* I offer my condolences to the family of Mark Losey. Mark was very active in the community and had been a Democratic candidate for Ohio's 15th district in 2006. More recently, Mark served as the coordinator for the Veterans Honor Flights, which took veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit the war memorials.
* Buckeye fans are serving duck this New Year's Day, instead of the traditional pork (Dispatch).
* I wonder which elected officials will catch a ride on lobbyists' private jets to go to the Rose Bowl. Do you remember this little nugget from 2005 from Ohio Citizen:
"When incoming House Speaker Jon Husted needed a way to get to San Antonio on Dec. 29 to represent Ohio at the Alamo Bowl, he asked Tim Day of Dayton-based NCR Corp., if he could help. Day, vice president for NCR government affairs, based in Washington, did. He arranged for Husted, R-Kettering, to travel on the company's Lear 55C, seven-seat corporate jet, to watch Ohio State play Oklahoma State, and to reimburse NCR...Catherine Turcer, legislative director for Ohio Citizen Action, a government watchdog group, said the arrangement should have raised this question for Husted: 'Would they be doing this for me if I were not speaker of the House?'...This is the second time in less than a week that Husted's relationship with lobbyists he also regards as friends has drawn attention," William Hershey, Dayton Daily News...
It appears that Jon Husted likes hanging out and traveling with lobbyists (see Freerepublic).