Schools buying .xxx domain names

Dec. 12, 2011, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

As a red light district forms this year in cyberspace using new .xxx domain names, universities and other groups are mulling strategies for keeping their trademarks from becoming adult websites.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers allowed universities, businesses and other organizations with registered trademarks to have first dibs in October at buying .xxx addresses that contain their trademarks. On Tuesday, ICANN opened up sales to the general public.

The .xxx domain is intended identify pornography sites.

Shutdown would affect thousands

Apr. 7, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Malia Rulon and Jessica Alaimo

WASHINGTON — If the federal government shuts down, the effects will ripple across Ohio. National parks will close. Federal agencies will shut their doors. Personnel dubbed “essential” may have to work without pay.

Ohio is home to 22,836 federal employees, according to an analysis of federal data conducted by Gannett’s Asbury Park Press.

If the government were to shut down for an extended period, many of those workers could be put on furlough and have their salaries frozen, and the work they do could come to a halt.

Stevens was an advocate for women, minorities

Apr. 11, 2010, Marion Star

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has a legacy of standing up for women's rights, the disabled and minorities, Ohio court watchers said. However, others characterized him as someone who cannot be labeled.

Stevens announced Friday he would retire from the U.S. Supreme Court at the end of this term. President Gerald R. Ford appointed Stevens in 1975.

He handled emergency matters for the 6^th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals, meaning his desk was one of the final stops for Ohio death row inmates seeking a stay of execution.

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.

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.