State & Regional politics
Ohio shaping up to become battleground in gay marriage debate
Ohio is shaping up to become a possible battleground — this time over gay marriage — after Minnesota became the 12th state to legalize same-sex marriage last week and voters here could face the issue as early as November. But, Ohio is in a much different position than Minnesota and ...
Revived Tea Party may hurt Kasich
The IRS scandal has put the Tea Party back in the news, and Ohio conservatives have been featured prominently in stories about the targeting of groups because of their political affiliations. But an invigorated Tea Party may not be the best news for some Republicans, including Gov. John Kasich, who ...
Christian groups push for preschool vouchers in Ohio
Saying it would promote economic opportunities that lead to stable, traditional families, a group of Ohio pastors and Christian educators on Thursday urged state lawmakers to put more money in pre-kindergarten education. The group, organized by Shepherding the Next Generation, a Washington, D.C., based organization of evangelical pastors and ministry ...
State accuses 14 daycares of fraud, pulls funding
An unprecedented fraud crackdown has led Ohio officials to cut off payments to 14 child care centers since October — including one in Dayton and five in the Cincinnati area — for allegedly charging the taxpayer-funded program for children not in their care. These centers are accused of overbilling the ...
Local governments plan to pay off debts with rebate
Paying down debt tops the list of what local government leaders say they will do with an anticipated windfall in the form of a rebate from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.Butler County public employers are estimated to receive $2.9 million as part of a $1 billion rebate proposed last ...
States urged to lower DUI limit
A federal agency on Tuesday asked states to toughen the standard to declare when someone is legally too drunk to drive. Among a series of recommendations, the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates traffic crashes, said states should reduce the DUI standard from 0.08 blood alcohol content to 0.05. While ...
Board of Elections approves precinct boundary changes
Thousands of Butler County voters will have a new precinct number when they head to the polls in November as a result of boundary changes made by the county board of elections this week.The board approved the changes Monday in West Chester, Liberty, St. Clair, Madison, Wayne and Milford townships, ...
Auditor helping 1,400 small governments save money
Small government bodies such as libraries, planning commissions and tiny villages will save some of their public dollars under a new program that drastically cuts the costs of state-mandated audits.Since the program was launched in December, 11 governments in this region have cut the cost of their audits by an ...
Butler County governments get windfall from bureau of worker’s compensation
Butler County public employers are slated to receive $2.9 million from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation as part of a $1 billion rebate proposed last week by Gov. John Kasich and the agency’s Administrator/CEO Steve Buehrer.Under the proposal, the bureau would return $112.8 million to nearly 3,800 local governments ...
Gee’s $1.9M salary 3rd among U.S. public colleges
Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee was knocked off the top spot on the list of highest paid public university presidents but is well positioned to regain the number one post in the coming year, according to a survey released Sunday by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Gee’s $1.9 ...
IRS admits to targeting tea party groups
The Internal Revenue Service Friday admitted to targeting tea party groups during the 2010 and 2012 elections for extra scrutiny, saying “mistakes were made” in the handling of those organizations’ applications for tax-exempt status.The IRS apology came after complaints from tea party organizations including the Ohio Liberty Council that they ...
Civil lawsuits cost local governments millions
More than 100 lawsuits against city, township and county governments in Butler and Warren counties have resulted in almost $10 million in payouts over the past five years, a Middletown Journal/Hamilton JournalNews analysis of city and court records found.But because the majority of those civil cases were settled by governments’ ...
VIDEO: Speaker Boehner shows reporter how to tie his tie properly
Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., is known on Capitol Hill for his dapper look and perfectly tied neckwear.Recently after an interview with Peter Cook of Bloomberg News, Boehner gave the reporter a lesson in how to tie the perfect knot.“You don’t have a dimple. You’ve got ...
Springboro-Clearcreek fire levy fails
Voters in Springboro and Clearcreek Twp. on Tuesday doused the hopes of supporters of a continuing, additional 4.5 mill levy for fire protection and ambulance service, according to unofficial totals. As the night wore on, the margin of victory narrowed, but election-night totals in Warren and Montgomery counties left no ...
County recorder receives $8K to secure military discharge records
Warren County Recorder Linda Oda is taking steps to secure decades of military discharge records — documents that if lost can jeopardize military benefits, she said.Oda met with the county commissioners Tuesday and received approval for an $8,000 project to digitally store the records. Oda, who told commissioners there are ...
Lawmakers push to overhaul Ohio’s energy standards
A bill will be coming soon to overhaul Ohio’s standards for renewable energy and energy efficiency, according to a state lawmaker leading hearings on the issue. Hearings on Ohio’s 2008 energy law that requires power companies to produce 12.5 percent of their energy from renewable sources such as wind, hydroelectric ...
Kasich proposes $1 billion workers comp refund to businesses, governments
Ohio’s employers would receive $1 billion back from what they’ve paid into Ohio’s insurance system for injured workers, under a proposal announced by Gov. John Kasich on Thursday. The money would be divvied up among 210,000 businesses and governments that pay into Ohio’s worker’s compensation insurance system. The refund would ...
State trying to give away millions to protect Fernald site
The federal government spent $4.4 billion at the Cold War-era Feed Materials Production Center atomic plant to erase decades of pollution, making the environmentally befouled site so clean it’s now a nature preserve. Now the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is trying to keep new pollutants out of the site — ...
Cell phone, laptop, tablet theft could be felony offenses
Ohio lawmakers are considering legislation that would make stealing a cell phone, computer, laptop or tablet a felony offense.Many Ohioans carry laptops, tablets or smart phones that contain banking information, health data, extensive contact lists and other sensitive data that if stolen could wreak havoc in short order.This legislation comes ...
Right-to-work divides GOP
Ohio Senate President Keith Faber struck a blow to members of his own party Wednesday, saying there is not enough GOP support behind legislation to make Ohio the 25th “right-to-work” state. >> Which states have right-to-work laws? After meeting with fellow Republicans Gov. John Kasich and House Speaker Bill Batchelder, ...
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