By The Associated Press
A historically Black university in Ohio is advancing its plans to become the first public institution in the state to conduct hemp research.
Central State University announced Aug. 8 it has received $7.1 million in contributions toward current initiatives, including its new hemp research program.
The sum includes a single record-setting private donation of $2 million from philanthropist Frank Murphy.
President Cynthia Jackson-Hammond says Central State is the only Ohio public university planting seeds for research into hemp, a strain of the cannabis plant used for fiber and cannabidiol (kan-uh-bih-DY'-ahl), or CBD.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill last month legalizing cultivation of industrial hemp and the manufacture and sale of CBD products. The next day, the Ohio Department of Agriculture planted Ohio's first legal hemp plants since World War II.