Governor of Ohio

OhioNews Bureau ONB COLUMBUS: In the latest monthly economic health profile issued Thursday by the Ohio Department of Budget and Management, the grim impact a decaying national economy is having on Ohio was evidenced by job losses in February and a turn down in personal income, consumer spending and consumer confidence.

OhioNews Bureau ONB COLUMBUS: Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, both as a candidate for the job and during the 14 months in the job, has said solving Ohio’s education puzzle – constitutional funding for primary and secondary education and taming the lions of higher education that have produced a college education in Ohio more expensive than others -- will be the central issue in his first-term, one that will define whether he has been a success or not.

OhioNews Bureau ONB COLUMBUS: Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland Friday appointed Cheryl Roberto to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO).

OhioNews Bureau ONB COLUMBUS: After one year in office, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland used his State of the State speech Wednesday to readjust the state’s sails, hoping to generate enough wind power through a new jobs program, increased investment in infrastructure and the reorganization of primary and secondary education that will give high school seniors a leg up on college to steer the ship of state to calmer seas and more prosperous shores.

OhioNews Bureau ONB COLUMBUS: With Ohio staggering at the back of the pack of states in important categories like job loss and rising poverty, and with the wolf of recession roaming close by, it was only a matter of time before Governor Ted Strickland reacted to projections that his two-year state budget could be as much as $1.9 billion in the red by mid 2009.

OhioNews Bureau ONB COLUMBUS: People involved with Ohio’s workforce development programs are puzzled by the sudden, mysterious turn of the year disappearance of a high-placed, high-profile, high-paid deputy director for the Department of Jobs and Family Services (ODJFS). She was touted as one of Governor Strickland’s big hires. Someone who would establish an effective state workforce development operation. Where in the world is Linda O'Connor? She’s definitely not with Carmen San Diego. But where is she?

Ohio Treasury Cordray Launches SaveNOW to Change Citizens’ Savings Habits OhioNews Bureau ONB COLUMBUS: With winter winds blowing a chill across Ohio, and the prospect by many reputable economists that the next recession is waiting in the wings to make its cameo appearance, bringing with it more financial heartache to a state that has yet to recover the last recession of 2001, the timely announcement by Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray that he’ll plunk down $25 million in state investment dollars to help Ohioans save more and earn higher interests rates on their savings, is a warm breeze in an otherwise frosty environment.

OhioNews Bureau UPATED ONB COLUMBUS: On the same day Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner convened a gathering of reporters to further defend her decision from mid-December to force a costly wholesale change in equipment, process and locations for all voters come the November elections, the OhioNews Bureau learned a key staffer central to her controversial EVEREST study was no longer in his position, and also failed to respond to offers of help from voting system, rights experts. Seeing the opposition starting to mobilizing against her calls for big, radical voting changes, Brunner is counter punching by launching a PR listening tour in the form of a series of town-hall meetings around Ohio, where citizens can make their voice heard on her decisions to change voting in Cuyahoga County as early as March and for everyone else by November, when record-setting voter turnout is expected as America decides which presidential candidate will bring the kind of change the country is crying for.