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Thursday, July 9, 2009
Fisher garners Teamsters endorsement
Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher Thursday, July 9, nabbed the endorsement of the Ohio Conference of Teamsters. Fisher, a Democrat, is hoping to succeed Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, in the U.S. Senate after Voinovich retires next year.
Fisher earlier this week grabbed the endorsement of the UAW. The Teamsters have more than 75,000 members across the state.
Roger Insprucker, President of the Ohio Conference of Teamsters, said Fisher has stood with the union “in good times and bad.”
Fisher faces Democrat Jennifer Brunner in the primary election for U.S. Senate. Republicans Rob Portman of Cincinnati and Tom Ganley, a northeast Ohio auto dealer, are also running.
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Austria: NASIC awards $600 million contract
The National Air and Space intelligence Center has offered a $600 million contract to three companies to improve the center’s Geospatial Intelligence and Measurement and Signature Intelligence missions, said U.S. Rep. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek Thursday, July 9.
The contract, to be awarded over five years, is going to Ball Aerospace, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman, which all have contractors in the Dayton region. It’s a follow-up to an existing contract for $499 million.
In a statement, Austria said he was happy to see the contract go to the trio of companies.
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Turner to Strickland: Tell VP to lay off NCR stimulus money
It’s safe to say U.S. Rep. Mike Turner is using all avenues to express his displeasure with a Columbus, Ga., request for $5 million to bring NCR manufacturing jobs to that city.
First he and House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester, wrote President Obama to argue that the request would be an inappropriate use of stimulus money. Then, yesterday, he grilled Office of Management and Budget Director Rob Nabors about whether the request was appropriate.
And today, Thursday, July 9, he sent a letter to Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland asking him to urge Vice President Biden to investigate whether whether the stimulus is being used to lure NCR jobs to Georgia. Biden, tasked with overseeing the stimulus expenditures, was in Cincinnati Thursday to check on the status of stimulus dollars.
“Please bring this matter to the attention of the Vice President and ask that he use his oversight role to ensure that such funds not be used as part of the package that shifted jobs from Ohio,” Turner, R-Centerville, wrote to Strickland.
The $5 million Columbus, Ga. is requesting would be used to renovate and buy a building for manufacturing jobs currently being performed in South Carolina.
NCR earlier this year announced it was moving its world headquarters from Dayton to Georgia, and Turner argues any expenditure of stimulus money used to facilitate the consolidation of NCR jobs in Georgia would be dollars used to take jobs from Dayton.
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Ohio’s rainy day fund: Not quite an ITune, but one heck of a chicken taco
The state of Ohio has a mere 89 cents left in its rainy day fund. 89 cents. Three quarters, a dime and three pennies.
That’s all, folks. The fund, the state’s emergency piggy bank account, was drained of about $1 billion to finish off the last fiscal year when tax revenues took a nose dive in the bad economy.
With a fund so puny, you can’t buy a song off iTunes. You can’t buy a cup of joe from Starbucks, a ride on a public bus in Dayton or even anything off the dollar menu at McDonalds.
But let’s focus on the positive.
Here’s what 89 cents will buy you: Two first class stamps, a can of pop (not one of those larger plastic bottles), 1/3 of a gallon of gas, three gumballs, one tampon, one condom (you might have to shop around for this price), a Taco Bell chicken taco or a nano-second of payroll for the state’s 60,000 employees.
You could also buy 89 rides on the penny pony children’s ride at Meijer. That’s quite a bargain.
Eight-nine cents would also buy a 1.7 ounce pack of M&M’s, which contains 55 pieces. That means each piece would have to be shared by 207,273 Ohioans, although some might choose to pass on this sweet opportunity.
- Laura A. Bischoff and Jessica Wehrman
