Ohio’s chief elections officer is asking prosecutors around the state to investigate 17 people who voted in Ohio during the 2012 election. But Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) says this revealed how rare of a problem voter fraud is in Ohio. The state Supreme Court has upheld the development of a 91-turbine wind farm in north-central Ohio, rejecting the opponents' arguments that they were denied due process rights. A state legislative panel has approved the first round of education innovation grants through Ohio's Straight A Fund.
Every year around this time, we start looking back over the last 11 months. This week, we look back at 2013 through Gov. John Kasich's eyes. He held his year-in-review event this time before a friendly crowd - the members of Ohio's Chambers of Commerce, at a hotel in downtown Columbus. The event started with comments from Senate President Keith Faber and House Speaker Bill Batchelder, who introduced Kasich as "the greatest governor in this country". And Faber announced a renewal of the Ohio Public Works program is likely for the fall ballot. Kasich ran down his administration's accomplishments by pointing out his cabinet members and advisers, starting with the CEO of JobsOhio. He talked about Medicaid and payment reform, about tax cuts, and about education. Then he turned to the social safety net, and admitted he’s struggled with how to deal with some of the big issues there. He also made comments on the new severance tax proposal on big oil and natural gas drillers, and about his plan to bring in Limited founder Les Wexner to develop a plan to market Ohio to people who might not know much about the state.
Meanwhile, Democrats - who, like Kasich, are gearing up for next year's bi election - fired off a series of criticisms of the governor's presentation, saying that Ohio’s unemployment rate is worse than the national average for the first time in three years, that the state is 44th in the nation for job creation over the last year, and that cuts to communities and tax breaks that favor the rich have hurt the middle class and stymied Ohio's economic recovery.