A NewsNation reporter was arrested during a press conference on Wednesday held by Gov. Mike DeWine in East Palestine. He was charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct, according to a press release on Twitter from the media organization.

During the press conference, Evan Lambert was asked to stop because "the volume of his reporting."

"A reporter who had been giving a live report during the briefing was asked to end the broadcast because the volume of his reporting was perceived to be interfering with the event," said a press release from DeWine's office.

At the end of the presser, which announced residents of East Palestine were safe to return to their homes, DeWine acknowledged the "commotion."

"I heard some commotion back there, but obviously I couldn't see through there [the cameras]," he said. "Let me just say that a reporter should be allowed to report live or to tape, or whatever they want to do anywhere in this press conference. That happens frequently. I'm certainly very, very sorry that that happened."

Lambert was released from Columbiana County Jail around 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, NewsNation said during a broadcast.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol, which provides security for the governor, confirmed they did not make the arrest at the press conference. Dispatchers for Columbiana County Sheriff's Office said they assisted in the arrest and all future information will come from the East Palestine Police Department. The East Palestine police was contacted for comment and we are waiting to hear back.

DeWine's office issued this statement following the incident during the press conference:

Additionally, during the press conference, DeWine said Lambert "had a right to be reporting."

"All I can say is that person had a right to be reporting. They should have been allowed to report if they were in any way hampered from reporting that, that certainly is wrong and it's not anything that I approve of. In fact, I vehemently disapprove of it," he said.

This article was written by Claire Geary for WEWS.

COLUMBUS — Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law a map of new congressional districts on Saturday that will be in effect for the next four years, despite objections from Democrats and voting rights groups.

States must redraw their congressional districts every 10 years to reflect new population numbers. Under this year’s U.S. Census results, delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Ohio lost one seat in Congress starting next year, taking it from 16 to 15.

The new map will only last for 4 years, instead of the normal 10, because it wasn't a bipartisan decision — the map as a whole is still expected to face legal challenges.

"There's a provision in the Constitution that says you can't draw the maps to favor or disfavor a party," said David Niven, a political science professor at the University of Cincinnati. "And so there's a very compelling case to be made, that the only reason you would draw a map that links Cincinnati to Warren County instead of Cincinnati to the rest of Hamilton County, is to favor or disfavor a party. And you can see that same pattern in other places across the state."

The new law creates at most three safe Democratic districts out of 15 new U.S. House seats in a state where voters are split roughly 54% Republican, 46% Democratic.

Populous Cuyahoga and Hamilton counties — home to Cleveland and Cincinnati, respectively, and their concentrations of Democratic voters — are divided three ways each. Franklin County, home to Columbus, is divided two ways, and the western Cleveland suburbs in Lorain County are part of a district that stretches to the Indiana border, a nearly 3-hour drive.

"They wound up having to split Hamilton County into three different pieces, all three of those pieces are heavily influenced by voters in other counties," said Niven. "So Hamilton will go from two members of Congress to three. But just as is the case now, those three members are going to be influenced by the voters who are outside of Hamilton County."

DeWine said in a statement that, compared with other proposals from House and Senate lawmakers from both parties, the Senate legislation he signed “makes the most progress to produce a fair, compact, and competitive map.”

The redistricting measure cleared the state Legislature along party lines with House approval Thursday after a breakneck sprint through both chambers, amid praise from majority Republicans.

Democrats blasted the Republican-led mapmaking process as unfair, partisan and cloaked in secrecy. The Senate approved the bill Tuesday, only about 16 hours after the new map was released. The nonpartisan Princeton Gerrymandering Project gave the map an F grade.

Image provided

DeWine, however, said Saturday that the new map “has fewer county splits and city splits” than recent proposals and the current congressional map. He said it keeps Lucas and Stark counties and the Mahoning Valley within single congressional districts “for the first time in decades” and keeps Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton, and Toledo “all whole within the same congressional map for the first time since the 1840s.”

State Rep. D.J. Swearingen, a Republican, defended the map during debate Thursday as fair, constitutional and not unduly favoring either political party or its incumbents. He echoed the arguments of sponsoring GOP Sen. Rob McColley in calling the plan superior in competitiveness and in the spirit of a 2018 constitutional amendment.

“If you have the right candidate on the right issues, you can win a competitive district,” McColley said. “Whereas, the Democratic map that was offered in the House offered a determined outcome.”

Fair Districts Ohio, a coalition of voting-rights groups and labor organizations, had called on the governor to strike down the bill. Executive director Jen Miller of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, a member organization, said instead of “bipartisan, transparent redistricting” leaders had “disrespected voters, trampled the Ohio Constitution and rigged the congressional map to serve partisan, political operatives rather than fairly represent Ohioans.”

The Ohio Democratic Party on Saturday blasted the governor for signing the bill, with party chair Elizabeth Walters accusing DeWine of “naked, partisan self-interest.”

“DeWine and the Ohio GOP are doing everything and anything they can to prevent voters from holding them accountable at the ballot box while they continue to betray Ohioans at every turn,” Walters said.

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley accused the governor of being “more interested in maintaining political power and appeasing his party ahead of a contentious primary than respecting the will of Ohioans.”

Under a new process established under a popular 2018 constitutional amendment, creating a 10-year map — the ideal — would have required robust Democratic support. Without it, the plan will last only four years.

CINCINNATI —

During a virtual conference call from Columbus on Monday, Ohio's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said the science behind the delta variant of COVID-19 is clear.

"It simply takes less of this virus to spread from the mouth or nose of an infected person to that of another non-infected person," Vanderhoff said.

Because of that, Ohio's Department of Health wants young people and adults who have a connection to a school and who can get vaccinated to roll up their sleeves. If not, ODH wants to see masks back on faces this fall.

"We also strongly recommend that everyone in schools who is unvaccinated - students, teachers, staff, volunteers coaches.. wear masks indoors and outdoors when maintaining proper distance simply isn't possible," Vanderhoff said.

That means Ohio's Health Department would like to see every student who's 11 or younger wear a face covering.

Gov. Mike DeWine also weighed in, saying the use of face coverings this past school year kept COVID-19 outbreaks at bay. But DeWine is convinced the public does not want more mandates, which means mask rules will vary from district to district.

"Schools will make the decision," DeWine said. "Parents will make the decision, whether their individual child is going to wear that mask if a school doesn't elect to do it. But the evidence is just absolutely overwhelming. I desperately want to see our kids in school this year."

At the Cincinnati Public School District, board members are still considering whether to require students to wear masks this fall. Monday's guidance from Ohio's health department does pave the way for districts to let vaccinated students 12 and older leave their masks at home.

CINCINNATI —

Hearing Gov. Mike DeWine talk about the day COVID-19 restrictions might become a thing of the past put an extra bounce in Dawn Grady's step Friday.

"I'm excited that the state is trending in the right direction," Grady said.

But standing by the hand-made jewelry she sells in Junebug Designs, her store in Over-the-Rhine, Grady remains cautious.

"I'm all for following the data and following the trends of the data before we just jump back out there and create a problem that's worse than what we've already imagined," Grady said.

On Thursday, DeWine said data is the key to ending things like the state's mask mandate.

Dr. Andy Beck with Children's Hospital explained what the governor and officials with the state's Department of Health are closely monitoring.

"So, the number of new cases, per population, over the last week," Beck said.

DeWine said when COVID-19 cases fall to 50 or fewer for every 100,000 residents for two straight weeks, statewide restrictions will go away.

So how are we doing in Greater Cincinnati?

"I multiplied it out and it's about 110 or so (in Hamilton County)," Beck said. "We're somewhere between two-and two-and-a-half times above the threshold that the governor mentioned."

Beck said that's a lot better than just a month ago, which sounds great to Matt Alter, who leads Cincinnati's fire union. Alter said it's been weeks since he's heard about an active COVID-19 case among his colleagues.

"It does seem, just on a small scale -- we always say the fire department is a microcosm of larger society -- but on the small scale, it does appear that we are heading towards, hopefully, brighter days," Alter said.

Alter said firefighters in the Queen City are eager to re-engage with the community, especially school students, which is one of the many things that has been put on pause because of the pandemic.

As far as how other Greater Cincinnati counties are faring -- as of Thursday, Butler County and Warren County are seeing the newest COVID-19 cases. Those two counties are averaging nearly 126 new cases a week for every 100,000 people who live there.

On the positive side, Brown County is averaging 49 new cases per week per 100,000. That's one below DeWine's re-opening threshold of 50. Coming in second is Highland County with 91 new cases a week.

CINCINNATI — People in Indiana and Kentucky can legally shoot off their own fireworks to celebrate the Fourth of July, and people in Ohio might be able to join them soon.

Ohio Senate Bill 113 allows Ohioans to shoot off fireworks on select holidays, including the Fourth of July. The bill passed the Ohio House and Senate earlier this year. Now the bill sits on Gov. Mike DeWine's desk waiting for his signature.

Indiana started permitting people to shoot off fireworks legally in 2006, and firework-related injuries fell, or remained constant, in the years afterwards.

"When something is illegal, I as a fireworks expert, cannot educate you on how to use them safely," Daniel Peart, the director of government affairs for Phantom Fireworks, said. "I can't tell you how to do something illegal… It's the educational component that has a profound impact on fireworks-related injuries and more specifically the decrease."

If DeWine signs the bill now, the law wouldn't take effect until 2022.

Applications open today for four new grant programs offering $155 million in funding to help small and medium Ohio businesses recover from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Journal-News.

Funds will be available to businesses that opened in 2020, food and beverage establishments, entertainment venues and lodging venues.

For information on guidelines, terms and conditions and required documentation, visit https://businesshelp.ohio.gov/.

Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted announced the programs Friday.

“These four new grant programs will help industries that experienced losses over the last year because of the pandemic,” DeWine said. “Ohio’s economy is moving forward, and with new grant programs like the ones we are announcing today, we are optimistic that our economy will only continue to grow stronger from here.”

The programs include a food and beverage establishment grant, entertainment venue grant, lodging grant and new small business grant.

Grants will be awarded on a first-come, first served basis. To make sure that funds are spread out properly throughout the state, a set amount will be put aside for each county for each grant. Once a county’s allocation is depleted, businesses in that county will be eligible for grants using the remaining funds. If a county does not use all of the funds set aside by July 31, the remaining amount will be available statewide.

“The focus of this funding is primarily on Ohio-owned small businesses that are important contributors to their local economy and the quality of life for the people who live there,” said Husted. “The grants will help these businesses buy equipment, hire more employees and make needed updates to their facilities, so they, and the communities they serve, can recover faster.”

The new small business fund will award grants of $10,000. It will have $10 million total in funding.

The other three programs will offer $10,000, $20,000 and $30,000 grants. The food and establishment grant will receive $100 million in funding, the lodging grant will receive $25 million and the entertainment venue grant will receive $20 million.

COLUMBUS — After calling the Food and Drug Administration "reckless," Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine talked to President Donald Trump on a phone call early Sunday about mask-sterilizing technology and COVID-19 in Ohio.

"We had a good conversation," DeWine tweeted out Sunday morning.

I have just talked with @realDonaldTrump about this issue, and we had a good conversation. He understands the problem and says he will do everything he can to get this approved today. Thank you, @POTUS. https://t.co/iha2F2AXgv

— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) March 29, 2020

DeWine and Trump spoke about the Columbus-based nonprofit Battelle Memorial Institute and their mask-sterilizing technology. Each device can reportedly sanitize 80,000 masks each day. If the FDA approves their use, Ohio will get two machines.

"The FDA's decision to severely limit the use of this life-saving technology is nothing short of reckless," DeWine wrote in a news release. "This is a matter of life and death. I am not only disappointed by this development, but I'm also stunned that the FDA would decline to do all it can to protect this country's frontline workers in this serious time of need."

Trump also took to Twitter Sunday morning about his call with DeWine, writing, "@FDA must move quickly!"

Highly recommended by Governor @MikeDeWine of Ohio. @FDA must move quickly! https://t.co/pLpI4CSs9H

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2020

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost also tweeted about Battelle, taking a middle-ground stance.

"If Battelle’s technology for sterilizing face masks for re-use works safely, limiting it to only 10,000 a day is foolish," Yost wrote. "If it doesn’t, allowing it at all is reckless."

If Battelle’s technology for sterilizing face masks for re-use works safely, limiting it to only 10,000 a day is foolish.

If it doesn’t, allowing it at all is reckless.

Hoping @realDonaldTrump intervenes today — but if not, I’ve got my team researching a lawsuit for tomorrow.

— Dave Yost (@Yost4Ohio) March 29, 2020

It's not known what DeWine's Sunday update entails. However, DeWine said at his Saturday news conference there would not be a conference Sunday unless there was a major development with regards to COVID-19.