You did it. Those state park parking fees have been removed. Outcry from the ”�“community-at-large”? led the issue to be discussed in the House Republican Caucus yesterday and they decided by a wide consensus to remove the parking fees before they even go into affect. The nearly $8 million the fees were estimated to generate will be covered by department cuts and transferred spending from other programs in the Department of Natural Resources. Greater Cleveland Senator Tim Grendell, who you may remember because he was removed from the original committee that implemented these fees because of his ”�“strenuous objection”? to them, says he feels vindicated in his fight at the committee level.

To read the Plain Dealer's article on this, please click HERE.

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In the panel discussion on jobs in NE Ohio the other day there was little talk about casinos or gambling. However, there was allot of discussion on the topic of workforce development and education. Even the business representative on the panel, AJ Hyland, President of Hyland Software (Ohio’s largest software company and one of the fastest expanding companies in NE Ohio), when asked to fill in the blank in this statement: “In five years I want Cleveland to be known as the ‘BLANK’ city”, said that Cleveland needs to be known as the “Education City”. Read all about the panel discussion in the Crains Cleveland Business article on this meeting by clicking HERE.

Good ol’ Frank Russo is single handily ruining the county’s finances, the NewsNet 5 investigation has uncovered even more homes that were not being billed for property taxes. Take a look at the article, especially the last couple of lines when these homeowners tell about their true feeling for Frank Russo.

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Governor Taft signed a bill which forces employees in the state school construction office to refrain from forming a union. This represents a blow to the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association who had been trying to unionize these workers. Read the Ohio News Network story HERE.

According to this article, counties in Iowa which have casinos have a higher rate of bankruptcy than counties that do not have casinos. Read about it HERE.

It looks like we are the “nation’s top air polluter,” releasing over 133 million pounds of toxins into the air…read about it HERE. At least we are #1 in something!

That’s what was the conclusion to the Town Hall Meeting in Cleveland sponsored by the Council for Excellence in Government held on Tuesday night. The question remains on how to improve education, do we….
1. Give more money to public schools
2. Give more choices to parents, i.e. charter schools and vouchers

Read about it HERE.

Interesting perspective from Cleveland’s newest radio sensation. The one thing that is for sure about Springer is he motivates both political parties.

This is laziness at its finest. First off, the auditor’s office has now found many homes to put on the tax rolls, only after a whistleblower alerted a local TV station about the problem of missing homes. Then Russo fires the whistleblower! This guy is unreal. Read about how sad our county auditor is HERE.

Betty Montgomery announced that she has received the endorsement of Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis, a nice comeback from the concealed carry hit piece. Read the press release. From reading the press release this looks to be a big endorsement.

This is what you call a hit piece on a candidate. Memo to Betty Montgomery: They don’t like you. Read it HERE.

Looks like the national Republican Party pro-life movement will back Ken Blackwell for Governor. Read the press release.

Even with all the criticism that charter schools receive, the House Republicans plan on expanding the charter school program with the upcoming budget. Read about it HERE.

60% of people surveyed in Cuyahoga County think Casinos would be good for Cleveland, says the first recent poll released on public sentiment concerning gambling in NE Ohio. Check out the Plain Dealer's story on this poll by clicking HERE.

She now has county chairs in all 88 counties, it looks like her and Petro have both solid grassroots organizations all ready to go. Read about it HERE.

People seem to be beginning to take notice of the race. Read another compare and constrast piece here.

According to this article, it looks like it. (It’s in the middle of the article, have to scroll down a bit.)

According to this article by the Plain Dealer regarding his education budget, the answer is a resounding NO!

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This article from the New York Times news service seems to suggest the Christian Conservative base is rallying around Ken Blackwell, and likes his anti-establishment rants regarding the Ohio Republican Party. Very Interesting.

The Plain Dealer did two articles this morning on the new Ohio Speaker of the House Jon Husted. We gather he is a conservative, and is irked by schools constantly requesting money, and does not want to meddle in the gambling debate. Works for us. Read about Householder’s successor HERE and HERE.