Category: Blade | State government

By Joshua Benton Blade Columbus Bureau Page 3 COLUMBUS — Ohio doesn’t do enough to regulate its factory farms, and the state’s environment suffers as a result, according to a report issued yesterday by a national environmental group. The Natural Resources Defense Council said Ohio and other states regulate the enormous complexes with the same…

By Joshua Benton Blade Columbus Bureau Page 3 COLUMBUS — The Ohio Senate approveda $1.72 billion capital budget yesterday that will provide money for the Fallen Timbers battfield, work on the Valentine theatre and projects at Fort Meigs. It will pay for dozens of community projects around the state. The bill, which lays out bricks-and-mortar…

By James Drew and Joshua Benton Blade Columbus Bureau Page 3 COLUMBUS — A legislative committee yesterday rejected an amendment that would have allowed voters to elect members of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority board, saying the experiment would have created a fifth arm of state government. State Rep. Sally Perz (R., Toledo) urged fellow…

By Joshua Benton Blade Columbus Bureau Page 3 COLUMBUS — The Ohio Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday on whether cellular phone companies should have to follow township zoning laws when they erect communication towers in nonresidential areas. If the high court agrees with an appeals court ruling, local governments would have no say in…

By Joshua Benton Blade Columbus Bureau Page 1 COLUMBUS — The Ohio House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill aimed at telling swimmers when it’s not safe to go into the water at public beaches. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Linda Furney (D., Toledo), requires the state to post signs at all public beaches where…

By Joshua Benton Blade Columbus Bureau Page 4 COLUMBUS — State Sen. Linda Furney (D., Toledo) will be running for the highest nonjudicial post a Democrat will hold in Ohio next year. Ms. Furney yesterday announced her intentions of running for Senate minority leader against the current leader, Sen. Ben Espy (D., Columbus). “I think…

By Joshua Benton Blade Columbus Bureau Page 3 COLUMBUS — Ohio’s next governor will be a woman. No, Bob Taft isn’t hiding something. But a quirk in inauguration scheduling means that Lt. Gov. Nancy Hollister will spend about a week in early January as the state’s chief executive. Here’s the situation: Governor Voinovich, newly elected…

By Joshua Benton Blade Columbus Bureau Page 9 COLUMBUS — John Glenn wasn’t the only Ohioan thinking about taking flight yesterday. On the steps of the Statehouse, a Dayton mortgage banker unveiled the artwork he’s been slaving over for six months and been pushing for more than three years: a new Ohio state seal. The…

By Joshua Benton Blade Columbus Bureau Page 4 COLUMBUS — John Donofrio, the Democratic candidate for state treasurer, has received what may be the most widely circulated endorsement in the nation. Mr. Donofrio, who is running against Republican Joseph Deters, was lauded yesterday by Mary Ellen Withrow, the Treasurer of the United States, whose personal…

By Joshua Benton Blade Columbus Bureau Page 3 COLUMBUS — A legislative committee wants Ohio’s only privately run prison to be run just like the ones the state runs. That way, lawmakers figure, it might do a better job of keeping murderers inside its walls. “There needs to be a greater level of oversight and…