Oxford Dictionaries has unveiled "goblin mode" as its word of the year.

The Oxford University Press defined the term as "a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations."

In a news release, Oxford University Press said the word first appeared on Twitter in 2009 but went viral this past February and then gained popularity as COVID lockdowns eased.

"People are embracing their inner goblin, and voters choosing ‘goblin mode’ as the Word of the Year tells us the concept is likely here to stay," said Oxford Languages President Casper Grathwohl.

Last month, the publishing company asked for the public's help for the first time by voting on the word of the year.

According to the company, more than 300,000 people cast their vote in the last two weeks.

Goblin mode beat out metaverse and the hashtag IStandWith by garnering 93% of the votes, the Associated Press reported.

Last year's Oxford word of the year was “vax.”

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) —

A judge imposed a combined $1 million bond Saturday for the parents of the Michigan teen charged with killing four students at Oxford High School, hours after police said they were caught hiding in a Detroit commercial building.

James and Jennifer Crumbley entered not guilty pleas to each of the four involuntary manslaughter counts against them during a hearing held on Zoom. Jennifer Crumbley sobbed and struggled to respond to the judge's questions at times and James Crumbley shook his head when a prosecutor said their son had full access to the gun used in the killings.

Judge Julie Nicholson assigned bond of $500,000 apiece to each of the parents and required GPS monitoring if they pay to be released, agreeing with prosecutors that they posed a flight risk.

Defense attorneys for the Crumbleys still argued Saturday that they never intended to flee and had made plans to meet their lawyers early that morning. Attorney Shannon Smith accused prosecutors of "cherry picking" facts to release publicly, including that accusation that their teenage son had unrestricted access to the handgun prosecutors say his father purchased for him days before the shooting.

"Our clients are just as devastated as everyone else," Smith said, adding that the gun "was locked." She didn't provide more detail during Saturday's hearing.

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald’s office filed involuntary manslaughter charges against the Crumbleys on Friday, accusing them of failing to intervene on the day of the tragedy despite being confronted with a drawing and chilling message — "blood everywhere" — that was found at the boy’s desk. They could each face up to 15 years in prison, according to a spokeswoman for McDonald's office.

The Crumbleys committed "egregious" acts, from buying a gun on Black Friday and making it available to Ethan Crumbley to resisting his removal from school when they were summoned a few hours before the shooting, McDonald said Friday.

Authorities had been looking for the couple since Friday afternoon. Late Friday, U.S. Marshals announced a reward of up to $10,000 each for information leading to their arrests.

Smith, the Crumbleys’ attorney, had said Friday that the pair left town earlier in the week "for their own safety" and would be returning to Oxford to face charges.

During Saturday's hearing, Smith said they were in touch by phone and text on Friday evening and blamed prosecutors for failing to communicate with her and fellow defense attorney Mariell Lehman.

"Our clients were absolutely going to turn themselves in; it was just a matter of logistics," she said.

But McDonald said on Saturday that the couple took $4,000 out of an ATM on Friday morning in Rochester Hills, not far from the courthouse where they should have appeared that afternoon.

"These are not people that we can be assured will return to court on their own," she said.

A Detroit business owner spotted a car tied to the Crumbleys in his parking lot late Friday, Oakland County Undersheriff Michael McCabe said in a statement. A woman seen near the vehicle ran away when the business owner called 911, McCabe said. The couple was later located and arrested by Detroit police.

Detroit Police Chief James E. White said the couple "were aided in getting into the building," and that a person who helped them may also face charges.

On Friday, McDonald offered the most precise account so far of the events that led to the shooting at Oxford High School, roughly 30 miles north of Detroit.

Ethan Crumbley, 15, emerged from a bathroom with a gun, shooting students in the hallway, investigators said. He’s charged as an adult with murder, terrorism and other crimes.

Under Michigan law, the involuntary manslaughter charge filed against the parents can be pursued if authorities believe someone contributed to a situation where there was a high chance of harm or death.

Parents in the U.S. are rarely charged in school shootings involving their children, even as most minors get guns from a parent or relative’s house, according to experts.

School officials became concerned about the younger Crumbley on Monday, a day before the shooting, when a teacher saw him searching for ammunition on his phone, McDonald said.

Jennifer Crumbley was contacted and subsequently told her son in a text message: "Lol. I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught," according to the prosecutor.

On Tuesday, a teacher found a note on Ethan’s desk and took a photo. It was a drawing of a gun pointing at the words, "The thoughts won’t stop. Help me," McDonald said.

There also was a drawing of a bullet, she said, with words above it: "Blood everywhere."

Between the gun and the bullet was a person who appeared to have been shot twice and is bleeding. He also wrote, "My life is useless" and "The world is dead," according to the prosecutor.

The school quickly had a meeting with Ethan and his parents, who were told to get him into counseling within 48 hours, McDonald said.

The Crumbleys failed to ask their son about the gun or check his backpack and "resisted the idea of their son leaving the school at that time," McDonald said.

Instead, the teen returned to class and the shooting subsequently occurred.

In a written statement released Saturday, Oxford Community Schools Superintendent Tim Throne for the first time detailed the school's response to Crumbley's behavior. At the first meeting with a counselor and a staff member, Crumbley said shooting sports were a hobby for his family, Throne said.

During the second meeting with guidance counselors, Crumbley claimed the drawings were part of a video game design and said he wanted to pursue a career in that field, the letter said. According to guidance counselors, Crumbley was calm and worked on homework while staff tried to reach his parents and they traveled to the school.

The parents did not notify counselors that they had purchased a gun for their son recently during that meeting, Thorne said.

"Given the fact that the child had no prior disciplinary infractions, the decision was made he would be returned to the classroom rather than sent home to an empty house," he said.

Throne had not spoken publicly aside from a video message to the community Thursday.

The prosecutor, McDonald, also previously argued that Crumbleys’ parents should have told counselors their son had access to a gun when they were called in for a meeting about his behavior.

Jennifer Crumbley texted her son after the shooting, saying, "Ethan, don’t do it," she said on Friday.

James Crumbley called 911 to say that a gun was missing from their home and that Ethan might be the shooter. The gun had been kept in an unlocked drawer in the parents’ bedroom, McDonald said.

Ethan accompanied his father for the gun purchase on Nov. 26 and posted photos of the firearm on social media, saying, "Just got my new beauty today," McDonald said.

Over the long Thanksgiving weekend, Jennifer Crumbley wrote on social media that it is a "mom and son day testing out his new Christmas present," the prosecutor said.

Asked at a news conference if the father could be charged for purchasing the gun for the son, McDonald said that would be the decision of federal authorities.

McDonald was asked about the decision to keep Crumbley in school.

"Of course, he shouldn’t have gone back to that classroom. ... I believe that is a universal position. I’m not going to chastise or attack, but yeah," she said.

Asked if school officials may potentially be charged, McDonald said: "The investigation’s ongoing."

___

Foody reported from Chicago Associated Press journalists Ed White and Mike Householder in Detroit; David Eggert in Lansing, Mich., and John O'Connor in Springfield, Ill., also contributed to this report.

A recent study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that antibodies might protect people who've already had COVID-19 from being reinfected for at least six months.

Researchers looked at 12,541 healthcare workers at Oxford University Hospitals in the United Kingdom and were followed for up to 31 weeks.

In the study, researchers investigated the incidences of COVID-19 infection by conducting polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests on the healthcare workers who had tested positive and negative, including both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases.

The study results showed that 11,364 did not have antibody levels, and 1,265 had positive results, which also included 88 healthcare workers in whom seroconversion occurred during follow-up. A total of 223 anti-spike–negative health care workers had a positive PCR test (1.09 per 10,000 days at risk), up to 100 during screening were found to be asymptomatic, and 123 were to have symptoms, the study found.

Researchers said that individuals who had anti-spike antibodies had no symptomatic infections.

OXFORD, Ohio —

Among those who hope Miami University will require proof of vaccination against COVID-19 this fall is sophomore Savannah Walls.

"I totally believe that it can be your choice, but when you're affecting that many other people like with this pandemic, I feel like it should be mandated," Wall said.

Walls, who's been vaccinated since May, is glad to know more than 150 Miami faculty members signed onto an open letter to university officials. The letter calls on officials to make proof of vaccination a requirement, now that Pfizer's vaccine has received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

"I think it just says that, like, the majority of people on this campus, and the most educated people - I mean our professors are the people we're learning from - if they think that's a good idea, I feel, like, then faculty should take that, or administration should take that into consideration," Walls said.

That's what's happening according to a spokeswoman for the university, though it's not clear when a decision will be announced.

Jeremy Boncela hopes he will continue to be able to choose whether to get vaccinated during the fall semester.

"Personally, I'm not vaccinated, just because I think it's been not long enough to know what could happen," Boncela said. "Also I'm a Catholic. And just as a religious thing I feel like I don't need to take it."

About 25% of Miami's students who are on campus have either declined to take the shot or refused to share their vaccine status with school leaders.

Boncela isn't sure what he would do if a COVID-19 vaccine does become mandatory.

"I think I would do my best to resist it," he said. "But I think, right now I'm not totally sure. I think that is something that has crossed my mind and I've had to consider it more as of recent."

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Miami University said an announcement about a possible coronavirus vaccine mandate to be expected soon.

As far as other universities in the area go, Xavier University is requiring its students to get the COVID-19 vaccine before the start of the spring 2022 semester. A letter to students stated that university officials came to the decision following the full approval of the Pfizer vaccine by the Food and Drug Administration.

At the University of Cincinnati, officials say they are considering it, particularly after several state universities have implemented similar policies. President Neville Pinto released a statement Monday morning, saying they are watching other schools and universities closely as they consider a similar mandate.

OXFORD, Ohio — A 21-year-old construction contractor from northern Ohio is in jail, accused of sexually assaulting a Miami University student early Saturday after giving her a ride home from a bar.

Zachary Michael Frankart of Clyde in Sandusky County, was arrested and booked into the Butler County Jail on suspicion of rape and for theft, for allegedly taking items belonging to the woman, the release stated.

Oxford police responded around 1:20 a.m. to North College Avenue. A passerby called 911 who reported he found a crying woman lying in a front who said she had been raped.

The Miami student said she did not know the assailant but that she accepted a ride from him from an uptown bar, according to a release posted to the Oxford Division of Police Facebook page.

Police officers and detectives identified a suspect within hours of the sexual assault report and found him at a local hotel.

OXFORD, Ohio — The City of Oxford, along with Miami University have jointly committed $350,000 towards bringing an Amtrak stop to the city.

The $700,000 will go towards the design and construction of a platform at Chestnut Fields location at 909 South Main St.

The Oxford stop will be located on the Cardinal line, which travels from Chicago to Washington, D.C.

The approved stop will be a Category 4 Amtrak platform, which is an unmanned kiosk.

Currently, the city is negotiating vendors on design and cost estimates for the platform.

County, local and federal law enforcement conducted seven drug raids earlier this month, which led to the seizure of 800 grams of fentanyl, 51 pounds of marijuana and $8,000 in cash.

The Butler County Regional Narcotics task force along with the FBI and local police departments conducted the raids during the early morning hours of June 15. They had search warrants for four locations in Hamilton, one in Oxford, one in Fairfield and one in Middletown, according to a release issued Friday from the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.

Eddie Collins, 31, aka “Big Unk,” was booked into the Butler County Jail on June 15 on suspicion of possession of controlled substances. He also is being held on federal charges, records show.

Anyone who has information on criminal activity involving Collins is urged to call the FBI Cincinnati office at 513-421-4310.

OXFORD, Ohio — Starting Thursday night and running through the weekend, thousands of soon-to-be Miami University graduates will take part in limited-size commencement ceremonies outside at Yager Stadium.

They are the first graduating class in Miami’s history since the early 20th century to have attended a full school year – through a combination of in-person and remote online classes – during a global pandemic as the university made sweeping adjustments to remain open.

And the series of commencement services, created in reduced event sizes to adhere to coronavirus prevention protocols, includes many graduates from the spring of 2020 who lost their chances to celebrate graduation due to more strict pandemic guidelines during the first spring of the pandemic.

“These students have been triumphant in an unprecedented time filled with uncertainty and hardships,” said Jessica Rivinius, spokeswoman for Miami.

“Their strength and stick-to-itiveness, combined with their Miami education, fuels them to be true leaders as they embark on this next step,” she said. “We are so thrilled to be able to celebrate our graduates in person and offer a remote option for those unable to attend.”

Nearly 4,800 associate, undergraduate, master’s and doctorates will be awarded starting tonight through Sunday with the first ceremony at 7 p.m. for 2020 graduates who missed out last year.

For specific times and details on graduation ceremonies see the Miami website.

In total, Miami will host nine ceremonies in which Miami President Gregory Crawford will address the graduates and their guests in the stadium on the school’s main Oxford campus.

Ceremonies will also incorporate remarks from 2021 commencement speaker Dr. Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins, the first woman of color elected as national president of the League of Women Voters.

To maintain social distancing and to meet capacity limits, each graduate is permitted to invite up to six guests to the ceremony, said school officials. Guests will have assigned seats in “pods” that are socially distanced from other attendees.

All participants, graduates, guests and staff will be required to wear face masks and maintain social distancing during the events.

The Journal-News is a media partner of WCPO 9 News.