AKRONTour Lippman SchoolAKRON: The Lippman School, 750 White Pond Drive, will host an open house at 10 a.m. Feb. 29 for prospective families.The independent school enrolls boys and girls in kindergarten through eighth grade.For more information, go to www.thelippmanschool.org or call 330-836-0419.COPLEY TOWNSHIPPicnic canceledCOPLEY TWP.: The Sadie Hawkins Day Picnic scheduled for Feb. 29 at the Copley Community Center has been canceled because of a lack of interest.The Active Senior Fair is still scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 18 at the Copley Community Center.JACKSON TOWNSHIPAnti-fracking talkJACKSON TWP.: Sandra Stein­graber, an opponent of the drilling technique commonly known as fracking, will speak March 14 at Kent State University’s Stark Campus.Her talk will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Hall Auditorium, 600 Frank Ave. NW.Admission is free, but tickets are required. They are available at the Main Hall desk.Steingraber, an ecologist, author and speaker, is a visiting professor at Ithaca College.Her talk on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in drilling for natural gas is being sponsored by the Herbert W. Hoover Foundation.For more information, call 330-499-9600.MEDINA COUNTYTruck kills toddlerHOMERVILLE: A Medina County toddler has died after she was struck by a pickup truck in her family’s driveway Monday afternoon.Sophia Miller, a 21-month-old from Homerville, died Monday night at Akron Children’s Hospital.According to Medina County sheriff’s deputies, Sophia was playing in her family’s Jesse Lane yard about 3:35 p.m. when a 17-year-old family friend drove his pickup truck into the driveway. After dropping off a relative of the girl, the driver backed out, striking the child.The driver immediately stopped and called 911, deputies said.Sophia was taken by medical helicopter to the Akron hospital, where she was pronounced dead about 8 p.m. The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office was to perform an autopsy. No charges have been brought.“It was a very, very freak accident,” sheriff’s Lt. Matthew Linscott said.Exhibit on LincolnMEDINA:. The Medina Library will host Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War, a traveling exhibit opening March 2.The exhibit will examine how President Abraham Lincoln used the Constitution to confront specific crises of the Civil War.The Medina Library will host an opening-night reception featuring An Evening with Matthew Brady, Mr. Lincoln’s Camera Man at 7 p.m., followed by the unveiling of the exhibit that will remain on display until April 13.For more information, go to www.mcdl.info.NORTHEAST OHIOGrants announcedEight local communities and grass-roots groups in the Akron-Canton area are getting litter-prevention funds from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The winners are:• Keep Akron Beautiful, $2,000, for the citywide cleanup on April 21-28.• Cuyahoga Falls, $2,000, for American River Day Cleanup on May 19.• Bath Township, $2,000, for the Project Pride Roadway cleanup on April 21.• Munroe Falls, $2,000, for the River Sweep cleanup on May 19.• West Branch State Park in eastern Portage County, $2,000, for park cleanup.• Western Reserve Land Conservancy, $1,000, for cleanup of Adam’s Run and Haley’s Run on April 28 in South Akron.• Keep Alliance Beautiful, $1,111, for downtown cleanup.• Keep Ohio Beautiful, $2,000, for a state roadway cleanup on April 14 sponsored by the Akron-based group.A total of $140,628 was awarded in the 75 grants.SUMMIT COUNTYAbuse awarenessAKRON: Summit County Children Services is offering free training next month on recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect.Although the training is designed to meet the requirements for all child care employees, child care centers and type A homes, the course is open to the public.Registration is required and space is limited.The initial six-hour course will be offered from 9 a.m. to noon March 3 and March 10 at Children Services, 264 S. Arlington St. The registrant will need to attend both sessions to receive certification. A three-hour renewal class will be offered during the summer at a date to be determined.Topics covered include: an overview of Children Services, indicators of child abuse and neglect, mandated reporting, prevention of child abuse and community supports that are available.For more information or to register, go to www.summitkids.org and click on the links located in the story titled Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect Training; or contact Julia Mothersbaugh at 330-379-2090 or jmothersbaugh@summitkids.org.WOOSTERRegula honoredWOOSTER: A new facility at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center has been named after Ralph Regula, the longtime Republican congressman from Navarre.The Ohio State University board of trustees agreed to name the Plant and Animal Agrosecurity Research Facility in honor of Regula, who was instrumental in winning federal funds for the facility.The facility, unveiled last fall, is the first of its kind in Ohio and one of only two nationally with capacity to research infectious diseases of both plants and large animals with higher safety levels.Regula served in Congress from 1972 until he retired in early 2009.CLEVELANDMurder-for-hire plotCLEVELAND: Federal authorities say an Ohio woman describing herself as an animal rights activist has been charged with soliciting murder in a plot to kill someone wearing fur.Court records show 27-year-old Meredith Lowell of Cleveland Heights appeared Tuesday in federal court in Cleveland and was ordered held by the U.S. Marshals Service pending a hearing next week.Investigators say the FBI was notified in November of a Facebook page Lowell created with an alias offering $830-$850 for the hit.Investigators say an FBI employee posing as a possible killer learned via email correspondence that Lowell wanted the victim to be at least 12 years old and wanted to be on site when the slaying took place so she could distribute “papers” afterward.One of her defense attorneys declined comment.— Associated PressSex law overturnedCOLUMBUS: The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the rights of reclassified sex offenders to challenge through the court system their status and any convictions for not reporting their whereabouts to authorities.In 2010, the high court threw out sections of Ohio’s tough, new 2007 sex-offender law as unconstitutional. It said the legislature couldn’t force state officials to change convicts’ classifications retroactively.The law had upped public-notice requirements and applied them to previously exempt offenders released before July 1, 1997.In a unanimous decision Tuesday, justices said the 2010 ruling didn’t invalidate the legal system through which offenders challenge reclassifications or seek to have nonreporting indictments overturned.The case involved a released offender, Paul Palmer of Columbus, who challenged both his reclassification and a subsequent reporting charge.— Associated PressFunds left unusedCOLUMBUS: Ohio’s attorney general says only 13 of Ohio’s 88 counties have used federal funds available for bringing back convicted sex offenders who flee the state without informing authorities.Mike DeWine is urging more counties to use money from a program he set up last April. It reimburses counties for the cost of bringing convicted sex offenders back when they flee to avoid laws requiring them to regularly register with authorities. The Dayton Daily News reported Tuesday that DeWine is concerned that only 22 convicted sex offenders have been brought back under the program.Only $30,000 of the $100,000 available when the program started has been used.DeWine recently identified more than 100 Ohio offenders being sought out of state.— Associated Press