DaytonDailyNews.com

Hundreds of school kids visit the Ohio Statehouse every week. Finally, they'll have some cool toys there to check out when watching lawmakers gets too boooooring.

The Statehouse will exhibit 56 Etch A Sketch art pieces by Tim George throughout February. The pieces will feature famous Ohio people and places depicted on Etch A Sketch pads. George learned to "paint" on Etch A Sketch when his daughter was in the hospital.

How the Etch A Sketch works: Static electricity causes plastic beads and an aluminum powder cling to the inside of the Etch A Sketch screen. A stylus moves on two rods. When you turn the dials, one rod moves up and down, the other goes right and left. The moving stylus scrapes off the powder, creating what seem to be black lines. What you're actually seeing is the darkness inside the case. When you shake an Etch A Sketch, the aluminum powder starts clinging to the screen again. A French electrician named Andre Cassagnes came up with a drawing toy that used a joystick and glass and aluminum powder in the 1950s. The Ohio Art Company in Bryan helped Cassagnes perfect it and renamed the toy the Etch A Sketch.

Austria, Wittenberg grad attend State

Among those who packed into the Capitol last week to get a glimpse of President George W. Bush giving his final State of the Union address were state Sen. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, and Wittenberg University graduate Thomas M. Stauffer, now president, CEO and Professor of Management at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Austria, who is running in a four-way primary to replace Rep. David Hobson, R-Springfield, got a seat in the chamber thanks to Hobson, who endorsed him in the Republican primary. Hobson is retiring at the end of this year.

Stauffer, meanwhile, got his spot thanks to first lady Laura Bush, who picked him as one of 26 to sit with her to watch the address.

Turner still bucking for urban issues

Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, has been named vice-chair of the Congressional Urban Caucus. The caucus, chaired by Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa., will bring together members who represent the nation's metropolitan areas.

When the Republicans held the majority of the House, Turner headed the national Saving America's Cities working group, a group appointed by then-Speaker Dennis Hastert to improve economic development in cities.

Goyal now ranking member of group

State Rep. Jay Goyal, D-Mansfield, moved up the food chain last week when he was named ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee. This came the same day he reported carrying forward and raising $153,337 in campaign money last year. Goyal was among the top five House Democrats for campaign cash.

Gov. Ted Strickland said nice things about Goyal in a press release announcing his new status on the ways and means committee: "Jay Goyal is a rising young legislator who is working hard to ensure that his constituents are represented well. This appointment speaks to his effectiveness in serving his residents and the people of Ohio to the best of his ability."

The ways and means committee considers bills on taxes, property foreclosures and other issues.

Etch A Sketches

Hundreds of school kids visit the Ohio Statehouse every week. Finally, they'll have some cool toys there to check out when watching lawmakers gets too boooooring.

The Statehouse will exhibit 56 Etch A Sketch art pieces by Tim George throughout February. The pieces will feature famous Ohio people and places depicted on Etch A Sketch pads. George learned to "paint" on Etch A Sketch when his daughter was in the hospital.

How the Etch A Sketch works: Static electricity causes plastic beads and an aluminum powder cling to the inside of the Etch A Sketch screen. A stylus moves on two rods. When you turn the dials, one rod moves up and down, the other goes right and left. The moving stylus scrapes off the powder, creating what seem to be black lines. What you're actually seeing is the darkness inside the case. When you shake an Etch A Sketch, the aluminum powder starts clinging to the screen again. A French electrician named Andre Cassagnes came up with a drawing toy that used a joystick and glass and aluminum powder in the 1950s. The Ohio Art Company in Bryan helped Cassagnes perfect it and renamed the toy the Etch A Sketch.

Football's still king at Ohio State

It's hard to get away from football at the Ohio State University, even after the Buckeyes lost a national championship game for the second straight year, this time to Louisiana State.

Last week Steve Seleznow, program director for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was in Columbus for an announcement that the foundation was awarding a $12 million grant to the Ohio STEM Learning Network to promote science, technology, engineering and math education.

Seleznow told an audience that included Gov. Ted Strickland, House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, and Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee how he'd always wanted to be introduced:

"Steve Seleznow, defensive tackle from the Ohio State University."

Strickland names two aides

Statehouse veteran Kris Long has a new job with Gov. Ted Strickland: deputy legislative director. That means Long will lobby the Republican-controlled legislature for programs the Democratic governor wants. Long replaces Mike Culp, who left Strickland's office to become a lobbyist in the private sector.

Long has been the governor's policy executive assistant for public safety, criminal justice and the Bureau of Workers' Compensation. She previously served as chief of staff and legislative counsel for the Ohio Senate Democratic Caucus.

Renuka Mayadev gets Long's old executive assistant post. She has served as deputy director of constituent services for the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.