The vote to send the budget to a conference committee to work out the differences between the House and Senate versions got a bit political. The members of the conference committee have been named and will soon start discussing their work. The Ohio Supreme Court will decide whether benefits such as a company car offered to a parent should count when it comes to calculating child support. Former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann can again practice law in Ohio after complying with a six-month suspension order from the Ohio Supreme Court. A group has formed to oppose a new law that would ban storefront sweepstakes parlors known as internet cafes.
A billion dollars is on its way back to Ohio employers from the state’s Bureau of Workers Compensation. But hundreds of thousands of Ohio businesses say the "Billion Back" program doesn’t change the fact that they are owed money by the BWC because of a lawsuit filed in 2011. Brian Wright speaks for Pay Us Back Ohio BWC.
Ohio has an opium problem, and that’s not news. The Ohio Department of Health says the numbers of people who died of overdoses soared 440 percent from 1999 to 2011, and 1765 Ohioans died of overdoses in 2011 – the equivalent of five deaths a day. But there’s bipartisan support for a bill that hopes to put a halt to those deaths, sponsored by Rep. Terry Johnson (R-McDermott) and Rep. Michael Stinziano (D-Columbus).
Ohio’s economy grew slightly last year – for the third year in a row. But there are still many Ohioans who are struggling every day. This week, the second part of a conversation with two people who see every day how the poorest Ohioans are living. Lisa Hamler Fugitt is the executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, and Jack Frech is the director of Athens County Job and Family Services.