National Roundup

Kansas
Historic neighborhood named for slave owner wants new name
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Residents of a historic area of Lawrence want to ditch their neighborhood’s name because it honors a slave owner.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports  that the Pinckney Neighborhood Association announced this week that it is now taking suggestions for a new name.

The neighborhood was spurred to consider a name change as a response to civil unrest felt throughout the country this past summer after the death of a Black man, George Floyd, at the hands of Minneapolis police.

The neighborhood bears the name of either Charles Pinckney or Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. The Pinckneys are two cousins from South Carolina who had successful political careers in the late 1700s and early 1800s but who also advocated for America to allow slavery to continue when the U.S. Constitution was ratified.

The association said in its announcement that it felt uncomfortable with the name, “particularly since the neighborhood is a historically Black neighborhood.”

An elementary school in the area also bears the Pinckney name. In the summer, Superintendent Anthony Lewis said the district planned to hold discussions on the issue in the fall. However, it’s unclear where the district currently is on the issue.

Ohio
Attorney general tests positive for coronavirus
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The office of Attorney General Dave Yost said he is doing fine after a positive test for the coronavirus, the first confirmed case among Ohio’s statewide office holders.

Yost, a Republican and the state’s top law enforcement official, contracted COVID-19 over the holidays, Steve Irwin, a Yost spokesman, said Thursday. The Columbus Dispatch first reported the diagnosis  late Wednesday.

Yost is feeling well and continues to work from home, and has not had any contact with staff, Irwin said.

GOP Gov. Mike DeWine announced a positive test last year but a follow-up test hours later was negative.

The 7-day rolling average of daily new cases in Ohio did not increase over the past two weeks, going from 8,579 new cases per day on Dec. 23 to 7,438 new cases per day on Jan. 6, according to an Associated Press analysis of data provided by The COVID Tracking Project.

One in every 223 people in Ohio tested positive in the past week.

Unemployment claims remain high in Ohio as the economic impact of the pandemic continues, according to data released by the state.

Ohio’s human services agency said that 29,709 Ohioans filed initial unemployment claims for the week ending Jan. 2, a slight increase over the previous week.

Kansas
Lawyer: New state lawmaker reaches deal to end court order
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An incoming Kansas lawmaker who faced a possible attempt to oust him once he took office has reached a legal agreement with a woman who accused him of harassment to end an anti-stalking court order against him, an attorney says.

The order entered by a state court judge last month against Rep.-elect Aaron Coleman was a key reason for the Kansas House’s top Democrat to refuse to give the 20-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, Democrat, any committee assignments. Minority Leader Tom Sawyer also has cited it as a reason to try to expel Coleman from the House once the Legislature convenes Monday.

Barry Grissom, an attorney representing Brandie Armstrong, the woman who accused Coleman of harassing her last year, sent The Associated Press a statement saying the two had settled a civil lawsuit she filed that led to the judge’s no-contact restraining order. Armstrong was campaign manager for the veteran lawmaker Coleman narrowly defeated in the Democratic primary in August.

“Brandie Armstrong and Aaron Coleman are passionate about helping their constituents,” Grissom said in the statement, sent Wednesday to The AP. “In service to their constituents, they have resolved the civil case by an agreed upon dismissal.”

The statement said there is no written agreement but a “public promise to treat each other with dignity and respect.” Coleman had faced a March 8 trial in Armstrong’s lawsuit against him to determine whether the restraining order remained in place longer.

The statement said neither Coleman nor Armstrong would comment further. Coleman did not immediately respond to a text Thursday morning seeking to confirm that.

Armstrong said in her request for the court order that Coleman repeatedly sent harassing texts and personal messages to her during the campaign, came to her home in June and October and attempted to file “false and bogus” complaints against her landlord to try to get her evicted. Coleman suggested in a text last week to The Associated Press that she had lied in making her request.

Coleman ran on a progressive platform that included providing universal health coverage, ending college tuition and legalizing marijuana. He won his primary race even after admitting on social media that he had circulated revenge porn as a “sick and troubled” middle school-aged boy. He faced only write-in candidates in the general election, as at least two other cases in which he was accused of threatening or abusing girls or young women came to light.

Sawyer has said another reason to expel Coleman is a now-deleted, post-November election tweet in which Coleman suggested that Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly would face an “extremely bloody” primary in 2022 for not being progressive enough. Coleman wrote, “People will realize one day when I call a hit out on you it’s real,” and later said he meant to use the phrase “political hit.”