Barack Obama is running for president. In a move that should surprise absolutely nobody the current leader of the free world officially kicked off his campaign for a second term today with rallies in Ohio and Virginia. Which means that this seemingly endless campaign is one tiny step closer to being over. more ›

The actor who played George Costanza's boss Mr. Kruger on Seinfeld is "clinging to life in an Ohio hospital after shooting himself in the head Monday morning in a failed suicide attempt," according to TMZ. Daniel von Bargen called 911 and said, "I've shot myself in the head ... and I need help." more ›

Southern Ohio authorities believe an ex-con who worked as a chaplain and ran a halfway house is behind a chilling plot using Craigslist to tempt unemployed men with a $300/week job watching a farm but killing them instead. Authorities learned of the scheme when police found one man shot in the arm and later found shallow graves. Brogan Rafferty, 16, has been been charged with the killings, but it's suspected his "mentor," Richard Beasley, orchestrated the crimes. more ›

Besides Mississippi voters rejecting a controversial anti-abortion measure, and upstate NY voters rejecting candidates with artsy nude photos, there were other big elections around the nation which gave a glimpse into the country's current mood. Ohio voters rejected an anti-labor law, Arizona voters recalled the extremist Tea Party-friendly state senator, and as a result, Democrats are starting to feel confidant again. more ›

A day after Ohio authorities killed dozens of exotic animals had been released from their cages by their owner, who was found dead at his farm, police detailed how the man died. Terry Thompson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and sometime later, a tiger bit his head. more ›

Jack Shephard would frown upon this. LOST (and Party of Five) actor Matthew Fox was detained by cops in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday night, TMZ reports. Fox allegedly drunkenly assaulted a woman outside of a bar there after being blocked from boarding a party bus she was driving. more ›

An Ohio resident recently learned the hard way that maybe one shouldn't always accept fully-paid trips to NYC to appear on The Maury Povich Show (check out the video below). April Davis, who was on probation for drug trafficking, left Ohio with her 58-year-old boyfriend to appear on the episode 'Girls Who Date Older Men,' and wound up behind bars. more ›

Earlier we wanted to cry happy tears when we heard that Ted Williams would no longer be homeless, would likely have too many job offers to choose from, and would soon be seeing his mom in Brooklyn, for the first time in a long time. And now we want to cry sad tears, because TMZ reports that Williams, scheduled to be in New York right now (the Today show is flying him for a Thursday morning appearance)... is actually stuck in Ohio, unable to fly because he doesn't have his birth certificate! more ›

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, this man (now in Ohio) says when he was 14-years-old he went to meet a famous local NY radio announcer, and after that began to develop his voice so that he too could be on the radio one day. Now Ted Williams has got the perfect radio voice (really!) but after a bad run with drugs and alcohol, he's found himself homeless. Williams is now two years clean, and can be found standing on the side of the road advertising his perfect voice to passerby—he hopes to get a job where he can showcase it. Listen below—let's get this guy back to New York and get him a job! Howard Stern, are you listening? more ›

Are things so bad that we need to move to the most miserable city in America (according to Forbes)? They sure are. Pack your bags, we're all moving to Cleveland! According to new reports, some New York artists are fleeing to there after getting priced out of the boroughs. Animal notes that it's not "a full-fledged trend yet," but it is getting media attention. more ›

Last week, LeBron James changed the world when he chose not to sign with the Knicks and Nets. Then he changed the world some more when he attended a wedding! Somewhere near the end of his world changing week, he was burned to shreds in an open letter by Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert, who called him "heartless" and "narcissistic." And now the Reverend Jesse Jackson has stepped in to defend defenseless LeBron from Gilbert: "He speaks as an owner of LeBron and not the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers. His feelings of betrayal personify a slave-master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave," said Jackson to the AP. more ›

LeBron James' televised announcement that he was leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to play for the Miami Heat—for the express purposes of winning multiple championships alongside Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh—broke the hearts of New Yorkers, who were hoping James would use his talents to elevate the Knicks once again or even, if they ever move to Brooklyn, create a dynasty with the Nets. The Daily News is calling him "LeCon" and there's an amazing open letter from Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert posted on the team's website. It reads, in Comic Sans font, "I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE." more ›

With heated speculation over his future as a Cleveland Cavalier, LeBron James made a "dramatic" appearance at the "LeBron James Appreciation Day" held at the University of Akron in his hometown, Akron, Ohio. The event was from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and most of the 4,000 attendees had left by 12:40; James showed up at 12:50 p.m., causing what The Chronicle-Telegram called a "circuslike atmosphere as several hundred fans rushed back into the 30,000-seat facility." James said, "Akron is my home, it's my life. Everything I do is for this city. I'm going to continue to do great things. I love every last one of you all. Akron is home." more ›

Adaptations of Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland are legion, and allusions in pop culture innumerable; with its barely concealed drug references, the story became particularly popular in the far-out '60s, most famously with Jefferson Airplane's psychedelic hit "White Rabbit." The latest riff on the tale, from multimedia theater troupe Anonymous Ensemble, incorporates live rock, simultaneous video projection, clowning, acrobatics, and modern dance to tell the tale of 34-year-old Alice, a frustrated administrative assistant who's watching her dreams of fame fade away. more ›

Don't tell the Naked Cowboy to "go back to Ohio," because someone in his hometown of Greenhills doesn't want him back. Reportedly a mayoral candidate there, Pat Andwan, is urging city council members to protest Robert Burck's performance at the Greenhills Summer Festival tomorrow, saying "it's an inappropriate venue for a man who wears only underwear." She called his behavior both "indecent" and "deviant." But the current Mayor, Oscar Hoffman, told the Cincinnati Enquirer, "I have no problem with the Naked Cowboy. Nobody on council has a problem with it. He doesn't do anything immoral. It's just a catchy name." Burck plans to go on with the show as planned; he added that Andwan was a "lunatic," but from his experience he's also "aware there are people out there who are not underwear-friendly." more ›

Argh, must everything that makes life worth tolerating in New York City be systematically eradicated? According to Alexis Soloski at the Village Voice, the Ohio Theatre on Wooster Street will soon be extinct. The building that houses the illustrious avant-garde theater is being sold by its owners because "maintenance expenses and preservation of the façade required by the city created an untenable financial burden," and artistic director Robert Lyons has no illusions about affordable rent under the new owner. Which sucks because the 24-year-old Ohio—currently occupied by Les Freres Corbusier's Dance Dance Revolution—plays host to some of the most exciting theater on earth. As Claudia La Rocco at WNYC put it, "That’s just great: protect the façade but not the beating heart underneath...As a friend put it yesterday, 'it’ll be a real shame if the legacy of the Bloomberg administration and the boom years is a handful of bland generic populist cultural centers.'" [Photo cred] more ›

Last fall it was announced that consultants were being sought out for the restoration and reconstruction of the historic 1919 B&B Carousell of Coney Island, which was bought at auction by The City of New York in 2005. The Brooklyn Eagle reports that yesterday the carousel was finally in the hands of experts as "fine art movers arrived at the Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT) to delicately pack up Coney Island’s 89-year-old Bishoff & Brienstein Carousell. The entire team of colorful antique horses and other carousel components will be temporarily transferred to Marion, Ohio, where it will be meticulously restored by a nationally recognized expert in the field." more ›

Fresh off her big night of wins in Ohio and Texas, Hillary Clinton spoke on CBS's Early Show and mentioned the words "dream ticket" in relation to the heated Democratic presidential race. Harry Smith told Clinton, "We talked to a lot of people in Ohio who said there really isn't that significant a difference between you two, and they'd like to see you both on the ticket." After remarking how "incredibly close" the race is, she said pairing up "may be where this is headed, but we have to decide who is on the top of the ticket, and I think that the people of Ohio very clearly said that it should be me." more ›

Ohio and Texas are "too close to call" for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, which means it will be a long night - and very possibly another few weeks of primary madness. Obama did win Vermont (so far, 59% to Clinton's 39%) and Clinton won Rhode Island (currently 57% to Obama's 42%), which is her first win in a while, but those states aren't the focus. more ›

Today's big Texas primary, the Post has delivered a cover with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as old West gunslingers. And since Obama's hand in on his gun, it makes sense the headline for the story is, "Barack Goes For Hill Kill." (Obama believes in gun control, though he backed a law allowing retired cops to carry concealed weapons). more ›

Hillary Clinton's campaign happily announced that the Senator from New York had raised $35 million during February, her best month ever. Adviser Harold Ickes used the news to accentuate the positive, "We have been through a dry period in the last eleven contests but we are about to start our upswing." Clinton is thrilled with the fundraising efforts, saying, "It’s incredibly gratifying to see people coming forward with their vote of confidence." She also said her $5 million personal loan to the campaign was not paid back. more ›

Senator Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama faced off for the 20th time last night in Cleveland, Ohio, as they head towards the big March 4 primaries next week. The rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination "traded insults," as they accused each other of negative attacks regarding their health care policies. more ›

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama march into tonight's Ohio debate with their arms swinging over a 2006 photograph of Obama visiting Kenya. The Obama campaign blamed the Clinton campaign for "shameful" tactics, while the Clinton campaign denied responsibility and said the Obama campaign should be "ashamed" of thinking the photo would be controversial. more ›