Ohio: Ohio

Of 18 school issues on the statewide ballot, seven were approved, a 39 percent passage rate.
Voters turned down 11 tax requests, including one in South-Western schools.

The results come on the heels of a new two-year state budget which cuts state aid to 60 percent
of Ohio school districts.

Renewal levies those seeking to continue existing taxes fared best yesterday with 4 out of 5
passing statewide.

School levies generally have the lowest passage rates in August elections. This year's 39
percent passage rate was the highest since August 2003 when 48 percent of levies were approved by
voters.

The average passage rate in August elections over the past decade is 34 percent.

I noticed that Lee Fisher's new webad on our front page is a call-to-action on getting additional funding for the Cash-for-Clunkers program.  But it looks like nothing more than phising for potentional voter data for its database.

Sure, it calls for lobbying both of Ohio's current Senators to support the additional $2 billion in funding for the program pending in the U.S. Senate.  But Lee Fisher's, and his supporters', support for Cash for Clunkers is entirely unnecessary.   As the Columbus Dispatch has already reported, both Brown and Voinovich have stated that they'll support the additional funding already.

So, the mission was already accomplished before it even began.

This is nothing more than Fisher feeling the political winds on his finger and taking pitiful grandstanding route to associate himself with the political fad of the moment.

It's cynical and shameless.

Sen. George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, is one Republican who is expressing optimism today that the General Motors bankruptcy could work, even as he expressed disappointment about the news that three Ohio plants will close in Groveport, Ontario and Parma.

"It went up and came back down on the foundation," said Thelma Payne, 85. "That was a very rude awakening."

The same could be said for state lawmakers, environmentalists and oil and gas industry lobbyists, who now refer to the explosion and evacuation of 19 nearby homes in Geauga County as the "Bainbridge incident."

The December 2007 explosion was caused when a cloud of natural gas in the basement ignited. No one was injured. State mining regulators found that gas from an improperly drilled oil and gas well leaked into groundwater and then into area basement water wells.

As a result, state lawmakers plan to advance a bill that would impose new restrictions and higher fees on oil and gas wells.