Associated Press

Polling sites in 20 counties will get permanent upgrades to assist Ohio voters with disabilities under newly released federal grant money.

Secretary of State Jon Husted said Tuesday that about $100,000 in grants will go to county boards of elections to improve access for voters with disabilities.

The funds were made available by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the Help America Vote Act.  Individual grant amounts range from $40 to $15,000 for improvements in 92 precincts.

Authorities have raided a doctor's two offices and home in southwest Ohio, seizing boxes of records in an investigation of possible prescription drug abuse.

The Dayton Daily News reports that 69-year-old Dr. Han M. Yang says authorities are "off-base" in their allegations. He says he has surrendered his license to practice medicine in Ohio and will give up his practice. He also says he will seek an attorney.

The state says drug dealers around Ohio are developing new sources for prescription painkillers by buying them from senior citizens, sometimes as the patients leave pharmacies.

The report by the Ohio Substance Abuse Monitoring Network also blames the state's continuing rise of heroin use on addicts switching from prescription painkillers, which are more expensive and harder to obtain.

Orman Hall, director of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, says once people become addicted to painkillers it's almost inevitable they'll switch to heroin.

Ohioans can cast an early ballot for the Nov. 8 election starting Tuesday. 

Voters this fall will decide whether the state should toss out a law governing public employee unions that was passed this spring. The measure limits the collective bargaining abilities of more than 350,000 teachers, nurses, firefighters, police and other public workers around the state.

Another question facing voters is whether the state's constitution should be amended to prohibit governments from requiring Ohioans to buy health insurance.

NEW FRANKLIN, Ohio (AP) - Construction is expected to start this month on a northeast Ohio facility that would turn sewage sludge into vehicle fuel by producing compressed natural gas.

The Akron Beacon Journal  reports local officials and the Ohio Environmental Protect Agency have approved the $4.5 million anaerobic digester in New Franklin, south of Akron. The process uses bacteria that don't need oxygen to consume sludge and yield a burnable gas that can fuel specially converted vehicles.