Charter schools operated by Akron industrialist David L. Brennan paid board members multiple times for attending the same meeting -- as much as $2,125 per session, a state audit discovered.
That "abusive business practice" was among a number of findings by state Auditor Mary Taylor in a review of 19 for-profit charter schools operated by Brennan. They are all in Cuyahoga or Summit counties.
Taylor's audits, released yesterday, also found $2,005 in improper credit-card purchases, widespread bookkeeping errors and lack of documentation to support many expenditures......
*** Kenneth Blackwell's son is in a court fight about his bar exam. Western Star:
Rahshann Blackwell showed up for the July 2005 Ohio Bar exam determined not to repeat the grave mistake he made two years prior.
At the 2003 bar exam, Blackwell — the middle child of politician J. Kenneth Blackwell and Cincinnati Schools Superintendent Rosa Blackwell — wrote in the test booklet after time had been called. He lost credit for that portion and failed the bar for the third time.....
....Blackwell had also been arrested in September 2005 at a Laundromat parking lot in Denver when some Guardian Angels saw him looking into a black cloth bag hanging on a telephone pole. The Angels called police who arrested Blackwell and charged him with disorderly conduct and marijuana possession. The charges were dismissed two months later and Blackwell disclosed this incident in his subsequent bar exam application....
* More on former Republican Congressman Bob Ney from WTOV:
Court documents show the young chief of staff for former Ohio Congressman Bob Ney helped the FBI build its case against the lawmaker.
Will Heaton let agents record his phone calls and taped a 2.5 hour meeting with Ney, who's now serving a federal prison sentence for receiving donations and lavish gifts in exchange for his influence.Ney's 29-year-old aide also leaked documents and worked late into the night and on weekends to avoid arousing suspicion that he was working with the government.Heaton pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy in the scandal and will be sentenced Thursday. He could get up to five years in prison but is asking for no jail time, in part because of how hard he worked to help take down Ney......