AKRON, Ohio — Investigators in Ohio have found 89 sets of cremated remains in an abandoned church in Akron.

Court documents obtained by News 5 show an urban explorer, or urbexer, who commonly travels around to photograph older buildings, found the cremated remains of multiple people inside an abandoned Akron church on Sunday.

They then notified the Ohio Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, who passed on the information to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

The remains were found in a building operated by an Akron man currently facing charges for providing funeral services without a license. His attorney said the remains were the property of a now-deceased Toledo funeral director.

According to the search warrant, the urbexer and another party spotted several people entering and exiting Greater Faith Missionary Baptist Church, 825 East Buchtel Ave., and went inside to tell them to leave.

Once inside, the urbexer came across suspected cremated remains. The remains were in white cardboard boxes labeled "Tri-County Cremation Service" and plastic bags dated back to 2010.

"There are significant health issues, significant dignity issues," Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said. "This is not just a regulatory issue. And some of the things we're seeing, they're just not right."

The warrant states that an Akron resident named Shawnte Hardin operated Hussain Funeral Home and Celebration of Life out of the building as recently as Jan. 14, 2019. The sign out front refers to the building as the Greater Faith Missionary Baptist Church. Hardin's name is on the church's sign.

News 5 has previously reported on Hardin, who is currently charged with more than three dozen counts for allegedly providing funeral services without a license.

Hardin was indicted in October 2021, according to the Ohio Attorney General's Office. He is not a licensed funeral director or embalmer in Ohio, court documents state. Last year, Ohio BCI "removed two bodies from a building he was using for makeshift funeral services at 1615 E. Livingston Ave. in Columbus."

In June 2020, a Lucas County grand jury indicted Hardin on a charge of abuse of a corpse. A separate search warrant previously executed at Islamic Cemetery in Columbus recovered the remains of individuals cremated in Akron and had been in Hardin's possession. Court documents noted that the Islamic faith does not "conduct or condone cremations."

News 5 spoke with Hardin's attorney, who said the cremated remains belonged to former Toledo funeral director Robert Tate, who had his license pulled in 2016.

The lawyer explained that Hardin agreed to store the remains in 2017 while Tate tried to reach the families. According to his online obituary, Tate died in 2021.

Yost told News 5 the investigation is ongoing. However, from what people have seen so far, he hopes that there’s a lesson to be taken away.

"Make sure that you are dealing with a licensed professional who is going to abide by the laws and the appropriate health regulations, and secondly, reach out to somebody who's been through it and get the advice of somebody you trust," he added.

It’s not clear at this time what will happen to the remains of those loved ones found and when they could finally be returned to their families.

Drew Scofield and Clay LePard at WEWS in Cleveland, Ohio, first reported this story.

CINCINNATI — Taft High School football coach Tyler Williams held the Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference championship plaque near the sideline Friday night and started the joyous celebration with his team.

"It's a special moment for my team, for my community, for my family," Williams said late Friday night.

"It's been a great, great journey with these young men right now. We dealt with a lot of adversity throughout this whole regular season, he said, adding, "Just seeing these young men continue to fight each and every day and continue to overcome the adversity that we had been faced with – it's been amazing to watch them grow as a team."

Taft defeated Woodward 34-20 Friday night to capture the CMAC Red division title in the first season for Williams as the Taft head coach.

"Coach Tyler continues to build on the football tradition here at Taft," Taft athletic director Romell Salone said.

"The kids have adjusted and are buying into what he is teaching on and off the field. Our kids are building life relationships and lessons and are really looking forward to the playoffs with hopes to build on the history."

The Senators (7-2, 5-0 CMAC) are projected to be the No. 1 seed in Division V, Region 20, according to Joe Eitel.

The Senators are projected to host No. 16 seed Madeira (4-6) in the first round at 7 p.m. Oct. 30. The Ohio High School Athletic Association plans to officially announce the playoff pairings Sunday afternoon.

Williams, a former Colerain High School star who played at the University of Akron and professionally in the Indoor Football League (IFL), was named the Taft coach in February.

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Williams was an assistant coach at Colerain and St. Xavier prior to Taft. His quick success at Taft this season is not a surprise to St. X head coach Steve Specht.

"Tyler has an innate ability to connect with kids and hold them to a higher standard," Specht said. "He's just scratching the surface. He'll be a great one."

Williams said the expectation this preseason was that winning the CMAC title is a "mandatory" step during the season for the program.

"We're winning it with structure, we're winning it with discipline, we're winning it with class," Williams said.

Taft had to overcome multiple injuries this season leading to the conference title, but Williams has emphasized a next player up mantra for the team to get stronger overall.

Williams mentioned multiple players who played well Friday night including junior running back Gavin Crawford, who had an estimated 200-plus yards rushing and five touchdowns.

Defensively, senior linebacker Everett Brown had a key interception. Senior Jakeim Sullivan has six interceptions this season while senior Keyandre Larry has eight interceptions.

Williams said his message to the team entering the playoffs this weekend is to stay patient before the official announcement on the pairings is made by the OHSAA on Sunday.

"Our kids are definitely putting themselves in a position to make a great run in the playoffs," Williams said.

CINCINNATI — Greater Cincinnati’s population increased 5.6% in the last 10 years to more than 2.25 million, according to 2020 Census data released Thursday.

That’s faster growth than Akron, Cleveland and Dayton but slower than Columbus, Indianapolis and Louisville.

The 2020 Census, which represents a snapshot of the U.S. population as of April 1, 2020, takes on added importance this year.

That’s because the official count at the end of each decade is used to apportion seats in Congress, government funding and rank regional rivals. Growing cities often tout their population gains in marketing campaigns, while shrinking towns use the numbers as a call to action.

To that end, Cincinnati has some positive numbers to share. It’s the 30th largest Metropolitan Statistical Area, ranking ahead of Columbus, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Nashville, all cities against which it competes for jobs and corporate investments. Also, for the first time in 70 years, it has a growing urban core. Census data show the city of Cincinnati grew 4.2%, to 309,317, since 2010.

But Greater Cincinnati lags some of its regional peers in the number of fast-growing counties. Only Boone and Warren counties had growth rates above 10% since 2010. The Indianapolis metro has five such counties, while Columbus has three.

While the numbers are important for economic development reasons, they are a crucial ingredient for state redistricting committees, which revise legislative districts at the state and federal level every 10 years.

It will be a hotly contested process in Ohio this year because the Buckeye State will lose one Congressional seat and Republicans need only five seats nationwide to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The redistricting challenge is greater this year because the Census data is being released much later than in prior years, said Michael Finney, chief financial officer of the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service at Ohio University.

It has a state contract to create data maps that the Ohio Redistricting Commission uses to compare how boundary changes impact the number of voters in every legislative district. The data provides block-level head counts that include age and race information.

Finney said it will take about two weeks for Ohio University to finalize its data maps. Members of the redistricting commission will combine that data with voting records and other information to decide which boundaries the political boundaries should be.

“This year, given the fact that the release of the data is so late, it’s going to put a lot of pressure on the map makers,” Finney said, “to make their maps and meet the deadlines that are in the Ohio constitution.”

The redistricting commission faces a Sept. 1 deadline to draw new districts for Ohio politicians, while the deadline for Congressional districts is Sept. 30.

The Census Bureau has been criticized for delays and questioned about the accuracy of the 2020 Census. Last week, the bureau announced it would delay the release of its American Community Survey, which includes more information about poverty, housing and demographics, because it didn’t have big enough samples in all geographies.

But Finney said the data released Thursday has everything Ohio University needs to complete its data maps.

“I’m not concerned about the accuracy,” Finney said. “It’s the data that we use every 10 years. It is the 100% count from the Census Bureau … This is the data that the Ohio constitution requires.”

AKRON, Ohio — Last week, 14-year-old Zaila Avant-garde became the first African-American winner of the National Spelling Bee, taking home the trophy after correctly spelling the word "murraya." The moment was exciting and groundbreaking, but also stirred up the history behind the journey leading up to the moment that should always be remembered.

Back in 1936, just 11 years after the National Spelling Bee was inaugurated, 13-year-old MacNolia Cox from Akron was a spelling prodigy with an IQ through the roof.

Cox had qualified for the National Spelling Bee held in Washington, D.C., but her journey to get there wasn't easy, nor was her time competing in the bee.

With segregation and Jim Crow laws still very much in full swing, Cox and another Black child, 15-year-old Elizabeth Kenny from New Jersey, were forced to travel to the National Spelling Bee in the "colored" car of the train, were unable to stay at the hotel with the other contestants, had to use the back door of the arena to get into the bee and were forced to sit at a card table once inside.

Still, despite the hardships she faced, Cox went on to become the first African-American finalist in the Top Five and was on her way to victory, having extensively studied the 100,000-word list given to every speller in the bee.

Cox overcame the obstacles in her way but could not get past the hatred in the hearts of the judges, who were all white southerners and had seen enough from the young Black girl from Akron.

A. Van Jordan, author of "M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A," said that what happened next was a despicable move from the bee's judges.

"They pulled a word that was not on that list, and you can't make this up: the word was nemesis," Van Jordan said.

The word had just moved into popular vernacular and was at the time most defined as the Greek goddess of retribution—a proper noun that should have been an ineligible word—but the judges argued that the word could be used as a common noun.

Cox misspelled the unapproved word and was eliminated from the bee.

The young girl, with dreams of becoming a doctor, was limited by the era she lived in. She became a domestic for a doctor and at the age of 53 died from cancer.

Cox faced numerous hardships in her life, one which took place on the grand stage of the 1936 National Spelling Bee. But her hardships now serve as a reminder of where we once where and where we've come to be—with Zaila being crowned the Spelling Bee champion, bringing Cox's trailblazing full-circle all these years later.

"When you see young people, you really have to encourage them. Something that may happen at that stage of their life can be indelible and can change the course of their life," Van Jordan said.

Now indelible is the moment Zaila provided with her win and how it prompts us all to remember the moments that came before—and the people, like Cox, who paved the way. And for the newest National Spelling Bee champ, she said MacNolia Cox was in her thoughts the night she won it all.

This story was originally published by Rob Powers and Camryn Justice at WEWS.

AKRON, Ohio — The Ohio High School Athletic Association announced Wednesday afternoon that the state baseball tournament in Akron has been postponed a day due to expected rain and storms on Thursday.

The scheduled start times and order of games all remain the same, but the state tournament will shift to a Friday-Saturday-Sunday schedule.

The 93rd state baseball tournament was scheduled to begin Thursday at Canal Park in downtown Akron. Instead, it will start Friday morning.

Due to pitch count limitations in baseball, the OHSAA always wants to keep both semifinal games of each division on the same day so that both finalists played their semifinal games on the same day.

Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy is scheduled to play the first overall game in this year's tournament at 10 a.m. Friday. The Eagles (21-8) plays Barnesville (24-7) in a Division III state semifinal.

Badin (27-5) is scheduled to play Carroll Bloom-Carroll (27-5) in a Division II state semifinal at 4 p.m. Friday instead of Thursday.

Elder (24-8) plays Toledo St. John's Jesuit (24-6) in a Division I state semifinal at 4 p.m. Saturday instead of Friday.

The state championship games are scheduled for Sunday.

Home of the Cleveland Indians’ AA affiliate Akron RubberDucks, Canal Park first hosted the OHSAA baseball state tournament in 2019.

Tickets that have been purchased will automatically work for the re-scheduled game time—there is nothing different the user needs to do.

2021 OHSAA Baseball State Tournament
All Games at Canal Park, Akron
Home Team Listed First
Live Video Streaming at NFHS Network: https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/states/OH
Live Stats: www.OHSAA.StatBroadcast.com

Division III
Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (21-8) vs. Barnesville (24-7), Friday, 10 a.m.
Archbold (22-11) vs. Canton Central Catholic (23-6), Friday, 1 p.m.
Championship Game: Sunday, 10 a.m.

Division II
Carroll Bloom-Carroll (27-5) vs. Hamilton Badin (27-5), Friday, 4 p.m.
Akron Archbishop Hoban (22-9) vs. Vermilion (26-6), Friday, 7 p.m.
Championship Game: Sunday, 1 p.m.

Division IV
Lucasville Valley (20-11) vs. Van Wert Lincolnview (23-8), Saturday, 10 a.m.
Warren John F. Kennedy (19-6) vs. Fort Loramie (27-3), Saturday, 1 p.m.
Championship Game: Sunday, 4 p.m.

Division I
Toledo St. John’s Jesuit (24-6) vs. Cincinnati Elder (24-8), Saturday, 4 p.m.
New Albany (27-5) vs. Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit (26-3), Saturday, 7 p.m.
Championship Game: Sunday, 7 p.m.