Police said it happened Monday night at an apartment complex on Stimmel Road after officers were dispatched to break up a fight at an apartment complex.

Inside one of the apartments, an officer was confronted by a 19-year-old man holding a knife. Officers said he ignored repeated commands to drop it, and the officer shot him once.

The suspect – who has not been named – was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his hip and a neck laceration. He was in stable condition. Nobody else was hurt.

It was the second time in as many days that Columbus police shot a suspect wielding a weapon.

It’s been a year since Dish Network unveiled its new recording system, the Hopper. Or as the the commercials call it: “The Hoppa.”

Dish Network spokesman Aaron Johnson says the commercials have worked, and they need 90 new customer services at a call center in Hilliard.

“Helping set up new accounts for customers, answering questions for people that are exploring options for TV service, and helping existing customers manage their account,” Johnson says.

Johnson say the new positions, will pay $12 an hour, offer benefits, and need to be filled immediately.

This is the first distribution to schools since casinos opened last year. The money is distributed on a per-pupil basis twice per year to more than 1,000 school districts and charter schools across Ohio. It works out to $20.93 for each of the roughly 1.8 million students.

The breakdown was announced Tuesday bu the Ohio Department of Taxation. Schools receive 34 percent of the revenue, with 51 percent going to county government.

The money comes from taxes levied on the three operating casinos in the state, in Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo. The fourth casino, in Cincinnati, will open in March.

On Sunday afternoon, Columbus Police sent out an alert saying Chantasja Silva was last seen December 4th at West High School. Her mother told police is was like her daughter vanished, and Silva’s picture was added to listings on the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children website.

Now police say Silva was arrested for shoplifting some time during her disappearance, but supplied a fake name and was living in foster care. Her foster mother called police after seeing her picture on TV.

Police and Franklin County Children Services did not respond to phone calls.

Owners of Creative Child Care argued county leaders violated the law by letting the community shelter board take over the property near Georgesville Road and Sullivant Avenue in West Columbus.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge John Bessey on Monday declined to issue a preliminary injunction.

The child care center had argued that the county violated laws or procedures by allowing the shelter board to take over the rezoned property. Day-care officials say they are sympathetic, but think the shelter would endanger children and hurt their business.

Regulators say the opening of Hollywood Columbus, Ohio’s third casino, sharply boosted wagering in October, despite a drop in betting at the other two gambling houses.

The Ohio Casino Control Commission reported Wednesday that wagers at Hollywood Columbus, the Horseshoe Cleveland, and Hollywood Toledo casinos totaled nearly $479 million last month. The Columbus casino opened Oct. 8.

The highest monthly wagering total for the Cleveland and Toledo casinos, which opened in May, was $417 million in June as bettors tried out the new experience.

Last month betting dropped 9.2 percent in Toledo and 2.2 percent in Cleveland.

Ohio’s fourth casino opens next year in Cincinnati.

Three years ago the Associated Press dubbed the area surrounding what is now the Hollywood Casino “America’s Loneliest Neighborhood” because of its many empty businesses and homes.

Now the shiny new casino with its elaborate landscaping looks lonely.

If you take a drive down West Broad Street or Georgesville Road today, you still see vacant lots. Next door to the casino’s employment center is a large, empty retail store. Directly across the street is an empty shopping plaza with weeds sprouting from the concrete.

That’s just one of several blighted properties in the area.

But if you look closely, you’ll notice the changes some longtime businesses are making.

“We now have an opportunity to now reinvent ourselves and go from the loneliest neighborhood to the most vibrant, energetic and diverse neighborhood,” says Chris Haydocy, the president of Haydocy Buick-GMC. He says the West Side neighborhood faced a crossroads just few years ago.

Business after business was shutting down and leaving in 2008 [and] 2009. So, anyone who stayed is a plus. Bobby Layman (Chevrolet) across the street, they were challenged from the factory to look at some place else. But the fact is, they’ve been out here on the West Side since the ’70s and they have a $4 million renovation going on.”
And the Chevrolet dealership is one of about a dozen or so businesses, including Haydocy’s, forking out cash for renovations or rebuilds.

Around the corner on Georgesville Road, a half mile from the casino, retirees arrive for their afternoon bowling league at Columbus Western Bowl.

The facility has been undergoing a $1.5 million face lift since it changed owners in February 2011.

Bowling alley manager Amy Temple doesn’t mince words about the business’ condition when her boss, Mike Irwin, bought it.

“It was trashy.”

But now she says…

We have a fully remodeled bar. We have renovations on our concourse. We have new bowling pins placed. We’re going to have major construction going on.

Construction on a new addition, Temple says, for laser tag. The idea is to attract casino customers, especially those with children.

“We have all kinds of specials for taking care of children. Hopefully parents will go gamble and bring their kids down here to bowl for a couple of hours and we’ll watch them for them and provide entertainment for children while the adults have the entertainment down the road.”

While existing businesses are sprucing up their digs, what about new businesses?

The Ohio Secretary of State shows 123 businesses registered within the zip codes around the casino from June to August 2012. That’s a 64 percent increase from the previous year. But just registering doesn’t mean those businesses have or ever will open up their doors.

Jung Kim is research director for Columbus 2020, the regional economic development organization. Kim says the West Side is a hub for distribution, transportation and warehouse activity, and is home to several new larger companies.

But smaller business?

“That’s going to take improvement with the infrastructure, the housing stock in the area, and hopefully the additional traffic from the casino,” Kim says.

“So that will take time.”

The infrastructure along Georgesville Road has improved: widened lanes, new sidewalks. Twenty-two property owners along West Broad Street donated land to the Ohio Department of Transportation for improvements.

And more people are moving to the community. According to the Columbus Board of Realtors, home sales in the neighborhoods around the casino have increased by 20 percent since August 2011. And homes are selling for more: prices are up 16 percent.

But skeptics say gamblers will not venture to local restaurants and businesses, choosing to eat and drink inside at the casino four restaurants and bars.

The Ding Ho Chinese Restaurant, across from the casino on Phillipi Road is not deterred. The 56-year-old-West Side staple has a newly renovated exterior and new patio. The restaurant’s Stephen Yee says they are looking to draw gamblers by offering specials.

“If you bring your players card in here you get 20 percent off that’s through the month of October,” Yee says.

And they are seeing business from casino workers.

Because when customers walk in and ask a casino worker ‘where’s a good place to eat around here?’ Hopefully they’ll say us. That’s the key.

The west side can look to the north and west to see gauge casino spin-off business. Another of the state’s casinos opened in Toledo in April. Like Columbus, it’s away from the downtown area, but unlike Columbus, the Toledo casino was built in a largely undeveloped area.

Wendy Gramza is executive vice president of the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce. She says restaurants are seeing some new business.

“In the casino they’ve said, ‘hey, where’s a great place to go for Mexican food that close? And where’s a good place for this or that?’

“So people are wanting to stop outside the casino on their way back to Michigan or Indiana or wherever they’ve come from. So I know just anecdotally there is a market there,” Gramza says.

Gramza says some of the businesses and infrastructure near the casino, have undergone a facelift. But new business is limited.

“I think as the credit market loosens up and the economy gets stronger that you will see more people making an investment around that area. And I think that some people have a wait and see attitude.”

Chris Haydocy remains positive that the West Side of Columbus will continue to improve.

“It’s not going to be overnight, but we are 180 degrees, facing a different direction, than we were three years ago.”

The $400 million Hollywood Casino Columbus says proceeds from Wednesday’s games will go to five local nonprofit organizations. Mayor Michael Coleman and actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be on hand for the special gambling night.

The 475,000-square-foot facility owned by Penn National Gaming Inc. boasts about 3,000 slot machines, a poker room and other table games. It also has event spaces and four restaurants.

The casino west of downtown Columbus is expected to draw 3 million visitors a year.

It is the third and largest of four voter-approved casinos in Ohio. Casinos in Cleveland and Toledo opened several months ago, and one in Cincinnati debuts next spring.

19 incidents have been attributed to the Hilltop Creeper. Deneen Black is alleged to have entered the houses of women in the early morning hours and watching or touching them as they slept. That put women in the area on edge. One woman said she carried a knife at all times; another said she stayed awake most of the night.

“We saw that Mr. Black did indeed exhibit behavior that we were attributing to the actions of the Hilltop Creeper,” says Columbus police sergeant David Pelphrey.

At a press conference, Pelphrey provided few specifics about the investigation except to say that Black was put under surveillance. Pelphrey says Black was observed by investigators during the early morning hours.

“Mr. Black was located in between houses and in the alleys kind of creeping around,” says Pelphrey.

Sgt. Pelphrey says Black gave police sufficient information to connect him to the crimes.

“Mr. Black came to police headquarters; he elected to cooperate with the detectives and Mr. Black provided us with information that leads us to believe that Mr. Black is responsible for the majority of, if not all, the incidents that we attributed to the Hilltop Creeper,” Pelphrey says.

At present Black faces one count of burglary but police say additional charges will follow.

22-year-old Jerrica Francisco, her 4-year-old son Deshawn Francisco, and 33-year-old Demetrius Chappell were found inside the Franklinton home late Saturday night.

Fire investigators say they entered the home and found the three inside a room full of flames.

Investigators are still looking for the cause of the fire. A community leader, Franklinton Area Commission chair, Carol Stewart, tells WOSU’s Tom Borgerding reports of fire deaths are all too familiar in the west side neighborhood. In the past decade house fires have taken the lives of 20 people.

The fatal fire on North Yale was ruled an arson in October of 2010. Stewart says makeshift memorials remain at the Yale Avenue address. Carol Stewart chairs of the Franklinton Area Commission.

Click the listen icon to hear WOSU’s interview with Carol Stewart