Stimulus funding in Ottawa County: How big is our slice? Depends on how you cut the cake2

Feb. 27, 2010, Port Clinton News Herald

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to the News Herald

PORT CLINTON — One year after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act became law, it’s still tough to figure out exactly how many jobs it created or preserved in Ottawa County.

Depending on who is crunching the numbers, job-creation estimates range from four to 55. The amount of stimulus funding for the county’s municipalities and businesses is roughly $5 million.

The $787 billion package passed by Congress last February included:

■$288 billion for tax cuts and extended unemployment benefits.

■$224 billion in aid to state governments, funds for education, health care and entitlement programs.

Nine Republicans file for shot at obtaining Space’s Congressional seat

Feb. 19, 2010, Coshocton Tribune

By JESSICA ALAIMO

CentralOhio.com

Nine Republicans are hoping for the opportunity to unseat U.S. Rep. Zack Space in November. Space also faces a primary challenger.

Space, a Dover Democrat, is running for his third term. He is a member of the Blue Dog caucus, made up of fiscally conservative Democrats. As of Dec. 31 he had raised $1.3 million – six times more than the leading Republican opponent – according to Federal Elections Commission records.

While both the Cook and Rothenberg political report list the race as favoring Space, Republicans have targeted the district, which they held for years before Space's victory in 2006.

Tory Mazolla, spokesman for the National Republican Campaign Committee, said the party’s message will be that Space has failed to bring jobs to the area.

Space has a hurdle before reaching the general election, however. He faces a primary challenge from Mark Pitrone, of Gnadenhutten. Pitrone, a Navy veteran, also ran against Space in 2008, getting 15 percent of the vote.

The primary will be May 4.

Ohio could be shaken by earthquakes

Feb. 8, 2010, Fremont News-Messenger

BY JESSICA ALAIMO AND RUSS ZIMMER

Special to the News-Messenger

It could be tomorrow. It could be in 300 years. At some point, the plates far beneath the earth will start to shift 600 miles southwest of here.

It will be a 7- or 8-magnitude earthquake. Memphis, the closest city to the epicenter, would be destroyed. In southwest Ohio, the ground would shake and bookcases would topple. Older buildings might collapse.

The damage will be far more catastrophic than what the Gulf Coast saw in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina.

Earthquakes are in the news again because of the disaster in Haiti. Ohio is no stranger to earthquakes — 221 have occurred in the state’s known history, most around Shelby County and near Lake and Ashtabula counties. Few caused any damage.

Educators await details on No Child Left Behind changes

Feb. 8, 2010, Newark Advocate

BY JESSICA ALAIMO AND SETH ROY

CentralOhio.com

Johnstown-Monroe Superintendent Damien Bawn said he is hopeful the changes to the No Child Left Behind Act that President Barack Obama announced last week will lead to positive outcomes.

Bawn and other Ohio education officials have withheld judgment on the president’s plans to overhaul the law and are waiting for more specifics.

“I view the president’s plan as a natural and positive move if it means we are moving toward more accurate ways of measuring what students know and are able to do,” Bawn said.

Obama called for a 7.5 percent increase in education spending in the budget plan he released Feb. 1. He also suggested the government scrap the law’s 2014 deadline that all students be proficient at basic skills.