Ohio workers to get payouts from $725 AIG settlement

By Anthony Shoemaker | Friday, February 3, 2012, 07:20 PM

By Laura A. Bischoff Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - Insurance giant American International Group Inc. must pay $725 million to settle a securities class action lawsuit led by three Ohio public pension systems. The retirement funds are expected to get a $5.5 million cut in about six months, according to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office.

U.S. District Court Judge Deborah A. Batts of the Southern District of New York approved the latest settlement, which resolves charges that AIG engaged in accounting fraud, bid-rigging and stock price manipulation between October 1999 and April 2005.

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First lady speaks to Obama supporters in Dayton during opening of field office

By Anthony Shoemaker | Thursday, February 2, 2012, 09:31 PM

The Republicans have not picked a presidential nominee yet, but President Barack Obama’s Ohio team opened its Dayton headquarters Thursday night looking ahead to the November election.

The headquarters, at 411 E. Fifth Street in the Historic Oregon District, is the third office the Obama campaign has opened in Ohio. The other offices are in Chillicothe and Shaker Heights near Cleveland.

During the grand opening, first lady Michelle Obama spoke by phone to a room full of volunteers and supporters.

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Upcoming races, voting information

By Anthony Shoemaker | Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 09:24 PM

Upcoming primaries and caucuses

Feb. 4: Nevada caucus.

Feb. 7: Colorado and Minnesota caucuses. Missouri primary.

Feb. 11: Maine caucus.

Feb. 28: Arizona and Michigan primaries.

March 3: Washington caucus.

March 6, Super Tuesday: Ohio, Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia primaries. Alaska, Idaho, North Dakota and Wyoming caucuses.

March 10: Kansas and the U.S. Virgin Islands caucuses.

March 13: Alabama and Mississippi primaries. American Samoa and Hawaii hold caucuses.

March 18: Puerto Rico caucus.

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As 2012 local races heat up, money starts coming in

By Anthony Shoemaker | Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 08:56 PM

By Lynn Hulsey and Mark Gokavi Staff Writers

Republicans far out raised Democrats to bankroll legislative races this year and statewide races three years from now, according to campaign finance reports filed Tuesday.

House Republicans raised $5 million in 2011 and have a war chest of $4.1 million, which is ten times the $410,657 that the House Democrats have on hand. Last year, the Democrats raised $759,000 for the House legislative races.

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Brown, Mandel raising huge amounts in Senate race.

By Anthony Shoemaker | Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 07:24 PM

By Jessica Wehrman Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Between the two of them, Sen. Sherrod Brown and Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel are raising the equivalent of $1 million a month in what promises to be one of the state’s top political races of 2012.

Brown, a Democrat running for a second term in the U.S. Senate, raised nearly $1.6 million last quarter alone and has a little more than $5 million in the bank, according to campaign fundraising information filed Friday.

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State euthanizes Zanesville leopard

By Laura Bischoff | Monday, January 30, 2012, 12:12 PM

A male spotted leopard from the Thompson farm in Zanesville was euthanized Sunday after breaking his neck at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, where it was being held.

A zookeeper was moving the animal between enclosures when the leopard darted back just as a door was being lowered, hitting him in the neck, according to the state Department of Agriculture.

A zoo veterinarian tried unsuccessfully to revive the cat and X-rays showed it had an irreversible spinal cord injury. State Veterinarian Dr. Tony Forshey decided the leopard should be euthanized.

State officials said X-rays showed the leopard had a malformed vertebrae that could have compounded the severity of the injury and had old, improperly healed injuries, including broken bones in his back and tail.

A necropsy will be performed on the animal by the state’s Animal Disease and Diagnostic Laboratory in Reynoldsburg.

The leopard was one of six animals captured and taken to the zoo after Terry Thompson released 56 exotic animals from their cages on his land in Zanesville on Oct. 18.

Ohio lawmakers are expected to debate legislation this year on how ownership of lions, tigers, bears and other wild, dangerous animals should be regulated.

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Bar rates supreme court candidates

By Laura Bischoff | Monday, January 30, 2012, 11:57 AM

The Ohio State Bar Association ranked state Supreme Court Justice Robert R. Cupp as “highly recommended” while giving “recommended” ratings to former Ohio Appeals Court Judge William O’Neill and Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Fanon Rucker.

The ratings are based on legal knowledge and ability, professional competence, judicial temperament, integrity, health, public service and other factors.

Cupp, a Republican, is running for re-election and faces Democratic challengers Rucker and O’Neill.

The bar said remaining candidates for two other seats on the supreme court will be evaluated later.

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County elections board wants electronic poll books to cut costs

By Anthony Shoemaker | Saturday, January 28, 2012, 08:28 PM

By Nancy Bowman Contributing Writer

Miami County’s Board of Elections voted to ask the county commissioners to approve funds to buy 20 electronic poll books with peripherals to use beginning in this fall’s presidential election.

The board agreed unanimously Jan. 19 that it’s time to introduce the electronic poll books in some voting locations across the county. The electronic books eventually will save on election costs because they will require fewer poll workers, elections Director Steve Quillen said.

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Candidate forums planned for Greene County

By Anthony Shoemaker | Saturday, January 28, 2012, 08:26 PM

A candidates forum will be held at Feb. 7 at the Fairborn Senior Center, 325 North Third St.    The forum begins at 7 p.m. and will be moderated by the League of Women Voters, Greater Dayton Areas for candidates running in the March 6 primary election.   

Candidates running for the following positions are being invited to participate: the U.S. Congressional race for the 10th District, the state representative race for the 73rd District, the state Central Committee Representatives and Greene County Commissioners.  

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Marijuana issue may go to ballot

By Laura Bischoff | Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 02:06 PM

The Ohio Ballot Board decided Wednesday that a proposed constitutional amendment concerning medical marijuana is a single issue.

The ruling clears the way for backers to begin collecting the required 385,253 valid voter signatures to make it onto the statewide ballot this fall. The amendment seeks to allow patients to legally use marijuana as a medical therapy.

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