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Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Obama asks Congress for $14 million to bring space shuttle to National Museum of the Air Force
By Jack Torry Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - In a sign that Wright-Patterson Air Force Base may land one of the coveted space shuttles, the White House has asked Congress for $14 million to prepare for the delivery of the orbiter Atlantis to the National Museum of the Air Force.
Although the money needs to be approved by Congress, the request is a strong indication that NASA and the Air Force want to donate one of the three remaining shuttles to the Dayton area.
The budget request is likely to provoke an intense struggle on Capitol Hill as the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida are also seeking an orbiter. The shuttle Discovery has already been promised to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
The addition of the Atlantis would be a huge plus for the region. The Air Force Museum attracts about 1.3 million every year. Officials have suggested that a shuttle could boost that number beyond 2 million.
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TweetKasich to black lawmakers: “The door is open”
Gov. John Kasich got a standing ovation on Tuesday when he was introduced to speak at the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus Foundation’s annual luncheon at the Statehouse.
“The door is open,” said Kasich, a Republican.
In his speech, Kasich urged them to work with him to “take our communities back, one block at a time.”
The governor did not mention recently strained relations with the black lawmakers - all Democrats - after he failed to name a single non-white member in his first 21 cabinet appointments. There 99-member House includes 12 black members and the 33-member Senate includes five black members.
Since then he has appointed Michael Colbert as director of Job and Family Services.
His speech followed a meeting Monday between Kasich and the black lawmakers.
Rep. Roland Winburn, D-Harrison Twp., said Kasich did “all right” in his speech.
Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, called the speech a “starting point.”
“We’ve got a long way to go,” Luckie said.
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TweetMarc Dann faces discipline for misconduct
Former Ohio attorney general Marc Dann is facing disciplinary charges at the Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline after being convicted last year on two ethics charges in Franklin County Municipal Court.
Dann, who is now in private practice in Cleveland, has 20 days to reply to the formal complaint, which was made public this week. A three-member panel will then hold a hearing on the case within 150 days of Dann’s answer.
Dann, a Democrat who has been a lawyer for nearly 24 years, served as attorney general from Jan. 8, 2007 until his resignation May 14, 2008. He was pressured to step down as a sexual harassment scandal and allegations of mismanagement mounted.
Dann was fined $1,000 and sentenced to 500 hours of community service by Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Ted Barrows on May 7, 2010. The ethics charges had to do with providing improper supplemental compensation to two neighbors, Leo Jennings III and Tony Gutierrez, whom Dann hired as top aides in his administration, as well as filing false financial disclosure statements.
Dann was publicly reprimanded in a disciplinary case in March 2004. He could not be reached immediately for comment.
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TweetLawmakers consider banning texting while driving
Motorists who text while driving could be pulled over by police and fined $150, if a bill introduced Tuesday becomes law.
State Rep. Nancy Garland, D-New Albany, who unsuccessfully pushed the idea in the last legislative session, is pushing for the statewide ban.
“A man in central Ohio who was texting while driving was recently indicted for vehicular homicide and assault charges in a crash that killed a teenage driver,” Garland said. “It is time that we recognize texting and driving don’t mix and I am reintroducing this legislation to ensure the safety of everyone using Ohio’s roads.”
The bill would give a six-month grace period to allow for a transition as well as driver education.
Some local governments have already passed bans on texting while driving. Garland said she wants to see a statewide ban rather than a patch work of regulations.
Garland said Americans send 110 billion text messages a month, 10 times the number sent over the same period just three years ago and drivers are 20 times more likely to get in a crash or a near crash if texting or receiving text messages while driving.
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TweetPresident Obama to hold small business forum in Cleveland
President Barack Obama and members of his cabinet will be in Cleveland on Tuesday, Feb. 22, to convene the Future Forum on Small Business, the White House announced Tuesday.
The president will hold the event in association with Cleveland State University and northeast Ohio economic development organizations, JumpStart and NorTech, a press release said.
The forum will provide an opportunity for Obama and his economic team to hear directly from small business owners and others on “how America can continue to grow the economy, put Americans back to work and win the future,” the release said.
The forum follows up on Obama’s State of the Union address in which he spoke of hte need to “out-innovate, out-educate and out-build our competitors,” the release said.
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TweetAG DeWine sues BP over pension fund losses
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine on Monday authorized filing a class action lawsuit against British Petroleum and other defendants, charging that BP was wholly unprepared to prevent and deal with the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010
DeWine represents lead plaintiffs including the Ohio Public Retirement System (OPERS), the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS), the School Employees Retirement System (SERS) and the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund (OP&F).
DeWine represents class leaders along with Thomas DiNapoli, New York comptroller, who represents the New York State Common Retirement Fund.
“In the wake of the BP Deepwater Horizon spill, in addition to the tragic loss of life and environmental damage, pension systems providing retirement benefits for current and future retirees who invested in BP in good faith were adversely affected when stock prices plummeted,” a press release said.
BP had no comment.
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