5 Comments · Wednesday, October 24, 2012
We at CityBeat take election endorsements seriously, and
you should too! Our writers spent considerable time researching 2012’s
candidates and issues and what each means to the future of Cincinnati
and America. (We also figured out what the Hamilton County coroner does
besides chopping up bodies...) This is the first half of our
endorsements — the entire collection will be available in our Election
Issue Oct. 31. Read ’em and weep, voter suppressionists!
by German Lopez
In-person early voting is underway in Ohio. Find your nearest polling booth here.Issue 2 is getting outraised quite badly. Protect Your Vote
Ohio, the group opposing Issue 2, has raised $6.9 million, while Voters
First Ohio, the group supporting Issue 2, has raised $3.6 million since July. If
Issue 2 is approved by voters, it will put an independent citizens
commission in charge of the redistricting process. Currently, the
process is handled by elected officials, who have used the process in
politically advantageous ways. Republicans redrew the First
Congressional District, Cincinnati's district, to include Warren
County. The move put more emphasis on rural and suburban voters, which
tend to side with Republicans, and less on urbanites, which tend to side
Not only will Ohio play a pivotal role in the presidential
election, but RealClearPolitics, a website that aggregates polling,
says Hamilton County is among two Ohio counties that will play the
biggest role. In light of that, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will be in town
this week. Obama will visit Oct. 31, and Romney will be here Nov. 2.
Currently, Obama leads in Ohio by 2.1 points, while Romney leads nationally by 0.9 points.
A partnership between the University of Cincinnati and
U.S. State Department is going to Iraq. For the third year, UC will be
working with Salahaddin University in Iraq to help
redesign the Iraqi school’s curriculum and establish a career center.
The Ohio Board of Regents and Ohio Department of Education (ODE) may merge soon, says Board of Regent Chancellor Jim Petro. The Board of Regents is already moving to ODE's building later this year. Petro said
the building move will allow the Board of Regents, which focuses on higher
education, to cooperate more with ODE, which
focuses on elementary, middle and high school.
The Ohio legislature could be getting a big ethics
overhaul in the coming weeks. Specifics weren’t offered, but Senate
President Tom Niehaus said disclosure and transparency will be
Cincinnati’s United Way beat its fundraising goal of $61 million in 2012. The goal was originally seen as “a stretch.”
The nationwide meningitis outbreak is forcing some Ohio
officials to take a look at the state’s compounding pharmacies.
Compounding is when pharmacists make custom preparations for patients
under special circumstances. The Ohio State Board of Pharmacy has
already taken action against the New England Compounding Center, whose
compound was connected with starting the meningitis outbreak.
The FBI will join an investigation into fraudulent
attendance data reporting in Ohio schools. Previously, state Auditor
Dave Yost found five school districts were scrubbing data in his first
interim report, but a second interim report cleared every other district
checked so far, including Cincinnati Public Schools.
Romney is getting a bit of attention for offensive
remarks about the LGBT community he made when he was governor. On gay parents, Romney said: "Some
gays are actually having children born to them. ... It's not right on paper.
It's not right in fact. Every child has a right to a mother and
0 Comments · Wednesday, October 24, 2012
A Cincinnati outdoor advertising company
announced Oct. 23 that it will take down controversial billboards that
opponents claim are aimed at intimidating voters.
by German Lopez
In-person early voting is underway in Ohio. Find your nearest polling booth here.
Ohio’s unemployment rate dropped to 7.0 percent in
September despite employers cutting 12,800 jobs. The rate is much
lower than September's national unemployment rate of 7.8 percent.
Ohio actually lost jobs in manufacturing, construction, education,
health services, government and other sectors, with some gains in
professional and business services, information services and trade,
transportation and utilities. The new rate is a big improvement from the
8.6 percent unemployment rate in September 2011. This is the last state
unemployment rate Ohioans will see before the Nov. 6 election.
The second debate for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat took place last night. As
usual, Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown and Republican challenger Josh
Mandel held back no punches. Each candidate mostly focused on attacking
his opponent’s integrity and record, but the men also discussed a
multitude of issues — the economy, China, Obamacare, foreign policy, gay
rights and more. Check out CityBeat’s in-depth coverage of the debate and the policy proposals espoused by the candidates here.
The final presidential debate between President Barack
Obama and Mitt Romney will take place next Monday. The debate will cover foreign
policy. Presumably, the debate will focus a lot on Iran, but Foreign Policy
has an article focusing on five bigger threats to U.S. national
security. Although the debate could be important for substance,
political scientists say debates typically have little-to-no electoral
impact. In aggregate polling, Obama is up 2.4 points in Ohio
and Romney is up one point nationally. Ohio is considered a must-win for Romney, and it could play the role of 2000's Florida.
To make the debate more fun, CityBeat will host a party at MOTR Pub in Over-the-Rhine Monday. Come join the CityBeat
team to watch the debate and live tweet. Councilman Chris Seelbach will
also show up and talk for a bit. If you can’t show up, feel free to
tweet about the debate at home with the hashtag #cbdebate. For more
information, check out the event’s Facebook page.
Ohio Senate Democrats are demanding an investigation into a
voter fraud group. The Democrats say True the Vote (TTV), a
conservative group, is unnecessarily intimidating voters. TTV claims
it’s just fighting voter impersonation fraud, but the reality is that
kind of voter fraud doesn’t seem to exist. A study from the Government
Accountability Office found zero cases of voter impersonation fraud in
the past 10 years. Another study from News21 found 10 cases since 2000,
or less than one case a year.
Meanwhile, a local group is trying to encourage Muslim voters to get educated and vote.
The Cincinnati Police Department is trying to improve
relations with the LGBT community. As part of that effort, the city
hosted a LGBT public safety forum and named the first LGBT liaison
A federal appeals court struck down the federal Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA), which forbids the recognition of same-sex marriage
at a federal level. The ruling was praised by Ian James, spokesperson
for FreedomOhio, in a statement: “The federal DOMA forbids allowing
governmental recognition of civil marriage. The demise of the federal
DOMA will not resolve Ohio’s ban on marriage equality. For this reason,
we will soldier on, collect our petition signatures and win the right
for committed and loving couples to be married so they can better care
for and protect their families. That is ultimately why marriage matters
and we look to have this issue on the ballot as soon as November 2013.”
With a week left, the United Way of Greater Cincinnati
fundraising campaign has only met 70 percent of its goal. The campaign
acknowledges it’s been a tough year, but campaign chairman David Joyce
says he has been “heartened” by support.
The University of Cincinnati is committing to giving
Cintrifuse $5 million initially and $5 million at a later point.
Cintrifuse is a “startup accelerator,” meaning a company devoted to
helping startup businesses get started.
Ohio health officials urge caution as they monitor a meningitis outbreak.
Ohio’s heating assistance program for low-income
households is starting on Nov. 1. Qualifying for the program is
dependent on income and the size of the household. For example,
one-person households making $5,585 or less in the past three months or
$22,340 or less in the past 12 months are eligible, while four-person
households must be making $11,525 or less in the past three months or
$46,100 or less in the past 12 months. For more information, check out
the press release.
Kentucky is pitching into development at the Purple People
Bridge. The state is boosting a $100 million hotel and entertainment
project on the bridge with a $650,000 grant.
The Boy Scouts’ “perversion files” were released, and some of the sexual molestation cases involve Cincinnati.Science finally has a breakthrough to care about. Scientists invented a strip that ensures pizza and coffee won't burn a person's mouth.
by German Lopez
U.S. Senate candidates engage in second round of attacks
For a full hour Thursday night, Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown and
Republican challenger Josh Mandel continued their feisty fight for Ohio’s U.S.
Senate seat. For the most part, the debate centered on the candidates’
records and personal attacks, with policy specifics spewing out in between.
Apparently, the barrage of attacks is not what the
candidates had in mind before the debate started. Throughout the debate, both
candidates asked for substance, not attacks. At one point, Brown said, “I
appreciate this clash of ideas. That’s what this debate should be about.” At another
point, Mandel said, “We need less attacking, and we need more policy ideas to
put people back to work.”
These comments came well into the debate. By that time, Mandel
had criticized Brown for “Washington speak” so many times that an
exasperated Brown quipped, “I don’t get this. Every answer is about Washington
Brown also launched his own attacks, which focused on
Mandel’s dishonesty on the campaign trail, which previously earned Mandel a “Pants
on Fire” crown from Cleveland’s The Plain
Dealer, and Mandel, who is also Ohio’s treasurer, missing state treasurer
meetings to run for political office.
But Ohioans have seen enough of the attacks in the hundreds
of campaign ads that have bombarded the state in the past year. Voters probably
want to hear more about how each candidate will affect them, and the candidates
gave enough details to get some idea of where each of them will go.
On economic issues, Brown established the key difference
between the two candidates’ economic policies: Mandel, like most of his
Republican colleagues, believes in the trickle-down theory. The economic theory
says when the rich grow, they can create jobs by hiring more employees and
expanding businesses. In other words, proponents of the theory believe the
success of the rich “trickles down” to the middle class and poor through more
job opportunities. Belief in this theory is also why most Republicans call the
wealthy “job creators.” Under the trickle-down theory, the wealthy are
deregulated and get tax cuts so it’s easier for them to create jobs.
On the other hand, Brown says he supports a middle-out
approach, which focuses on policies that target the middle class. That is how
sustainable employment and growth are attained, according to Brown. Under the
middle-out approach, tax cuts and spending policies target the middle class,
and the wealthy own a higher tax burden to support government programs.
Some economists, like left-leaning Nobel laureate Paul
Krugman, say the trickle-down theory should have been put to rest with the
financial crisis of 2008. After all, deregulation is now credited with being
the primary cause of 2008’s economic crisis. In that context, more deregulation
seems like a bad idea.
Still, Brown’s contrast to Mandel holds true. Brown has
repeatedly called for higher taxes on the rich. In the debate, he touted his
support for the auto bailout and once again mocked Mandel’s promise to not
raise any taxes. These are policies that do end up benefiting the middle class
more than the wealthy. The auto bailout in particular has been credited with
saving thousands of middle-class jobs.
On the other side, Mandel told debate watchers to go to
his website and then offered some quick talking points: simplify the tax code,
end Wall Street bailouts and use Ohio’s natural gas and oil resources “in a
responsible way.” How Mandel wants to simplify the tax code is the issue. On
his website, Mandel says he supports “a flatter, fairer income tax with only
one or two brackets, eliminating almost all of the credits, exemptions and
loopholes.” A study by five leading economists suggests a flat tax model would
greatly benefit the wealthy and actually hurt the well-being of the middle class
and poor. That matches with the trickle-down economic theory.
Another suggestion on Mandel’s website says, “Help job creators. Reduce
capital gains and corporate taxes, and allow for a small business income
deduction.” The small business portion would help some in the middle class, but
an analysis from The Washington Post
found 80 percent of capital gains incomes benefit 5 percent of Americans and
half of all capital gains have gone to the top 0.1 percent of Americans. So a
capital gains tax cut would, again, match the trickle-down economic theory.
What all this means is on economic issues the choice of
candidates depends mostly on what economic theory a voter believes. Brown
believes in focusing economic policies that target the middle class, while
Mandel mostly supports policies that generally support what he calls “job
creators” — or the wealthy.
On partisanship, both sides once again threw out
different ideas. Although he was asked for three ideas, Brown only gave one:
fix the filibuster. The filibuster is a U.S. Senate procedure that allows 41
out of 100 senators to indefinitely halt any laws. The only way to break the
filibuster is by having a supermajority of 60 senators — a rarity in American
politics. Brown said if this rule was removed, a lot more could get done in
Mandel had different ideas for stopping partisan gridlock
in Washington, D.C. He touted his support for No Budget, No Pay, which would require
members of Congress to pass a budget in order to get paid. He also expressed
his support for term limits, saying lifelong politicians only add to the partisanship
in Congress. Then, in a strange twist, Mandel’s last suggestion was to stop
bailouts, which has nothing to do with partisanship or gridlock in Congress.
Then came Obamacare. Brown said he was “proud” of his
vote and continued supporting the law, citing the millions of Americans it will
insure. Meanwhile, Mandel responded to the Obamacare question by saying, “The
federal government takeover of health care is not the answer.”
The fact of the matter is Obamacare is not a “government
takeover of health care.” Far from it. The plan doesn’t even have a public
option that would allow Americans to buy into a public, nonprofit insurance
pool — an idea that actually has majority support in the U.S. Instead,
Obamacare is a series of complicated reforms to the health insurance industry.
There are way too many reforms to list, but the most basic
effect of Obamacare is that more people will be insured. That’s right, in the
supposed “government takeover of health care,” insurance companies actually gain
more customers. That’s the whole point of the individual mandate and the many
subsidies in Obamacare that try to make insurance affordable for all Americans.
Mandel made another misleading claim when he said Obamacare
“stole” from Medicare, with the implication that the cuts hurt seniors
utilizing the program. It is true Obamacare cuts Medicare spending, but the
cuts target waste and payments to hospitals and insurers. It does not directly
The one area with little disagreement also happened to be
the one area with the most misleading: China. It’s not a new trend
for politicians to attack China. The Asian country has become the scapegoat for
all economic problems in the U.S. But in this election cycle, politicians have
brandished a new line to attack China: currency manipulation. This, as Ohioans
have likely heard dozens of times, is why jobs are leaving Ohio and why the amount of
manufacturing jobs has dropped in the U.S. In fact, if politicians are taken
at their word, it’s probably the entire reason the U.S. economy is in a bad
In the Brown-Mandel debate, Brown repeatedly pointed to
his currency manipulation bill, which he claims would put an end to Chinese
currency manipulation. Mandel also made references to getting tough on China’s
One problem: China is no longer manipulating its currency.
There is no doubt China greatly massaged its currency in the past to gain an
unfair advantage, but those days are over, says Joseph Gagnon, an economist
focused on trade and currency manipulation. Gagnon argues the problem with
currency manipulation is no longer a problem with China; it’s a problem with
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia.
If the U.S. wants to crack down on currency manipulation, those countries
should be the targets, not China, he argues.
In other words, if currency manipulation is a problem,
Mandel was right when he said that countries other than China need to be targeted. To Brown’s credit, his currency manipulation bill targets any country engaging in currency manipulation, not just China. The problem
seems to be the misleading campaign rhetoric, not proposed policy.
The debate went on to cover many more issues. Just like
the first debate, Brown typically took the liberal position and Mandel
typically took the conservative position on social issues like gay rights and
abortion. Both touted vague support for small businesses. Each candidate
claimed to support military bases in Ohio, although Mandel specified he wants
bases in Europe closed down to save money. As far as debates go, the contrast
could not be any clearer, and the candidates disagreed on nearly every issue.
The final debate between the two U.S. Senate candidates
will take place in Cincinnati on Oct. 25.
1 Comment · Wednesday, October 17, 2012
As Mitt Romney rose in the polls against
President Barack Obama following the first presidential debate, the
media quickly grabbed onto a new narrative: the Romney comeback.
by German Lopez
U.S. Senate candidates argue over records, economy, social policy
In the first of three debates for Ohio’s seat in the U.S.
Senate, Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown and Republican challenger Josh
Mandel agreed on little and clashed on a lot. Each candidate mostly focused on the opposing candidate's record, but the debate today did move to substantial differences in policy at some
points.The debate started with opening statements from a
noticeably feisty Brown, who criticized Mandel for calling his vote for the
auto bailout “un-American.” On the other side of the aisle, Mandel began his
opening statement with a joke about shaving before he turns 36. The joke was
the last time either of the men spoke with a light heart.
The candidates blasted each other mostly for their
records. Mandel touted Ohio's and the nation’s higher unemployment rate since Brown
took office in 2006, energy prices and the U.S. debt. He also said the Senate had
not passed a budget in three years, although Congress has actually passed
budget resolutions in that time.
Brown fired back with claims Mandel had filled the state treasurer’s office
with cronies. He also criticized Mandel for running for four different
political offices in seven years. In his closing statement, Brown said Mandel
is “too concerned about running for his next job” to be trusted.
On substance, Brown and Mandel criticized just about
everything about each other. Brown claimed Mandel signed away his “right to
think” by agreeing to lobbyist Grover Norquist’s pledge to not raise taxes
while in office. He said the pledge makes it so if Mandel does take office, he’ll
never be able to close tax loopholes for big corporations.
Mandel defended the pledge by saying, “I’m proud to stand
for lower taxes in our state and lower taxes in our country.” He added, “I will
do everything I can to advocate for lower taxes across the board for the middle
class and job creators as well.”
The term “job creators” is typically used in politics to reference wealthy Americans, who Republicans claim create jobs through the theory
of trickle-down economics. The economic theory states that wealthy Americans
will hire more lower-class Americans if they have more money and freedom, essentially
creating a trickle-down effect on wealth from the rich to the poor. Although
Republicans still tout the theory, some economists, including Nobel Prize
winner Paul Krugman, say the financial crisis of 2008 and the deregulation that
led to it prove trickle-down economics do not work.
The candidates also debated their positions on the
auto bailout. Mandel said he would not
have voted for the auto bailout if he was in the Senate in 2009. In his defense, he cited the experience of Delphi workers, who lost part of their pensions as part of the deal auto companies made with workers after the federal bailout. Mandel then said, “I’m
not a bailout senator. He’s the bailout senator.”
Brown responded by saying, “These are real jobs and real
people.” He then cited examples of people helped by the growing auto industry.
Brown’s arguments are backed by economic data, which has repeatedly credited
the growing auto industry for the nation’s growing economy. In the first
quarter of 2012, the auto industry was credited for half of the nation’s
When he was asked about higher education, Brown established the key
difference between the candidates in terms of economic policy. Brown said his policies in favor of government investment in higher
education are about supporting the middle class to create growth that
starts in the middle and spreads out, while Mandel supports tax cuts that emphasize a
trickle-down approach. Mandel did not deny the claims, and instead blamed Brown’s
policies for the high unemployment rate and debt issues.
The men continued to show similar contrasts on the
budget, taxes and economy throughout the entire debate, but there seemed to be
some common ground regarding energy independence. When the topic came to hydraulic fracturing —
or “fracking” — Brown said becoming energy independent would have to involve
all possible energy sources. In substance, Mandel agreed, although he also
praised fracking regulations recently passed by the Ohio legislature and Gov.
As far as energy issues go, the agreement stopped there.
When Brown was asked about President Barack Obama's alleged “war on coal,” Brown said there was no war
on coal and claimed there are more coal jobs and coal produced in
Ohio than there were five years ago. Mandel disagreed and claimed there is a war on coal. He added if
Obama is the general in the war on coal, Brown is Obama's “lieutenant.” Brown previously supported federal regulations on mercury that some in the coal industry, including the Ohio Coal Association, claim will force coal-fired power plants to shut down. The regulations go into effect in 2015.
On abortion, Mandel proudly claimed he was
pro-life, while Brown said, “Unlike Josh Mandel, I trust Ohio women to make
their own health care decisions.” Brown also criticized Mandel for not
establishing exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother in his anti-abortion stance.
Many more issues, from term limits to Middle Eastern
culture, were covered in the debate. The candidates drew sharp contrasts in all
these areas with Brown typically holding the liberal position and Mandel
typically holding the conservative position. But despite the feisty language
and deep policy contrasts, when the debate ended, the candidates smiled, shook
hands and patted each other on the back. They will meet again in Columbus on
Thursday and Cincinnati on Oct. 25.
by German Lopez
In-person early voting is underway in Ohio. Find your nearest polling booth here.
The vice presidential debate between Democratic Vice
President Joe Biden and Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan took place last night.
The general consensus among pundits is the debate was a draw, with perhaps Biden edging out ahead.
Regardless of who won, political scientists say debates have
little-to-no electoral impact in the long term, especially vice
Mitt Romney made a bit of a flub yesterday. He told The Columbus Dispatch,
“We don’t have a setting across this country where if you don’t have
insurance, we just say to you, ‘Tough luck, you’re going to die when you
have your heart attack.’” However, that’s not completely accurate.
Research shows the uninsured are a lot more likely to die from a heart
attack, mostly because they get substantially less preventive health
PolitiFact Ohio says Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted is
wrong about Issue 2. Specifically, Husted said if a member of the
independent commission was bribed, the member could not be kicked out of
office. PolitiFact says the claim is false because methods for removing
unelected officials from office exist outside of the redistricting
amendment. If Issue 2 passed, redistricting would be handled by an
independent citizens commission. Currently, elected officials redraw
district boundaries, but they often use the process for political
advantage. The Republican majority redrew the First Congressional
District, which includes Cincinnati, to include Warren County, giving
Republicans an advantage by giving them more rural voters that are more
likely to vote for them.
But Husted did have some good news yesterday. A federal
appeals court judge upheld a decision requiring election officials to
count provisional ballots that were brought about due to poll worker
mistakes. Husted didn’t much care for that part of the ruling. However,
the judge also said a legal signature must be required on every provisional ballot,
overturning that part of the previous decision. A very small win, but
Husted seemed happy in a statement: “I am extremely pleased that the Court of Appeals
agreed with me that we must have a valid, legal signature on all
The mayor and Cincinnati Public Schools announced a new
joint effort that won a $40,000 grant yesterday. The effort will go to
50 tutors, who will help 100 students meet the state’s new Third Grade
Reading Guarantee.However, a loophole in the Third Grade Reading Guarantee may allow third-graders to skip tests to move onto the fourth grade.
Out of 12 similar regions, Cincinnati ranks No. 10 on 15
indicators including jobs, cost of living and population. Cincinnati did
fairly well in terms of just jobs, though; the city was No. 6 in that
category. The ranks come from Vision 2015 and Agenda 360.
With the support of Gov. John Kasich, Ohio is trying to do
more with university research. The theme of the push is to build
stronger links between universities and the private sector to boost
stronger, entrepreneurial research.
Josh Mandel, state treasurer and Ohio’s Republican
candidate for the U.S. Senate, is in trouble again for not answering
questions. A testy exchange on live radio started when Ron Ponder, the
host, asked Mandel about potential cronyism in the treasurer’s office,
and Mandel replied by implying Ponder is with the Brown campaign. Ponder
got so fed up he eventually ended the exchange by saying, “Hang up on
this dude, man.”Does eating more chocolate earn a nation more Nobel prizes? Science says no. I say yes.
by German Lopez
In-person early voting is underway in Ohio. Find your nearest polling booth here.
The vice presidential debate is tonight. The debate will
be between Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan. After the last
debate, some pundits are saying Biden needs to win this one to slow down
the Romney-Ryan momentum. But keep in mind political scientists say
debates have little to no electoral impact in the long term, so it’s
possible most of the post-debate polling in favor of Mitt Romney could
indicate a temporary bounce. The debate is at 9 p.m. and will be aired on all the big networks. The full schedule of presidential debates can be found here.
Romney might campaign in Lebanon, Ohio this weekend. Ohio
is considered a must-win for the Republican presidential candidate. Even
with a post-debate bounce, Romney still looks to be the underdog in
Ohio. The latest poll from NBC, Wall Street Journal and Marist shows
Romney down six points to Obama among likely voters in the state with a
margin of error of 3.1. The poll does show the race tightening from the
eight-point gap measured on Oct. 3, but it’s apparently not enough. By
itself, the poll could be considered an outlier and too optimistic for
Obama, but it actually echoes the latest CNN poll and aggregate polling
taken after the debate. In aggregate polling, Romney is down 1.6 points
in Ohio after the NBC/WSJ/Marist poll. Before the latest poll, he was
down 0.8 points.
A new poll shows a slim majority of Ohioans now support
same-sex marriage. The poll found 52 percent of Ohioans support it,
while 37 percent want it to stay illegal. The poll gives a shot of
optimism to Freedom to Marry Ohio, an amendment that would legalize
same-sex marriage in the state. Supporters say the amendment could be on
the Ohio ballot as soon as November 2013.
State Auditor Dave Yost wants to put the attendance fraud
investigation in context. When talking with Gongwer yesterday, Yost
explained that the potential data rigging going could have cost schools additional funding for at-risk students: “I suspect we
probably have schools in Ohio that ought to be getting that extra money
for those extra services to help those schools that are most at risk,
and that money is not flowing because the data is not accurate.”
Will county budget cuts hurt public safety? As the county
commissioners try to sort out the budget without raising taxes, Hamilton County’s sheriff
department could see some cuts, according to Commissioner Greg Hartmann. He insists the cuts will not hurt public safety, however.
An Oct. 1 analysis by left-leaning Policy Matters Ohio
found the casino tax will not be enough to make up for cuts in state
aid. Even in cities hosting casinos, the extra tax revenue will only
cover about half of cuts.
Only a few weeks remain in Hamilton County’s free electronics recycling program.
A Nuns on the Bus tour is encouraging voters to support
politicians that provide for the poor. The tour will avoid being
partisan and mentioning candidates' names, but the general vibe of the tour implies
support for Democratic candidates.Josh Mandel, Ohio’s Republican candidate for the U.S.
Senate, has gotten another rating from PolitiFact Ohio. This one is
“Mostly False” for Mandel’s claim that opponent Democratic Sen. Sherrod
Brown has missed more than 350 votes in the Senate. Brown has only
missed 21 out of 1,779 votes since he joined the Senate, and he hasn’t
missed any votes this year. The Mandel campaign claims the ad was
keeping track of Brown’s entire public career, but 83 of the votes Brown
missed in that time period were in 2000, when Brown was in a car accident
in which he broke his ribs and vertebrae.
The NBC/WSJ/Marist poll also had some bad news for Mandel.
He was found to be down 11 points to Brown among likely voters.
Mandel is now down 4.2 points in aggregate polling.
The right-leaning Tax Foundation ranked Ohio No. 39 for
business tax climate. The conservative research group gave Ohio good
marks for unemployment insurance and the corporate tax rate, but it
criticized the state for its individual income tax and property tax. New
York, New Jersey and California were at the bottom of the overall
rankings, and Wyoming, South Dakota and Nevada were at the top.
Jobless claims fell to 339,000 — the lowest in four and a half years.
Coupled with last week’s employment numbers, the news indicates that an
economic recovery is truly underway. However, jobless claims are
very volatile, so it’s uncertain whether the drop will stick.Science has found some stars die in style.
by German Lopez
Appeals court upholds rights to vote on final weekend and Monday before Election Day
A federal appeals court has upheld three extra days of voting for everyone. The ruling by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals today means county boards of election will be allowed to stay open for all voters the weekend and Monday before Election Day. Previously, only military personnel and their families were allowed to vote on those days.UPDATE: Secretary of State Jon Husted said he will make a decision about what to do with the court's ruling after the weekend. It is possible Husted could decide to keep all polling booths closed on the three days. While the court ruling makes it so boards of election can't allow only military voters to vote on the weekend and Monday before Election Day, it does give boards of election the choice to close down on the three days. Husted could decide to open or close all boards of election on the days with uniform policy like he's done in the past. Such policy could eliminate those three voting days for everyone, including military voters.The Republican-controlled state government appealed the original ruling after a federal judge ruled in favor of President Barack Obama's campaign and the Democrats and expanded in-person early voting to include the three extra days. The appeals court's ruling upholds the previous decision.In the past few months, Republicans have insisted early voting should not be expanded further due to racial politics and cost concerns. That prompted Obama and the Democrats to take the state government to court, much to the dismay of local Republicans that voiced concerns about the lawsuit making voting lines too long for military voters.With this appeal, Republicans are now running out of options for blocking expanded in-person early voting. Previously, Husted sent directives to county boards of election to not listen to the initial ruling, but Husted quickly backed down when the federal judge involved in the ruling called him to court.