Check out what's happening in the NewQuestCity Forums for Ohio .

$1.6B still needed to complete ODOT projects
04/11/2012

The 2012 road construction season is under way with Ohio Department of Transportation slated to complete 800 projects this year.

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Last months of I-75 project to cause major tie-ups
04/11/2012

The 2012 road construction season officially launched Tuesday with 800 transportation preservation projects throughout the state.

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Local officials brace for state fund reductions
04/11/2012

As many cities prepare to set their 2013 budgets, local officials are facing millions of dollars in anticipated losses because of shrinking state funding through the Local Government Fund and the coming repeal of the estate tax.

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Ohio worst in nationwide preschool study
04/11/2012

A new study of state-funded preschool education, based on state policy, ranked Ohio last out of 39 states evaluated.

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Romney sees path clear as Santorum drops out
04/11/2012

COLUMBUS - Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum dropped out of the GOP presidential race Tuesday, clearing the way for former Massachusetts Gov.

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Area patients charged thousands for blood transfusions
04/11/2012

DAYTON - Dan Worland, a regular blood donor, was diagnosed with leukemia and spent five weeks last summer at Miami Valley Hospital, where he received transfusions.

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Air pollution agency cites Jefferson Twp. company for violations
04/11/2012

A new round of environmental problems have cropped up at the troubled Jefferson Twp. plant formerly known as Perma-Fix of Dayton, leading the Regional Air Pollution Control Agency to slap current owner Clean Water Ltd.

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Huber Heights superintendent to retire after 7 years
04/11/2012

HUBER HEIGHTS - Huber Heights City Schools Superintendent William Kirby, who has been with the district for seven years, will retire July 31.

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Couple faces charges in ?hit-skip with police cruiser
04/11/2012

NEW MIAMI - Charges have been filed against a man and woman involved in a hit-skip crash that injured a New Miami officer Tuesday morning, police said.

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Rockway School locks doors after threat
04/11/2012

SPRINGFIELD TWP. - Rockway School continues to operate with heightened precautions such as a temporary door buzzer today, following a domestic threat against a staff member, said Clark-Shawnee Local Schools Superintendent Gregg Morris.

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WSU gets $3.5M from state to create high-paying research jobs
04/11/2012

BEAVERCREEK - A consortium of the Wright State Research Institute and area companies will create 50 full-time jobs with an average wage of about $90,000 a year to work with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to study human performance.

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City loses out on natural gas facility
04/11/2012

More than $2 million in federal stimulus money designated to build a natural gas vehicle fueling station in Dayton and two other cities along Interstate 75 instead will be used to build the stations in or near Cleveland.

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Residents testify in bus-stop bias case
04/11/2012

Miami Valley residents on Monday told a federal investigator why a decision by Beavercreek City Council barring three bus stops near the Mall at Fairfield Commons is discriminatory and is preventing them access to jobs, educational opportunities, medical care and amenities enjoyed by others.

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Inappropriate behavior leads to fraternity closure
04/11/2012

OXFORD - A repeated pattern of inappropriate behavior involving hazing and alcohol has led to the closing of a fraternity house that was founded 156 years ago at Miami University.

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Group offers land to save Julienne school
04/11/2012

DAYTON - Opponents of the planned demolition of the former Julienne High School have made yet another offer to Dayton Public Schools; this time to swap land for the historic site.

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Cleveland NOW Chapter to Hold May 2 Meeting at Birth Control Museum
04/10/2012

Talk about a way to stick it to the right. Look at this:

http://www.facebook.com/events/261817177245498/

"NOW of Greater Cleveland chapter meeting (at the Birth Control Museum!!)
Wednesday, May 2 at 5:00pm at Allen Memorial Medical Library"

I'll bet you didn't know there was a Birth Control Museum at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Yup, there is:

http://www.case.edu/affil/skuyhistcontraception/index.html

Sssh ... dont tell any Republicans. Their heads might explode to learn that women have always looked for methods to prevent or end unwanted pregnancies, and that's not going to stop just because the GOP wants to turn the clock back multiple centuries.

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Attorney General Approves Marriage Equality Summary Language
04/10/2012

We got word yesterday afternoon that attorney general Mike DeWine approved the summary ballot language for a marriage equality amendment that would repeal the "Defense of [Straight] Marriage" Amendment passed in 2004 and give any two consenting adults the right to marry. It also guarantees religious groups the right not to perform or recognize any marriage that goes against their beliefs, stripping opponents of one of their biggest arguments, theoretically anyway (Unfortunately, these days, conservatives will baldly lie to gain advantage). Although DeWine had two weeks to approve or disapprove the language on this second go-around— he disapproved the first time and the amendment's promoters, FreedomOhio, rewrote it — it took him barely over a week.

Now the amendment goes to the ballot board, which has another two weeks to decide if the provisions are a single initiative or should be split up, according to FreedomOhio spokesman Dennis Willard. After that the 1,400 volunteers who have already signed up to participate will receive petitions to begin collecting the 385,274 signatures needed to get on the ballot.

"Since we're aiming for 2013, we're not too concerned," says Willard. "We're going to set up places where people can go to sign so they don't have to search around for a petition."

Former Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy, who was recently narrowly defeated in a primary bid to return to congress from Columbus' new 3rd district, will be leading the effort as CEO of FreedomOhio.

You can follow the news, sign up to volunteer, or make a donation here:

https://freedomohio.com/

Here's the text of the amendment:

The Freedom to Marry and Religious Freedom Amendment

Summary

This amendment would repeal and replace Section 11, Article XV of the Constitution to:
1. Allow two consenting adults freedom to enter into a marriage regardless of gender;
2. Give religious institutions freedom to determine whom to marry;

read more

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Forum This Thursday on Fighting Back in the War on Women
04/10/2012

I threw this idea out to my Democratic Club back in February, back before Susan G. Komen for the Cure decided to destroy itself by taking marching orders from a right-wing VP and some Catholic bishops, back before Darrell Issa had his all-male panel on contraception, back before Rush Limbaugh went crazy on a young law student for daring to speak out on the subject. The War on Women was heating up, and I thought we should bring in some people on the front lines to talk to us about what's going on and what we can do about it.

So all of you are invited this Thursday April 12, at 7 p.m. to the Cleveland Heights Community Center at Mayfield and Superior for "The War on Women: How Did It Start? It's sponsored by the Cleveland Heights Democratic Club and the Cuyahoga County Democratic Women's Caucus.

It's free and open to all. You don't have to be from Cleveland Heights, you don't have to be a registered Democrat, you don't have to be a woman. You just have to be pissed off that so many right wingers have decided that women don't deserve the "freedom" and "liberty" they are always flapping their jaws about and want to do something about it.

We've got a great lineup of speakers, including:

State representative Nickie Antonio, who serves on the health committee, which hears the abortion bills before they move to the full House. (Hopefully she won't be stuck in Columbus trying to hold back another assault on the good people of this state by the minions of the governor).

Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio.

Gary Dougherty, state legislative director of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Ohio.

These activists for women’s rights will share stories from the front lines on what has been going on at both the state and federal level, who’s behind the attempts to limit women’s choices, and what’s being done to push back. They will answer questions about how you can get involved.

read more

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Your State Treasury in Capable, Experienced Hands ... um, NOT.
04/10/2012

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/05/josh-mandel-top-aide-beginners-...

As stories coming out this week made clear, Josh "The Empty Suit" Mandel stocked responsible positions in his office with young, green cronies who worked in his campaign for state treasurer (after running a campaign criticizing former treasurer Kevin Boyce for doing this, including the memorable ad about doing his hiring "at the mosque," a shameful low for a state campaign.)

Among Mandel's hires was 26-year-old Joe Aquilino, the political director of Mandel's 2010 campaign, tapped to be the debt management director of the office, charged with issuing bonds and working with underwriters.

According to Huffington Post, last year, Mandel dispatched Aquilino to a seminar for beginners, people inexperienced in municipal bond law — you know, the guy working about six rungs UNDER the director.

Municipal bond expert Wilson White told HuffPo,

Just let me say to be a director of finance of a major state at 26 in highly unusual. I know of no parallel example that I’ve come across in all my 60 years of municipal bond experience. I just find it hard to believe."

Mr. White, meet Josh "The Empty Suit" Mandel. We Ohioans are finding it hard to believe just how incompetent a treasurer he is. White suggested that anyone holding the position Aquilino is should have a minimum of several years' experience in municipal bond markets.

"I say this as general rule rather than an accusation because I don’t know this guy; he may be the Einstein of bonds, but I find that extremely hard if not impossible to believe," White said. "I was brought up in bonds. I was jammed with bond knowledge by the age of 26, but I can’t imagine myself accepting such a position."

read more

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Ballot Board Gives Marriage Equality Amendment the Green Light
04/10/2012

Tuesday attorney general Mike DeWine approved the summary ballot language for the marriage equality amendment petition drive to repeal the "Defense of Marriage" Amendment and guarantee any two adults the tight to marry. The language then went to the state Ballot Board for approval and they had two weeks to give their thumb up or down, according to Freedom to Marry spokesman Dennis Willard.

The Ballot Board wasted no time. The language has been approved, and it's full-steam ahead:

The Freedom To Marry movement will gear up to hit the streets, clipboards and petitions in hand, to start collecting signatures after the Ohio Ballot Board approved language today to end marriage discrimination in Ohio.

"Now that the ballot language has been approved, we are moving forward to gather the signatures to place the issue on the ballot so that all loving couples in Ohio who want to take wedding vows and share their lives and love will be have their marriage recognized under our laws, while respecting the freedom of churches to perform or recognize the marriages,’ said Mary Jo Kilroy, FreedomOhio CEO.

FreedomOhio will prepare the petition for circulation across Ohio by involving more than 1,500 volunteers. To be on the ballot, the movement will need 385,245 valid signatures.

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And Kevin DeWine goes ....
04/10/2012

http://www.examiner.com/government-in-columbus/ohio-gop-party-leader-dew...

Bully Kasich "wins," if you want to call it that. It doesn't strike me that this is much of a win for anyone but the Democrats, just as many are declaring the winner of the Republican presidential primaries to be President Obama.

This is particular doesn't seem like good news for the Ohio GOP:

DeWine's successor, which rumor has it could be Robert Bennett, now 73 years old, who served as party chairman since 1988 and who paved the way for DeWine to succeed him in 2009, appears ready, at least on an interim basis, to again take the reigns of the party in a year when Ohio again plays a pivotal role in determining whether President Obama wins a second term or whether he's unseated by the eventual GOP standard bearer.

Or maybe Kasich will appoint one of his lobbyist cronies. We'll see. It doesn't seem likely that DeWine's resignation is going to mend the split in the Ohio Republican Party.

Meanwhile, Chris Redfern comments:

Chris Redfern, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, tonight called DeWine “a worthy political adversary” and a friend, adding: “Kevin just got run over by a bus, and I know who was driving — John Kasich.”

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/04/04/Ohio-GOP-chief-...

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Chris Redfern Must Stay
04/10/2012

The great thing about Ohio Daily Blog is that we can disagree here, as long as no one endorses a Republican. I respect Derek's opinion, and from time to time, I have felt frustration with Ohio Democratic Party chairman Chris Redfern too.

Certainly the election results in 2010 were disappointing and destructive — and unnecessarily so. But it's hard to place the blame entirely, or even mostly, on Redfern. The most critical mistakes were made by former Governor Ted Strickland. He helped create a needlessly divisive U.S. Senate primary by allowing his operatives to work against one candidate and create an unlevel playing field (Redfern in fact helped head off Lee Fisher's request for a state party endorsement of a candidate, which would have been even more divisive). And he supported his friend Jennifer Garrison for a spot on the statewide ticket over the protests of both women and the LGBT community who didn't think an anti-mrriage-equality, anti-choice candidate fairly represented the Democratic Party.

I don't agree that Redfern hasn't been visible and aggressive in hitting back at Republicans. One of the things I like about him is his refusal to be apologetic when the Republicans are pretending to have a fainting spell over something the Democrats did. I find it a stretch to blame him for the Bob Mecklenborg coverup, or to find anything to fault in his trivial tweets (Twitter is by its nature trivial).

The reality is that Redfern has built a strong and active Ohio Democratic Party. Yes, there have been a few high-up hiring misfires. And they haven't ALWAYS been as rapid in their response as we might like — but then we Democrats are always wringing our hands and wailing about that.

Anthony Giardini, formerly chairman of the Lorain City Party, and elected to head the Lorain County Party just last week, has announced he will challenge Redfern for the position of state chair.

read more

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Clark and Montgomery are among unhealthiest counties in Ohio
04/04/2012

Clark and Montgomery counties rank among the unhealthiest in Ohio outside Appalachia, while counties such as Butler and Miami moved up several spots, according to a County Health Rankings report released today.

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Aero Club makes pitch for survival
04/04/2012

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE - Members of the Wright-Patterson Aero Club, battling the base’s proposal to shut down the flying group, made a pitch to base officials Monday in an effort to save the 58-year-old organization.

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Englewood lottery ticket wins $250,000
04/04/2012

ENGLEWOOD - A Mega Millions ticket sold at an area Kroger was among 10 tickets sold in Ohio that were one number shy of splitting the record $640 million jackpot, according to lottery officials.

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