Free Republic

The political climate couldn't be much more favorable for Democrats in their efforts to take back the White House this year, but that doesn't necessarily mean they will, two national political observers said in Columbus today. President Bush is unpopular, more people consider themselves Democrats than Republicans, and polls show Democrats enjoy a clear advantage on issues Americans care about, pollster Peter D. Hart and columnist Mark Shields said. Also, the economy is near or in recession, the nation is mired in an unpopular war, and for the first time in many generations, a majority of Americans don't think the...

Ohio's attorney general resigned Wednesday under threat of impeachment because of a sexual harassment investigation in his office and his extramarital affair. Attorney General Marc Dann, a Democrat elected in 2006 on an anti-corruption platform, said at a news conference that he had to resign to preserve the ability of the office to carry out the priorities he established. "It is now clear to me that the only way to protect these priorities for the office of attorney general and for the people of Ohio is to remove myself from the situation," said Dann, 46, in Gov. Ted Strickland's ceremonial...

McCain speaking at Columbus Convention Center on Thursday May 15, 2008. Doors open at 8am, speech at 10am. Anyone going?

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio's attorney general has resigned amid the scandal of a sexual harassment investigation in his office and his extramarital affair. Marc Dann has been under pressure of possible impeachment and announced he was stepping down on Wednesday. The 46-year-old Democrat at first refused to resign, despite demands by Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and others within his party. Dann admitted May 2 to an extramarital affair with an employee that he said contributed to an atmosphere leading to sexual harassment claims against a top aide. Three aides were forced out in the harassment investigation, which showed managers encouraged...

Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann resigned this afternoon, just hours after the inspector general's office launched a raid on his office. The embattled Democrat made the announcement in a joint appearance with Gov. Ted Strickland in the governor's cabinet room, next to his Statehouse office. The governor called it a "sad day" for Ohio but said he is "pleased" Dann quit.

Investigators from the Ohio Inspector General’s office descended on Attorney General Marc Dann’s office shortly after 11 this morning, defying Dann’s legal arguments that they had no right to investigate his office. A state trooper was seen hauling video equipment from the attorney general’s office in the Rhodes Tower shortly after noon today. Authorities also reportedly locked down computers operated by Dann and about a dozen of his top assistants.

Attorney General Marc Dann is expected to make a statement on his political future around noon today. Although it's widely speculated that Dann will step down from the office he's held since January 2007, his spokesman, Jason Stanford, wouldn't preview his statement.

The University of Toledo confirmed yesterday that an administrator who wrote a column critical of gay rights for a local publication has been fired. Crystal Dixon, associate vice president for human resources, was terminated on Thursday following about a week on paid administrative leave and a predisciplinary meeting May 5.

The University of Toledo confirmed yesterday that an administrator who wrote a column critical of gay rights for a local publication has been fired. Crystal Dixon, associate vice president for human resources, was terminated on Thursday following about a week on paid administrative leave and a predisciplinary meeting May 5. Ms. Dixon wrote a guest column last month for the Toledo Free Press titled "Gay rights and wrongs: another perspective," expressing her opinion that being gay is a choice that has consequences, according to her religious beliefs.

Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann is expected to announce his resignation later today, The Plain Dealer has learned. He planned to break the news to his senior staff this afternoon. The decision came as Dann faced intense pressure both from fellow Democrats and Republican critics who said he was not fit to continue as the state's top lawyer. It also followed action targeting Dann in the Ohio General Assembly today by lawmakers from both parties. House Democrats this morning filed articles of impeachment against Dann, accusing him of misconduct and malfeasance in office. And House Republicans began plans to fast-track...

Columbus, Ohio (AP) -- House Democrats filed articles of impeachment Tuesday against scandal-scarred Attorney General Marc Dann, a fellow Democrat who could become the first official impeached and convicted in Ohio in two centuries. The lawmakers' resolution outlines nine counts alleging that Dann should be impeached for gross neglect of duty, gross immorality and obstruction of his office's investigation that found an employee was sexually harassed by a top aide. On May 2, Dann admitted an extramarital affair with an employee that he said contributed to an atmosphere leading to the sexual harassment claims. Three aides were forced out in...

Workers at Johnson Controls Inc.'s factory in Northwood learned in February that their jobs building seats for the Jeep Wrangler were being outsourced to India by 2010. But that plan may have proven a bit ambitious. Yesterday, the manufacturing chief for Chrysler LLC told an automotive trade publication that at least part of the work - the more complex front seats - will stay local. Meanwhile, the Indian company that won the work, Krishna Maruti Ltd., is looking for space in the Toledo area and plans to hire as many as 70 people to produce the rear seats, according to...

Italy's Finmeccanica to buy DRS Technologies for $5.2BBusiness Courier of Cincinnati DRS Technologies Inc., which has several Cincinnati-area operations, is being bought by Finmeccanica SpA, an Italian aerospace and defense supplier, for $5.2 billion. Finmeccanica said the deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter this year, allows the company to enter the U.S. market and enables DRS to better compete in the global military and security market. DRS (NYSE: DRS) will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary, maintaining its current management and headquarters. The company will lead Finmeccanica's defense electronics efforts in the United States and it is expected...

College Official Fired for Column on Homosexuality By Pete Winn CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer May 12, 2008 (CNSNews.com) - Cybercast News Service has learned that a University of Toledo administrator has lost her job because she wrote a newspaper commentary that questioned whether homosexuality is a civil rights issue. Crystal Dixon, the associate vice president of human resources at the state university, had earlier been put on paid administrative leave for the Apr. 18 column published in the Toledo Free Press, as detailed in a previous CNSNews.com story. "She has been fired," said Brian Rooney, spokesman for the Thomas More...

A northern Kentucky man is in jail today – serving a 180-day sentence – because his 18-year-old daughter failed a math test and didn't get her General Equivalency Diploma, or GED, as a previous court order required. Brittany Gegner, the daughter, says if anyone should be jailed, it should be her. [snip] Butler County Juvenile Court Judge David Niehaus ordered Gegner to jail for contributing to the delinquency of a minor by not following a court order which required Gegner to be sure his daughter got her GED.

A Fairfield man is in jail because his daughter hasn't gotten her General Equivalency Diploma (GED). A judge ordered the father to stay on top of his daughter's education months ago and when that order wasn't followed, Brian Gegner was sentenced to 180-days in the Butler County jail. The daughter, Brittany Gegner, says her father shouldn't be punished for her problems. Especially, she says because she's now 18, an adult. "It's ridiculously wrong," said Brittany Gegner. "Of all the punishments they could have given him, to make him go to jail?," she asked. "I mean, probation – until I get...

It took 20 years for John Glenn, the former astronaut and Democratic senator, to repay the debts that he ran up in his failed bid for the presidential nomination in 1984. Nobody is predicting that Hillary Clinton, whose campaign debts are estimated at between $20m and $30m – and rising – would take that long to meet her obligations. But the financial strain is getting more difficult with each day. Having raised little more than $1m (€650,000, £510,000) since her defeat in North Carolina and narrow victory in Indiana last Tuesday, compared to $10m in the days following her Pennsylvania...

The attack on the mailman was prefaced with a request to bum a cigarette. Carrier Greg Nelson later decided that the question thrown at him by a group of boys as he delivered mail Thursday on the East Side likely was an attempt to size him up. Within minutes, the youths chased, assaulted and robbed Nelson in what the U.S. Postal Service said is only the third such attack on a mail carrier in Columbus in the past 30 years. "They didn't see me as a mailman, they saw me as an opportunity," said Nelson, 45, who has delivered mail...

Amid deficits, board shutting down orchestra on June 1; Pops canceled After 57 years of music-making, including a triumphant concert in New York's Carnegie Hall, the Columbus Symphony says it will shut down June 1. Out of money and unable to reach a new labor agreement with the musicians, the orchestra's board of trustees said yesterday that it is canceling the summer Picnic With the Pops and Popcorn Pops series and most likely its 2008-09 season, scheduled to begin in October. Columbus would become one of the nation's largest cities without a full-time professional orchestra. "It's a tragic event," said...

Rush for 23-cent pizzas closes Papa John's stores Chain seeks police help at 6 local shops Thursday, May 8, 2008 9:34 AM Updated: Thursday, May 8, 2008 05:24 PM THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Overwhelmed by the response to a promotion offering 23-cent pizzas, Papa John's closed its Columbus stores before dinner today. Columbus Police officers were called before 5 p.m. to help close the pizza shops because of concerns that the large crowds could become unruly, said Amanda Ford, a police spokeswoman. She said there are about 20 Papa John's locations in the city, but officers were beginning by assisting at...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A Democratic political consultant is questioning why Governor Strickland and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown voted against impeaching President Clinton, but are now seeking to force out state Attorney General Marc Dann. Consultant Jerry Austin of Cleveland notes that Strickland and Brown both voted against impeaching President Clinton while they were serving in the U.S. House 10 years ago. Like Clinton, Dann is a Democrat who has admitted to an extramarital affair with a subordinate and is being challenged for inconsistent statements made under oath. Austin says every case is different and perhaps Strickland and Brown should...

His lead strategist says if McCain were to get 20 percent of these voters he will win. WASHINGTON - With the other party still waist-deep in its presidential nomination fight, John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, has been quietly courting the white working-class Democrats who have proved elusive for Barack Obama, his most likely rival in the fall. In the two weeks since Senator Obama's loss in Pennsylvania, Senator McCain has visited the struggling steel town of Youngstown, Ohio, to promote programs to retrain workers. He has gone to Allentown, Pa., to push a gas-tax holiday and argue that the...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Risking impeachment, Ohio's attorney general on Monday refused demands from the governor and other fellow Democrats that he resign over a sexual harassment scandal in his office and an affair with a subordinate. Gov. Ted Strickland told reporters that Democrats will begin drafting an impeachment resolution against Attorney General Marc Dann right away. Republican House Speaker Jon Husted said Monday that his chamber — which takes the first step in any impeachment — was already reviewing the process. Virtually every state-level Democratic officeholder urged Dann to resign in a letter late Sunday after Strickland tried twice during...

<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and other Democratic leaders are calling on scandal-scarred Attorney General Marc Dann to resign.</p> <p>Dann's response to his fellow Democrats is that he is staying on the job.</p> <p>Strickland, Sen. Sherrod Brown, other Democratic state officeholders and all Democratic state legislators sent Dann a letter Monday saying his actions hurt his ability to do his job.</p>

Papa John's Apologizes To City 05/05/2008 06:34:10CLEVELAND (AP) -- Papa John's Pizza has issued an apology to Cleveland its Cavaliers for making T-shirts with LeBron James' number and the word "crybaby" under it. To apologize, Papa John's will sell Cleveland residents a large, one-topping pizza for 23 cents on Thursday. The 23 is an homage to James' jersey number. The company also will donate $10,000 to the Cavaliers Youth Fund. The pizza chain's T-shirts were featured during the Cavs' games against the Wizards on Friday in Washington. Wizards fans taunted the Cavs, who won the payoff series that night in...

Speaker: Don't shame Kent State's dead Monday, May 5, 2008 2:58 AM By Jim Mackinnon AKRON BEACON JOURNAL KENT, Ohio -- The shooting deaths 38 years ago of four Kent State University students by the Ohio National Guard need to be seen as a lesson for the United States, a former United Nations weapons inspector said yesterday. But if the May 4 commemoration continues to be poorly attended -- about 400 people showed up yesterday -- and Americans refuse to read and understand their U.S. Constitution, then those lost lives will have been for nothing, keynote speaker Scott Ritter said....

Senator Snowbird, RIP May 3, 2008; Page A10 Former Ohio Senator Howard Metzenbaum, who died in March at age 90, was an ultraliberal as a politician but also a savvy and very rich businessman. Before going to Washington in 1976, he had made a fortune on parking lots.

CHRIS RUSSELL | dispatch Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann said he is "disappointed" and "heartbroken" over his behavior and took full responsibility. But he refused to resign. The ensuing scandal first reported by The Dispatch last month cost four people their jobs, including two of Dann's closest friends from Youngstown. Shaken but still defiant, Dann, a Democrat elected in 2006, said he would not resign -- and said he never considered doing so -- despite the expanding fallout from a sex scandal that has rocked his office for the past month.

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2008 – When he’s in Cincinnati tomorrow to receive an award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, a senior enlisted sailor will meet the girl whose life he saved with a bone marrow donation. Navy Chief Petty Officer Willie H. Corey, a submarine fire control technician, will be recognized for his participation in the National Marrow Donor Program. Corey, a native of Newport News, Va., has been a donor on the NMDP’s registry since fall 2006. "When I found out that the potential recipient was a little girl, it was a no-brainer to donate; I have a...

Service members run into special problems proving state residency Four years after Ohio began issuing permits to carry concealed handguns, some questions remain: for instance, whether cities can ban the weapons in city parks or if permit-holders' names should be public. But there is an even more basic one, which Army Capt. John Pritchard ran smack into: Ohio will issue the permits only to residents of the state, but what does it mean to be an Ohio resident? The answer, apparently, is "It depends." Pritchard has an Ohio driver's license, is registered to vote in Ohio, claims his residency at...

Two top employees of Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann were fired and a third has resigned because of an internal investigation of sexual harassment complaints released this morning. The two longtime Dann friends who shared a Dublin-area condo with him were fired: Anthony Gutierrez, his general services director, and Leo Jennings III, his communications director. A third longtime friend, Dann's top nonlegal adviser, Edgar C. Simpson, resigned last night instead of being fired this morning. And Jessica Utovich, Dann's former scheduler, also quit last night. But investigators said they didn't consider themselves to be the “moral police” and probe rumors...

Man might get prison time for sharing snack cake with inmate Thursday, May 1, 2008 6:19 PM By Mary Beth Lane THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH He slept through a fire drill, had loose tobacco in his possession and didn't show up for kitchen duty. Then Timothy E. Caudill shared a Little Debbie snack cake with another inmate at a correctional facility in southeastern Ohio. That was the last straw. The 21-year-old was kicked out of the residential community corrections program that was a requirement of his probation. And he could go to prison. That is absurd, said Caudill's attorney, Claire “Buzz”...

Grand Old Partisan salutes Ulysses Grant, the second Republican to serve as President of the United States. He was born in Point Pleasant, OH on April 27, 1822. Sometimes overlooked are President Grant's exemplary efforts to protect African-Americans from their Democrat oppressors.In 1870 and 1871, President Grant signed into law three laws known as the Enforcement Acts, one of which banned the Ku Klux Klan and other Democrat terrorist organizations. Grant then...[see http://grandpartisan.typepad.com/blog/2008/04/ulysses-grant-r.html]Each day, Grand Old Partisan celebrates 154 years of Republican heroes and heroics.

CINCINNATI — Military workers and supporters from across the country joined in memorials Sunday for a slain Army reservist who had become a poignant picture of the war in Iraq after he was captured by insurgents. Thousands walked past Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin's casket during a daylong visitation at a civic center in Clermont County, east of Cincinnati, where he grew up. Many of them headed to Great American Ball Park, home of the Cincinnati Reds, for an afternoon memorial service. The crowd occupied the lower portion of the 42,000-seat stadium, behind home plate, stretching from first base to third....

CINCINNATI (AP) - Military workers and supporters from across the country joined in memorials Sunday for a slain Army reservist who had become a poignant picture of the war in Iraq after he was captured by insurgents. Thousands walked past Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin's casket during a daylong visitation at a civic center in Clermont County, east of Cincinnati, where he grew up. Many of them headed to Great American Ball Park, home of the Cincinnati Reds, for an afternoon memorial service. The crowd occupied the lower portion of the 42,000-seat stadium, behind home plate, stretching from first base to...

Swearing, after-hours drinking part of staff culture Sunday, April 27, 2008 3:34 AM By James Nash and Alan Johnson THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann cultivates a casual work atmosphere, employees say.Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann cultivates a casual work atmosphere, employees say. John Estheimer remembers it as the strangest job interview of his 30-year career. Trying out for the position of Attorney General Marc Dann's personal assistant in February, Estheimer said the Dann aides who interviewed him kept coming back to the question of whether he could tolerate an atmosphere of frequent vulgarity and sharp elbows. During...

Whitehouse, OH (LifeNews.com) -- High school students in a Toledo suburb were threatened with having to skip prom and other senior graduation events if they didn't remove their pro-life T-shirts. A group of students had planned to draw attention to the destruction of human life in abortion until school officials got upset. The students wore matching T-shirts with the message, "Abortion is homicide" but the April 21st coordinated event drew the ire of school administrators.Kristen Norman told WTOL-TV the Anthony Wayne High School students were ready to stand up for their free speech rights until school officials kept adding more...

CINCINNATI (AP) - Thousands of people are expected to attend the funeral of a young Ohio soldier whose remains were found in Iraq last month, four years after he was kidnapped west of Baghdad. Great American Ballpark, the home of the Cincinnati Reds, will host the memorial Sunday for Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin, who grew up in suburban Batavia. Maupin was honored Saturday by hundreds of mourners who lined the Cincinnati streets with American flags as a police procession led his casket to a memorial service. The 20-year-old was captured April 9, 2004, when insurgents attacked his fuel convoy. The...

A representative from Students for Concealed Carry on Campus argued for a more sensible policy for carrying concealed handguns on college and university campuses at Walter Hall last night. “It’s hypocritical to say you can bring a gun into a 300-person movie theatre but not a 300-person lecture hall,” said Stephen Feltoon, Midwest regional director of SCCC. Feltoon, a 2007 graduate of Miami University of Ohio, spoke for a 40-person group as part of the SCCC’s weeklong protest of concealed carry laws across the nation that forbid concealed handguns on college campuses. The OU Second Amendment club — comprising about...

U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, R-OH, blamed labor unions and partisan politics for a U.S. House vote this week rejecting an amendment that could have kept the Delta Queen riverboat from having to phase out its overnight cruise packages. The historic riverboat has been operating with a special Congressional exemption from the federal Safety at Sea Act since 1968, an exemption that has been renewed eight times. The safety act bans the use of wooden vessels for overnight cruises. Backers of the exemption claim the Delta Queen deserves special treatment because of its historical significance and recently upgraded fire-safety systems. With...

Your Turn: Obama’s stance on guns is wrong for Montana By Erik Iverson - Your Turn - 04/17/08 When it comes to gun rights, Barack Obama isn’t shooting straight with Montana. I’ll be the first one to admit, Barack Obama is one of the finest political orators I’ve ever heard. But he can’t talk his way out of this simple fact: his views on the Second Amendment are simply out of step with the values of a vast majority of Montanans. Through both his words and his deeds, Barack Obama has shown that if elected President, he will try...

Top Story: Ohio Based Wendys Sold (WHIO Radio News) -- Triarc Companies, owned by billionaire investor Nelson Peltz, says it will it will pay about 2.3 billion dollars in an all-stock deal to combine its fast food chain Arby's with the Wendy's hamburger chain founded in 1969 by the late Dave Thomas. Wendy's International Inc. is the nation's No. 3 hamburger chain. It's an all-stock deal that comes after the burger chain's board rejected at least two earlier offers by the company. Wendy's shareholders will receive 4.25 shares of Triarc Companies Inc.'s Class A stock for each share of Wendy's...

It hasn't been a smooth start for Upper Arlington's new trash hauler. Residents continue to fight the new service and, this week, some employees of the trash collector said they were racially harassed on the job. Inland Service Corp. began collecting trash and recyclables April 7 over the protests of some residents who wanted the city to continue doing it. Since then, a resident has started a Web site to track Inland's mistakes, urging other residents to post complaints and pictures of problems. Then on Tuesday, an Inland manager called police after employees found at least eight racially charged notes...

Air Force Vet To Get Missing Medals — That He Doesn't Want By GRANT SEGALL   D. Brock Foster holds a few of his military decorations, soon to be joined by three long-overdue ones. (Photo by Tracy Boulian)     WESTLAKE, Ohio — Too old and frail to tame his proud daughters anymore, a gruff Air Force retiree will have to accept three overdue decorations from World War II and Vietnam.In public, yet. From a U.S. senator. In front of a color guard, a crowd and those gloating daughters, who tracked down a missing ribbon and two missing crosses."Seems like...

Teacher Investigated In Cross Incidents 04/23/2008 05:13:16 MOUNT VERNON, Ohio (AP) -- A public school district in Ohio has hired an independent investigator to look into allegations by parents that a teacher used an electrostatic device to burn crosses on to students' arms. The Mount Vernon City School District says it has assigned an administrator to monitor the classroom of eighth-grade science teacher John Freshwater until the investigation is over. It's the district's latest run-in with Freshwater, who last week refused to obey an order to remove a Bible on his desk from view of students. Freshwater also is accused...

Injury accents bike-car tensions Wednesday, April 23, 2008 3:21 AM By Aaron Beck and Tim Doulin The Columbus Dispatch David Krohn knows all about the tensions between bicyclists and motorists sharing the road. A run-in with an angry group in a car Friday left him with a broken jaw and a gash in his head. "They think we're supposed to be on the sidewalk," he said. Proper pedaling * Bicyclists must follow the same traffic rules as those driving motorized vehicles, including stopping at stop signs and red lights and observing the speed limit. * Bicyclists must ride in the...

Fight at scene of crash tragic, Circleville official says Dad charged with misconduct for wrestling with deputy as crews worked to extricate son Tuesday, April 22, 2008 7:52 PM By Randy Ludlow The Columbus Dispatch Adam Carter Adam Carter It unfolded March 25 along London Road in Pickaway County. Sixteen-year-old Adam Carter was driving to school when his car crossed the centerline and collided head-on with a dump truck. Paul Carter soon arrived. As he ran toward his son's crushed car, he was intercepted by Sgt. Cory Bachnicki. Bachnicki said he told the man to stay back, to let the...

Response to 'Dispatch' request Dann releases 2,300 e-mails Tuesday, April 22, 2008 3:11 AM By Darrel Rowland, Alan Johnson, Mark Niquette and Randy Ludlow THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH The Daily Briefing Inside the e-mails: Marc Dann and Jessica Utovich DispatchPolitics # DispatchPolitics.com Complete election coverage. # Buckeye Forum Veteran political reporters examine Ohio politics in this weekly podcast. Nothing relating to an ongoing sexual-harassment probe was immediately apparent in hundreds of e-mails between Attorney General Marc Dann and his scheduler, Jessica Utovich, that were unveiled last night. After initially denying a Dispatch request for the communications, Dann's office released more than...

CINCINNATI -- A two-day schedule of memorial services for a fallen Clermont County soldier will require military precision to successfully pull off. Sgt. Matt Maupin’s remains will arrive Saturday morning around 8 a.m. at the main runway at Lunken Airport, where his family will spend some private time together on the tarmac. A procession will bear his remains along state Route 32, which has already been decorated with yellow ribbons, through Newtown.

National City Corp. this morning announced details of its $7 billion bailout and said it lost $171 million, or 27 cents a share, in the first quarter. That was not as bad as the fourth quarter, when the Cleveland bank lost $333 million, but it was worse than last year's first quarter, when it had profits of $319 million. In a written statement, Ohio's largest bank said its board had finished details on a deal reached Sunday. As the Plain Dealer reported Sunday evening, National City is getting $7 billion of much-needed capital from the New York private equity firm...