Slumlords feeling heat to care for neglected properties

It’s an all-too common story in Columbus: Officials are forced to take an out-of-state entity to court over the dozens of neglected properties it owns in neighborhoods already struggling with poverty and blight. Since 2012, nearly 40 cases have been filed in Franklin County Environmental Court against Municipal Tax Property LLC or Municipal Tax Investment LLC. The companies are connected and are based in Lincoln, Neb., but because they are limited liability companies, officials have troubl