With that in mind, here is a message we're passing along from the Ohio Association of Foodbanks:

Right now, the House Agriculture Committee is making important decisions about how to fund TEFAP (a program that provides commodities to foodbanks) and SNAP (a program that helps low-income people afford groceries) in the Farm Bill.

Cuts to SNAP are expected to be approximately $21 billion. We need to fight back against these devastating cuts today! 

• Ohio Representative Bob Gibbs serves on the House Agriculture Committee and his office needs to hear from you!
• 866-527-1087
• Listen to the pre-recorded message and enter your zip code when prompted.
• Tell the Capitol Switchboard that you want to speak to the office of Congressman Bob Gibbs. Once you are connected, let them know you are calling about the Farm Bill and deliver this important message: "I urge Congressman Gibbs to vote for Representative McGovern's amendment to restore the SNAP cuts in the House Agriculture Committee's Farm Bill and against the bill if those cuts are not restored. Please don't hurt struggling families who truly need help by taking food from their dinner tables."

Spread the word to colleagues, friends, and family in your congressional district and urge them to make a call to protect hungry families, too. Thank you!

Many of the gun-safety advocates who were in a state of gloom following the Senate's rejection last month of a "background check" bill have found solace in a recent poll indicating that a handful of Senators who voted against the checks have seen their poll numbers dipping.

Among those who found their popularity slipping is Ohio Senator Rob Portman. In the survey conducted by Public Policy Polling (a Democrat-leaning group), Portman's popularity has dropped a net 18 points from plus 10 to minus 8 in the past six months. Interestingly enough, his numbers have dropped 16 points (62-46) among Republicans, which may indicate that this GOP drop is primarily in response to his March announcement supporting gay marriage.

Specifically, in terms of his background check vote, 36% of Ohioans say they are "less likely" to vote for Portman because of his position. A statistic like this can be a bit deceiving in terms of shifting an election, since a large number of the "less likely" may not have voted for him in the first place or have so many other issues that are of more importance to them that they won't flip against him on guns.

Though these striking numbers probably won't show up as dramatically at the ballot box in 2016 (when Portman is up for re-election) as they do now on paper, the public's reaction in Ohio and around the country to the gun-safety issue is tremendously encouraging. However, no one should be naïve enough to think that the NRA's power will be diminished by poll numbers. The winning of elections on the issue of gun-safety is the only thing that will begin to chip away at the gun lobby and its monstrous influence - and that is easier said than done.

Gun safety advocates should not be so foolish as to think that their sweet mantra about "90% of Americans support background checks" means anything at all at this point in the election cycle. Nor do a few supporters showing up at town hall meetings to question NRA-backed candidates constitute a tsunami of change in the gun debate. It's a step in the right direction, but there remains a tidal wave of opposition to any and all restrictions on guns - a primitive force that will never go away.

The reason for that is the marrow-deep role of guns in American culture since the country's inception and is coupled with the intense - and understandable - fear of government repression that has always been part of the American psyche. As a faux revolutionary in the early '70s, I felt paranoia running deep when it came to government surveillance, selective incarceration, beaten-in heads and four dead in Ohio. Clearly, African Americans have long rightfully felt as if the police (aka the government) were an occupying army in their communities ready to shoot first and cover-up later. And there's no need going into what the "feds" did to Native Americans. So the idea of arming oneself for defensive purposes is as right as rain - and must be fiercely safeguarded.

Of course, the problems arise with how far this "right-to-bear-arms" is taken by the zealots and the gun manufacturers who gin up apprehension over a reasonable proposal like background checks by transforming this modest measure into the horror of a Big Brother kind of Universal Registry designed to locate innocent gun owners for the sole purpose of unleashing jack-booted government thugs into their living rooms.

A little crazy? Of course, but another aspect of the American psyche is an obsession with conspiracy theories (people love stories, especially ones that simplify complexity), many of which are based on the well-grounded assumption that just because you're paranoid doesn't necessarily mean that someone's not out to get you.

It's this mindset - and hundreds of millions of dollars from the gun merchants - that gives the NRA the ammunition it needs to keep winning legislative battles. So while gun-safety advocates are twisting themselves into pretzels looking for evidence that the NRA is a "paper tiger" on its way to oblivion, they should enjoy - but not be fooled by - this apparent shift in momentum.

However, until these well-meaning folks actually defeat a few NRA-backed candidates, any progress on this issue will remain illusionary. Only 4% of Americans list guns as their absolute top priority and 3. 9% of those are NRA supporters. In 2016, when Portman is up for re-election, this well-oiled army will have already spent three years of sleepless nights readying to die before giving an inch.

But, it remains to be seen if those who oppose the gun lobby have the grueling, day-after-day endurance to go toe-to-toe with the death merchants and actually bring home a few scalps of "gun rights" elected officials. Or if these progressives will be content to simply exhibit bemused bewilderment as to why - despite the righteousness of their position and the statistics showing that the majority of Americans support "sensible" gun restrictions - they keep losing and the NRA keeps winning and winning and winning.

Wayne LaPierre, the group's increasingly strident executive vice president, warned gun owners that they are "in the midst of a once-in-a-generation fight for everything we care about. . . . We have to secure our freedom for a generation or lose it forever."

Like so much of what LaPierre has said since last December's slaughter at Sandy Hook Elementary School, this jeremiad has little basis in reality. It is, rather, an effort to scare law-abiding gun owners, intimidate politicians and rake in more donations from the weapons makers that help underwrite today's NRA.

While there may be some gun-control advocates who secretly wish that firearms ownership could be limited to police and military authorities, the vast majority of Americans on that side of the issue understand that the Second Amendment acknowledges a right to keep and bear arms. Yet in its 2008 decision recognizing that as an individual as opposed to a collective right -- a ruling supported by both LaPierre and then-presidential candidate Barack Obama -- even the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority held that reasonable regulations on firearms are permissible.

The expanded background check proposal that died in the U.S. Senate last month-- despite having support from 55 senators and the overwhelming majority of Americans -- was co-authored by two members who, until then, had toed the NRA line. Does anyone seriously believe that Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania were deliberating setting the table for taking weapons from law-abiding Americans? Or that they were duped by those who would? That's ridiculous, and NRA leaders who traffic in scare tactics ought to be ashamed.

There was good news in a report from the Justice Department this week: Gun violence appears to have dropped in the past two decades. That ought to encourage renewed, honest dialogue about how to reduce it even more -- not more fear-mongering from the NRA.

.

"The longer Gov. Kasich and JobsOhio refuse to disclose information about JobsOhio's questionable practices the more concerning it becomes.  This agency was created by an act of the legislature and is set to receive billions in state liquor profits over the next 25 years, and should be held to the same standards of transparency and accountability as any other state agency receiving billions in state monies," -Rep. Lundy.

Click here to read the Lundy/Kasich letter.

The second is a move to restrict access, with the help of Kasich's Public Safety Director Tom Charles, to the Ohio Statehouse.

Governor Kasich was noticeably angry about the rallies against SB5 that filled the Statehouse with teachers and police officers and fire fighters, at one point trying to lock them out of the public building.   When that didn't work, he had a backup plan: install metal detectors at every entrance and require everyone to line up to get into the building.

While the Capitol Square Review & Advisory Board didn't pursue Kasich's plan, they did approve an alternative plan last month to have every visitor screened by officers with security wands.   Registered lobbyists will, of course, be able to get a special badge exempting them from the screenings.

During the SB5 battle, pro-labor groups filled the Statehouse during votes on the bills.  This time around, they'll be forced to line up around the block waiting to get searched before they can enter the building.

Despite attempts by the Dispatch and others to downplay the likelihood of the new right-to-work bills passing, Republicans in the Ohio House didn't seem to get the message.

Both bills - State Rep Roegner's private sector union bill (HB 151) and State RepMaag's public sector bill (HB152) are moving through the House today.    And both have been referred to committees on which which the sponsors sit.

Read the entire story over at Plunderbund.  

Join us, tomorrow, May 8, 2013 at 6:30 PM as we invite the public to participate in the Voice of the Voter Forum. This unique opportunity gives a platform for  voters to voice their concerns about voting.  Come hear from our guest panel on ways in which voting could be improved. Speakers will include Rep. Tracy Maxwell Heard (Ohio House District 26),Carrie Davis of the League of Women Voters in Ohio and Donita Judge of The Advancement Project and both the Director of the Franklin County Board of Elections Bill Anthony and the Deputy Director Dana Walch.

Voice of the Voter Forum
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
6:30-8:30 PM
Marion Franklin Recreation Center
2801 Lockbourne Rd.
Columubs, OH 43207

Republican Gov. John Kasich, the mastermind of JobsOhio, at first fought Republican Yost's subpoena, but ultimately gave in by handing over the entity's books. Transparency won the day.

Now, the Dayton Daily News has peeled another layer of the JobsOhio covering to reveal that the "private" designation is an exaggeration.

The newspaper analyzed records pertaining to the organization and its predecessor, the Ohio Department of Development, to show that Gov. Kasich's characterization of ODOD as a "black hole" that failed to even return phone calls was a stretch.

The Daily News' reporter, Andrew J. Tobias of the paper's Columbus bureau, recalled a comment Kasich made when he was running for governor in 2010: "The days of trying to connect with business leaders through bureaucrats are over." Tobias' story noted that JobsOhio is staffed mostly by former development department employees and other ex-government workers.

And, nearly all those workers also received large raises to leave the public sector, the analysis shows.

But that's not the only reason the public has a right to know what JobsOhio is up to.

Auditor Yost's insistence on transparency is necessitated by the reality that $5.3 million in state grants were awarded to the agency and its subsidiary in fiscal 2012. In addition, state liquor profits are used to attract private financing.

This melding of public and private dollars raises all sorts of questions, foremost of which has do with accountability.

JobsOhio says it will refund the $1 million in startup money it got from the state in 2011 and any grant money it received since July 2011 to do economic development work for Ohio.

But reacting to the Dayton Daily News' revelation about the staffing of JobsOhio, Brian Rothenberg, executive director of ProgressOhio, a liberal advocacy group that is suing the governor over JobsOhio, said:

"This confirms what people thought all along ... [JobsOhio] was a ploy to take the Department of Development and privatize it to shield it from public scrutiny. The whole ruse is that the governor was complaining about the people he ended up hiring."

Exemption

In creating the organization, the Republican controlled General Assembly exempted it from public record laws and required it to disclose only what is required under legislation that created it.

In other words, secrecy is built in.

And that's troubling, given that JobsOhio will get its funding of at least $100 million a year from the sale of bonds backed by profits from the state's monopoly on liquor sales, the Daily News reported.

The annual revenue will be used to award grants and loans for economic development projects and fund a state program that pays for the cleanup and redevelopment of commercial and industrial sites.

To his credit, Auditor Yost points out that his office will continue to have authority to audit JobsOhio's books because the liquor proceeds are a public resource.

Given this insistence on transparency, there is an attempt to legislatively limit the state auditor's authority.

Such a blatant act to keep the residents of the state of Ohio in the dark is unacceptable and wrong.

Upper Arlington cut hours for some workers, eliminated the animal-control officer's position and is trying to cut some positions through attrition this year. 

Lancaster laid off 31 city workers, including 20 firefighters and six police officers.

And Marion eliminated 16 police-officer positions, bringing some back to work only when an increase in the city income tax was approved by voters.

Ohio's local government budgets have been hit by a combination of factors in the past few years. The Great Recession led to lower income-tax receipts, as well as lower property taxes. Federal funding has been reduced in some areas, and the state cut funding to local governments by more than $630 million two years ago to help fill a multibillion deficit in its two-year budget.

At the time, Gov. John Kasich warned local officials not to ask taxpayers to make up the difference.

Although services were reduced in some areas, many local governments asked taxpayers for more money.

The November after the state cuts went into effect, more than 1,000 tax issues appeared on ballots statewide, and another 1,055 were on ballots in November. Many local governments said they needed funding for police and fire protection, libraries, street repairs, parks and senior services.

Residents tend to approve local tax increases - although they typically don't pass by a large margin.

"I don't see many services people are willing to give up altogether. They may take a lesser service, but people get used to government services and they tend to not go away," said William Raabe, tax and accounting professor at Ohio State University. 

And it doesn't look like the trend of asking taxpayers to fill the gap at the local level will stop anytime soon - in part because the gap continues to grow. This year, legislative action to end Ohio's estate tax will result in an estimated loss of more than $200 million for local governments.

"I think it's pretty clear the next decade will be one of tax increases at every level. Most severely, the smallest jurisdictions will be missing the most dollars, ... and people don't want to give up their services," Raabe said.

Many municipalities either have increased their income-tax rates or considered doing so in the past five years.

Gahanna residents will be the latest to vote on Tuesday. They will decide on an income-tax increase of 1 percentage point, which, if approved, would make the tax 2.5 percent and be the first increase since 1977.

Columbus raised its income tax rate to 2.5 percent in 2009. Since then, at least four suburbs have raised their income-tax rates to 2.5 percent.

In the past 10 years, many cities and villages have considered raising rates. At least three suburbs have turned down an income-tax increase, including Powell and Reynoldsburg.

Income-tax revenue can go a long way for municipalities and is typically a city's largest revenue source - accounting for at least 60 percent of a city's general budget.

"Local income tax to cities in Ohio is the financial lifeblood," said Hugh Dorrian, Columbus city auditor.

Income tax typically is pooled into a city's general fund with other revenue and isn't tracked per dollar, so it's difficult to decipher exactly which departments are directly supported by this money and by how much.

But city officials say tax money often ends up funding safety and security forces because they are so expensive.

Upward of 40 percent of a city's general fund supports services that range from replacing street lights to staffing the police department.

"There are certain things you have to do. You can cut out parks and rec, and cut out recycling and 'ways-of-life things,' but at some level, if you don't have an income-tax (increase) and you're a city in distress, it's going to affect safety and security," said Brian Rothenberg, executive director of the liberal advocacy group ProgressOhio.

Requests for an income-tax increase failed twice in Reynoldsburg in 2006. When city residents did not approve an income-tax increase from1.5 percent to 2.5 percent in 2011, city officials knew they'd be hit hard.

If the income-tax increase had passed, it would have brought in $5.5 million. Reynoldsburg's general revenue budget in 2011 was $35.75 million.

City officials there say they are working to secure grants to support the city's services - including finding money to repair roads and pave a parking lot at its senior center, which has about 2,000 members.

Facing a shortfall in revenue, Reynoldsburg considered shuttering its senior center last year. The center is funded mostly by membership fees, and the city's general fund supports only building utilities and a couple of city-employed supervisors. The proposed closure, along with proposed cuts in parks and recreation programs and eliminating four police-officer positions, was put on hold when the city moved unappropriated funds to the general fund, which officials said they would be unable to do again this year.

The senior center offers card games, pool tables and exercise classes - an activity Shirley Litteral, 74, said she really enjoys.

"I hope the senior center stays. It keeps us moving and keeps me limber. This is what I do," said Litteral, of Reynoldsburg.

For now, the center looks like it will stay thanks to an increase in income-tax revenue generated by new businesses in Reynoldsburg, said Doug Joseph city council president.

But the city has left the positions of human-resources officer and development director unfilled.

If Tuesday's income-tax increase passes in Gahanna, the additional money would go toward police equipment, snow removal and recreation programs.

If the levy doesn't pass, these programs would be at "considerable risk," Gahanna Mayor Becky Stinchcomb said at a January city council meeting.

"We recognize people are facing difficult financial times right now. That's why we've tried to explain as much as we could," said Brandi Braun, assistant city administrator of Gahanna.

Municipalities and villages can levy a variety of taxes - including an income or property tax - to pay for these services. Townships, however, can levy only a property tax, according to state law.

This funding model is a challenge to township officials who are unable to pass a property-tax levy but rely on that funding for services.Liberty Township Fire Chief Timothy Jensen's two stations serve parts of Delaware County - including the city of Powell and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and Zoombezi Bay Waterpark - but the branches are situated in Liberty Township and can't put forth an income-tax levy.

Most of the fire department's calls are for incidents in the township, but he estimates 35 to 40 percent of his department's calls are from Powell, and a little more than 3 percent from the zoo and water park.

Voters in the township approved an emergency levy for fire services in February by about 84 percent of voters, but that money won't be available until January 2014.

That means Jensen won't be able to rehire 10 part-time and four full-time firefighters laid off last year or replace his department's 12-year old EMS truck.

"It's been a tough year," Jensen said. "When it comes down to it - people are going to vote for the services they want to keep."

As a solution, Liberty Township officials are considering, among other options, establishing a new income tax to fund its fire department under a Joint Economic Development Zone A JEDZ allows a city to collect income taxes from businesses within the township. Those taxes are then split between the city and the township, giving both a new revenue stream.

Only about 10 percent of workers in Liberty Township - who work in Liberty but live elsewhere would be affected, said Curt Sybert, a Liberty Township trustee.It's too early in the process to know how much money the agreement could bring in, but the plan would be to geographically target areas of the township that contain a lot of business and employees to generate the most revenue.

Other townships in the Columbus area also are trying to implement this model to make up for budget gaps including Clinton Township and Grandview Heights.

Across jurisdictions and budgets - one aspect remains certain - once a tax is in place, it's rare to see it withdrawn.

"Once (a tax increase) is in, it's in for good," Raabe said. "But it's much more likely to go up than down."

Her words added context to a report in the Columbus Dispatch a few days later, the revelation leaking that KMPG audited JobsOhio's books at the same time it sought $1 million from JobsOhio for a client. Ethical lapse? 

Read the entire story at the Akron Beacon Journal. 

The Toledo Blade has the story-

The League of Women Voters joined with legislative Democrats and the nonpartisan Ohio Campus Compact to argue that an amendment added at the last-minute to the House-passed budget could discourage schools from giving on-campus students utility bills or letters that could be used as voter identification at the polls.

"It doesn't even pass the straight-face test. ...," said Peg Rosenfeld, League elections specialist. "This is absolutely the wrong thing to do. We want to encourage students to vote. ...It is unconscionable."

The provision was added just before the Republican-controlled House sent its $62 billion, two-year budget plan to the Senate nearly two weeks ago.

Higher education institutions fear the move could collectively cost them hundreds of millions of dollars in reduced tuition revenue, particularly if students see such documentation as their avenue to lower tuition bills.

The amendment does not address what would happen to a similar student who lives in off-campus housing and has his own utility bill bearing his address that he can use to register and vote. Could that student argue he should also receive lower in-state tuition?

Democrats charge the amendment is part of a national attempt by Republicans to restrict voting by constituencies that turned out in large numbers for President Obama in the last two presidential elections.

Students can vote in Ohio if they have lived here at least 30 days, but they still need some form of voter identification under state law.

A student identification card doesn't qualify. A utility bill or official letter from the school does.

"It really holds the university [to] having to make decisions about voter rights," said Richard Kinsley, executive director of Ohio Campus Compact, a nonpartisan, nonprofit coalition of college and university presidents that encourages civic involvement of students.

"If I'm going to lose out-of-state tuition, that puts the university in a bind to decide, 'Do I honor the rights of the student to register to vote or do I have to pay attention to the bottom-line budget?' " he said. "If I lose all those dollars, then tuition goes up for everyone."

House Speaker Bill Batchelder (R., Medina) defended the amendment.

"The real issue for local areas in particular [is], what happens when somebody from New York City registers to vote," he said. "How do they vote on a school levy? How do they vote on a sheriff's race ...? To me, there is a significant question, particularly the levies, as to what having people who don't have to pay for them would do in terms of voting on those things."

When asked about the potential dollar impact on universities that experienced cuts in state funding in the last budget, Mr. Batchelder said, "That's a rather gigantic amount of money. I don't know how to respond to it."

UT has 1,112 out-of-state, noninternational students, according to university spokesman Meghan Cunningham. There are 519 noninternational out-of-state graduate students.

The university charges $4,527 per semester, or $9,054 a year, for in-state tuition and $9,087 per semester, or $18,174 a year, in out-of-state tuition. That's a difference of $9,120 per year that the university could lose per student who requested voting-related documentation.

In the 2012 presidential election, the university did a mass-mailing of such letters to all residents of student housing, regardless of whether they used them or whether the students were already Ohio residents.

JobsOhio, the state's privatized development agency, says that the grant request was handled separately from and without the knowledge of the firm's auditing division. But some say the timing raises ethical questions.

The situation also exposes weaknesses in the laws creating Gov. John Kasich's JobsOhio, because recipients of state aid are kept secret until the project is approved.

While saying he didn't have enough information to "make a determination" on the propriety of this situation, state Auditor Dave Yost called it "concerning." Noting that auditors face strict ethical guidelines, the auditor said, "Any time you have questions of independence in our business, it's concerning."

Laura Jones, a spokeswoman for JobsOhio, said KPMG LLP's Columbus office conducted the audit, but the grant was sought by an out-of-state office.

"The fact that KPMG serves JobsOhio and countless other businesses ... from the same office here in Columbus is not a conflict in our minds," she said, adding that the state also monitors and ultimately approves taxpayer-funded incentives to companies.

As the state's lead economic-development agency, Jobs-Ohio is charged with recommending financial incentives for companies seeking to locate in the state.

"Given those safeguards, the suggestion that Ohio should disqualify a company whose consultant has the same name as our auditing firm -- and so deny Ohioans jobs -- is truly shortsighted."

KPMG was chosen by JobsOhio to conduct an audit required by law. On Nov. 5, about the time the audit was being conducted, KPMG also was listed on a sheet of eight pending grant commitments from the state for fiscal year 2013, according to a document obtained by The Dispatchthrough a public-records request.

JobsOhio officials said the record is confidential and the state released it by mistake.

Officials from the Kasich administration, JobsOhio and KPMG indicated that the grant was not for KPMG itself, but for an anonymous KPMG business client. A KPMG spokesman said only that "we're confident we acted properly at all times. It would be inappropriate for us to comment further due to client confidentiality."

Jones said the project involving KPMG died in March, meaning the client never received the funds. As one of the "big four" accounting firms, KPMG has 152,000 employees and offices in 156 countries and has joined the other large firms in expanding services to include tax and business consulting.

For example, the firm was hired last year by the Kasich administration for a $3.4 million study of the Ohio Turnpike.

But there are strict rules that prohibit a firm's accountants from providing business advice, following the 2002 fall of Enron and its auditor, Arthur Andersen. There is also a vast and strict set of guidelines for accounting and auditing established by several national and global accounting trade organizations, such as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, which demand that members maintain "independence" and avoid conflicts of interest with clients.

"Independent auditors should not only be independent in fact; they should avoid situations that may lead outsiders to doubt their independence," reads the AICPA's standards for auditing.

"If you're auditing a company, then the scenario is, you really never want to jeopardize your independence," said David J. Leonard, past chairman of the global Institute of Management Accountants ethics committee. Leonard works for the Allegheny County Bar Association in Pittsburgh.

"The two KPMG branches doing this work, I am sure they never would collude on their own, and there was no connection," said Jerry Esselstein, a certified public accountant who is teaching Ethical Challenges in the Accounting Profession this semester at Ohio State University. "The other question: Would JobsOhio see it as undue pressure on them? That's a question I just can't answer."

Because of Ohio laws established in relation to the creation of JobsOhio, recipients of state aid are withheld from the public until the state ultimately approves the project. Without the document mistakenly being given to The Dispatch which listed KPMG's work as a consultant, the company's involvement in the grant request might never have been known, because the ultimate recipient would have been named at the time of approval.

KPMG's involvement also would not have been uncovered in the audit Yost currently is conducting of JobsOhio, because Yost's work will only cover materials through June 30, 2012.

Yost, who publicly fought with Kasich and JobsOhio for access to the agency's private financial records to conduct a full audit, said he is in ongoing negotiations with JobsOhio for access to the same information in future years.

Yost, who is essentially checking KPMG's audit of JobsOhio, said he would be more likely to examine whether a conflict of interest had arisen, rather than whether KPMG had maintained independence in its audit.

Jordan agreed with Perkins' contention that the Department of Homeland Security is "hoarding ammunition" as a "way for the President to keep Americans from having ammo by having the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies buy it all up" and commended Americans for "purchasing a record level of firearms and ammunition."

Jordan: The reason so many Americans are concerned is, this agency, the Department of Homeland Security, under the leadership -- or I would say, lack of leadership, frankly -- of Secretary Napolitano, they just don't have any credibility, Americans don't trust them. There have been a number of instances over the last several years and several months that have led to that lack of trust and lack of credibility and that's why you see the concern and frankly that's why we had the hearing.

...

Perkins: We're talking about a hearing that took place last Thursday with the Department of Homeland Security and their kind of some are saying hoarding ammunition.

Jordan: Yep.

Perkins: That's part of the concern is that this is another way for the President to keep Americans from having ammo by having the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies buy it all up.

Jordan: Yep. Too things are happening, you are exactly right, Americans are purchasing a record level of firearms and ammunition. I think it points to just the lack of trust they have in this administration and this administration's attack on our Second Amendment liberties and our Second Amendment rights and Americans are justifiably concerned about that.

Click here to listen to the interview. 

State law requires the Secretary of State to send voter registration data to local election officials within five days. Husted has been sitting on months of data without transferring it to the local Board of Elections. 

This delay is the second time Husted has failed to properly fulfill his duties as Secretary of State-- he made the same mistake during last year's Presidential election, and illustrates a broader scope of his priorities. As Secretary of State, Husted is supposed to be making it easier for people to vote...not more difficult.

State Rep Kathleen Clyde explains that, "Absentee ballots will be rejected because of this mistake. Provisional ballots will be rejected because of ths mistake. Boards of Election workers will have to work overtime because of this mistake. Counties will have to pay to reprint thousands of precinct poll books because of this mistake. Voters and local governments that can least afford it will be paying the price here, and that's unacceptable."

Read the entire story on Plunderbund.  

In response to recent changes in voter ID requirements, universities will typically issue out-of-state students a letter or dorm room utility bill as a proof of residency for voting purposes (provided the student is a citizen, over 18 and has resided in the state for at least 30 days). Under the new proposal, any universities that provide such documents must charge those students in-state tuition. While the bill is masquerading as an attempt to keep college costs down, the true intent is to discourage universities from facilitating voting by effectively ending out-of-state tuition rates for a large swath of the student body.

Ohio State University alone would lose an estimated $115 million a year if this proposal stays in.

News is trickling out of the Statehouse that a new version of it, a so-called "right to work" bill, could be introduced as early as this week.

This is yet another attempt by corporate lobbyists and CEOs to end unions as we know it, so they can tip the power even further away from the middle class. We'll be watching this closely, and you can expect to hear plenty more about this in the coming days.

As the unemployment rate in Central Ohio continues to drop, concentrated poverty in our city has doubled. This is because more and more jobs in Columbus pay very low wages that trap working families in a cycle of poverty. Janitors and security officers-who clean and protect the offices of Motorists Mutual and Columbus's Fortune 1000 companies-are among the thousands of working people in our city who can work full time and still qualify for public assistance programs like food stamps and Medicaid.

Low-wage workers in Columbus have been standing up for living wages, health care and fair treatment on the job. But janitors and security officers have met with resistance and retaliation for their efforts, including at Motorists Insurance, where a Universal security officer was removed and reassigned to a lower-paying job after speaking out about working conditions.

"I'm committed to my job, but it's hard to get by on low wages with no benefits," says Thurman Elliot, a full-time officer employed by Universal Security in Columbus. "My wife is sick, and because I don't have affordable health care for myself or for her through my job, we both have to rely on Medicare."

Service workers and community members are calling on Columbus corporations and the Columbus Partnership to do their part to alleviate poverty in our city and create a more sustainable future by creating good jobs and paying workers fair wages. The Columbus City Council has already expressed support for living wage jobs for service workers in an open letter addressed to Columbus business leaders.

The Ohio Medicaid Expansion Study, a partnership between the Health Policy Institute of Ohio, the Ohio State University, Regional Economic Models Inc., and the Urban Institute, has released a new fact sheet examining the impact of not expanding Medicaid in Ohio.

Among the findings highlighted in the fact sheet are:

• Without an expansion, a substantial number of Ohioans with low incomes, more than 370,000 by 2017, are projected to have no access to subsidized health coverage and will likely be uninsured
• Ohio will lose an estimated $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion in new net savings and revenue that would have been generated from an expansion
• From 2014 to 2022, eliminating Medicaid expansion in Ohio will prevent 23,000 to 28,000 new Ohio jobs in health care and other industries
• From 2014 to 2022, eliminating Medicaid expansion in Ohio will prevent 23,000 to 28,000 new Ohio jobs in health care and other industries

To read the entire study and fact sheet, please click here.

"The days of trying to connect with business leaders through bureaucrats are over," Kasich said during a campaign appearance at a Columbus steel company.

But JobsOhio, the private economic development nonprofit Kasich created in 2011 to replace the Department of Development, is staffed mostly by former ODOD employees and other ex-government workers. Nearly all of those workers also received large raises to leave the public sector, a Dayton Daily News analysis found.

In all, 19 of JobsOhio's 22 full-time employees are former state workers, including seven people who worked for ODOD in 2010 or earlier. All but two of the 22 received raises of at least 15 percent above their state salaries.

Seven of the 19 former state employees joined state government in 2011, Kasich's first year in office. This group included three people with extensive business-related backgrounds: President/CIO John Minor, a former investment banker; managing director David Mustine, a former energy company executive; and managing director Mark Patton, whose experience includes working in marketing and sales for companies such as Apple, Kodak and Procter & Gamble.

JobsOhio staff also includes two Kasich campaign staffers: Mindy McLaughlin, a former campaign scheduler who now works as manager of direct foreign investment for JobsOhio; and former campaign compliance director Thomas Seward, now a JobsOhio project manager.

'Liberated from the bureaucracy'

Officials with Kasich's office and JobsOhio said the non-profit is different from the government agency it replaced from the top-down, even if its staff is comprised of mostly former government employees.

"We hired over people from development who brought great knowledge," said spokeswoman Laura Jones, who received a $20,000 raise to join JobsOhio after a decade in marketing and communications with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. "We've cultivated and grown those skills here with leadership."

Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said, "These people were liberated from the bureaucracy." He credited JobsOhio for the 120,400 new jobs created in Ohio since January 2011.

JobsOhio works better than the department it replaced for two main reasons, Jones said.

One: it is structured differently, and has a singular mission of business development, she said, while ODOD was weighed down by different divisions that had nothing to do with job creation.

And two: JobsOhio is quicker to respond to the needs of businesses, partially because it's not restrained by ethics laws that restrict state employees from accepting or paying for meals, or from traveling to off-site meetings, Jones said.

"I think (JobsOhio) brought flexibility to help cultivate an environment to interact and have relationships with businesses," Jones said.

She acknowledged the raises but said JobsOhio employees work long hours and don't get the state benefits they received in their old jobs. "We took the risk and gave up a lot to come to what is essentially a start-up company," she said.

Brian Rothenberg, executive director of ProgressOhio, a liberal advocacy group that is suing Kasich over JobsOhio, said staffing the non-profit with mostly former state employees undermines Kasich's rationale for creating the nonprofit.

"This confirms what people thought all along... (JobsOhio) was a ploy to take the Department of Development and privatize it to shield it from public scrutiny," Rothenberg said. "The whole ruse is that the governor was complaining about the people he ended up hiring."

Sizable raises

Although initially funded by tax dollars, JobsOhio is exempt from public records laws and required to disclose only what is required under the legislation that created it.

That makes learning about its inner workings difficult. For example, JobsOhio has to disclose its employees' titles and salaries but - according to its interpretation of the law - not their names. When asked, JobsOhio declined to state what the salaries and benefits are for certain individuals.

It is clear even with the limited amount of information made public that most former state employees got sizable raises - averaging around 20 percent - to work for JobsOhio.

Kristi Tanner made the full-year equivalent of $133,000 in her previous job at ODOD, and now makes at least $166,270 as the managing director for JobsOhio. (An actual salary amount couldn't be determined).

Kristina Clouse had a base salary of $86,700 in her final year at ODOD, where she was a regional workforce director and assistant director of strategic business investment. At JobsOhio, she is paid $117,500 a year as project management director.

Sheena Metzger made $51,700 as a program administrator at ODOD. Her new job, site selection manager at JobsOhio, has a salary of $74,700.

McLaughlin and Seward, the former Kasich campaign workers, also received pay increases. McLaughlin, who worked in the governor's office for nine months before switching jobs, had her pay jump from $70,000 to $87,500.

Seward, a former compliance director for the Kasich campaign, made the equivalent of $65,000 annually at the ODOD as "budget special projects coordinator" for six months before receiving at least $81,250 at JobsOhio. Like Tanner, Seward's actual pay couldn't be determined by the amount of records available.

Jones said two years McLaughlin spent working for the U.S. State Department and her two additional years working in the White House before joining Kasich's campaign qualified her to promote Ohio to foreign companies, primarily in Japan and Germany. "She brought with her a good skill set to allow her to grow in that position," Jones said.

Meanwhile, Seward's connections in southwest Ohio have helped JobsOhio connect with companies in that area, Jones said.

Windfall expected

JobsOhio has attracted its share of controversy since 2011.

Critics say a lack of transparency creates the potential for corruption and makes it difficult for the public to evaluate its operations. Last month, after negotiations with the non-profit broke down, Ohio Auditor Dave Yost issued a subpoena for JobsOhio's financial records, including at least $6.9 million in secret private donations, so that he could conduct an audit.

JobsOhio reluctantly turned the records over while maintaining Yost, a Republican, overstepped his authority in seeking access to anything other than the $8.4 million in state grants and fees the nonprofit had received.

Jeff Hoagland, president of the Dayton Development Coalition, a private economic development non-profit, said in a March interview he opposed Yost's attempt to inspect JobsOhio's books.

"All I keep hearing is the public sector needs to act more like private industry. I think this is an example where the state is trying to act like private industry and focus on economic development. But then it's being told potentially told, I need you to act more like a public (agency), which I think slows things down," Hoagland said.

Moving forward, the nonprofit will get its funding - an expected $100 million a year or more - from the sale of bonds backed by profits from the state's monopoly on liquor sales.

Jones said the money will allow JobsOhio to begin awarding its own grants and loans for economic development projects, and fund a state program that pays for the cleanup and redevelopment of commercial and industrial sites.

It is not clear how open the nonprofit's records will remain to government scrutiny. Yost maintains he has authority to audit JobsOhio's books because the liquor proceeds are a public resource. Minor, JobsOhio's president, has asked the legislature to act to limit Yost's authority.

Yost said in a March letter to Ohio legislators that JobsOhio needs to remain under his watch.

"While there have been no indications of misdealing, the potential for self-dealing or other mischief exists sometime in the future," he said. "This office's audit will help protect against the real possibility of human failings."

Some salaries kept a secret

JobsOhio is exempt from public records laws, which makes learning about its inner workings difficult. To research this story, the Dayton Daily News cross-referenced financial disclosure documents, state payroll records, JobsOhio's website, and individual employees' social media profiles. Identifying exact salaries for all employees based on the available records proved impossible because JobsOhio only has to disclose its employees' titles and salaries, and not their names. Employees with identical job titles but different salaries couldn't be differentiated from each other, and JobsOhio declined to offer clarification. Where salaries could not be determined accurately, the newspaper used the more conservative figure.

JobsOhio by the numbers

• 22: Number of full-time JobsOhio employees.
• 13: Number of JobsOhio employees who make more than $100,000 annually.
• $6.9 million: Amount of known private donations to JobsOhio.
• $8.4 million: Taxpayer money received by JobsOhio and subsidiary (since returned).
• 289: Number of development projects JobsOhio referred to state in 2012.
• 20,979: Number of new jobs committed.
• 54,633: Number of retained jobs committed.

Check out the entire story at the Dayton Daily News.

The Dayton Daily News is reporting that 19 of 22 JobsOhio staffers are former state employees, many of which were the same ones presumably responsible for the "black hole" that Kasich said JobsOhio would fix. What's more 20 of the 22 employees have received big pay increases of 15% or more.

ProgressOhio has been skeptical of JobsOhio since day one and is currently challenging the constitutionality of the department in court:

Brian Rothenberg, executive director of ProgressOhio, a liberal advocacy group that is suing Kasich over JobsOhio, said staffing the non-profit with mostly former state employees undermines Kasich's rationale for creating the nonprofit.

"This confirms what people thought all along... (JobsOhio) was a ploy to take the Department of Development and privatize it to shield it from public scrutiny," Rothenberg said. "The whole ruse is that the governor was complaining about the people he ended up hiring."

When asked to defend the changes, a spokesperson for JobsOhio indicated that "JobsOhio is quicker to respond to the needs of businesses, partially because it's not restrained by ethics laws that restrict state employees from accepting or paying for meals...."

Sens. Sherrod Brown and David Vitter introduced legislation Wednesday that aims to end what the markets perceive as an implicit guarantee that the government will rescue big banks if they run into trouble. That implied backing has given firms a green light to engage in risky activities that pose a threat to the financial system, the lawmakers said.

Banking industry groups immediately called the legislation unnecessary, saying that the big banks have taken major steps since the financial crisis to bolster their finances and that any additional requirements would only hinder their ability to lend.

The legislation "presents Wall Street megabanks with a clear choice: Either have enough of your own capital to cover your own losses or downsize until you are no longer a risk to taxpayers," Brown said at a news conference announcing the bill Wednesday.

Brown and Vitter are calling for institutions with more than $500 billion in assets -- JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citibank-- to have capital equal to 15 percent of their assets. Banks with at least $50 billion, such as Fifth Third and BB&T, would have to set aside 8 percent. Community banks, those below the $50 billion threshold, would be exempt because they typically have large reserves, lawmakers said.

The bill also presses banks to use the most dependable form of capital, common equity -- money raised from the sale of common stock and retained from profit.

That is a much stricter standard than the capital proposal of global banking regulators on the Basel committee , who include what is known as risk-weighted assets in their calculations. Risk weighting requires banks to hold more capital against assets deemed risky and less capital against those considered less risky.

"We're focused on truly loss-absorbing capital and moving away from this hyper-complicated, risk-weighted system that is very easy to game," Vitter said. If he and Brown get their way, the United States would not adopt the Basel committee's capital rules.

The lawmakers are tapping into a popular sentiment among regulators and economists who say the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law did not go far enough to end the " too big to fail" problem. The law gave the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. the authority to wind down failed firms and instituted so-called living wills, a blueprint for how banks could be resolved.

Veteran bank regulators, such as FDIC Vice Chairman Thomas Hoenig and Federal Reserve governor Daniel Tarullo, are among those in support of stricter rules to ensure taxpayers are not left on the hook for another bailout.Hoenig wants to outright break up the banks, whereas Tarullo would prefer big banks hold more long-term debt to ward against losses.

Even with those powerful allies, Brown and Vitter may have a difficult time getting their bill through Congress. The chairman of the Senate banking committee, Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), has said regulators should be allowed to finish implementing Dodd-Frank. A committee aide said the chairman looks forward to viewing the details of the bill.

The ranking Republican on the committee, Mike Crapo of Idaho, recently told Bloomberg that regulators, not lawmakers, should set capital standards. On Wednesday, he declined to comment on the bill.

Critics say Brown and Vitter are simply seizing on populist outrage with little regard for the detrimental impact the legislation would have on the financial industry. Increasing capital requirements to the level the bill suggests would significantly reduce the ability of banks to lend to businesses, said Rob Nichols of the Financial Services Forum, a trade group representing the largest banks.

"It would be ill-advised to take any lending capacity out of the economy -- and away from the customers and businesses banks serve -- as it's struggling to get back on its feet," he said. 

For more information on how you can help, please visit the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence.

As a meteorologist for FirstEnergy Corp., Pete Manousos' job is to keep the electric utility informed about any upcoming extreme weather that might cause outages, or hamper repair crews' ability to restore power.

But the last two years, that job has gotten harder and harder.

"You have to consider that part of the issue for FirstEnergy is our geographical footprint has gotten larger over the last decade. There's more exposure to events as a result," Mr. Manousos said.

"That said, for the portions of FirstEnergy that have been impacted since 2011, the frequency of the extreme events have been notable," he added.

Whether the country is embarking on a pattern of annual extreme weather events, or merely going through a temporary phase, is impossible to know, the meteorologist said.

But one segment that has a large financial stake in figuring out if the weather is growing more violent and extreme is the insurance industry.

To be sure, the insurance industry knows more than a thing or two about calculating risk, and the industry has never been healthier financially, according to the New York-based Insurance Information Institute.

However, the increasing frequency of catastrophic weather events over the last three years -- including some that affected Ohio in general and northwest Ohio in particular -- are causing some in the insurance industry to adjust their climate-risk models and consider establishing a new baseline for weather events in the future.

It also is affecting some of the insurance policies that Ohio homeowners are purchasing and causing bigger increases in annual premiums, even though Ohioans continue to pay some of the lowest premiums in the nation for homeowner coverage.

"While many are expecting catastrophe events to return to a more normalized level in 2012, it is questionable what 'normal' is. In addition, it is clear insurers should prepare for the possibility that the event frequency of 2011 may be repeated," A.M. Best Co. stated in a March briefing last year while warning about increasing extreme weather. The firm rates the financial strength of insurance companies and measures their ability to pay claims.

"There is no question the number of national disasters impacting the United States is trending upward, especially over the last 35 years or so. Those are mostly storm events, flooding events. drought, even wildfires," said Robert Hartwig, president and an economist for the insurance institute.

"It's the case that the number of events is increasing and the total cost is increasing and that's going to mean premiums will increase. It's just a reality," he said.

Currently, Ohio homeowners enjoy some of the lowest costs in the nation for HO-3 policies, the most commonly purchased homeowners insurance policy.

As of 2010, the Ohio average of $614 for a homeowners policy was sixth lowest in the United States -- 48 percent lower than the U.S. average of $909. 

From 2004 through 2010, the average annual price increase in Ohio was just under 4 percent.

But in 2011 it rose 6.2 percent to $652, and last year it rose 5 percent to $685. Part of those larger increases relate to weather claims. The question facing Ohio homeowners now is this: How much will rates go up annually in 2013 and beyond if volatile weather increases and insurers are forced to adjust for increased risk?

"Many years ago, it seemed like everybody wanted to write homeowners policies, because that's where the money was, and not write auto coverage. Now, it's a complete reversal," said Ben Brown, vice president in charge of personal and professional insurance at Brooks Insurance Agency, one of Toledo's largest independent insurance brokerages.

"Many are making money on auto and losing money on homeowners policies," he added.

By law, insurers cannot raise premiums to recoup past losses, but they can make premium increases based on potential future risk.

And from 2010-12, there were more storms that resulted in at least $25 million in insured losses in Ohio than there were in the entire previous decade, according to the Ohio Insurance Institute in Columbus.

Between 2010 and 2012, the Buckeye state had at least 12 storms near or over the $25 million loss mark, with preliminary losses totaling $1.1 billion. As claims are settled, losses will be adjusted and are expected to grow.

Among those storms was the F-4 tornado in Wood and Ottawa Counties that hit Lake High School in Millbury in June, 2010. Initial estimates put the losses at just $22.1 million, but in the 2 1/2 years since the storm, insured losses have reached $41.2 million.

The Ohio Insurance Institute measures losses in five-year periods, and the most recent period has been one of the costliest.

Disaster-related insured losses in 2007 through 2011 increased 187 percent and are approaching $2.5 billion. That compares to just $871 million for losses due to catastrophic storms from 2002 through 2006.

According to the institute, the September, 2008, storm in Ohio that was the remnants of Hurricane Ike caused $1.25 billion in damage and now tops the list for the costliest natural disaster in state history. The third-costliest disaster was just last summer when storms raked the state from June 28-July 4 and caused $440 million in damages.

And just as A.M. Best predicted in March a year ago, Ohio suffered nearly $292 million in losses last October when the western edge of Superstorm Sandy sent high winds and rains into northeastern Ohio and cut power to more than 250,000 residents, according to ISO Property Claim Services, an insurance information clearinghouse.

Mr. Brown, of Brooks Insurance Agency, said that over the last few years the increase in extreme weather has prompted changes in the policies that insurance providers write for northwestern Ohio homeowners. "They are developing new tactics. Some of the strategies are also designed to avoid raising premiums," he said.

For example, some newer policies increase deductible limits for damage caused by high winds. "In Ohio, that's something that's brand new," Mr. Brown said.

High winds have been a major source of damage in Ohio of late. Last June and July, a powerful wind storm, known as a derecho, sent gusts of 80 to 100 mph across much of the Buckeye state, coming as far north as Findlay, where it uprooted trees and downed power lines.

Extreme winds also were responsible for storms in March, 2012; April, 2011; September, 2010, the 2010 storm that hit Millbury, and a May, 2010, storm that caused damage in Wood and Sandusky Counties. Combined, those high wind storms caused $228.2 million in damages.

"Wind or even hail claims, the amount insurers are paying is astronomical lately," Mr. Brown said. "If the roofs are older, the damage hail will do on it is an appreciable amount."

In Florida, where high winds and hurricanes are becoming frequent, policies now include a wind mitigation form. It gives policy holders a break in their premiums depending on the type of window glass they use in their homes, whether their roof is bolted down, and the type of wind-resistant construction used to build their house.

"When a home is built with those standards in Florida, they find there's very little damage," Mr. Brown said. "We haven't got to that point in Ohio, but hurricanes are now starting to reach us even up here. In 2008, in 84 of the state's 88 counties, there was damage caused by Hurricane Ike coming up from the Gulf."

Mr. Brown said insurers "are not at a panic stage" over the increasing number of weather-related claims. But given the results for 2012, it wouldn't be uncommon to think some insurers might have lost money or just broke even on the homeowners policies they sold in Ohio, he added.

Last September, Ceres, a Boston-based nonprofit coalition of businesses that advocates for sustainable business practices, issued a report on the growing costs of extreme weather events. It noted that in 2011, property-casualty insurers shouldered a whopping $32 billion in losses due to extreme weather events and indicated that while the 2012 total was lower, extreme weather and associated economic costs were continuing.

The report said the threat was not just from volatile events, like hurricanes and tornadoes, but also extreme heat, which caused last year's severe drought -- affecting both farmers and insurers who provide private crop insurance -- and was responsible for an outbreak of destructive wildfires in the western United States.

Ironically, the report was issued before Superstorm Sandy, which caused an estimated $18.7 billion in damage in the East Coast and inland states, including Ohio.

"Given that weather peril losses have been trending upward for years, due to a combination of higher concentrations of property in vulnerable areas and increasingly more severe and frequent extreme weather events, there is strong reason to believe that 2011 and 2012 are not anomalies," the report warned.

But Karen Clark, an expert in catastrophe risk assessment and management and the president of Karen Clark & Co., a company that helps insurance firms refine their data gathering to better understand catastrophe risk, said that looking at the United States as a whole, it doesn't appear to her that there is a trend of increasing extreme weather events.

Ms. Clark, who founded the first catastrophe-modeling firm, AIR, in 1987, said that from a meteorological point of view storms of much greater intensity occurred in the 1930s, 1960s, and other eras than what we are seeing currently. But what is different now is the increasing amount of developed property in areas frequently exposed to extreme weather events.

The growth of "more expensive targets" -- larger, more elaborate dwellings and businesses -- are driving up insured loss totals, she said.

As the losses mount, the insurance industry has tried hard to develop risk models to predict the number and severity of extreme weather events, but those models have failed miserably, Ms. Clark said.

"At this point we obviously can't control the weather, so we have to assume that an upward trend will continue," said Mr. Hartwig, of the information institute.

In 2011, violent storms caused $15 billion in damages to the non-coastal areas of the United States, the largest losses ever for those geographical regions. "It's also the case that Ohio has seen losses from Sandy and losses from Hurricane Ike. So it seems that Ohio increasingly seems to be at the crossroads of disaster, even though Ohio doesn't really have a coastline other than Lake Erie," Mr. Hartwig said.

However, "People are not helpless against that violent weather," he said. "You can mitigate the cost of, say, hurricanes, with measures like roof tie-downs, stronger windows and doors, and for hail damage with hail-resistant shingles and better roof designs," he said.

To that end, three years ago in South Carolina the insurance industry built a research center akin to the Highway Safety Institute where it can study climactic effects on homes and buildings and learn how certain kinds of events, such as high winds, lead to high insured losses.

"We are learning about things like roof design," Mr. Hartwig said. "Something like this can pay dividends even if there's no change in the weather," he added.

Read more at The Toledo Blade.

The Huffingpost has the story:

"The younger brother could not have applied as he is not 21 years of age and the older brother did not have a license to carry and we have no record of him ever applying," Riviello said.

Under state law, residents under 21 can obtain a firearms ID card that allows them to own shotguns or rifles that hold 10 rounds or less.

Reuters reported that the police in Dartmouth, Mass., where the younger brother was a student, also had no record of gun licenses or ID cards for either brother.

Last week, the Senate voted against expanding and strengthening background checks for firearms purchases. Under current law, people wishing to obtain a gun need to have a background check for certain types of purchases -- such as from a licensed dealer -- but do not have to go through that process for other types of sales.

A background check could have caused problems for Tamerlan. Department of Homeland Security officials decided not to grant him citizenship after what The New York Times called a "routine background check" revealed that FBI officials had interviewed him in 2011, at the request of the Russian government, which was concerned that he had ties to Chechen terrorists. He was also reportedly involved in an episode of domestic violence in 2009 against his girlfriend.

A majority of the Senate supported the legislation to strengthen background checks, but it failed to get the 60 votes needed to move ahead. The vast majority of the American public also backs expanding background checks.

This past weekend, ProgressOhio stood beside a coalition of advocates for responsible gun laws to let Senator Portman and the country know that this fight isn't over. At an organized rally in Fountain Square in Cincinnati, activists and the friends and families of victims gathered to make their voices heard.

Visit ABC 9 to watch the whole story.

This weekend, ProgressOhio's Executive Director Brian Rothenberg took on Matt Mayor of Oppurtunity Ohio on Medicaid expansion in Ohio.

"One, there was no victory because it's 240,000 people that are going to be without insurance over this problem and are still uncovered even after the ACA, or Obamacare, goes into effect. They're caught in this middle section in Ohio...it's a real problem. Secondly, this is only part of the battle and it's only one piece of it. It hasn't been been voted out of the House and it has to go to the Senate and through conference committee. I think Medicaid expansion is going to be back in there. The serverence tax is a victory for oil lobbyists, that's what it is. They bought it because they don't want any kind of tax. The fact of the matter is that I don't like where the governor was putting the money. There needs to be a taxso that people in local governments can take care of problems that are created by this industry. Yes, there's a future for shale and shale oil in Ohio, but there's all kinds of road problems, local government problems, housing problems, crime problems, and most of all environmental problems."

Rothenberg went on to discuss the consequences of taking Medicaid expansion out of the state budget:

"In terms of our lawmakers taking Medicaid expansion out of the budget...I think it's going to change. It's not just hospitals and it's not just the governor. You're talking about churches, you're talking about groups like Ohio Right to Life, on the right, and ProgressOhio agreeing with the governor. How often does that happen? You know this is a very intense thing. These are people's lives that are in the balance, and these hospitals, the reason they're so worried about it, is because some of them could go out of business because these subsidies under ACA and Obamacare go out for uninsured care, and the reason is everybody is going to have coverage."

Check out NBC4 for Part: 1 and Part: 2

Columbus - Senator Charleta B. Tavares (D - Columbus) will soon be introducing the Domestic Workers Act. This bill will require that domestic workers be paid the minimum wage, be paid overtime wages, make certain conduct directed towards them an unlawful discriminatory practice and require a weekly day of rest for domestic workers.

Domestic workers are critical to the US economy. They help families meet many of the most basic physical, emotional, and social needs of the young and the old. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there are 1.5 million domestic workers across the country. New York was the first state to pass the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights in 2010. There is an estimate that this legislation will impact 200,000 people in the state of New York. Illinois and California both introduced similar legislation in 2012.  

"We have hidden workers who are caring for children, preparing meals and cleaning the houses of thousands of Ohioans who are out of sight and out of the protection of basic labor standards. We have a responsibility to ensure they are not abused financially, discriminated against or taken advantaged," stated Senator Tavares.

Originating under the name Filibuster the Filibuster, the No More Names campaign began last week on Wednesday, April 10, when families of gun-violence victims began continuously reading names of those killed as Republican senators threatened to not allow debate or a vote on background checks. It took more than 12 hours to read the names of the more than 3,300 individuals who have been killed by guns since the Newtown shooting. After 12 hours, the demonstration continued and advocates began reading the names again. In total, 10,076 names were read continuously for 32 hours and 40 minutes.  After the first day of action by advocates, the Senate voted 68 to 31 to allow debate on legislation to address gun violence to proceed. Reading paused when the Senate went out of session late Thursday.

When the reading of the names resumes Monday at noon, the first reader will be Eddie Weingart, who as a 2-year saw his mother shot and killed.  Others readers have included Jillian Soto, whose sister Vicki Soto died shielding her students at Sandy Hook Elementary School; Emily Nottingham, the mother of former Rep. Gabby Giffords' (D-AZ) staffer Gabe Zimmerman who was shot and killed in Tucson, Arizona, in the attack on Rep. Giffords life; Steve Barton, survivor of the Aurora, Colorado shooting; and Lori Haas, whose daughter survived the Virginia Tech shooting; Chief Jim Johnson, police chief of Baltimore County, Maryland; and Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-CT), who represents Newtown.

The No More Names campaign is being organized by gun-violence-prevention advocates from the Center for American Progress Action Fund, Americans for Responsible Solutions, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Coalition To Stop Gun Violence, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, chapters of the Million Mom March, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Newtown Action Alliance, Organizing for Action, the PICO National Network, Project to End Gun Violence, Protest Easy Guns, and Sojourners.

Simultaneous with the release, the legislature's research arm released spreadsheets showing how each school district would be affected by the House plan, and reporters, analysts and school officials tried to make sense of it all.

An initial inspection made it look as though fewer school districts would receive reductions in state aid than in the Kasich plan. That would be good news.

But something was wrong. The House's language sounded good, but the dollars weren't there.

A Beacon Journal analysis, Fleeter and others found that at the bottom line, the House was proposing to spend less for education than Kasich.

"They've created a formula that they have not funded," Fleeter said.

Fleeter estimates that the House version spends $114 million less over the biennium than Kasich's original school funding plan.

Former state Rep. Steve Dyer, who helped author the last school funding formula under Gov. Ted Strickland and now is the education policy adviser for Innovation Ohio, estimates the cuts to be even higher: more than $200 million.

And a Beacon Journal analysis, with two separate calculations based on reports provided by the Legislative Service Commission and the House, suggests that the state would spend $82.2 million less on education in the House version than in Kasich's plan.

That means that many of the 225 districts the House said last week were on the "guarantee" and exempt from funding cuts may in fact be losing money in the House version.

Ranking members of the House Finance and Appropriations and Education committees did not return phone calls left throughout the week. The House is expected to vote on the entire budget bill on Thursday, then send it to the Senate for revisions.

Spreadsheets provided by the House suggest that 133 districts could receive less funding in 2014 under the House proposal than they are estimated to receive this year, and 479 would receive more. However, there are so many significant changes in the funding formula and pass-throughs to charter and private schools, it is difficult to discern how accurate those numbers are.

Nonetheless, at Tuesday's introduction of the changes, Committee Chair Rep. Ron Amstutz, R-Wooster, in referring to the governor's roll-out of his own plan, said: "I do have a little piece of good news. There was some confusion on the initial school funding information that went out and I think we've been able to stabilize that in the version that's in front of us now to the point where no districts would be receiving less operating money less year and many of them are receiving more."

"We were able to accomplish this by making some changes in how the formulation and the distribution of the funds is being accomplished," Amstutz said. "And we feel that will be helpful to the districts."

Can't tell winners, losers

In all, 275 school districts, or 45 percent of Ohio schools, would receive cuts totaling $291.6 million in the first year of the House plan.

Canton City, with a high concentration of children in poverty, would lose nearly $6 million, the highest dollar amount of all districts in the five-county Akron-Canton area, but Akron, also with many disadvantaged children, would receive the highest increase, $4.1 million

Twinsburg, Woodridge and Jackson - considered to be "wealthy" because of their high-value industrial and commercial developments - round out the top 10 to be cut. But Green and Lake, also with above-average property valuation and household incomes, would be among the top winners.

The confusion in analyzing the numbers comes from several factors. There were multiple sets of spreadsheets: The governor released budget line items showing spending by each account plus spreadsheets showing the effect on each school district. The House did the same, but neither provided a set of spreadsheets that allowed simple comparison of one with the other or with current school funding.

Kasich, for example, budgeted the same special education program twice in his spreadsheet, in two different accounts, thus making it look as though he was spending $231 million over two years that he was not.

The House removed one of those accounts, making it look as though it cut $231 million, when it was not.

"It's not really a cut, it just eliminated that double-count," Fleeter explained.

What is basic?

Basic aid, also known as base cost funding, was defined in an Ohio Supreme Court ruling in 1997 as the amount needed for a basic education of a child. Additional funding was to be provided for such things as special education, vocational or career training and transportation.

Adjusted for inflation since the court's ruling, the state should be providing $5,883 per child.

However, Kasich proposed reducing basic aid from this year's $5,789 to $5,000.

The House said it was re-instating the $5,789 in current basic aid.

To achieve a real increase in basic aid from $5,000 to $5,789 for 1.76 million children would have required about $1.3 billion in additional funding in just the first year.

However, the bottom line for basic aid actually is reduced in the House budget by playing a shell game with numbers.

First, it moved transportation support into basic aid. Transportation always had been a separate line item that came on top of basic aid. The effect was that about $300 more per child was counted toward the $5,789 that previously had not been part of basic aid.

The House added Career Tech, or vocational aid, to its spreadsheets - something Kasich had excluded, further complicating any comparisons.

The rest of the confusion came from a cap.

By limiting school districts to a change of no more than 6 percent in their funding, about 364 school districts were denied about $901 million that they would have received if the formula were fully funded.

The Beacon Journal's analysis shows that those not getting full funding tend to be among the most needy districts - those with more students living in poverty, lower average property valuations per pupil and slightly larger class sizes. They also tend to have higher percentages of minority children.

"When are you just going to let the formula do its job?" asked Dave Varda, executive director of the Ohio Association of School Business Officials and a former assistant state superintendent.

"Most of those are urban districts, except for Olentangy and Westerville. The major ones, too," Varda said. "They sort of built a formula that would have helped those districts, then they capped it."

He suggested that caps are created to achieve the amount you want to spend.

"You can adjust the caps. It makes it more easy to put money in the system," Varda said.

Other variables

Varda, Fleeter and Dyer say there are other factors that make it difficult to determine how much districts will really receive.

Funding for charter and private schools is also included in district aid. However, there are proposals by both Kasich and the House to adjust funding for charters and voucher programs that could further reduce aid to traditional public school districts.

For example, the House proposes an increase from $5,000 to $5,700 for a voucher to attend a private high school in Cleveland. That amount is deducted from Cleveland schools.

In addition, the House proposes a $5 million set-aside to improve transportation options for children who attend private schools, and also allows charter schools to start up their own bus services. Money for those bus services also would be deducted from the school district.

Meanwhile, one expenditure the House did cut that affected vouchers was an academic evaluation to determine whether the Jon Peterson Scholarship program for autistic students was a worthy expenditure of state money and to evaluate how the program was affecting home school districts.

Wednesday, thousands gathered on the lawn of the US Capitol in Washington DC to demand a path to citizenship for undocumented workers. ProgressOhio, with USAction, along with a coalition of advocacy groups urged lawmakers to make immigration a priority. A bipartisan group of senators is pushing to finish a sweeping immigration bill, with the focus of the legislation being to provide a 10-year path to citizenship for the nearly 11 million people who have overstayed visas or entered the country illegally. The first draft of the bill is over 1,000 pages, but the eight senators drafting the bill have yet to sign off on all the bills provisions.


On Thursday afternoon, more than 2,500 activists, community leaders, and politicians gathered on the steps of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus to demand Medicaid expansion in the state budget. An array of bipartisan groups including Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the Ohio Hospital Association, and Ohio Right to Life voiced their concern that thousands of poor, elderly, and uninsured Ohioans would be left out cold if Governor Kasich's original plan to expand Medicaid wasn't resurrected. Republican leaders in the House stripped the proposed plan earlier this week.

Click for more information on the Immigration Rally in Washington DC, or the Medicaid Expansion Rally in Columbus.

The Toledo Blade has the story-

A bill approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee would expand federal background checks for firearms buyers and impose stiffer penalties for illegal gun trafficking. Both measures are more achievable politically than an assault weapons ban, and probably would be more effective in reducing gun violence. Handguns, not assault weapons, are used in the vast majority of gun homicides.

A bipartisan group of senators appears to agree that background checks need to expand to cover most private sales, including those conducted at gun shows and over the Internet. As many as 40 percent of gun transfers occur privately.

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman could play a pivotal role in determining whether expanded background checks and other measures pass the Senate. He is among senators targeted by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his advocacy group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, in TV ads that promote legislation to reduce gun violence. Senator Portman should take this historic opportunity to help make his state and nation safer, and less likely to suffer the kind of horrific mass murders witnessed at Newtown and Columbine.

Universal background checks would close a gaping hole in the system that allows guns to flow from legal to illegal hands. They would not eliminate illegal purchases, but they would make such transactions more difficult. Even under the current system of background checks, more than 2 million prospective purchasers have been denied.

In the debate on universal background checks, record-keeping requirements for sales continue to be a sticking point. The big question is whether private sellers should conform to the same requirements as licensed firearms dealers to maintain sales records.

Of course they should. Common sense dictates that gun sales should be handled no differently from automobile transactions. Expanded record-keeping would help police trace guns and ensure that private sellers make background checks.

Gun-control and safety laws unquestionably reduce violence. With some of the strictest gun-control laws in Europe, Britain reported 138 gun deaths in 2009. With five times the population, the United States reported nearly 10,000.

To be sure, cultural differences between the countries partly account for the disparity in gun deaths, but stricter gun laws certainly played a part. Americans don't favor the heavy restrictions imposed on British citizens for gun ownership. Still, they are way ahead of their political leaders on this issue.

Unfortunately, the massacre of 20 children - and six educators who were trying to save them - at Sandy Hook Elementary School last December wasn't enough to prod Congress to stand up to the gun lobby and support an assault weapons ban. But politics is the art of the possible.

Inserting an assault weapons ban into the main gun-control bill could have prevented even a debate on the legislation. Now, the Senate must focus on other gun-safety measures.

Universal background checks would mark a real step forward. Americans must keep the pressure on Congress to take that step.

Read the whole story at the Toledo Blade.

Although recently the LGBT community has witnessed great landmarks towards equal rights, the battle is far from over. On Wednesday, May 8, Equality Ohio is hosting the "2013 Lobby Day" aimed at discussing LGBT issues with our legislators and board members.

Registration to the event is free.

Date & Time:

• May 8, 2013 at 10:00 AM

Location:

• Statehouse Atrium, 1 Capitol Square Columbus, OH 43215

Agenda:

• Elyzabeth Holford and Key Legislators Speak
• Lunch (on your own)
• Lobbying and Action Tables
• Reception With Legislators

Please click here to reserve your seat.

The group reportedly spent at least $896,290 in October to run TV commercials critizing Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and President Barack Obama. The ads said the two were harming coal mining jobs through excessive regulation.

Despite attempting to come off as a bi-partisan group, (as the name implies), it is fairly clear that Checks and Balanaces might not care for the checks, balances, or even public disclosure when they faield to report any of this to the Federal Election Commission, according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, and independent ethics watchdog.

CREW has reported that Checks and Balances failure to file independent electioneering activity to the FEC could be subject to criminal penalties.

Read more about the story at the Toledo Blade.

ProgressOhio's Brian Rothenberg is honored to deliver this year's Norman Thomas Memorial Lecture titled: What Is, What Was, and What Will Be: The Progressive Movement in the 21st Century.

Throughout the twentieth century, Norman Thomas advocated for progressive change on issues ranging from civil rights to environmental protection, economic equality and pacifism. Learning from the lessons of what was during Norman Thomas' lifetime, the talk will examine the political realities of what is today, and evaluate what can and will be the future.

Speaker: Brian Rothenberg- Executive Director, ProgressOhio
Date: Friday, April 5, 12 PM - 1 PM

The Ohio State University at Marion
Maynard Hall, Guthery Community Room
Marion, Ohio 43302

For more information about this event, please visit OSU- Marion Events.

Click here to vote for the right-winger you think deserves to go to the next round. Share this on your social network of choice and we will tally the results at the end of each round to see who advances. Be sure to check back at the end of every round of the real-life Basketball tournament to see who advances in March Badness!

Among them is Maria Sanchez, 21, who said her future hinges on what Congress chooses to do. Sanchez said she has already benefited from a temporary work permit that allows her to work for two years, however her dream is to go to college and study Anthropology at The Ohio State University and her undocumented status means she would have to pay the international student tuition rate which is three times what she would normally pay. Higher education, however, is still her dream

Brian Rothenberg of ProgressOhio agreed with Ms. Sanchez and the thousands of undocumented workers living and working in Ohio, saying that from a labor perspective, it is important for both U.S. citizens and undocumented workers that a deal is reached.

"It's not just important for current workers. It's important for immigrants because it's unfair to them to have to work for pennies on the dollar. So there are all these types of things that are going on within this agreement that give this path to citizenship and make America a better place. I think it will be a much more stable place in the work force." Rothenberg said.

Check out the rest of the story and check out the video at NBC 4.

A quick google showed that the man that decided to send us this and eleven other similar, questionable images was in fact the vice mayor of Delaware, Ohio. Wheeler, however, truly outdid himself with this one:

Wheeler also continued the trend of fake Hitler quotes fabricated to gin up opposition to modest gun safety reforms:

The Dispatch contacted Wheeler to find out why a public official would send this to anyone, let alone ProgressOhio, weeks after Ohio Board of Education President Debe Tehrar nearly lost her job for much less:

A photo of a woman baring her midriff to reveal a gun with the caption "properly dressed teacher," a photo of bodies of Holocaust victims, and references to a second American revolution: All were in a pro-firearms email that Delaware Vice Mayor Windell Wheeler forwarded this month from his personal email account.

Now, Wheeler's the one under fire.

The Republican councilman said he thought he was sending the email to people who agreed with his opinions that Congress should not ban assault rifles or otherwise limit the right to own guns.

Wheeler shouldn't be so confident that others agree with his opinions (let alone how he expresses them), as polls have consistently shown over 90% of the public agrees with universal background checks.

Finally, here's the "second American revolution" photo referenced in the Dispatch article:

Join us with community members, lawmakers and advocates at a Medicaid forum in Columbus this Thursday, March 28, 2013. The forum will be focusing on issues surronding extending Medicaid coverage, the potential impacts on Ohio citizens and local businesses, and how it will impact the rising cost of health care in 2014.

Please plan to attend and hear information from the following speakers: Greg Moody, Health Transformation State Director; John McCarthy, Medicaid State Director; John Martin, DODD Director; and John Hannah, Arc of Ohio President.

WHEN: Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
WHERE: Goodwill Columbus- 1331 Edgehill Rd, Columbus, OH 43212

Please RSVP at (614) 583.0329

This even is being hosted by The Arc Ohio, Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities, OPRA, Goodwill Columbus, OACB, Columbus Chamber of Commerce, Human Service Chamber of Franklin County, and the Columbus Center for Human Service Inc.

David Eggert of South Euclid was in Tallmadge with his wife, the Rev. Kristine Eggert of Disciples Christian Church of Cleveland Heights. "Our church is taking a stance against violence and we are looking for a way to get more active," he said.

His wife said recent gun incidents have had a profound effect on her congregation.

"Children in our congregation do not believe us when we say 'you are safe' because they have been on [school] lockdown," she said.

Three recent polls have shown that over 90% of the country supports universal background checks on all gun purchases:

Already, we've seen people with pre-existing conditions enabled, for the first time, to buy affordable insurance. Children with health problems can no longer be turned down for coverage. Small businesses have access to tax credits to get health insurance for their employees. Women have access to preventive care without co-pays, seniors are paying less for prescription medicines and health insurers now must adhere to strict guidelines on the share of your premium dollar that must be used on medical care rather than overhead, salaries and marketing costs.

Starting in October, individuals and small business owners will be able to buy health private insurance in state-based marketplaces or enroll in expanded Medicaid programs. Both will increase access to no-cost preventive care millions.

In 2014, with law in full effect, annual limits on insurance coverage will be eliminated, exclusion of people with pre-existing conditions will be outlawed and tax credits for families and small business will be expanded.  

Despite the good news, the fight to make sure that all Americans benefit from the law isn't over. This week the House passed the 2014 spending plan put forward by GOP Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, the failed GOP vice-presidential nominee in 2012. This extremist budget would repeal Obamacare and end Medicare as we know it. Meanwhile, some states are fighting the Medicaid expansion needed to make the Affordable Care Act work for those most in need.

So even though we celebrate this great anniversary, HCAN will continue the fight to make sure everyone has access to quality, affordable health care. We will fight to ensure that the Obamacare provision guaranteeing no-cost contraception stays on the books. We will resist every House GOP repeal attempt, and oppose every budget item that raises prices for consumers to protect insurance and pharmaceutical companies.

Over the past month as more and more questions have been raised about the secrecy regarding Kasich's semi-privatized development agency, thousands of Ohioans have been left wondering exactly what the governor's aides are so frantic to hide. The panic has come just weeks after State Auditor Dave Yost issued a subpoena to audit the agency, following a systematic "cleaning-out" of several Development employees from the top-down.

Kasich and Yost are both Republicans. So maybe turf is all that's at stake -- or ego. GOP House Speaker William Batchelder, a close Kasich ally, has implied Yost should just shut up and listen to his GOP elders.

For now, Kasich has relented and complied with Yost's subpoena to turn over JobsOhio documents for a state audit. But the quasi-private jobs agency also said it would refund millions in certain public funds it's received -- potentially setting up further tussles. And it's likely that Kasich and his allies, spearheaded by Batchelder, will either try to ram through legislation fencing Yost out or seek a Kasich-friendly plaintiff to sue him.

Yet a state-authorized corporation whose operating funds derive in part from a bond issue underwritten with public dollars needs to be more transparent, not less so.

The administration contends that JobsOhio is a private, nonprofit corporation, albeit authorized by the General Assembly, and that the state liquor monopoly profits used to underwrite bonds and otherwise to help finance JobsOhio don't entitle Yost to audit what they consider the "private" money that JobsOhio spends.

The administration also argues that if Yost fishes in JobsOhio's pond, audits might expose confidential private business data given to JobsOhio in good faith by businesses that seek the corporation's help in bringing jobs to Ohio, scaring off any business that might otherwise invest in Ohio.

But Kasich aides have not cited any instance when such private information leaked from the state Development Department that JobsOhio replaced. Development had its faults; Kasich aides can recite them in their sleep. So if Development (incontestably a public agency, publicly audited) ever leaked, the administration would cite that in its war with Yost. It hasn't.

Finally, state liquor profits are indeed the state's profits. More precisely, they're profits of a business staked by and operated for the people of Ohio.

For 50 years, Ohio judges have cited an open-records maxim that, reworded this way, the Kasich administration ought to heed, rather than dicker with Yost: The rule in Ohio should be that public funds are the people's funds, and that the officials in whose custody that money happens to be are merely trustees for the people.

Read the full story at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Rachel Maddow covers the story:

We talked last week about the effects of sequestration cuts on the military, which have already led to cuts in the Army's Tuition Assistance program, benefiting veterans looking for financial aid to get a college degree. It's not the only military program related to education hurting under the sequester.

On the 10-year anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, and scholarships for children of troops who died fighting in that conflict are being cut by thousands of dollars, thanks to sequestration.

The awards, called the Iraq and Afghanistan War Grants, go to undergraduate students whose moms or dads died "as a result of military service performed in Iraq or Afghanistan after the events of 9/11," according to the Department of Education.

Awards that have already been established are safe, but as of March 1, the dollar amount for each new grant is being reduced by 37.8 percent from what a student would have received last year. That means young adults will receive up to $2,133.81 less if they apply for a grant for the first time this year. 

Remember, all of this is entirely unnecessary. Congress could just turn the sequester off and allow the deficit to shrink on its own. The Iraq and Afghanistan War Grants may have to cut under the damaging policy, but the policy itself doesn't have to happen.

But congressional Republicans see these cuts as a "victory," so they're inclined to leave them alone.

What's more, let's not forget that it's not just military servicemen and women and their families feeling the pinch. It's the Head Start centers who are having to exclude kids, the furloughs for those who help keep Americans' food supply safe, the hardship on low-income Americans who rely on housing assistance, and on and on.

For all of the Beltway assumptions that sequestration was a dud, that President Obama "cried wolf" when he warned of damaging consequences, and that "no one noticed" the effects of the policy, real people are facing real hardship for no good reason. Much of Washington appears to have largely moved on, but for those feeling the pinch, that's not an option.

Read the entire article on The Maddow Blog.

JobsOhio is a public/private entity that was created in the last budget cycle. Two years ago, the testimony regarding JobsOhio was heard in this same subcommittee of finance and appropriations. Since then, JobsOhio has taken over the liquor operation for the state and now houses millions of dollars in public bond profits.

Additionally, JobsOhio has received millions of tax dollars directly from the state budget. Yet, they did not feel compelled to come before this or any other committee to detail what money has come into their budget, nor have they disclosed how this money has been spent. So, as a member of the most appropriate committee to hear such testimony, Driehaus requested that they come in to give an overview of their work. The request was denied. She asked again, and the request was denied for the second time.

In a press release on JobsOhio from Jan. 20, 2011, Gov. Kasich highlighted some of JobsOhio's features including, "A focus on accountability and transparency, which will be an integral part of JobsOhio, from financial records and audits to the names and compensation of all employees."

Representative Driehaus comments on the matter:

"On the contrary, it seems as though, each time we get a little closer to transparency and hearing from someone who can answer questions about JobsOhio and DSA, a new roadblock goes up. We should be able to do our jobs to represent the public's interest by accessing all pertinent information.

Not having JobsOhio testify is troubling for a couple of reasons. First, JobsOhio is a public/private partnership. There are public dollars running through this organization that are supposed to be serving a public purpose. Secondly, the lack of transparency coupled with the refusal to come in to be accountable for the dollars that have been spent raises questions about what they are doing and how they are doing it.

We do not know that anything inappropriate has transpired, nor do we know if public dollars are being wisely spent by JobsOhio - that is a problem. But, the larger problem is that we may never know"

Read the entire Op-Ed at the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The Dispatch has more on the details:

Members of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus met with Gov. John Kasich yesterday, nearly a month after the legislators laid down an "action plan" to advance their agenda.

Turns out, the Kasich administration is taking at least one action the caucus members requested.

After the Ohio Development Services Agency heard feedback from state legislators and minority business owners, it was determined that the Minority Business Office deserves to have its own division instead of being merged with two other offices.

"We were pleased to hear how the Black Caucus action plan brought attention to this issue and how important it is to keep it going," said Rep. Alicia Reece, D-Cincinnati, after meeting with Kasich.

The three offices merged in August 2011 to make a "one-stop shop" under the Business Assistance Office with the Small Business Office and Export Assistance Office.

To restore the Minority Business Office as its own division within the agency is "in the interest of all parties to better meet the needs of the minority business community," said Todd Walker, a spokesman for the agency.

Click here to check out the whole article at The Dispatch.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services survey of households released today shows that Ohio's unemployment rate ticked up slightly in January, from 6.7 percent to 7.0 percent. This is the first increase in the unemployment rate since June 2011, and the largest month-to-month increase since May 2009.   A separate survey, the establishment survey, which provides the job count by surveying firms and generally carries more statistical weight, showed that Ohio added a modest 3,800 jobs in January. In addition, revised numbers issued today by the department show that job growth was weaker than was earlier reported in 2012, and that there has been little growth in last six months.

Today's numbers included revisions based on the department's annual benchmarking using unemployment tax records. Benchmarking helps to improve accuracy and frequently leads to changes in previously-released data. This year's revisions are significant, with every month since the start of the 2007 recession being revised and with revisions extending to January 2000.  

Based on preliminary examination of the revised numbers, Ohio's overall recovery is about the same as previously reported. Ohio has added 135,600 jobs since the official end of the recession in June 2009. The state is still a long way from recovery, and is still down more than 239,000 jobs since that recession began.  

"It appears that job growth slowed in 2012," said Hannah Halbert, workforce researcher with Policy Matters Ohio. "We have to be concerned about the weakness of the recovery."  

Earlier years appear to be stronger than previously reported, and 2012 had weaker growth than previously reported. December 2010 through December 2011 was revised up from 0.7 percent job growth to 1.5 percent while December 2011 through December 2012 was revised downward from 1.8 percent job growth to 0.8 percent.  

The revised data suggests that the slowing trend is continuing, with only 5,600 jobs added since July. The same time period in 2011 showed an increase of 49,300 jobs.  

"Ohio needs investment to move forward, to grow jobs, educate kids, and build strong communities," Halbert said. "The current rate of job growth will leave our state behind."

There are about 107 CPCs throughout the state, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.  The CPCs drastically outnumber the 15 medical clinics that provide abortion services in Ohio.  Some CPCs do supply maternity clothes, baby formula, and other necessities (which NARAL supports).  But according to the Enquirer, "many of the centers present themselves as medical facilities" despite the limited nature of their services.  In fact, "less than 2 percent of the centers provide direct medical care."  Even the ultrasounds provided by 38% of CPCs are misleading - 95% of facilities "did not mention" that these ultrasounds were "for non-diagnostic purposes."

Beyond simply misleading women about the scope of their services, CPCs also misrepresent the medical and emotional results of having an abortion.  The NARAL report states, "47% of CPCs gave misleading information on the connection between mental health problems and abortion...[and] 38% provided false information about the connection between breast cancer, infertility and abortion." 

"No matter how a person feels about abortion, everyone can agree that women should never be misled when seeking information about pregnancy, birth control, abortion, or sexually transmitted infections. Yet it is happening across the state," Jaime Miracle, Policy Director for NARAL Ohio, said in a statement.  "Our investigation makes it clear that crisis pregnancy centers should not be promoted by the State of Ohio or receive taxpayer funding."

None of the CPCs provided referrals or information about contraceptive services beyond natural family planning or abstinence.  "When making a decision about their health women deserve comprehensive, non-judgmental and medically accurate information, so that she can make an informed decision. It's wrong to mislead anyone seeking medical information," said Miracle. 

"Ohio's oil and gas laws need to reflect the seriousness with which we regard both the health of our communities and our environment," said Rep. Hagan. "This legislation serves as warning that we will not sacrifice our safety and well-being for industry profit."

House Bill 93, introduced this week, will stiffen the criminal penalties for violating state oil and gas law relating to the improper disposal, transport and management of brine so the punishment matches federal law. The legislation would also require the state to revoke and deny future permits to any individual or company convicted of illegal dumping.

"Companies that recklessly disregard our environmental laws should not be allowed to continue doing business in the state of Ohio." Rep. Hagan said. "In this instance, the perpetrator had racked up at least 120 violations  across two states, yet somehow was still operating right in our backyard. That can no longer be permitted."

The bill, which will serve as companion legislation to Senate Bill 46 - sponsored by Senators Schiavoni and Larose - elevates the crime to a felony and imposes a minimum sentence of three years in prison and a $10,000 fine for anyone who knowingly violates the law. Additional convictions would carry a six year minimum sentence and a $25,000 fine.

To learn more about the dangers of fracking click here.

According to financial records JobsOhio filed with the state, the nonprofit entity pays president and chief investment officer John Minor $225,000 per year. He is one of four JobsOhio employees who make more than Kasich's annual salary of about $149,000 according to the report filed December 31, obtained by The Dispatch through a public records request on January 29.

The Dispatch reported that half of JobsOhio's 26 employees make at least $100,000 per year.

Read the full article here.

Now that the insurance companies got what they wanted, they are finding it difficult to stick to their end of the deal.  We might do well to consider that the insurance companies are out on bail with regard to their commitments to the new ACA consumer protections, and, it would be a big mistake to release them on their own recognizance.

The Universal Health Care Action Network reported that the insurance companies remain key players in the state insurance marketplaces (aka exchanges), in the insurance markets outside the exchanges, and in the rule-making process that is deciding how (and to what extent) the ACA is implemented. Therefore, we need to make sure we know what the insurance companies are doing at all times.

Moving forward with enrollment in the exchanges and the Medicaid expansion are critically important, but UHCAN urges health care justice advocates to also be vigilant about "watch-dogging" the insurance industry, too. The industry's most recent public relations actions with regard to the age rating band - the ACA's prohibition against charging older people more than three times what they charge younger people - is a perfect illustration of the urgency of the need to watchdog them.

The insurance companies have started using the new term, "rate shock." The insurance companies have thousands of high-paid, full-time employees working every day to undermine health care reform. Our response is the same as it always has been, only we need to step it up now - keep out eyes on what they insurance companies are doing and demand transparency and accountability!

Despite heavy lobbying of the insurance industry and their allies, the Department of Health and Human Services just upheld the age rating band rule, but America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) is tenacious in trying to convince the public that this will mean shockingly high premiums for young people. Here are links to just a couple of the national new stories picking up on the insurer's messaging:

-Insurers: New rules will cause health costs to spike 'overnight', The Hill, Sam Baker (2/22/13)

-Will young adults face 'rate shock' because of the health-care law?, Washington Post, by N.C. Aizeman (2/15/13)

Common Cause Ohio and ProgressOhio are hosting a special screening of Bill Moyer's documentary The United States of ALEC on Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 7:00 PM in the atrium of the Ohio Statehouse located at Broad and High St.

The film will be introduced by Common Cause President Bob Edgar.  Bob served 12 years in the US Congress representing Pennsylvania's Seventh Congressional District. Prior to joining Common Cause in 2007, he was the general secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA for seven years.

A discussion will follow the film.  The panel examining ALEC's impact on Ohio will include Cheryl Johncox of the Buckeye Forest Council, Marian Harris of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence and Bret Thompson of ProgressOhio.

Admission to the showing is free.

The United States of ALEC examines the most influential corporate-funded politicalforce most of America has never heard of - ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. A national consortium of state politicians and powerful corporations, ALEC presents itself as a "nonpartisan public-private partnership". But behind that mantra lies a vast network of corporate lobbying and political action aimed to increase corporate profits at public expense without public knowledge.

In state houses around the country, hundreds of pieces of boilerplate ALEC legislation are proposed or enacted that would, among other things, dilute collective bargaining rights, make it harder for some Americans to vote, and limit corporate liability for harm caused to consumers - each accomplished without the public ever knowing who's behind it.

NBC 4 reports on Saturday's rally against gun violence at the Ohio Statehouse:

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Hundreds of parents rallied in front of Columbus City Hall Saturday to urge lawmakers to toughen local gun laws.

A mothers' group supporting common sense gun laws sponsored the event which was backed by victims of gun violence and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman.

Nate Mueller, a student survivor of the school shooting in Chardon, Ohio, said he wanted to stand for something.

"I think if I would have died, then I would have been just another statistic, but now that I'm still here I can do something about it," he said.

Jodi Sandoval's 14-year-old son, Noah died when he was struck in the chest with a bullet while he and a friend played with an unsecured gun."I cry.  I wail.  I writhe around on by bed. I lament.  I sit in his room and smell his dirty laundry.  I just feel it," she told those at the rally.

Read the whole story here.

• Roughly 26,000 civilian Department of Defense employees will be furloughed About 34,000 fewer students and 100 fewer schools would benefit from federal funding,while the state would lose an estimated $25.1 million in funding for primary andsecondary education Funding for Head Start and Early Head Start will be eliminated for about 2,500 Ohiochildren Ohio will lose approximately $1,786,000 in funding for job search assistance, referral, andplacement, denying critical support to roughly 57,100 people Approximately $823,000 cut from funds that provide meals for seniors

According to the Dayton Daily News, "Republicans say that the White House is painting thebleakest possible scenario about the cuts' impact in order to force their hand." The article citesan appearance on Fox News Sunday by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK, who suggested, "that theObama administration was exaggerating the effects of the cuts." Coburn said, "We see all theseclaims about what a tragedy it's going to be," but suggested that the government had "plenty ofdiscretion" about spending money.
In contrast to the apathy displayed by Sen. Coburn and other Republican lawmakers, manyDemocrats are eager to stave off sequestration. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, a Democratfrom northern Ohio, released a statement calling on Congress to act quickly in order toprevent these cuts. "Our economy is beginning to recover strength, but sequestration is ablunt instrument that is already stifling job creation and acting as a drag on economic growth,"she said. Kaptur, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, argued for a"balanced plan," saying, "This is no time to play politics. I hope when we return to Washington,Republican leadership gets serious and takes action on a balanced plan to avert these damagingand mindless cuts." 

After an opening song by local student Lizzie Shockney, Bishop Thomas A. Burns led the crowd in a prayer. The event MC was State Rep. Tracy Maxwell Heard, a strong supporter of legislation at the state and federal level to address the gun show loophole in Ohio. The leaders of the two sponsoring organizations, Moms Demand Action & Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence (OCAGV) spoke next.

After the Newton tragedy, Indiana mother Shannon Watts started a Facebook group called One Million Moms for Gun Control which has turned into a national organization called Moms Demand Action. Shannon spoke of her journey saying, "I am not a politician. I am a mom from Indiana. I am an accidental activist. Together we will be the voice of reason. We will do everything in our power to make sure Newtown, Aurora, Virginia Tech, Oak Creek, Columbine, that every tragic death from gun violence will be the reason for change in our country."

Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence Executive Director Toby Hoover spoke next saying, "As a survivor of a gun violence victim I am overwhelmed by and grateful for the new support and enthusiasm of families, legislators and especially the victims and survivors of gun violence.  We should all make our children our idols instead of guns and we invite all Ohioans to join us to change this culture."

Speaking next was Mayor Michael Coleman who is the Ohio chairman of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. He spoke about standing for his convictions when the NRA threatened to move their convention over a proposed citywide assault weapons ban he supported. He introduced Congresswoman Joyce Beatty who recently dedicated her first speech in the House of Representatives to the issue of gun violence.

Dr.  Jonathan Groner who is a pediatric trauma surgeon shared the unique perspective of someone who has operated on gunshot victims.  He was followed by former State Rep. Ted Celeste who recounted his past activism on the issue and called for civility in the debate. 

Three survivors of gun violence gave powerful testimony as to how their lives have been impacted. Jodi Sandoval and Deborah Maddox both had children that were shot. Nate Mueller was a student from Chardon that lost classmates during the school shooting there a year ago.

The final speaker was Ben Famous, Regional Representative for Sen. Sherrod Brown, who delivered a personal message from the senator.

Gun violence is the second leading cause of death of children between the ages of 1 and 19 in America, and 30,000 Americans are killed by gun violence every year. President Barack Obama and many advocates have called for Congress to address this issue by requiring background checks on all gun purchases and banning assault weapons and high capacity magazines.

Local media including the Dayton Daily News, The Associated Press, WCPO TV, WLW Radio, Hamilton News Journal and the Middletown Journal all covered the event.

Groups involved included: ProgressOhio, Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center, Cincinnati AFL-CIO, Dayton Miami Valley AFL-CIO, Ohio Working America, Alliance for Retired Americans, Ohio Chapter of the National Committee to Protect Social Security and Medicare, Cincinnati Council on American Islamic Relations, Ohio Nuns on the Bus, Contact Center, GlobalSolutions.org, Cincinnati Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, Health Care for America Now,Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center, Miami Valley Full Employment Council, & National Jobs For All Coalition

My name is Megan Allen. I am the 2010 Florida Teacher of the Year and a National Board Certified Teacher. But I am most proud of being a fifth grade teacher.

I teach at a Title 1 school in Tampa, Florida named Shaw Elementary School. We have about 600 students and more than 90 percent of them qualify for free and reduced-price lunch. I teach two language arts classes and have a total of 36 students. To them, I am Ms. A.

Let me paint a picture, showing you the faces of my students. Let's dive into what it means to be a student at a high-needs school, because today I speak for them.

Of my 36 students, I have 10 with special needs, who work with the support of an exceptional education teacher.  They have disabilities ranging from Emotional Behavioral Disorder to Schizophrenia.

I have two students who are Haitian, whose families show up to every school event dressed in their best, for their dreams and hopes are placed in their children.

I have five students who are English-language learners, receiving daily support from a translator so they can better understand their academics and so I can communicate with their families.

I have two students with arrest records, one who is in a live-in program for troubled youth.

I have four 10 and 11 year-old boys in a special program for our most troubled boys, where they learn manners, wear coats and ties, and learn what it means to be a man.

I have five girls who receive extra support in a lunch group for girls with low self-esteem.

I have two young ladies who receive intense counseling at school, one because she is a rape victim, one because she is a ten-year-old with an ulcer due to anxiety about taking care of her siblings now that her mom has been deported.

Just yesterday morning, I had one of my girls act out and refuse to work. Upon a little prodding and a whole lot of love, she confided in me that she is a victim of violence, crying on my shoulder. Once she had told me, she returned to reading the day's Robert Louis Stevenson poem and interpreting the author's meaning. I don't know how she did that.

I have one student who is checked out of school every Thursday to visit her mother, who is in jail.
I have students who go to bed afraid because of violence in their neighborhood, who look to school as their place to call home. Who go home hungry on the weekends and look forward to two solid meals a day during the school week.

But most of all, I have 36 students who dream. Who have beautiful goals. Who see school as the lever to break the chains of poverty and achieve something amazing in life for themselves and their families. And our school is working to make that happen. Our students are winning county science fairs, making great gains in their student learning, and shining in and out of the classroom. Our students are moving towards greatness.

So, how does that happen? Why is our school successful despite all of these challenges? And how do we help our students with these intense levels of emotional and academic needs?

We use Title 1 funding to provide our students with a lower teacher-to-student ratio, with additional teachers such as math resource teachers, reading coaches, and academic intervention specialists. These supports help lift our kids to their full potential, while helping me and other teachers make sure we are meeting the needs of every child.

We have more social supports so our students can then narrow in and focus on their academics. School psychologists, counselors, Title 1 teachers, and teacher aides work with our students in small groups, providing the care and academic support our students need.

Head Start and solid pre-kindergarten programs are vital to our success. We battle the achievement gap every day, and this academic and social instruction is one of our primary weapons. It is crucial to our students' success.

My students live in poverty and have special needs that federal funding helps meet -- for example, keeping class sizes manageable so teachers can provide individual attention and support. For my students, a low student-to-teacher ratio is a dream lifter and life changer -- essential if they are to realize their full potential. 

To put one more human face on the looming cuts, I would like to tell you about one of my students. But remember that even though I share just his story, there are hundreds like him in my school alone and millions like him all across America.

My story is about a boy named Daniel. He was shy, started the school year with very low self-esteem, but blossomed into a writer I can only describe as "poetic." One day, toward the end of the year, Daniel shuffled up to me after school and said: "Ms. Allen, I have something special for you. It's one of my favorite things."

I knew that Daniel didn't have many material possessions, so I tried to decline the offer. I told him the thought was enough. But Daniel was having none of it. He stuck out a closed fist, slowly opened it, and unveiled ... a rock.
"Ms. A.," he said, "I was thinking. School is my rock. I know I can always hold onto it, that it's always there for me."

That's when I realized the power and importance of education, school, and teachers. Straight from the mouth of a child, the truth hit me like a ton of bricks. School is the rock in this child's life, the one place he knows he can count on. For no matter what instabilities our students have, there is one thing they can depend on: school.

Daniel helped me realize that we are not there as teachers to only help our kids pass a test. That is important, but not our main purpose for this child or for any child. We are there to be the rocks for these children, to be the one stable force in many of their lives. We are there to help them see education as a vehicle to take them far in life, to help ignite a love of learning.

The looming cuts threaten all of that.
 
We may lose the momentum from the successes that our students are building upon due to massive across-the-board cuts -- the "sequester." Those cuts are scheduled to take effect on March 1, just a week and a day from now.  
 
In my school district -- Hillsborough County in Florida -- 142 schools stand to lose $3 million in Title I funding. On top of that, we'll be getting $2 million less for special education -- the equivalent of shifting the entire cost of educating 1,500 students with disabilities from the federal government to Hillsborough County. Programs serving English-language learners -- we have 25,000 -- will be cut as well.
 
The impact will be harshest on students in Title I schools -- like the one I teach in. Students like mine -- my little learners, my Daniel -- are the reason the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed in the first place, back in 1965. As Title I of the law says, the goal is "to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education."
 
Students like mine are the reason the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was passed in the first place, back in 1975. IDEA ensures that children with disabilities have the opportunity to receive a free and appropriate public education, just like other children. It governs early intervention, special education, and related services.
 
In the name of Daniel and the 36 students that I work to nurture and inspire every day, I urge you in the strongest possible terms to stop the sequester. Think of what it would mean to them -- and to millions of students just like them all across America.
 
Some say we cannot afford to keep spending as much on education. I say we cannot afford to spend a cent less. In fact, we should be spending more. We owe it to our youngest dreamers. Our learners. Economic recovery begins in our classrooms. Investing in education is investing in the future of America. The children of today are the leaders of tomorrow -- our living legacy.
 
Thank you for hearing my testimony today.

Mohamud Jama of the Somali Education and Resource Center proclaimed, "America is the best nation in the world and yet was built by the hands of immigrants. This Congress has a unique opportunity to provide a fair pathway to citizenship for today's 11 million undocumented immigrants, so that they can enjoy the full benefits of citizenship that we all enjoy."

The event also served as platform to announce the guiding principles of a new national campaign, the Alliance for Citizenship:

• Secure broadest possible legalization with a path to citizenship
• Preserve and work to advance family reunification
• Protect rights and working conditions for all workers
• Ensure enforcement measures protect American and immigrant workers, advance due process and fair treatment and are consistent with American values
• Accord the responsibilities and rights required for full integration into American society

State Sen. Charleta Tavares spoke about reintroducing her tuition equity bill, with the goal of providing equal higher educational opportunities to children who have been in America most of their lives, by no fault of their own. Sen. Tavares spoke of the wide ranging impact that this law could provide to families, businesses, universities and the economy. She went on to say, "By establishing equal and more affordable educational opportunities, we're welcoming hard working and devoted young people who want be part of this great nation and would like nothing more than to earn a college degree, work hard and contribute as much as the rest of us are able to do."

State Rep. Dan Ramos also spoke in support of Tavares Bill and the Alliance for Citizenship as did John Ramos and Maritza Motino of LULAC and Anab Saed of the Somali Education and Resource Center.

The Press Conference was sponsored by ProgressOhio and the Ohio Organizing Collaborative.

Click the video below to listen to Representative Fudge's remarks:

Mercy Killers, a new heart-felt play by Broadway actor Michael Milligan is coming to a stage near you.

Joe, Mercy Killers protagonist, loves apple pie, Rush Limbaugh, the fourth of July and his wife Jane. He is blue-collar, corn-fed, made in the USA and proud, but when his uninsured wife is diagnosed with cancer his patriotic feelings and passion for the ethos of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are turned upside down. In Mercy Killers, a new one-man play, Joe struggles with the uniquely American experience of losing your health in the land of plenty.

Read what people were raving about at the opening Cleveland performance:

"Michael Milligan is a gifted performer.  The plot has many interwoven themes.   The bankruptcy issue is a big one, but the play also deals with quality of care issues, the conflict between the beliefs we hold and the reality of the life we are living--"

"Mercy Killers opened last night in Cleveland at the Second Stage in Playhouse Square.   There was a full audience for the performance and they even had to set up a few extra chairs. ------ some even moved to tears during the show as they put themselves into the shoes of Joe and his struggles."

"It is a very rich 60 minutes. The most powerful part, however, is how Michael succeeds in making Joe and Jane the central theme and how easily he allows the audience to feel Joe's frustrations, sorrows and tragedies, making this about what happens to living, breathing human beings, not just a story."

Check out the schedule to find your nearest showing:

• Mercy Killers: Dayton: Mon. 18 Feb, 2013 (7:00 pm - 9:00 pm) Montgomery County Democratic HQ - 131 S. Wilkinson St - Dayton, OH  
• Mercy Killers: Fairborn: Tue. 19 Feb, 2013 (7:00 pm - 9:00 pm) Wright State University Student Union - Room 008 the Rathskeller - Fairborn, OH  
• Mercy Killers + SPAN State Council Meeting: Sat. 23 Feb, 2013 (4:30 pm - 6:30 pm)Van Fleet Theater - 549 Franklin Ave. - Columbus, OH, 43215  
• Mercy Killers: Athens: Mon. 25 Feb, 2013 (7:00 pm - 9:00 pm) Arts West - 132 West State St - Athens, OH -  
• Mercy Killers: Shaker Heights: Mon. 4 Mar, 2013 (7:00 pm - 9:00 pm) Shaker Heights Community Building - 3450 Lee Road, Shaker Heights, OH  
• Mercy Killers: Columbus: Wed. 20 Feb thru 10 Mar Van Fleet Theater - 549 Franklin Ave - Columbus, OH

Tickets are free (donations are accepted and encouraged). To reserve your seats click on the links above or visit: http://mercykillerscolumbus.eventbrite.com