The Wayne County Board of Elections has completed the audit of votes cast in last month’s primary election. The audit, which took place on Monday, has since been reported to the Ohio Secretary of State with 100% accuracy. The post-election audit was conducted by completing a hand count of 5% of the ballots cast in four separate races. This week’s hand count confirmed the official results that were certified by the Board of Elections on April 8th.

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Following a public hearing on Monday, Orrville City Council members approved adding tattoos and body piercing as a conditional use in the city’s downtown central business development district.  Council’s action includes allowing microblading, which is classified as a tattoo by the Ohio Department of Health, to be offered in hair salons.  The addition of microblading to the resolution was reviewed and OK’d by the city’s planning commission prior to council’s approval.

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Starting today, a portion of the parking lot at Wooster Community Hospital will be closed for an expansion project that will include a new emergency center and an enhanced main entrance.  According to the hospital, the affected area includes parking lot B and the lot B extension.  Employees, visitors and patients are all reminded that there will be no parking permitted in those areas moving forward.  Despite the parking lot closure, access to the hospital’s main entrance will remain open until Sunday night.

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Firefighters were called out yesterday morning to a house fire in Shreve.  The blaze occurred at a duplex on South Market Street.  Shreve’s Police Chief Ron Kiner was first on the scene and is credited with leading the safe evacuation of the duplex’s residents and their pets.  All told, six local fire departments  were on hand to help battle the blaze, while the Red Cross is now aiding the families affected by the fire.  Fortunately, no injuries were reported.  The cause of the fire remains under investigation.   D

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Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler is expected to be sidelined several weeks with a right MCL injury suffered in Wednesday’s play-in tournament loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Butler was hurt on the final play of the first quarter in Philadelphia. He remained in the game but scored a total of 12 points the rest of the way on 3-for-14 shooting as Miami surrendered a 12-point halftime lead in Philadelphia’s 105-104 victory.

The Heat will host the Chicago Bulls on Friday night, with the winner securing the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference and a first-round playoff series matchup against the Boston Celtics.

After leaking out for a potential fast-break layup in the first quarter, Butler tried to fake out Philadelphia’s Kelly Oubre Jr. to attempt to make a layup, only to have his knee buckle after it appeared Oubre landed on it, causing Butler to fall to the floor in pain.

Butler said after the game that he would have an MRI on Thursday, adding “I hope that I wake up tomorrow and can still stick-and-move. Right now, I can’t say that’s the case.”

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Schools in Virginia will be able to directly pay athletes via name, image and likeness deals thanks to a state law signed Thursday morning, marking another significant step in the professionalization of college sports.

The new law, which is scheduled to take effect July 1, is the first in any state to make it illegal for the NCAA to punish a school for compensating athletes for their NIL rights. Current NCAA rules prohibit schools from signing NIL deals with their own players. The law could either give Virginia schools a significant recruiting advantage or provide a catalyst for similar changes elsewhere.

“If this law gets us closer to a federal or a national solution for college athletics then it will be more than worthwhile,” University of Virginia athletic director Carla Williams said. “Until then, we have an obligation to ensure we maintain an elite athletics program at UVA.”

The law explicitly states that athletes should not be considered employees of their school. Schools in Virginia are still not allowed to pay athletes for their performance in a sport, but starting this summer, they will be able to use university or athletic department funds to pay athletes for appearing in marketing campaigns. Williams said this was “maybe a distinction without a difference, but there’s a distinction there.”

Babcock said Virginia Tech is considering a number of methods for how it might deploy school funds in the future. Options could include contracting with third parties such as a marketing agency or a booster collective to pay the athletes, instead of cutting a check directly from the athletic department. He said the new law puts Virginia schools in a good position for both the current NIL marketplace as well as other forms of payment “that we think we see around the corner.”

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Carlos Carrasco gave up two runs in 5 2/3 solid innings and Andrés Giménez had two RBI to lead the Cleveland Guardians to a 5-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday.

Ramón Laureano, Josh Naylor and José Ramírez also drove in runs for Cleveland, which took three of four from Boston and improved to a Central Division-best 13-6.

“You want to win every series. Every team talks about it,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “It’s not this new idea, but any time you can go on the road and win a series, especially from a very good team across the way, you feel good about it heading home.”

Carrasco (1-1) threw 56 of his 89 pitches for strikes and allowed two hits while striking out five and walking three. He left after allowing a two-out single to Reese McGuire in the sixth with Cleveland leading 5-1.

“Trying to be too perfect, which led to the first run,” Carrasco said of the first inning when Boston scored a run but left the bases loaded. “After that, I went back and thought the same way I did in the bullpen (for pregame warmups). I just went out there and attacked.

“We’re winning series. That’s important for us.”

Emmanuel Clase pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save.

Giménez had two hits while batting leadoff Thursday, and is hitting .293 overall this season.

“He’s the Swiss Army knife of the lineup. He hits all over the place,” Vogt said. “His at-bats since the start of the year have been phenomenal … clutch hit after clutch hit.”

After starting the season with seven wins in 10 road games, the Red Sox went 3-7 on their first homestand.

Trailing 5-1, Boston cut into Cleveland’s lead behind Jarren Duran’s two-run triple in the Red Sox’s three-run sixth inning.

Left-hander Brennan Bernardino had two scoreless innings in the start for the Red Sox, who used five pitchers. Cooper Criswell (0-1) was charged with the loss after allowing four runs — three earned — in 2 1/3 innings.

Boston made two more errors that led to three unearned runs. The Red Sox have committed an MLB-worse 19 errors.

“It sounds repetitive, but we have to play better defense,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “That’s the bottom line. We don’t make two routine plays and don’t turn a double play, and we lose by one. They’re good defenders. We’re not making plays right now.”

The Guardians will next be back at home to take on the Oakland Athletics, which will begin a 3-game series, on Friday, April 19th, with first pitch at 7:10 p.m.

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The NHL is moving the team now formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes to Utah to begin play as a new franchise next season, the league announced Thursday.

Ryan and Ashley Smith of Smith Entertainment Group bought the team and its existing hockey assets for $1.2 billion from Alex Meruelo, sources told ESPN. Meruelo had owned the Coyotes since buying the franchise for $300 million in 2019, but the league lost patience in his ability to find a long-term arena solution in Arizona and facilitated a sale.

The Smiths, who also own the NBA’s Utah Jazz, initially built a relationship with commissioner Gary Bettman because they wanted an expansion franchise. However, over the past several months, the conversation changed and Bettman approached the Smiths about becoming a solution for the Coyotes instead.

According to Ryan Smith, things pivoted fast.

“I mean, if you would’ve told me at the beginning of the year that this is where we’d be, I’d say you were crazy,” he told ESPN. “It was more of: ‘Can you guys pull this off? Can you really pull it off?’ It looks like [the Coyotes’] situation’s going to be a little longer than everyone anticipated, and [the NHL] kind of had an issue. So our response is very much like, we want to be part of the league. We think we bring a lot. We think we can add a lot. We think we can give back more than we take and help grow the sport.

“It’s unprecedented. This is a different process. I don’t think anyone’s ever done it or seen it. But we’re in. We’re all-in. And I have a lot of faith in the people in Utah and how they show up for things.”

The sale was approved at a virtual NHL board of governors meeting Thursday afternoon.

“As everyone knows, Utah is a vibrant and thriving state, and we are thrilled to be a part of it,” Bettman said in a statement Thursday. “We are also delighted to welcome Ashley and Ryan Smith to the NHL family and know they will be great stewards of the game in Utah. We thank them for working so collaboratively with the league to resolve a complex situation in this unprecedented and beneficial way.”

The Coyotes’ final home game at Mullett Arena on Wednesday night was emotional, with players and staff members pouring onto the ice for photos after a win against the Edmonton Oilers.

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Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Aroldis Chapman has been suspended two games and fined an undisclosed amount for “inappropriate actions” during Monday’s game against the New York Mets, MLB announced Thursday.

Unless he appeals, Chapman is scheduled to start the suspension Friday, when the Pirates host the Boston Red Sox.

Chapman was ejected by plate umpire Edwin Moscoso after giving up a two-run double in the eighth inning of Monday’s loss to the Mets.

“He evidently said something that the umpire did not like,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said after Monday’s game.

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