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U.S. Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio is leaving open the possibility of not running for re-election in 2010. Voinovich, 72, is thinking about the challenging economic situation in Ohio, the direction of the country, and the best interests of his family, said spokesman Chris Paulitz.

First Jeb drops out, then Kit Bond retires, now this. The lifeboats are filling up awfully fast. In other news, I am hearing rumors coming out of Ohio that Senator Voinovich is seriously considering making an announcement next week that he won’t be running for re-election. According to my sources, Rob Portman would likely be the Republican to replace him. This also opens up the GOP gubernatorial nomination for former Republican Congressman John Kasich. It’s just a rumor, but the Quinnipiac poll taken last month wasn’t exactly encouraging.

COLUMBUS, Ohio—The unemployment claims systems in Ohio and at least two other states buckled this week under an onslaught of telephone calls and Web site hits from people who lost their jobs at the end of 2008, officials said Tuesday. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said its telephone hot line generally receives about 7,500 calls a day, but has been getting about 80,000 each of the past two days. The hot line was up and running normally after a crush of callers and technical problems made it difficult to get through beginning Monday, said spokesman Dennis Evans....

COLERAIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- One man was killed after breaking into an apartment in Colerain Township. According to Hamilton County sheriff's deputies, two men broke into the Burgundy Court Apartments on Rocker Drive just before 11 p.m. Tuesday. The homeowner exchanged gunfire with the two men, shooting one of them multiple times, deputies said. He was taken to University Hospital and pronounced dead a short time later. The other man fled on foot. Deputies said they believe he was also shot and may seek medical attention. The homeowner was not injured in the shooting. Anyone with information about the shooting...

(Cleveland) - A Cleveland man is charged with failing to control his dog…which was shot to death while attacking another dog. Darryl Smith was walking his Rottweiler named Noz December 27th in the Cleveland Metroparks Rocky River Reservation. Smith says Noz got off the leash while chasing a rabbit or squirrel. At some point, Noz started to attack a Labrador Retriever named Bella who was being walked by its' owner. Bella’s owner, Jim Keeney of Cleveland, says his dog was bitten in the head and upper shoulder. Keeney told Metropark Rangers that he kicked at the Rottweiler and eventually pulled...

Springfield, Ohio — Police are investigating a weekend shooting of an alleged intruder by a 93-year-old homeowner. Mark Leon Applin, 32, address unknown, was taken by helicopter to Miami Valley Hospital with life-threatening injuries from the shooting that occurred about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 3, according to police reports. The hospital was unable to release information on Applin's condition Monday. According to police reports, officers were dispatched to the 200 block of West Southern Avenue following a report of a man trying to gain entry into a home. When police arrived, a woman was standing outside her home pointing to...

Islamic cleric Salah Sultan appeared on Egypt’s Al-Nas TV last week and delivered a warning of death and destruction for America. Not only did he attack the U.S. for its military support of Israel in its fight against the Hamas terrorist organization, but he vowed retaliation such that more Americans would be killed than those Palestinians (and, presumably, Hamas terrorists) killed in the present conflict in Gaza, emphasizing that this would take place “soon”: America, which gave [Israel] everything it needed in these battles, will suffer economic stagnation, ruin, destruction, and crime, which will surpass what is happening in Gaza....

JACKSON, Ohio (WSAZ) -- Deputies say a bizarre shooting Sunday night involved a 4-year-old wielding a shotgun. The Jackson County, Ohio, Sheriff says some teenagers were babysitting some younger children in a mobile home just outside Jackson. The police report says a 4-year-old got angry after 18-year-old Nathan Beavers stepped on his foot. The reports say the boy then went into a back room, loaded a shell in a 20-gauge shotgun, came out and shot Beavers in the arm. The babysitter was hospitalized, but the injury was not life-threatening. Another teen was also hit with shotgun pellets. The sheriff says...

CLEVELAND - Though the recession is crimping the spending of most Americans, Ohio Democrats plan to live large in the New Year -- at least during this month's four-day inaugural celebration. From elected officials to former office holders to proud volunteers, Ohio Democrats have purchased all of the state party's 150 allotted rooms at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, a historic luxury hotel not far from the White House. Only a handful of Ohio rooms are being held for last-minute VIPs. The price tag for celebrating the election of Democrat Barack Obama rivals the extravagance of the bygone housing boom: A...

As Gaza Fighting Continues, Egyptian Clerics Intensify Antisemitic Statements; Columbus, Ohio Muslim Scholar/Leader Dr. Salah Sultan: Muhammad Said That Judgment Day Will Not Come Until Muslims Fight the Jews and Kill Them; America Will Suffer Destruction Following are excerpts from interviews with several Egyptian clerics, which aired on Al-Nas TV and Al-Rahma TV on December 28 and 29, 2008. One of the clerics, Dr. Salah Sultan, is president of the AmericanCenter for Islamic Research (ACIR), a nonprofit organization registered in Ohio and located in Columbus. On his website, he states that the main purpose of the ACIR is to "serve...

Update on Monday, December 29 PORTSMOUTH, Ohio (WSAZ) -Police continue to investigate leads in the death of a Portsmouth store owner. Fred Rowles body was found in the floor of his office at the Lookin Good Tanning and Hair Salon Sunday morning. No one has been arrested, and police have still not released a cause of death. We're told investigators are at Rowles autopsy in Franklin County, Ohio this morning. Original Story, Sunday, December 28 SCIOTO COUNTY, Ohio (WSAZ) -- Police made an unusual discovery Sunday morning. They were responding to an alarm when they found the body of the...

The cause of gay rights has made enormous progress in the last couple of decades, but the more specific cause of gay marriage continues to be battered. In the same election that voters helped bridge the United States' racial divide by electing the country's first African-American president, voters in California overrode a ruling of that state's Supreme Court and effectively rebanned gay marriage. Reliably Democratic-voting California — home to those much-mocked "San Francisco values" that tolerate gay lifestyles — has now joined 29 other states, including Ohio, banning gay marriage. Protests in reaction to the vote popped up across the...

The path of destruction and fear stretched at least 5 miles yesterday morning after a 24-year-old man rocketed his car the wrong way on the South Outerbelt. The toll: Seven people injured, including the critically injured driver, Altunar Baltazar. Six vehicles crunched, including the smashed Nissan Maxima that witnesses say other cars were lucky to avoid. "He headed right for us," Columbus resident Robert Crawford said. "It was like he was trying to hit us. He had the pedal to the floor. I knew he was going to clip someone quick." Crawford, who was heading east on I-270, said the...

High-profile community activist Art McKoy was arrested Wednesday and is accused of running a major drug-distribution operation from his East Cleveland barbershop. Police confiscated a pound of powder cocaine after searching the Superfly barbershop on Euclid Avenue and a Cleveland home on Brackland Avenue. Officers also arrested Leroy Sheets and Earl Nash, whose ages and addresses were not available. None of the three men was charged with crimes. In addition to powder cocaine, officers bought crack cocaine and heroin in the shop, Mayor Eric Brewer said. The investigation began in February. Police made numerous drug purchases in the barbershop, Police...

Smoking ban to survive this General Assembly intact Though attempts to shoot holes in a smoking ban approved by Ohio voters in 2006 are almost sure to continue, legislative leaders have snuffed out a proposed exemption being pushed during the final days of the lame duck session. Sen. Gary Cates, R-West Chester, proposed attaching an amendment to HB 327, a city health board bill, that would have exempted cigar bars from the smoking ban. But both Senate President Bill M. Harris and House Speaker Jon Husted said Tuesday that they do not support exemptions to the smoking ban so soon...

The Obama campaign and Strickland administration both deny involvement in the "Joe the Plumber" background check, but Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien still is examining Helen Jones-Kelley's phone records to see who she spoke with around the time when her office accessed confidential state records. Jones-Kelley resigned Wednesday as director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. However, she still could face criminal charges for authorizing the improper search of computer databases. The probe into a private citizen's confidential records ignited a furor across the country when it was revealed by The Dispatch. O'Brien said he is reviewing...

Dann faked financial reports, complaint says Thousands diverted to family and aides, inspector general finds Thursday, December 18, 2008 7:27 PM By Darrel Rowland Former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann falsified his campaign finance records to disguise tens of thousands of dollars spent to benefit himself, his wife, children and top campaign staffers, a complaint filed today says. Statements of receipts and expenditures that Dann's campaign filed with the secretary of state "contain incomplete, inaccurate and false information concerning expenditures from the fund for travel, food, beverages, cell phones and other expenditures," Inspector General Thomas P. Charles said in a...

Calling a Con Con is not only wholly unnecessary to the purpose of a balanced federal budget, but will unquestionably result in an outcome as unimaginable to most Americans as it will be lethal to our nation. The American Policy Center became the Con Con proponents' worst nightmare with Wednesday's Sledgehammer. But they will now be expecting our next salvo, so it is imperative we redouble and greatly expand our efforts to again carry the day. Please do all you can to help us in this most important fight. The United States stands at the edge of a great, dark...

OBERLIN — Several members of City Council said Monday night they want to amend a proposal to make Oberlin Ohio’s first “sanctuary city” for illegal immigrants. The issue passed 6-to-1 on the first of three readings, but it could be amended before a final vote."....

Columbus police and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security arrested 15 gang members today, saying they had cast fear over the Latino community. The arrests of 14 men and one woman were made between 3 and 7 p.m. on the North Side. Tamarack Circle and areas around I-71 and Rt. 161 were targeted, officials said. All 15 are in custody at the Franklin County jail and elsewhere, said Cmdr. Jeffrey Blackwell of the Columbus Police Strategic Response Bureau. Their names weren't available late tonight. Everyone arrested today was an illegal immigrant and affiliated with the MS-13 gang, which originated in...

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A man thwarted a home robbery on Thursday morning when he fired gunshots at two armed men who had forced their way into his home. Three adults and three children were inside the home on Azelda Avenue when the men barged in at about 2:30 a.m., 10TV's Tino Ramos reported. Josh Fields said he was awakened when one of the men put a gun to his head. "My life flashed before my eyes," Fields said. Cassey Fields was also sleeping when the men broke down the home's front door, stormed inside and pointed a gun at her....

A public policy organization has issued an urgent alert stating affirmative votes are needed from only two more states before a Constitutional Convention could be assembled in which "today's corrupt politicians and judges" could formally change the U.S. Constitution's "'problematic' provisions to reflect the philosophical and social mores of our contemporary society." "Don't for one second doubt that delegates to a Con Con wouldn't revise the First Amendment into a government-controlled privilege, replace the 2nd Amendment with a 'collective' right to self-defense, and abolish the 4th, 5th, and 10th Amendments, and the rest of the Bill of Rights," said the...

This is the most urgent, most important action alert the American Policy Center has ever issued! The Ohio state legislature is expected to vote as early as Dec. 10th, to call for a Constitutional Convention (Con Con). If Ohio calls for a Con Con only one more state need do so and Congress will have no choice but to convene a Convention, throwing our U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights up for grabs. Ohio's vote today poses a grave threat to the U.S. Constitution. Please immediately call the Ohio lawmakers listed below. ACT FAST - time is of the essence!

Finkbeiner lashes out at recall drive organizersArticle published Monday, December 8, 2008 Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner lashed back at the backers of a recall effort Monday, accusing them of seeking to gain more power and wealth, but of not having Toledo's best interests at heart. The mayor said most of the people involved in Take Back Toledo are not Toledo residents. **SNIP** Mr. Finkbeiner accused WSPD-AM, 1370, of violating the Fairness Doctrine in not allowing him to respond to what he said were "vicious, one-sided diatribes" over the last three years, and said he would ask Congress to investigate WSPD....

The Detroit police department has announced they will be burning tens of thousands of dollars in cash which was confiscated in 2008. Ok, that's not entirely accurate, but it might as well be. Would it make sense to destroy cash confiscated as a result of criminal investigations? Then why are they so proud of the fact that they are destroying more than 500 confiscated firearms this week, part of a total of nearly 4,000 destroyed for the year? Ok, so these were guns that were illegally owned. Big deal. If they are in working order, sell them! In the previous...

The Senate Judiciary on Criminal Justice Committee, chaired by Sen. Tim Grendell (R-18), will hear proponent, opponent and interested party testimony on Rep. Bruce Goodwin's HB450, legislation that would restore gun rights to members of the armed services or the Ohio National Guard who are between the ages of 18 and 21, on Wednesday, December 10 at 9:00 a.m. in the Senate Building's North Hearing Room (a tentative hearing has also been planned for the same time and location on Dec. 11, if needed). The Chairman has indicated that a substitute bill may be offered, and that the bill may...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court on Friday threw out about 1,000 provisional ballots that had been improperly filled out by voters in a tight congressional race. In a 4-2 decision, the court struck down Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's directive that said the votes should be counted. Voters had improperly filled out the outer envelope on the disputed ballots, which had been among about 27,000 left to be counted in the undecided 15th district congressional race between Republican Steve Stivers and Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy. The decision allows Franklin County voting officials to count the other remaining...

The state worker who unwittingly ran an improper child-support check on the man known as Joe the Plumber told lawmakers yesterday that a deputy director later "dictated" how she was supposed to cover it up. Vanessa Niekamp, an administrator for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services' Office of Child Support and a 15-year state employee, said that when Deputy Director Doug Thompson came into her office, "He appeared very upset, his neck was bright red, and he was shaking. He closed my door." Thompson told her she must write an e-mail to the agency's information-security officer, and then...

A few weeks ago, Ohio's Inspector General released a report saying that the investigation of Joe the Plumber by Bureaucrat Helen Jones-Kelley was improper. Now here's the weird part, while the Inspector General said the actions were improper, the same report said that he wasn't sure if her reasons were political. HUH? Why do you thing she did it...she had a leaky sink? Now we find proof that it was a conspiracy. Vanessa Niekamp works in the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services' Office of Child Support describes how she was forced by her boss to write a cover-up...

GALLIPOLIS, Ohio (WSAZ) -- Deputies in Gallia County are investigating a home invasion where one of the suspects was shot. The sheriff’s office says it happened shortly after midnight on Clay Lick Road. They say that after the suspects broke into the home, they brandished a weapon at the homeowner. Investigators say the homeowner was able to get a shotgun and shoot one of the suspects in the shoulder. Both suspects were able to flee the scene. Investigators say a short time later; the sheriff’s office got a call form Holzer Medical Center that a man had been dropped off...

Faith Ferkel has found a universal concern among Ohio women who want to use firearms to protect themselves. Many of the women who would like to obtain a concealed weapon permit are intimidated by the thought of taking the state's mandatory Basic Pistol course with a room full of men. The NRA certified instructor from Fremont, Ohio, came up with a simple solution when she teamed up with her mother to teach all-ladies pistol courses. Faith and her mom, Joy Ferkel, an adjunct instructor of English and Communications at a local community college, have sparked an idea that is bringing...

CLEVELAND (AP) — A financially ailing Ohio school district has joined the ranks of banks and automakers clamoring for a portion of the $700 billion economic bailout package. Olmsted Falls Superintendent Todd Hoadley said Tuesday that if automakers and big U.S. cities can ask for federal bailout money, schools should be able to follow suit. "I feel a moral obligation to our taxpayers to make this attempt," said Hoadley, who requested $100 million from the Treasury Department last week. "This is a legitimate request. I'll be frankly disappointed if something positive doesn't come out of this."

Nine things the police in Columbus, Ohio, need to know being taught the police in Columbus, Ohio by members of CAIR] covered included the basic beliefs and practices of Islam, practical advice to help future law enforcement personnel develop cultural competency when interacting with the Muslim community." -- from this article What the police force in Columbus, Ohio and all over the country need to be taught is this: 1. They need to know what the texts of Islam -- Qur'an and Hadith and Sira -- inculcate in Believers about non-Muslims, and in particular, about the central notion that Islam,...

This gets filed under "Just What the Hell are these people thinking?" The Police department in Columbus Ohio are doing some diversity training called “Islam and Muslims: What Law Enforcement Personnel Should Know” Even if you believe that is a noble gesture, who they used to TEACH the course is just DUMB. The Columbus Police is using CAIR. CAIR was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Terror trial case and one key piece of evidence was the Wiretap evidence heard in the case put CAIR's executive director, Nihad Awad, at a Philadelphia meeting of Hamas leaders secretly recorded by...

With a new president who takes office in January 2009 and the thoughts of possible changes in firearms laws, local firearms dealers have noticed an increase in the sales of weapons usually large caliber and military assault-styled weapons. Fears of a change in the law were evident across the country after the election of Barack Obama who, according to reports, will not attempt to make drastic changes in gun laws. Warren Duncan of Volunteer Ordinance Works said a rumor mill and the "great conspiracy theory" which had fed the increase in sales has been generated at gun shows and relates...

A home invasion has been repelled. And guess by whom: A break-in at an Ashtabula home forced a teen to open fire, and a man accused of breaking in is recovering after being shot. The suspect was shot by a teen who was home alone with his brother and police said the young man did the right thing. Now hold the phone a dang minute here. What happened to all that "expert" advice we're being fed? What happened to keeping the gun separated from the ammunition and separately locked away? For that matter, if we're to believe these same experts,...

11/14/2008 6:52:00 PM The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio recently called on Gov. Ted Strickland and other officials to enact regulations protecting private information kept in state databases. The ACLU first pressed for reform after it was revealed officials at Ohio’s Department of Job & Family Services conducted a search of private information on Joseph Wurzelbacher, also known as “Joe the Plumber,” and that such searches of those in news headlines were common protocol for the office. News reports indicate nearly half a dozen other state agencies conducted searches on Wurzelbacher’s information without due cause. “It is appalling that...

27,000 county ballots on hold Federal judge or Brunner to decide which to count Saturday, November 15, 2008 3:26 AM By Barbara Carmen and Mark Niquette THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH More than 27,000 provisional ballots, needed to call the closest congressional race in the country, will wait for either a court ruling today or a tiebreaker vote Tuesday from Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. The Franklin County Board of Elections split along party lines in a stalemate last night that will temporarily delay counting those provisional ballots. But the board still expects to reveal and certify the official election results on...

Joe the Plumber case still dripping -- Half-dozen agencies access records of Ohio man By Dennis J. Willard, Akron Beacon Journal staff writer Published on Friday, Nov 14, 2008 The election is over, but the Joe the Plumber case is not. Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles said his office is now looking at a half-dozen agencies that accessed state records on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher. The Beacon Journal has learned that, in addition to the Department of Job and Family Services, two other state offices — the Ohio Department of Taxation and Ohio Attorney General Nancy Rogers — conducted database searches...

Voters in Toledo and Chillicothe, Ohio now want the chance to ban red light cameras. Following this week's successful voter referendum banning photo enforcement in Cincinnati, residents in two more Ohio cities are looking to oust red light cameras and speed cameras. The sponsors of the Cincinnati initiativeare now exploring the possibility of putting ticket cameras on the ballot in Toledo. In Chillicothe, more than 17 percent of the city's 13,000 registered voters has already signed a growing online petition demanding camera removal (view petition). "The undersigned will take action to elect new city council members therefore removing all those...

Barack Obama’s “Auntie Zeituni” plans to fight a deportation order so that she can stay in the United States, according to her lawyer. Zeituni Onyango, who is affectionately described in Mr Obama’s autobiography Dreams from My Father, was found by The Times last week living in a South Boston council flat. She is now staying with a clergyman cousin in Cleveland, Ohio, but Mr Obama has not made contact with her since the story broke, Mike Rogers, her spokesman, said yesterday. Ms Onyango, 56, the half-sister of Mr Obama’s father, is recalled in his bestselling memoir as the first Kenyan...

Gov. Ted Strickland has placed the director of the Department of Job and Family Services on paid leave for possibly using a state computer and e-mail account for political fund raising. The governor took the action against Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the state agency, late this afternoon. Strickland said he asked Inspector General Thomas P. Charles to investigate the matter. He named Jan Allen, secretary of his cabinet, to serve as acting director of Job and Family Services. The Dispatch filed a public-records request last week that requested any Jones-Kelley e-mails that mentioned Democrat Barack Obama, who won election as...

Payday lender and pawn shop operator Cash America International Inc. said Wednesday it will to close about one-third of its Ohio lending locations in the next few months, after voters in the state chose to maintain new payday loan restrictions. Voters Tuesday approved a new payday lending law that cuts the annual percentage rate that lenders can charge to 28 percent and limits the number of loans customers can take out to four per year. It is among the strictest laws in the country. Its backers say cash advances are defective products that trap borrowers into a cycle of debt....

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat under fire from Republicans for her handling of the presidential election, says things turned out just fine at the polls. She made the comments on Thursday, Nov. 6, in an e-mail from her campaign committee - she’s expected to seek re-election in 2010 - not from the secretary of state’s office. Without naming her predecessor, she also criticized outgoing Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. “With a dedicated and talented team, hard working boards of elections and the help of many others who care deeply about democracy, Ohio has turned the corner...

COLUMBUS: Ohio's 2008 presidential election was memorable for what it wasn't: controversial, plagued by problems, record-setting, crucial to winning the White House. After partisan bickering that set the stage for controversy, and the persistent memories of failures in 2004, the 2008 presidential election was extremely quiet in Ohio on Tuesday with few problems reported. However, despite balmy weather with temperatures in the 70s, turnout looked likely to fall significantly below the 80 percent mark that had been projected. There was a chance it had not even hit the 72 percent mark reached in 2004, which set a record in Ohio...

Bombs away! No free gas or mortgage for you!

Two weeks ago, if I had told you that deep red precincts would turn out at record levels, you would have thought that John McCain would not only win, but that he might win by a comfortable margin. Well, didn't happen. The "turnout model" of politics is officially dead---the one that says if you get "your people" to the polls, you win. The trouble is, they have to really be "your people." I went downtown to count votes at 7:00. Our whole team thought not only had we won Dayton, but OH, and probably---with turnout rates like that---indicated McCain would...

I am not sure what is going on but the Ohio Secretary of State website is showing McCain slightly ahead with 18.5% of precincts reporting. The SoS is in charge of the vote counts. Now, all the networks are showing the same results for Ohio - Obama up by about 9% with 16% of precincts reporting. How can this be? Are the networks getting a different vote count feed? Also, the vote totals on the SoS website are lower than the networks but the precinct percentage is about the same. Maybe explainable and Obama ends up getting Ohio but I...

Interesting discussion of how Ms Brunner structured the touch screens in Northern Ohio. We have to get rid of this bag! Includes pictures of the actual computer screens.

I'll be posting results and analysis on this thread as the Ohio returns come in. There are a couple of wild cards in play this year. First, our new early voting period means that some early results will be skewed, as it appears that a significant proportion of Democrats, especially African Americans, voted early. This will give an advantage to Democrats in the early numbers. Secondly, a significant number of ACORN registrations were determined to be invalid (like 1/3) and so many of those registratnts, if the vote, will be give provisional ballots. These ballots will only be counted if...