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Ex-Xenia assistant prosecutor disbarred
04/18/2012

Former Xenia City Assistant Prosecutor Craig W. Saunders on Tuesday was permanently disbarred by the Supreme Court of Ohio for professional misconduct.

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Descendants celebrate only Dayton-bound survivor of Titanic
04/18/2012

It was the early morning hours of April 15, 1912, and the third lifeboat was being lowered from the doomed Titanic barely a third full.

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Man who left dead girlfriend at Caesar Creek pleads guilty
04/18/2012

LEBANON - A Columbus area man was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to killing his girlfriend and dumping her body near Caesar Creek Lake last November.

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Ohio income tax rates are lowest in 30 years
04/18/2012

Taxpayers filing last-minute returns today will be paying the lowest state income tax Ohio has seen in 30 years.

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Franklin man arrested after allegedly firing gun in apartment
04/18/2012

A Franklin man is in jail after reportedly firing two gun shots in his apartment. Around 1 a.m.

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Cognac toast salutes raiders who have died
04/18/2012

The men who unhesitatingly volunteered to fly a surprise bombing attack of Tokyo during World War II gather once a year to reconnect.

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Shooting details still not public
04/18/2012

DAYTON - The discovery of an armed man crouched in the dark between two cars next to a bar entrance sparked a brief foot chase and shooting that seriously wounded the suspect and a Dayton undercover gang detective.

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Two USS Hornet sailors plan to gather at Doolittle Tokyo Raiders reunion
04/18/2012

Allen Josey never met the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, but the former USS Hornet sailor hopes to get his chance 70 years when he and four of the five surviving Doolittle airmen gather this week in Dayton.

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Former Warren County employee accused of stealing $150,000 in Medicaid benefits
04/18/2012

LEBANON - A former Warren County supervisor is accused of stealing more than $150,000 in Medicaid funds, including denying welfare benefits to individuals who were qualified to receive them and granting the same benefits to others who weren’t eligible, the Warren County prosecutor said.

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Vets share worries about defense cuts
04/18/2012

RIVERSIDE -The federal government made a contract with veterans when it promised health care to retired military personnel and shouldn’t erode the benefit, some veterans said in a roundtable today.

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Post offices close at normal times on Tax Day
04/18/2012

DAYTON – Federal tax forms must be postmarked by today, but due to the sharp decline in mailed tax forms, Dayton-area post offices are no longer offering extended hours on tax day.

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Suspect in gunfire in which officer shot has criminal history
04/18/2012

DAYTON - An investigation is continuing into a shooting at a bar early Saturday morning in which a police officer was shot.

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Spike in towing angers ticketed drivers
04/18/2012

The Dayton Police Department ordered the towing of 257 vehicles in the first two weeks of its renewed effort to encourage payment of parking, speeding and red light citations.

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Vandalia to begin widening of N. Dixie
04/18/2012

VANDALIA - That multiphased widening of North Dixie Drive (South Dixie in some places) will ramp up again in Vandalia this summer, probably as early as June, according to City Manager Rob Anderson.

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Dayton leads U.S. in vacant offices, report says
04/18/2012

Dayton has the highest office vacancy rate among the nation’s metropolitan areas, and the portion of its office space that is unoccupied is at least at a 13-year high, according to new data from a real estate research firm.

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Panel to study charges in shooting that left undercover cop wounded
04/18/2012

TROTWOOD - Investigators will present evidence to a panel of prosecutors today who will determine whether to file charges against a suspect who was wounded in a Trotwood shooting that also left a law enforcement officer wounded.

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More distribution jobs sought
04/18/2012

About 1,200 jobs in logistics and distribution have been created in the Dayton area in the last five years, and that was without any concerted effort to get those jobs.

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Tax code remains divisive issue
04/18/2012

WASHINGTON - Just one day before Americans are required to file their federal income-tax returns, the two major political parties are engaged in a divisive debate on the fairness of the tax code, an issue that could decide what is expected to be a close presidential race.

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Redistricting Amendment Is a Go!
04/17/2012

I've been deluged with news about the marriage equality amendment, Freedom to Marry Ohio, moving forward at lightning speed. As I reported last Thursday, the Ohio Ballot Board approved the summary language, and volunteers are hitting the streets, aiming to make the 2013 ballot.

http://www.ohiodailyblog.com/content/ballot-board-gives-marriage-equalit...

Since then, I've learned that one of the reasons for that record speed was that the ballot board was already convening to consider another amendment, one which is near and dear to me: the Voters First Ohio proposal for a nonpartisan districting commission. And that too was approved.

http://votersfirstohio.org/

There's more urgency surrounding this one because this coalition of citizen and good-government groups like the League of Women Voters, Citizen Action Ohio, Progress Ohio and Common Cause/Ohio is aiming for this November's ballot. That's so if it passes, the commission can convene in 2013 and redraw both state legislative and congressional districts for 2014, consigning the abominations that the GOP drew last year to the dustbin of history.

Here is the ballot language, which explains the guidelines the new commission would operate under, which puts citizens and voters ahead of politicians and political parties:
http://votersfirstohio.org/?page_id=399

Voters First Ohio has until July 4 to collect the 385,275 valid signatures. The groups involved are lining up volunteers from among their membership but League of Women Voters coordinator Ann Henkener told me they also plan to hire professional circulators.

Please, get involved. Get a petition. Get your friends and family to sign. We need to do this.

Here's the volunteer page:
https://adobeformscentral.com/?f=xHngDCMfwHntIOJ0Xw-7jg

read more

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Sweater Vest Gone Bye Bye!
04/17/2012

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Plain Dealer Calls Out the Empty Suit
04/17/2012

The Cleveland Plain Dealer loves those Republicans. They strain to endorse the Republican whenever they can, even if it means tying themselves up in knots, as for instance: when they issued their bizarre endorsement of Kasich:

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/10/the_plain_dealer_endo...

They managed to find reason to endorse SB 5 which was crushed in their readership area.

But they just can't seem to find much positive to say about Josh "The Empty Suit" Mandel:

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/04/mandels_inconsistenci...

Well, there is this buried deep down in this editorial:

Josh Mandel is very intelligent, highly personable and a U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran; and, as an Ohio State undergraduate, he was a student government leader.

But that's followed by "despite these gifts ..." And here's how the editorial opens:

The antics of State Treasurer Josh Mandel, a Lyndhurst Republican, continue to set precedents in the annals of Ohio political hypocrisy, which, given Ohio's history, is really saying something.

Uh-oh, Joshie.

It then proceeds to dismantle Mandel for charging former treasurer Kevin Boyce with cronyism, then turning around and hiring a flock of inexperienced, unqualified political pals in top spots in the treasurer's office.

Now I often have harsh things to say about the PD because the paper often exhibits a double standard when it comes to Republicans and Democrats. And it has gone on and on and on about crony hiring in Cuyahoga County government offices, seemingly at times demanding a standard of purity from county officials no politician anywhere adheres to. They ALL hire some loyalists, and in many cases, those people are capable and qualified. And too often, the paper has not exhibited a similar concern about the Republicans in state offices doing the same thing.

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Ohio Democrats Need to Get Serious About the Supreme Court
04/17/2012

Just because I didn’t see the wisdom of dumping an aggressive, if sometimes impervious, state party chairman less than seven months before a crucial election doesn’t mean I approve of everything the Ohio Democratic Party does.

At the top of my list is how it handles — or rather, doesn’t handle — state Supreme Court races. It hasn’t elected a justice to the court since Alice Robie Resnick ran in 2000. Between 2007, when Resnick stepped down, and January 2011, when Governor Strickland appointed Yvette McGee Brown right before leaving office, the Supreme Court was 100% Republican. Good work, ODP.

Now, there are a lot of obstacles. One is corporate special interests — Big This and Big That and, of course, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — who have been buying state Supreme Courts around the country. Look up Massey Coal and the West Virginia Supreme Court for a particularly egregious example. Or just look at how the Chamber spent itself crazy trying to defeat Resnick in 2000, and luckily, failing.

There’s also the fact that judges are not listed by party affiliation, a silly game, since they campaign that way. This leads to more playing of the name game: why do you think the Republican Party has recruited an obscure teabagger named Sharon Kennedy to run against Brown?

Lots needs to change in Supreme Court races, but meanwhile, the ODP needs to get serious. Three seats are up for election, potentially risking Brown’s slot as well.

So it’s pissing me off that I’ve been to a dozen Democratic events recently where someone from the party or one of the campaigns talks about how we have to “re-elect President Obama and Sherrod Brown, take back the Ohio state House, and elect Yvette McGee Brown to the Supreme Court.”

read more

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Redfern not going anywhere.
04/17/2012

Re-elected chair of Ohio Democratic Party.

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AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland hosts ArtCares 2012 on Saturday, April 28th at at MOCA Cleveland
04/12/2012

source: facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/330771850298750/ To purchase tickets, please use this link: https://co.clickandpledge.com/advanced/default.aspx?wid=49955 Since 2003, ArtCares has grown to be the signature event benefiting the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland (and on Facebook). In 2011 we were able to have a record-breaking year with over 600 attendees and $85,000 raised! ArtCares 2012 will be no [...]

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Man, 89, arrested on sex charges
04/11/2012

An 89-year-old Franklin man has been indicted on multiple sex charges involving three females ages 13 and younger, according to Warren County assistant prosecutor Gary Loxley.

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