Just a few days after the selection of State Senate Minority Leader Eric Kearney of Cincinnati as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald’s running mate, there is controversy over unpaid taxes. Speaking of next year’s election, Gov. John Kasich still holds a lead over FitzGerald, but it appears to be shrinking, according to Quinnipiac University pollster Peter Brown. State officials gathered in Lima this week to celebrate the signing of a resolution directed at their colleagues in Washington - a request for a balanced budget amendment.
There is less than a year till the big election of 2014, and there are several proposals moving through the legislature that would change the laws that affect next year’s voters. Last week two key lawmakers working on election-related bills shared their ideas on some of the ones working their way through the legislature. This week, the second part of the conversation between Sen. Bill Coley (R-Cincinnati), the main sponsor of the absentee ballot applications bill and co-sponsor of some other bills, and Sen. Nina Turner (D-Cleveland), a candidate for Secretary of State on next year’s ballot who has criticized those bills.
There was a time when people assumed that inmates kept busy behind bars by making license plates. That’s not the case any more at several Ohio prisons. Some are making license plates – but they’re also making clothing, American and Ohio flags, chairs, beds and outdoor furniture, dentures and eyeglasses, and providing services such as printing, vehicle modification, maintenance and repair, dumpster refurbishing, and construction services. As first covered on this show in September, sometimes they’re doing it to make money, and sometimes it’s just to give back.