COLUMBUS — Six strip club dancers wrongly faced criminal charges under retaliation by two officers from a Columbus vice unit that was later disbanded and is being investigated, according to the women’s new lawsuit against the officers. The federal suit filed last week alleges the women were charged in 2017 and 2018 because the officers targeted Kahoots Gentlemen’s Club in retaliation for the firing of a bouncer who claimed to work with police. “These two were charging these women to force Kahoots to rehire this individual,” said the women’s lawyer, David Goldstein. One dancer was accused of a violation for a day when she wasn’t even working, he said. The women were charged under a state law that bans such dancers from touching patrons. They argue that they were charged without legal justification and that the law is unenforceable because on-duty officers aren’t legally considered patrons. The city attorney reached the same conclusion and declined to prosecute such alleged violations after the separate arrest of porn actress Stormy Daniels at a different club last summer. The former Kahoots dancers’ charges were later dismissed. Goldstein said plaintiffs Danielle Calderon, Chelsea Paige Ewart, Ashley Graves, Emily Haudenschield, Carla Hoover and Brittany Yates are seeking compensatory damages from the officers, as well as vindication.

Boy accidentally shoots 1-year-old

CLEVELAND — Police believe that a 10-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his 1-year-old cousin over the weekend. Authorities also say the boy hasn’t been charged, but his mother was charged Wednesday with child endangering and obstructing justice. Authorities say the 10-year-old boy’s mother wasn’t at home at the time of the shooting that killed her 1-year-old nephew. But investigators say she allowed someone else to bring the gun into her home. They say she also hindered the investigation about who owned the gun and what happened to it after the shooting.

Automatic registration proposed

COLUMBUS — Ohio would join 15 other states with opt-out voter registration under a proposal spearheaded by the state’s elections chief. It’s part of a package of election law changes Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose tapped a working group to hammer out within the next few months. He joined lawmakers of both parties in announcing the group Wednesday. LaRose wants voting-eligible Ohioans to be automatically registered to vote when they file taxes, renew a driver’s license, get a fishing license or have some other interaction with a state agency, unless they proactively opt out. He also supports requiring state agencies to tell his office when a voter updates their address. He says the expanded information sharing would help avoid future voter purges like those civil-rights groups have unsuccessfully challenged in court.

Remains of man last seen in ’18

WAVERLY — Human remains found in a large bag just a few yards off a road in a rural area of Ohio have been identified as the body of a man last seen in 2018. The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office identified the body through fingerprints as 36-year-old Shane Walls of Pike County. The sheriff’s office says authorities were informed in February that Walls was missing and was last seen in December. The sheriff says three mushroom hunters found the bag around 3 p.m. Monday in the southern Ohio county and called authorities.

Judge tosses death sentence

CLEVELAND — A judge has ruled that a man who’s been on death row for more than 30 years is intellectually disabled and has thrown out his death sentence. Andre Jackson was convicted of aggravated murder in 1988 for fatally beating a 74-year-old employee at a laundromat in Euclid. Cleveland.com reports a Cuyahoga County judge has found Jackson is intellectually disabled now and likely was when Emily Zak was killed in 1987. The ruling says executing Jackson would violate the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The Office of the Ohio Public Defender, representing Jackson, says the court reached a “just result.” The prosecutor’s office has vowed to appeal. Authorities said the now 53-year-old Jackson beat Zak to death and stole a cash register

Flag-burning arrest suit settled

CLEVELAND — The city of Cleveland will pay $50,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a protester arrested during a flag-burning at the Republican National Convention in 2016. Steven Fridley of Cleveland was one of more than 15 people arrested near the site of the GOP convention. A judge threw out the charges against him. He then sued the city and police, saying they unlawfully prosecuted him for exercising his free-speech rights. Fridley’s attorney announced the city had agreed to settle the lawsuit.