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State officials and leaders of Ohio's public colleges and universities agreed Thursday to work together on money-saving ideas.
The state's coffers are expected to come up short by $640 million this budget year. And, without spending changes, a $7-billion deficit is predicted for the two-year budget that begins in July.
Exactly how the impending financial crisis will affect higher education is still unknown.
But Ohio State University President Gordon Gee said the presidents are conscious of Ohioans' concerns about college costs.
"In this environment, we're not about gouging anyone," he said. "It's about us working through this together. We've got a common problem, but we intend on being very much a part of the solution."
The presidents were briefed on the budget crisis Thursday by Gov. Ted Strickland.
COLUMBUS -- Gov. Ted Strickland struck a deal with Republican lawmakers on new guidelines for prevailing wages that had made unions happy while upsetting business groups.
Under the deal, Strickland agreed to send his new guidelines through the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review for review and approval. In exchange, Senate Republicans dropped legislation to write new language for prevailing wages.
"Because of the significant interest we have seen over the last several weeks, we have decided to put the guidelines through the clarification process and allow for a full, open airing of all the issues," said Strickland spokesman Keith Dailey.
In September, Strickland issued rules that began applying the state's prevailing wage to projects involving state support for environmental cleanup as well as to the purchase of machinery and equipment with state dollars.
COLUMBUS -- The State Highway Patrol says it has spent $73,673 on around-the-clock security protection for Ohio's elections chief and another top state official.
Costs for Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's security through Nov. 22 were $53,215, while security expenses for Helen Jones-Kelley, the director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, were $20,458.
Gov. Ted Strickland approved security for the two officials after they received threats during the heated presidential election campaign.
Security for Jones-Kelley ended Nov. 25. She is on paid administrative leave while the state investigates whether she used state computers for political purposes.
Brunner spokesman Jeff Ortega says her security needs will be reassessed after the Nov. 4 election results are certified.
To keep his supporters from being left out in the cold if they can't score one of the few available tickets to President-Elect Barack Obama's inauguration, his inauguration committee announced today that, for the first time, the entire length of the National Mall will be open to the public "so that more people than ever before will be able to witness the swearing-in."
Those who can't obtain tickets to the swearing-in will be able to watch the ceremony on large screens that the inauguration committee will set up along the Mall.
"This will be an Inauguration for all Americans," Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said in an inauguration committee press release. "And so we are dedicated to opening it up so that people from across the country can gather together in America's front yard."
In prior years, the National Mall was used as a staging area for inaugural parade participants but officials decided to relocate the staging area "in response to early indications that more Americans than usual" may travel to Washington for the festivities, the press release said.
COLUMBUS -- It wasn't "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," but state lawmakers exchanged a hail of partisan fire before approving a tax credit for Ohio's film industry that backers say would bring jobs to the state.
In a 50-39 vote, House lawmakers approved House Bill 196, which would grant a 25 percent tax credit on total investments made in Ohio by film companies. The credits would be transferable from shoot to shoot, but would be capped at $100 million. The vote was along party lines, with Republicans voting to get the cameras rolling while House Democrats yelled "Cut!" because of concerns about corporate giveaways.
The bill, which heads next to the Senate, is one of a handful being considered in the lame-duck session of the Republican-controlled legislature that could face a roadblock at Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland's desk.
Democrats will take control of the 99-member House in January, giving extra urgency for Republicans to act this month.
Listen to the Gov. Strickland's statement:
But Strickland said the federal government still has an obligation to help states like Ohio as they struggle with unprecedented tough times.
Strickland said today he's confident the federal government will provide dollars to the states though he's not sure what kind of funding they will get.
One of his top priorities, he said, is money in so-called block grants that will give the state the flexibility to use it where needed.
Strickland and other governors met with President-elect Barack Obama in Philadelphia Tuesday.
WASHINGTON -- Facing the prospect that Washington will put the nation's broken health-care system on the operating table next year, the health insurance industry today unveiled its own prescription for reform.
America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade group whose members insure more than 200 million Americans, said it wants to achieve universal health insurance coverage, reduce the growth of health-care costs by 30 percent, and guarantee coverage for pre-existing medical conditions as long as individual coverage is mandated
"Reform needs to be comprehensive and it needs to happen now," said the industry group's CEO, Karen Ignagni, adding that meetings the group conducted this summer in Ohio and other states helped it formulate its plans.
Ohio and 48 other states have flunked the college affordability test, according to a report released today.
Only California got a passing grade -- a "C" -- from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. Its report, "Measuring Up 2008: The National Report Card on Higher Education," rates states in five key areas: college preparation, college participation, college affordability, college completion, and benefits to the state.
Two years ago, the last time the biennial report was released, the independent, California-based group handed out 43 "F"s for affordability. The measurement reflects how much of the average family's income it costs to go to college.
The report says that since the late 1990s, the share of family income needed to pay for attending four-year, public colleges in the Buckeye State has climbed from 28 percent to 39 percent.
Not surprisingly, Ohio higher-education officials questioned the failing grade.
The figures include the costs to attend private colleges, said Michael Chaney, a spokesman for the Ohio Board of Regents. A more accurate -- and more favorable to Ohio -- study came from the College Board in October, he said.
The College Board study found Ohio public colleges and universities with low growth in prices compared to other states, mostly because of two years of tuition freezes.
PHILADELPHIA -- President-elect Barack Obama pledged quick work Tuesday on an economic recovery plan to include tax cuts and increased federal spending, and told the nation's governors he wants their advice in designing a package to help their hard-hit states.
"We intend to put tax cuts into the pockets of hard-pressed middle class families in your states. And we intend ... to start making a down payment on the critical investments that are going to be necessary to sustain long-term economic growth as well as pull us out of the current slump," Obama said as he sat down with Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and other governors, nearly all of whom are struggling with budget deficits at home as a result of the recession.
As he made his entrance, Obama greeted Strickland with a hug and the two spoke about the state's difficult fiscal forecast -- a $640 million hole in the current budget and a $7.3 billion projected shortfall for the upcoming two-year budget.
"He felt the president-elect was listening and understood the plight of states like Ohio who are struggling through this national recession," said the governor's spokesman, Keith Dailey.
Strickland felt comfortable that a federal recovery plan Obama's staff is working on will help states like Ohio, Dailey said. But the timing is critical. The governor hopes Obama's team has a plan in place around Jan. 20 when Obama takes office.
COLUMBUS -- Marion Gardner is surrounded. Buildings on every side of her Mount Pleasant neighborhood home have been abandoned as the housing market has soured, leaving her on an island on her block of East 113th Street in Cleveland.
"They keep bailing people out that live in million-dollar homes, and I'm running for my life," Gardner said. "My neighborhood is a cemetery. Who can you call when they start breaking out windows across the street or stealing the steps next door?"
Hoping to snap state lawmakers into action, Gardner was part of a busload of Cleveland-area residents who descended on the Statehouse Tuesday to push for legislation they hope will keep the vandals, squatters and absentee land speculators at bay. They packed a Senate hearing room as local officials -- including Cuyahoga County Treasurer Jim Rokakis and Cleveland City Councilman Anthony Brancatelli -- testified for the bill before the Senate's State and Local Government Committee.
Modeled after a program in Michigan, the legislation would allow Cuyahoga County officials to set up a land bank to buy distressed properties or receive foreclosed properties donated by banks. Homes beyond salvaging would get a date with the wrecking ball while others would be rehabbed, with the sales proceeds plowed back into the program.
Jump-starting the land bank would be about $8 million to $9 million in delinquent tax collection penalties that supporters think could be enough to back $50 million in bonds per year, said State Sen. Tom Patton, Republican of Strongsville, who is sponsoring the legislation.
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Ohio faces major budget cuts and more deficits
Obama meets with governors.
"Our great state is confronted with challenges of historic proportions," Gov. Ted Strickland said Monday as he joined his top budget experts for a grim briefing for reporters at the Statehouse. "Mirroring the national economy, Ohio's economic circumstances have deteriorated rapidly."
The governor declined to lay out a specific solution, instead pinning the state's short-term hopes to a generous federal bailout as well as robust holiday spending in Ohio.
Strickland will travel to Philadelphia today to meet with President-elect Barack Obama along with governors from across the country. Front and center: asking Obama for federal help to shore up eroding state budgets.
Monday's announcement also came as Strickland's administration prepares to negotiate a new contract with tens of thousands of state employees.
State budget director Pari Sabety said a collapse in the national economy over the last 10 weeks has been the main cause for the most woeful projections to date, which show the state $7.3 billion in the hole for the next state budget in fiscal 2010-2011. And cuts of about $640 million -- the third such round after cuts in February and September totaling $1.27 billion -- must be done to keep the current two-year, $52 billion budget out of the red.
Sabety called the situation in Ohio "the most serious erosion in revenues in the last 40 or 50 years" and said the economic downturn could mean Ohio salaries actually go down next year.
"It means most Ohioans will bring home less in wage and salary income in 2009 and 2010 than they did in previous years," she said. "This has never happened in Ohio history."
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• Senator wants to rethink purchase of DUI-test device
• Official denies purchase of breath-testing machines was a friendship deal
The board unanimously agreed to reconsider releasing funds to purchase 700 breath-testing machines from a Kentucky company after The Plain Dealer reported that the accuracy of the Intoxilyzer 8000 is being challenged in courts in several states.
The board also expressed concerns about how CMI Inc. of Owensboro, Ky., was picked for the non-competitive contract and ties the company might have to an Ohio Department of Health official who oversaw the selection process that began with 17 companies but ended with just one bidder.
"I'm not pointing fingers at anybody, but I think the process somehow got tangled and we need to get more answers," said board member Sen. John Carey, a Jackson County Republican, who asked that a final decision be delayed at least two more weeks.
The board took the unusual step of allowing more than an hour of testimony from the Ohio Department of Public Safety and the health department -- two agencies defending the out-of-state contract -- before unanimously agreeing to take up the issue again on Dec. 15.
COLUMBUS -- Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland announced this morning that Ohio will have to cut an additional $640 million from the current two-year budget. The state has already cut $1.3 billion from the budget which ends June 30, 2009.
"Our great state is confronted with challenges of historic proportions," Strickland said. "But armed with a true understanding of the conditions we face, Ohioans will be better equipped to honestly address these difficult circumstances with the same strong resolve and spirit of cooperation we have applied to trying times in our past.
"Mirroring the national economy, Ohio's economic circumstances have deteriorated rapidly. A $640 million shortfall is now projected for the remainder of the current fiscal year. This is in line with the Office of Budget and Management's recession-based scenario, outlined in January, which had forecast a $1.9 billion total budget deficit if the economy fell into recession."
CHICAGO -- President-elect Barack Obama announced today that Robert Gates would remain as defense secretary, making President Bush's Pentagon chief his own as he seeks to wind down the U.S. role in Iraq. Obama picked former campaign rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state.
At a news conference, Obama also introduced retired Marine Gen. James Jones as White House national security adviser, former Justice Department official Eric Holder as attorney general and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security.
The announcements rounded out the top tier of the team that will advise the incoming chief executive on foreign and national security issues in an era marked by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and terrorism around the globe.
"The time has come for a new beginning, a new dawn of American leadership to overcome the challenges of the 21st century," Obama said as his Cabinet picks stood behind him on a flag-draped stage.
• For previous stories visit cleveland.com/nationalcity
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Steve LaTourette expects to meet with the Treasury Department and banking regulators next week to get better answers as to why they turned down National City Bank for bailout money.
The apparent denial led to National City's decision to sell itself for a fraction of its previous worth to PNC Financial Services Group, based in Pittsburgh, at the end of the year. Northeast Ohio political and civic leaders question the rationale for the sale, which will strip the region of a home-grown corporation whose Cleveland roots go back to 1845.
LaTourette, a Bainbridge Township Republican, requested the meeting last week in a call to the White House. But setting it up required negotiations on when it would be and who would attend, as well as vetting by lawyers to make sure it was OK to have the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, there.
The comptroller's office is an independent bureau within Treasury, which itself is under the White House. The OCC's bank supervision division operates with a high degree of autonomy, so its decisions on monetary policy are not subject to politics, said Dino DiSanto, an aide to LaTourette. Lawyers for Treasury and OCC wanted to make sure the meeting sought by LaTourette would be OK, he said.
"There's a very firm wall between us and Treasury on supervisory matters," confirmed Robert Garsson, OCC spokesman.
Along with LaTourette, interim Assistant Treasury Secretary Neel Kashkari will be at the meeting, which is likely to be early next week, DiSanto said. Garsson said the meeting will probably also include Dan Stipano, OCC's deputy chief counsel, and Tim Long, senior deputy comptroller for policy and the chief national bank examiner.
But there's also a lot of interest in Michelle Obama. Seventeen percent say they have heard a lot about her in recent news reports; 47 percent say they've heard or read at least a little.
"And most of what they've been hearing has been positive. Two-thirds of those who have heard at least a little about Michelle Obama recently say the news has been mostly positive. Only 3 percent say the news about the future first lady has been mostly negative, and 28 percent say it has been a mix of both," Pew reports.
"This represents a dramatic shift in perceptions from earlier this year. In June, going into the general election cycle, only 21 percent of those who were hearing about Michelle Obama said the news had been mostly positive."
A tax reform package passed in 2005 is compounding state budget difficulties during a tumultuous economic period, but both Republican and Democratic leaders say the changes are necessary for Ohio's future.
Republican leaders in 2005 passed a package that included a 21 percent reduction in the state's income tax over five years and phased out the state corporate franchise tax.
The Columbus Dispatch reported Thursday that state revenue has dropped each of the past three years since 2006. That only happened three times during the 50-year period that ended in 2006.
Attorney General-elect Richard Cordray said he will change the office's administrative structure by moving some key personnel to different assignments and possibly dismissing others.
Cordray, the current state treasurer, isn't tipping his hand yet but said he plans to talk to previous attorneys general all the way back to Lee Fisher, his former boss at the office in the early 1990s, about how they structured their offices.
But Cordray said he won't talk to fellow Democrat Marc Dann, the man he supported for the office in 2006 and will replace after winning a special election on Nov. 4. The last thing he wants is for his office to become an extension of his party mate's regime.
"I think there were major problems in the administration under Marc, and I'm not looking to replicate those problems," Cordray said after a long pause.
CINCINNATI -- A federal appeals court agrees that a lawsuit challenging Ohio's voting system should be heard in court.
The League of Women Voters' lawsuit says inconsistencies and irregularities in the 2004 election violated some Ohio voters' rights. The league wants a court order requiring the secretary of state and governor to put a fair and competent system in place.
A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled unanimously today that the lawsuit should continue in U.S. district court in Toledo.
The state has made elections changes since 2004, but elections still bring complaints. A U.S. House race remains undecided three weeks later because of challenges to provisional balloting in Franklin County.
WASHINGTON -- The National Transportation Safety Board blasted Ohio Tuesday for failing to require that children under age 8 use booster seats when they travel in cars.
Current Ohio law requires that children age 3 and younger use special safety seats, but the NTSB and numerous automobile safety groups want older kids to use booster seats. They say seat belts built for adults cut across the throats and abdomens of small children and can injure them in a crash. But injuries are less likely if they're in booster seats, which prop them up so the seat belts fit properly. The seats cost roughly $15.
The board charged with investigating transportation accidents urged seven states, including Ohio, to make booster seats mandatory for kids up to age 8.
"Improving child passenger safety is our priority, and today, we ask those states to make it theirs," safety board member Deborah Hersman said at a news conference where the board revealed its yearly "Most Wanted List" of safety improvements.
Colleen Corrigan Day, the executive director of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, is resigning.
Hand-picked by party boss Jimmy Dimora, Day is credited with bringing more energy and better organization to the party during her short tenure. Day, who took the job in March 2007, said she is leaving to take a development job with Holy Name High School.
"Development positions don't come up often," she said. "I love Holy Name and have been a board member there for years."
Day said she's been honored to work with Dimora, who's at the center of a federal public corruption probe.
Day said the party officers will interview candidates for the job during the next month.
Former Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, the GOP's unsuccessful candidate for governor in 2006, is contemplating a run for chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Blackwell told the Cincinnati Enquirer on Monday that RNC members have urged him to run for the job.
'When people started calling, I didn't tell them, 'get out of here,' ' Blackwell told the Enquirer.
Sources tell The Plain Dealer that Blackwell, who's kept a high-profile among the party's conservative base by writing columns for conservative newspapers and think tanks, has not made up his mind.
If he does run, he'll be a long shot given his conservative politics. He also would face former Maryland lieutenant governor Michael Steele, who is also black. Other possible candidates include South Carolina GOP chairman Katon Dawson; Michigan GOP chairman Saul Anuzis; and Chip Saltsman, the former Tennessee GOP chairman and campaign manager for Mike Huckabee.
Mike Duncan, the current RNC chairman, has yet to say if he plans to run for re-election.
COLUMBUS -- The demand for jobless benefits has nearly exhausted the state's unemployment funds, say state leaders, who asked the federal government for $550 million to cover claims over the next few months.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services officially requested the line of credit with the U.S. Department of Labor on Friday. It would provide enough money for the state to make unemployment compensation payments through February.
The last time Ohio had to borrow federal money to pay state unemployment claims was between 1980 and 1988, when the state drew $3.8 billion.
Ohio is likely to receive the loan since it would be tapping into Labor Department money set aside to help states correct shortfalls, said Brian Harter, Job and Family Services spokesman.
"Us getting the line of credit is not going to interrupt people getting their benefits," Harter said. "We don't want people to think that if Ohio's fund goes dry that there is going to be some kind of lapse."
Sherry Keys-Hebron, assistant director of the Job and Family Services Department, requested $50 million for December and $250 million each for January and February.
Harter said the agency may get by without drawing cash from next month's allocation but surely will need to use funds for the following two months.
COLUMBUS -- Fallout from the Joe the Plumber records check controversy continued to rain down Friday as a pair of high-ranking Ohio Department of Job and Family Services officials were suspended without pay.
Deputy Director of Child Support Doug Thompson was suspended without pay for four weeks while the agency's Assistant Director Fred Williams was given a two-week suspension without pay by acting Director Jan Allen. The pair joins Director Helen Jones-Kelley, who was suspended without pay for one month by Gov. Ted Strickland on Thursday.
A state inspector general's report concluded that Jones-Kelley had improperly allowed digging by underlings into Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher's state records for "no legitimate agency purpose."
Better known as Joe the Plumber, Wurzelbacher is the Northwest Ohio man who became an overnight celebrity in October after asking a tax policy question of then-Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
The report said that Jones-Kelley, Thompson and Williams were all involved in the discussion on whether to check Wurzelbacher's confidential records, but none could recall details or justify how the search satisfied criteria. It also singled out Thompson for criticism, saying he "attempted to deceive" by orchestrating an e-mail from an administrative aide to the agency's privacy officer that said the records check was done for child support purposes.
Deputy Directors Paul Franholz and Judy Cicatello were given written reprimands for allowing the checks to go forward. All four employees disciplined Friday will undergo professional development counseling and agencywide ethics training.
Previous story: Official denies purchase of breath-testing machines was a friendship deal
Sen. John Carey, a Jackson County Republican, is concerned the Ohio Controlling Board acted too hastily after he learned from reports in The Plain Dealer this week that several states have dismissed or delayed thousands of drunken driving cases because of questions about the accuracy of the Intoxilyzer 8000.
Carey also said he is concerned about lawsuits against the company that makes the machine, CMI Inc. of Owensboro, Ky., and the relationship between the manufacturer and the Ohio official, Dean Ward, who picked the company for the exclusive contract.
Carey, who chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee, wrote a letter Friday to Joe Secrest, president of the Controlling Board, asking that approval be pulled back until "several issues can be addressed."
"My greatest concern is that, as a result of pending litigation in other states, DWI offenders could potentially get off as a result of using these machines," Carey wrote.
"At the very least, it seems likely we will be in for lengthy and costly litigation until issues surrounding CMI's refusal to release source code information .¤.¤. have been cleared up," he wrote.
Carey, citing the newspaper articles, also said the fact that Ward -- chief of the Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Testing at the Ohio Department of Health -- admitted having friends at CMI "is very troubling to me."
Secrest said Carey doesn't need his permission to recall the approved item. Carey can do it himself at the Controlling Board's next meeting Dec. 1. If a majority agree, it will be reconsidered, said Secrest, who is not a lawmaker.
WASILLA, Alaska -- Gov. Sarah Palin has granted the traditional Thanksgiving pardon to one lucky turkey, but the video that shocked some viewers captured what was happening in the background.
As she answered questions Thursday at Triple D Farm & Hatchery outside Wasilla cameras from the Anchorage Daily News and others showed the bloody work of an employee slaughtering birds behind the former Republican vice presidential candidate.
On the video, Palin didn't comment about the slaughter as she answered questions, saying she's thankful that her son's Stryker brigade is relatively safe in Iraq and the rest of her family is healthy and happy. She said she's glad to be back in Alaska.
"This was neat," she said of the outing. "I was happy to get to be invited to participate in this. For one, you need a little bit of levity in this job, especially with so much that has gone in the last couple of months that has been so political obviously that it's nice to get out and do something to promote a local business and to just participate in something that isn't so heavy-handed politics that it invites criticism. Certainly we'll probably invite criticism for even doing this, too, but at least this was fun."
The spending is part of the state's $1.57 billion stimulus package approved by lawmakers and signed by Gov. Ted Strickland earlier this year.
The goal is to better link Ohio's transportation routes to spur economic development and create jobs.
Strickland said Friday that making the state a hub through which products are shipped is crucial to attracting and creating jobs.
The state's stimulus plan is aimed at creating 57,000 new jobs while developing ways to promote future economic growth.
WASHINGTON -- House of Representatives' sign makers got a trifle confused this morning as newly elected U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge -- from Ohio, not Maryland -- settled into the Capitol Hill office formerly occupied by her predecessor, Stephanie Tubbs Jones. The sign was corrected soon after The Plain Dealer brought the error to the attention of Fudge's staff.
Harris Poll: More Americans are alienated now than at any time since 1999. "The level of alienation is one measure of how well a society is functioning. . . . The Harris Alienation Index is clearly measuring broader societal trends, not just attitudes about what happens in Washington."
Zogby: Despite the Harris Poll findings, Zogby found that "the mood of Americans has improved in the past month, with an increase in the number of likely voters who now view the country as headed in the right direction."