Today's News.....

The Supreme Court made a decision today that protected the rights of the owners of Hobby Lobby while the health and rights of women got kicked into the trash.

Daily Kos:
The White House reacts to our bold new era of closely held corporate sharia:

"Today's decision jeopardizes the health of women that are employed by these companies," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. He added: "We believe that a company should not be able to assert their views to deny employees federally mandated coverage." [...] "President Obama has said that [women] should be able to make decisions for themselves rather than their bosses deciding for them," he said. "As millions of women know, contraception is often vital to their well-being. We will work with Congress to make sure that any women affected by this decision will still have the same coverage and vital health services as everyone else."

Ladies and gentlemen, please boycott Hobby Lobby, if you haven't yet.

The Republican controlled House of Representatives has done nothing to help women, the jobless, the poor, or solve our immigration policy. It is time to throw the Republican bums out of office!

> Some old dinosaurs have been discovered and Plunderbund has the news of where they can be found!!!!

In case you missed it....

Politico has a very interesting news story:

The chief of staff to Ohio GOP Rep. Steve Stivers has resigned after a former porn actress posted an explicit photo of the aide online.

Adam Kuhn, a longtime Stivers aide, resigned on Tuesday. Kuhn is single, while the actress is married.....

....Kuhn was a key player in Stivers’ campaigns for several election cycles, including serving as campaign manager in 2010, according to media reports. He became Stivers’ deputy chief of staff in January 2011 and was promoted to chief of staff two years later, House payroll disbursement records show, with an annual salary of $130,000.....

Read the rest of the article at Politico.

>>> There is more bad news for Ohio.

  • According to recent ranking from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State, Ohio ranks number 38 in non farm job growth.

  • ODJFS shows the layoffs continue in Ohio.

  • Pothole claims are up in Ohio, according to 10TV.com. Looks like the Kasich administration hasn't done a good job maintaining our roads.

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If you really want to know what is happening in Ohio politics, you MUST read Plunderbund.

It continues...

Claims by Gov. John Kasich of his economic "Ohio miracle" appears to be a figment of his imagination. Certainly the unemployment rate has decreased, but many Ohioans have just dropped
out of the workforce. The layoffs continue to be displayed at ODJFS Current Warn page. Many of those jobs don't come back.

> Gov. John Kasich's budget cuts have proven dangerous to those fighting drug addiction. Kasich's cuts to community drug prevention programs have had serious consequences.

UtahPeoplePost:

....The death toll due to overdose of heroin in Ohio was 680 in 2012, 60 percent more than the previous year.

> Those budget cuts are hitting communities hard.

TodaysPulse:

Local communities and governments in Butler County have lost a combined $6.6 million in taxpayer-backed funding from the state since 2011.

More than $308 million, or 50 percent, has been axed from the local government fund- which means the state is sending that much less in tax dollars back to local townships, villages, cities, counties and parks across Ohio - since Gov. John Kasich took office in 2011.  The drastic cuts were initially proposed under his administration.....

Innovation Ohio points out that "local taxes up 34% under Kasich." 

Local communities and governments in Butler County have lost a combined $6.6 million in taxpayer-backed funding from the state since 2011.
More than $308 million, or 50 percent, has been axed from the local government fund — which means the state is sending that much less in tax dollars back to local townships, villages, cities, counties and parks across Ohio — since Gov. John Kasich took office in 2011. The drastic cuts were initially proposed under his administration.

- See more at: http://www.todayspulse.com/news/news/state-sharing-308m-less-with-local-governments/ngPhq/#sthash.QNwx5XFr.dpuf

Where is our tax money going? Kasich has provided more money to charter schools, and to his super secret JobsOhio development group. Unfortunately, all that money going to corporations to create jobs hasn't produced many jobs.  Someone is making money, and it isn't average Ohioans.

Local communities and governments in Butler County have lost a combined $6.6 million in taxpayer-backed funding from the state since 2011.
More than $308 million, or 50 percent, has been axed from the local government fund — which means the state is sending that much less in tax dollars back to local townships, villages, cities, counties and parks across Ohio — since Gov. John Kasich took office in 2011. The drastic cuts were initially proposed under his administration.

- See more at: http://www.todayspulse.com/news/news/state-sharing-308m-less-with-local-governments/ngPhq/#sthash.QNwx5XFr.dpuf

Local communities and governments in Butler County have lost a combined $6.6 million in taxpayer-backed funding from the state since 2011.
More than $308 million, or 50 percent, has been axed from the local government fund — which means the state is sending that much less in tax dollars back to local townships, villages, cities, counties and parks across Ohio — since Gov. John Kasich took office in 2011. The drastic cuts were initially proposed under his administration.

- See more at: http://www.todayspulse.com/news/news/state-sharing-308m-less-with-local-governments/ngPhq/#sthash.QNwx5XFr.dpuf

Local communities and governments in Butler County have lost a combined $6.6 million in taxpayer-backed funding from the state since 2011.
More than $308 million, or 50 percent, has been axed from the local government fund — which means the state is sending that much less in tax dollars back to local townships, villages, cities, counties and parks across Ohio — since Gov. John Kasich took office in 2011. The drastic cuts were initially proposed under his administration.

- See more at: http://www.todayspulse.com/news/news/state-sharing-308m-less-with-local-governments/ngPhq/#sthash.QNwx5XFr.dpuf

Moving Backwards

Ohio Gov. John Kasich and his Republican pals are moving our state to the past:

• Women have lost rights to control their reproductive systems.

• Schools have lost millions of dollars in support so that the failing charter schools can get more tax dollars.

• Cities, villages, and counties have lost funding for road repairs, fire and police staffing, and administrative support.

• Colleges have lost money from the Kasich budgets because of his bizarre funding plan that has nothing to do with the number of enrolled students.

• Thousands of people have lost food and living support with cuts made by Kasich.

• Physicians, teachers, fire fighters, police officers, and community leaders have seen their security and daily jobs altered by cuts and restrictions imposed by the right wing GOP.

• Kasich and the Republicans pushed and passed a third grade reading guarantee law without any funding going to school districts.

• School districts have had to turn to more school levies because of Kasich's cuts to districts.

• Cuts to green energy rules will cause Ohio to lose even more jobs because of the small-minded, Neanderthals in the Republican Party that want us to return to the past.

Etc., etc., etc.

It is time for progress. Ohio needs to support Ed Fitzgerald for governor. Period.

More Ohio Republican Scandals?

If your Ohio community or school district has deficits popping up, there might be an explanation.

AthensNews:

A representative from the Athens City Schools joined a conference call Thursday criticizing state budget cuts impacting local governments and school districts across Ohio.

Assistant Superintendent Tom Gibbs joined the call organized by One Ohio Now, a coalition of more than 100 progressive advocacy groups, labor unions, and health and human service organizations.

The group recently launched a website at CutsHurtOhio.com that allows users to click a given county and obtain a figure on how much the area has lost in state budget cuts to education and local government....


Check out CutsHurtOhio.com to see how your community is doing.

* * *

>>>> People are talking about the scandal surrounding the staff resignations from the office of Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor. Questions surround the time sheets, attendance, and even the office atmosphere.

Cleveland:

Cuyahoga County executive and Democrat gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald and the state's Republican party sparred on Sunday after FitzGerald called for answers to questions surrounding the resignation of Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor's chief of staff and her assistant.

Taylor's chief of staff, Laura Johnson, and Johnson's administrative assistant, Heather Brandt, both resigned on Friday after Taylor discovered irregularities between their time sheets and key card information that detailed in and out access in offices and a parking garage.

"Governor Kasich needs to demand some answers from his lieutenant governor," FitzGerald's campaign said in a statement....

An article in the Columbus Dispatch has one of the staff members describing Taylor's office as having an "unhealthy hostile work environment." Well! That is very interesting!

How did this all come to the public's attention?   Plunderbund had requested records:

Republican Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor’s chief of staff and her administrative assistant resigned today after a record request from Plunderbund revealed that Laura Johnson and her assistant Heather Brandt had been billing the state for hours they were not working....


...Plunderbund filed the request after receiving a tip that Johnson and Brandt had been stealing state time, working on John Kasich’s reelection campaign while being paid by the state.
Links to the requested records can be found below:
Cards
Garage
Payroll
Timesheets..


 There have been lots of rumors that Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor spends little time in her Columbus office. The state set up a "satellite office" near her home. The problem is that if you are not in your designated office every single day, you have no idea what is happening in that office. If Taylor is not doing her job, which person is overseeing staff and work?
 

>>> The Ben Suarez trial continues with  plenty of questions about how the campaigns of Republicans Rep. Jim Renacci and Ohio Secreatry of State Josh Mandel received such large sums of campaign money from Suarez and his employees. Check the link for details.