Legislators take shot at regulating Internet cafes

Apr. 11, 2012, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jessica Alaimo
CentralOhio.com

Lawmakers are taking yet another spin at regulating Internet cafes and their sweepstakes.

Sen. Joe Schiavoni, D-Canfield, has introduced a bill that would require licensing of Internet cafes, which have popped up across Ohio, and allow municipalities to regulate them within city limits.

Other bills to regulate these cafes have fallen short because lawmakers couldn't agree on the extent of the regulation, or if the cafes should even be allowed to exist in the first place...

Read more in the Fremont News Messenger.

Law would require merit pay

Oct. 29, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

CentralOhio.com is examining the most important facets of Issue 2 in a 10-day series. Our goal is to dive into the specifics of the bill so you will have the facts when you go to the polls. You can read other parts of the series and view related videos at TheNews-Messenger.com/elections.

Topic: Merit pay

Currently: Much of the current public employment compensation system is based on seniority. The longer you're there, the more you get paid. Public employee pay also has built-in longevity increases – added boosts for sticking around. There also are increases built in if an employee attains more education. If there are layoffs, the last hired workers are the first to be fired.

» What Senate Bill 5 would do: Senate Bill 5 dictates that pay increases for all bargaining unit employees be based solely on merit. Automatic disappear.

Cash-strapped communities could alter contracts easily

Oct. 26, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

CentralOhio.com is examining important facets of Issue 2 in a 10-day series. The goal is to dive into the specifics of the bill so you will have the facts when you go to the polls.

You can read other parts of the series and view related videos at TheNews-Messenger.com/elections.

» Topic: Entities under fiscal watch or fiscal emergency can alter a bargaining agreement.

» Currently: If a city, village, township or school district is in financial trouble, it can go to the State Employment Relations Board and argue that it faces “exigent circumstances” and can’t uphold current bargaining agreements.

SERB upheld a sudden contract change for Toledo police officers in April after determining the city faced a “situation that demands unusual or immediate action and that may allow people to circumvent usual procedures.”

» What Senate Bill 5 would do: Senate Bill 5 makes it easier for entities in fiscal trouble to change collective bargaining agreements.

Under the bill, if a city, school district or village enters fiscal watch or fiscal emergency, it can automatically alter collective bargaining agreements before they expire, without going through SERB.

When this happens, the entity and employees will bargain for a new contract.

Fiscal watch and fiscal emergency are classifications set by the state auditor’s office to identify entities in financial trouble.

Minimum staffing levels may be altered

Oct. 25, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

CentralOhio.com is examining the most important facets of Issue 2 in a 10-day series. Our goal is to dive into the specifics of the bill so you will have the facts when you go to the polls.

» Topic: Elimination of minimum staffing requirements from the bargaining process, and anything that keeps an entity from privatizing.

» Currently: Minimum staffing requirements and restrictions on outside contracting can be part of negotiations between union and public employer.

» What Senate Bill 5 would do: Police and firefighters would no longer be able to negotiate for how many workers need to be on a shift. Teachers would no longer be able to set a maximum number of students in the classroom.

Issue 2 would end binding arbitration

Oct. 22, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

» Topic: Binding arbitration

» Currently: All non-uniformed bargaining units can strike, though it is rare. But police officers and firefighters cannot.

Uniformed units instead have a process called binding arbitration, where a neutral party is brought in to resolve the differences between them and their employer. The arbitrator’s decision stands.

» What Senate Bill 5 would do: End this process. Requests for mediation would go through the State Employment Relations Board, and must be done 75 days before the agreement expires.

Under the proposed law, if an impasse still occurs 70 days before expiration, SERB must appoint a mediator.

Tax breaks help, analysis shows

Oct. 15, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jessica Alaimo and Russ Zimmer

CentralOhio.com

When President Barack Obama or Ohio Gov. John Kasich speak, voters want to know: Where are the jobs?

When local candidates filled out CentralOhio.com’s voter guide, many echoed the same theme: “Residents consistently tell me that they want officials to focus efforts on creating jobs.”

The state allows local officials to offer businesses tax breaks for adding or keeping jobs. A CentralOhio.com analysis shows beneficiaries of the programs have mostly kept their promises.

Since enterprise zones were created in 1983, businesses in the zones created or kept 73 percent of the jobs they promised in exchange for breaks on real and personal property taxes.

New law means more thieves will go to jails, not prisons

July 9, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jona Ison and Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

Law enforcement officials fear savvy career criminals will start swiping bigger-ticket items once the law allows them to steal $999 worth of stuff and still get slapped with a misdemeanor.

In a sweeping overhaul of Ohio’s sentencing laws last month, the General Assembly approved a provision increasing the threshold for felony-level thefts and vandalism. The legislation, which aimed to keep lower-level offenders out of prison as a cost-savings issue, passed with strong bipartisan support. Gov. John Kasich signed the bill into law June 29.

Projections differ when it comes to how much the legislation will save the state. Legislative analysis puts the savings at $78 million a year, while the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections estimated savings of $46 million over four years, The Associated Press reported.

Corn crop could be lost cause

May 27, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jessica Alaimo

Special to The News-Messenger

Hope for a successful corn crop in Ohio is dwindling with every passing rainy day.

As of Sunday, Ohio farmers had 11 percent of planned corn crops in the ground. They had 87 percent at this time last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Two percent have emerged, compared with 72 percent last year. The 2006 to 2010 average amount of crops is 80 percent planted by May 22, and 58 percent emerged.

Ideally, corn crops should be planted by May 15, said Jack Fisher, president of the Ohio Farm Bureau. Farmers will plant up until June 5, but as the days go by, the yield from them gets lower.

Brown proposes consolidating student loans

May 26, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jessica Alaimo

Special to the News-Messenger

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown touted a plan Wednesday he said would make repaying college loans easier and cheaper, and make more grants available for low-income students.

Last year the federal government stopped contracting with private lenders to service new student loans, instead administering all payments through the U.S. Department of Education.

However, 6 million people found themselves caught in the middle when the transition took...

Students explore alternate routes to escape high debt

May 21, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jessica Alaimo

Special to The News-Messenger

Short rainstorms gave brief moments of relief from an otherwise humid Thursday on the shared campus of Ohio State University’s Mansfield branch and North Central State College.

Many students commute. Some will graduate with a two- or four-year degree from these campuses; others will transfer elsewhere.

So why forgo going away to school, a rite of passage for many young adults? Students interviewed all said the same thing: It’s cheaper.

The heavy load of student loans

May 21, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jessica Alaimo

Special to the News-Messenger

COSHOCTON – Peter Madsen graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1978 with $1,500 in student loans. His parents didn't help him pay for school.

The Coshocton father started saving for his sons' college education when his oldest, Michael, was in second grade. Michael was accepted into Ohio Northern University with grant money. Nonetheless, he graduates this year with almost $20,000 in loans to pay back. Michael's brother, Matthew, a sophomore at Ohio Northern, will have a similar burden. Both are majoring in graphic arts.

Not only are this spring's college graduates more likely to enter adulthood deeper in the red, but with a historically poor economy providing fewer jobs, they are more likely to default on their loans within three years.

Ohio House to vote on budget changes

May 5, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jessica Alaimo

Special to the News-Messenger

The revised version of Gov. John Kasich’s budget contains both good and bad news for local governments.

The good: A House committee eased proposed cuts to tangible personal property tax reimbursements, increased aid to schools, and provided funds to help local entities share services.

The bad: The new legislation repeals the estate tax, cutting off one revenue stream for local governments. It also reverses a proposal by Kasich that would have lessened local entities’ pension obligations.

Kasich and Republican legislators, who have the majority in both houses, must mend an $8 billion budget gap in the next state biennium. To keep repeated promises to voters, they must do so without raising taxes.

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.

Child obesity rates stay steady

Mar. 3, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to the News-Messenger

Obesity rates among children statewide have stayed relatively steady, a new study from the Ohio Department of Health shows.

About 30 percent of Ohio's third-graders are either overweight or obese, according to the study, conducted during the current school year. This is the same rate found in a 2004 study.

However, some counties have seen great fluctuations. Sandusky and Coshocton counties, for example, had decreases of about 10 percent in overweight and obese children. Butler and Champaign counties had increases of about 15 percent.

Lawmakers look at comp time

Jan. 31, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to The News-Messenger

Some Ohio lawmakers want to change how hourly employees for small businesses get paid.

State Reps. Andy Thompson, R-Marietta, and Jarrod Martin, R-Beavercreek, want to allow small, private employers to give compensatory time to employees. That would mean employees who work more than 40 hours in a week could bank compensatory time instead of collecting overtime pay.

Thompson and Martin’s bill would apply only to businesses with gross sales of less than $500,000. Larger businesses are governed by federal law, which allows comp time for public-sector employees but not private-sector employees.

Collective bargaining process won’t go down without a fight

Dec. 31, 2010, Fremont News-Messenger

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to The News-Messenger

Incoming state leaders plan to target public employment laws in 2011, but on Thursday backers of the collective bargaining process promised to put up a fight.

Officials from Policy Matters Ohio, a progressive think tank, argue that states without collective bargaining have the same budget shortfalls as Ohio. They also defended the state’s prevailing wage law and say that, overall, the state’s public employment laws are good for the economy.

“The right of public workers to unionize is not driving the fiscal crisis of states,” said Wendy Patton, a senior associate with Policy Matters Ohio.

Policy Matters Ohio has traditionally backed Democratic causes, and executive director Amy Hanauer has given to a number of Democratic candidates, including outgoing Gov. Ted Strickland.

Republicans will control state government next year. Gov.-elect John Kasich and GOP legislative leaders say collective bargaining leads to higher costs for state government and overpaid workers. They would like to see substantial changes to the state’s laws.

School budgets face uncertain future

Aug. 22, 2010, Fremont News-Messenger

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to the News-Messenger

Like many educators across the state, those at Elgin Local Schools are returning to school with a certain uneasiness.

The district barely averted layoffs this year, and officials do not know what kinds of cuts the state will make to education in the next two years or how local revenue might change.

“It’s really scary,” Superintendent Bruce Gast said. “This district has been through so many cuts. We’re being as cautious as we can, and then more cautious. ... All our employees understand there is uncertainty.”

By October, every school treasurer must submit a five-year forecast to the Ohio Department of Education, estimating revenues and expenditures through 2015. While they submit only one plan, the education department advises districts to plan for three scenarios — steady, bad and catastrophic.

Many treasurers contend they might as well use a Magic 8 Ball to answer the following questions when compiling their forecasts:

Pensions lurk over state, local governments

July 24, 2010, Fremont News-Messenger

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to the News-Messenger

The good news first: We’re all living longer.

The bad: It’s costing the state and local governments a ton of money.

Since the average person spends many more years in retirement than in years past, there is a looming question of how to pay for it.

Most private sector employers have responded by dropping the traditional pension plan in favor of a 401(k) system, in addition to Social Security benefits. However, public employees still pay a determined amount into one of Ohio’s five public pension funds throughout their working careers. Then, they are guaranteed a pension for the rest of their life, the amount based on their earnings and years in public service.

That guarantee comes at a price — one that cash-poor state and local governments are struggling to pay for. Unless substantial changes aren’t made to Ohio’s pension systems, the funds will need to come from somewhere.

For taxpayers, that could mean fewer government services, higher taxes or both. For retirees, it could mean working longer before they are eligible to retire, and lower payouts when they do.

Ohio pension Q&A

July 24, 2010, Fremont News-Messenger

By JESSICA ALAIMO

CentralOhio.com

Unfunded actuarially accrued liabilities. Benefit accrual rate. Solvency. Fiduciary net assets.

STRS, FAS, YOS?

Yow.

Understanding Ohio’s public pension system — and why it’s a ticking time bomb that is threatening Ohio’s budget — can be daunting.

Here are some questions and answers that will help you wade through all the acronyms and financial jargon.

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.