr
Foxwood Trail
Mellie Ave
Loveland, Ohio – You have more choices than ever before when you want to donate to the LIFE Food Pantry. How about rounding up your purchases and donating your change?
Help LIFE Food Pantry pack Backpacks for Students by gearing up to provide students everything they need for a successful school year — and they need your help.
Students who are registered at the pantry will receive a backpack filled with grade-appropriate supplies, socks and underwear, a spirit-wear shirt, and essential personal-care items (toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, etc.). LIFE will distribute the backpacks during the first two weeks of August.
LIFE set up more than 300 students for success last year and expect more as they continue welcoming new families.
How you can help
Donations of:
Backpacks filled with supplies (we’ll provide a supply list).
Cincinnati, Ohio – Legendary rapper and cultural icon Snoop Dogg will perform a live post-game concert on the Great American Ballpark field, after the Cincinnati Reds game on Monday, August 11.
The concert, presented by Ohio Lottery and also sponsored by Network for Hope, will feature a full-length Snoop Dogg set following the Reds vs. Philadelphia Phillies game.
Snoop will bring his, “Signature mix of West Coast hip-hop and electrifying stage presence”, performing a selection of his greatest hits.
Fans with TICKETS to the game can stay for the concert.
Pit Field Package
Fans who want to guarantee an up-close view of the Snoop Dogg concert from the field can purchase a special Snoop Dogg Pit Field Package.
Package includes:
One ticket for August 11 Reds vs. Phillies game
Field Pass for the August 11 Snoop Dogg Post-Game Concert
*Schedule and promotion subject to change. Must have a game ticket to attend the concert.
Loveland, Ohio – Fire hydrant flushing will take place in the City from March 10 until April 11. The Loveland-Symmes Fire Department will perform this routine maintenance.
What City Hall says bout the procedure
Hydrant flushing is essential for removing sediments and biofilm in water main pipes, ensuring high-quality water supply and preventing flow restriction.
Regular flushing provides multiple benefits, such as maintaining water quality, extending the longevity of the water mains and hydrants, and identifying system weaknesses.
Customers may experience discolored water during these times; however, the water is and remains safe for consumption. The discoloration will clear as crews move through the area. If you experience discolored water, allowing the cold water to run for 5-10 minutes will help to clear the lines.
Loveland, Ohio – Loveland High School students in the Tigers Inc. program went to New York City recently. They visited the New York Stock Exchange, Procter & Gamble, and more. Teacher Craig Murnan designed the learning opportunity for the students.
WHAT’S TIGERS INC?
Tigers Inc. is a student-led non-profit organization run by a selective group of business-oriented student leaders at Loveland High School. We are redefining the classroom setting by giving students non-traditional exposure to the business world. Currently, we are divided into three cohorts that collectively work to learn by experience, from experience. As we develop, we strive to collaborate with the community to find tangible solutions to complex problems. We seek to partner with professionals who can help us expand our network, enhance our skills, and provide business expertise. Learn more…
day many years ago when exploring outside with my young family. It would be quite a few years more before I began writing them in 2008. There are many connecting points over the years in observations of nature, life, and seasons. One for me is a strong sense of home-place, specifically in our little corner of the world here, in Southwestern Ohio. This sense of place helps carry interrelatedness over time and retains a comforting, familiar thread over endless variations within the cycle of nature and life.
by Julie Watson
Pit Field Package
Fans who want to guarantee an up-close view of the Snoop Dogg concert from the field can purchase a special Snoop Dogg Pit Field Package.
