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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2010 > July > 08
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Keep Asian carp out of Lake Erie, Strickland urges Obama
Gov. Ted Strickland and Attorney General Richard Cordray are calling on President Obama to hold a White House Asian Carp Emergency Summit by July 19 and come up with plans to construct a permanent physical barrier by mid-August.
The goal is to keep the destructive Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.
“The threat of an invasive species reaching the Great Lakes is growing by the day, while the window of opportunity to keep Asian carp out of our lakes is closing rapidly,” Strickland said. “There is too much on the line - both ecologically and economically - to continue the ‘study and monitor’ status quo. This is the time for bold, decisive action, which is why we are asking for an aggressive timeline to begin building physical, permanent barriers.”
In December 2009, tests showed evidence of Asian carp in the Chicago Area Waterway System and last month, a live fish was found on the wrong side of the electrical barrier. The Asian carp could devastate Lake Erie’s $10 billion tourism industry and its 114,000 jobs, the Strickland administration said.
Strickland and Cordray said in the letter to Obama that the potential ecological disaster would be akin to what the Gulf Coast states are now fighting with the BP oil spill.
“We cannot stand by and allow that to happen to Ohio, Lake Erie, the Great Lakes or this region of our country. We must take a stand together and fight to save these unparalleled natural resources,” they said.
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TweetHome foreclosure crisis continues
Ohio ranks 9th among the 50 states in troubled mortgages, a report by the Lender Processing Services Inc. shows.
Based on May 2010 figures, 9.5 percent of all mortgages in Ohio are 30 days or more delinquent and another 3.5 percent are in foreclosure. That means, in Ohio, 13 percent of mortgages are non-current compared with 12.4 percent nationwide.
The data prompted housing advocates to call on lawmakers to return to Columbus and pass legislation that addresses foreclosures. Lawmakers went on break before adopting three pending bills that deal with tenant protection reform, mortgage service regulations, court mediation and foreclosure prevention counseling.
Delinquencies hit a high of 10.9 percent in January and tapered off slightly this spring. But the combination of more homeowners entering delinquency and fewer getting current on their payments has housing advocates worried.
“These two trends together mean it’s almost as bad as ever,” said Bill Faith, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. “It does not bode well for stabilization of the market.”
Ohio had nearly 90,000 foreclosures in 2009 and another 70,000 mortgages are in the pipeline for foreclosure, Faith said.
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TweetPortman outraises Fisher
Republican Rob Portman raised $2.65 million in the second quarter and now has $8.8 million in cash-on-hand for his race for U.S. Senate against Democrat Lee Fisher, who raised $1 million and has $1 million on hand.
Portman, a former Congressman, Bush White House budget director and trade representative, said he now has 16,621 individual donors who have contributed to his campaign.
Fisher, who is lieutenant governor, depleted his war chest during his primary campaign against Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.
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TweetHistorical society screws up vote count; Wright Brothers still second
Inventor Thomas Edison still beat out the Wright Brothers in a contest on who should represent Ohio in the National Statuary Hall but the Ohio Historical Society had to revise its vote tally late Wednesday, July 7, after some ballots were inadvertently not counted.
Just 898 votes separate the Wright Brothers from Edison. Out of 46,723 votes cast over three months, Edison had 14,261 voted, the Wright Brothers had 13,363, and track star Jesse Owens had 4,921.
The National Statuary Collection Study Committee will give the public vote great weight when deciding which famous Ohioan should go to the U.S. Capitol. The committee will make its recommendation to the full Legislature.
The new statute, which is expected to be paid for with private donations, will replace former Gov. William Allen, whose pro-slavery, anti-Abraham Lincoln views are now seen as an embarrassment to Ohio. Ohio’s other Statuary Hall representative is President James Garfield. Each state gets two statues and the representatives must be deceased.
The Historical Society, which conducted voting from March 20 to June 12, said it will engage a third party to verify the vote tallies.
Edison was born in Milan, Ohio but moved to Port Huron, Michigan as a young boy and did much of his inventing in New Jersey. He invented the phonograph, motion picture camera and electric light bulb and holds 1,093 U.S. patents.
The Wright Brothers are credited with inventing and building the first successful airplane. Wilbur was born in Indiana; Orville in Dayton. The brothers spent most of their lives in Dayton.
The idea of Edison representing Ohio did not sit well with many Dayton Daily News readers who commented on the news.
One said: “…Edison’s association with Ohio is slight. The Wright Brothers are synonymous with Ohio. The results of this vote should be ignored. It’s an embarrassment!”
Another commented: “First North Carolina steals the Wright brothers for the state quarter, then we get stuck with a statue of a man who did his important work in New Jersey. What next? The U of M selling Woody Hayes T-shirts?”
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