Nina West is trying to nab $100,000 on the current season of "RuPaul’s Drag Race" on VH1, but the crazy creative Columbus-based drag star and activist has already raised more than $2 million for Ohio charities.

West, the stage name of actor Andrew Levitt, tells “What Had Happened Was” host Amelia Robinson why she kept it real on the reality competition show and why she’ll never complain about how she’s been depicted.

They dish about why being from the Buckeye State does not require eating corn on the front porch or waiting for planes to drop rations.

The What Had Happened Was podcast is sponsored by Cox Digital Marketing. Find more information about the show on Dayton.com: https://on.dayton.com/2OXZDbM

“What Had Happened Was” host Amelia Robinson chats with Fran DeWine, the Buckeye State’s first lady.

They chat about the boy who knocked on Fran’s door when she was just 12 and eventually stole her heart.

They dish about pie, ice cream and how Fran hopes to help Ohio children have better lives.

“What Had Happened Was” host Amelia Robinson sits down with former Dayton Daily News and Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Janice Hisle, the author of the new book “Submerged, Ryan Widmer, his drowned bride and the justice system.”

Janice covered nearly every aspect of Ryan Widmer’s three trials on charges he drowned his young wife Sarah in the bathtub of their Warren County home.

She tells Amelia how pig brains, a supposed confession and porn played a role in this tragic, real life murder mystery.

Wright State graduate Hannah Beachler did all of Dayton proud when she became the first black woman to win the Best Production Design Academy Award for her work creating Wakanda for Marvel's “Black Panther.”

And she looked fly doing it.

In honor of Hannah’s accomplishment, we opened the vault and pulled out the talk “What Had Happened Was” host Amelia Robinson had with Hannah just before she was inducted in to the Dayton Region Walk of Fame last year.

Hannah tells us what it took to make her dreams come true.

Amaya Sexton has Betty White dreams.

The JLo-loving, corn country native was vote Best Dayton Drag Queen in Dayton.com’s Best of Dayton Contest.

She sat down with “What Had Happened Was” host Amelia Robinson.

Amaya talks about the Sextons - her drag family - , chicken wings, channeling Beyoncé and being a trans woman on Facebook.

Sexton, Miss Masque 2018, has 10 years in the drag game and plans to be the Betty White of her profession. MORE: https://on.dayton.com/2TyYDc5

“What Had Happened Was” host Amelia Robinson sits down with award-winning Dayton Daily News journalist Laura Bischoff whose political and statehouse stories have lead to federal investigations and exposed corruption, deceit and even murder.

Laura’s reporting on children as young as 14 marrying in Ohio is credited with sparking the recent change in state law.

Amelia and Laura discuss some of the most outrageous stories Laura has covered and why she loves her job despite the divisive political climate.

What Had Happened Was” host Amelia Robinson and Todd Hollst, the host of WHIO’s “The Sunday Edge,” reveal the winners of Dayton.com’s Best of Dayton. Expect some surprise guests and surprised winners.

Nearly 100,000 nominations were submitted and more than a half million voters were cast in the annual contest that rewards the people, places, businesses and things that make Dayton such a special place.

Categories include best burger, best bar bathroom, best celebrity, best museum, best pizza, best realtor, best artist and best Asian food.

See the complete list of winners here: https://www.dayton.com/lifestyles/and-the-best-dayton-awards/VEIGxeBt0VRsbkKvLa4w9M/

The tables are turned on this latest edition of the What Had Happened Was podcast, as TROY LIMING asks the hard-hitting questions, and Amelia Robinson gives the answers.

When the smoked cleared, the only witnesses left alive were dogs and babies.

“What Had Happened Was” host Amelia Robinson sat down with Will Garbe, an investigative reporter for the Dayton Daily News and WHIO-TV, for an unusual episode of the podcast.

Will has been reporting on the Pike County murders for two years and recently returned from a hunting trip there with local residents.

He and Amelia discuss what is known and what investigators think they know about the case in which eight members of a family where murdered in four different locations on the same night.

Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine, the state’s next governor, recently announced charges against four members of a Pike County. Investigators say the Wagners - a husband, his wife and two adult sons - gunned down, Christopher Rhoden Jr.; Christopher Rhoden Sr., Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden; Dana Lynn Rhoden; Gary Rhoden; Hanna May Rhoden; Hannah Hazel Gilley and Kenneth Rhoden.

The shocking case has seen several twists and turns. As Will explains in the podcast, things are now just getting started.

There have been rumors about a drug cartel, arrested grandmothers and an alleged custody dispute in this tragic case.

Anyone can kill.

That’s one of the lessons Doyle Burke, a retired Dayton homicide detective, said he took from his 30-year career with the city’s police department.

Burke, now the Warren County coroner’s chief investigator, sat down with “What Had Happened Was” host Amelia Robinson to talk about some of the cold-blooded murder he and his team helped bring to justice.

They are among the most notorious killers this city has even seen: child killer Jolynn Ritchie, the Christmas killers, the Dayton mom who microwaved her own infant, a triple axe murder and a supposed Satan worshiper who preyed upon Dayton’s elderly.

Burke dives deep into some of the 800 murders he’s investigated in his new book “Death As a Living: An Inside Look into the World of Death Investigation.”

He wrote the book with Lou Grieco, a longtime Dayton Daily News courts, crime and public safety reporter.

Pre-orders of the book (paperback, $14.99 or Ebook, $8.99) are being taken at www.inkshares.com/books/death-as-a-living. Nearly 1,000 copies have already been sold.

Doyle tells Amelia why a 16-year-old girl was the hardest person he ever interviewed, why a judge told him to lie in court and how he tricked the media to read a child killer.