Parole getting harder to come by

Apr. 16, 2012, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo
CentralOhio.com

Ohio's longest-serving prisoners are finding it increasingly difficult to get out on parole, an opportunity not even afforded most of those sent to prison since 1996.

In 2011, just 7 percent of the 1,918 inmates getting release consideration hearings were paroled. This compares to 20 percent of the 2,121 inmates getting hearings the previous year. In years before that, the number was closer to 50 percent.

The drop in release rates comes as Ohio officials strive to decrease the prison population despite the 1996 sentencing law which ended parole for any future sentence.

Columbus defense attorney Barry Wilford said these are the toughest times he's known to be an inmate facing the board, because the board has gotten tougher. Wilford is also the Public Policy Director for the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

But JoEllen Smith, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said that after 16 years all the inmates likely to be paroled have been released already, leaving behind 3,200 of the state's worst inmates to cycle through the process again and again.

Read more in the Port Clinton News Herald.

Ohio college students save money by working quickly

Apr. 7, 2012, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo
CentralOhio.com

Kaytlyn Tracy hasn't had a lot of time to be a college student.

Instead of partying, going out on Thursday nights and joining a sorority, Tracy has kept her head down and focused on getting her college career done in three years instead of four.

She's eager to graduate early from Kent State University with a psychology degree so she can move to North Carolina to be with her husband, who is in the Marines...

Read more in the Port Clinton News Herald. 

Ohio judges bristle at new sentencing reforms

Apr. 7, 2012, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo
CentralOhio.com

John Elder pleaded guilty to six counts of theft, three counts of insurance fraud and three counts of forgery in February. He stole from his church and defrauded the insurance company he worked for.

The prosecutor wanted to send him to prison. Fairfield County Common Pleas Judge Richard Berens agreed. But first, the judge had to jump through another hoop.

Last year the Ohio General Assembly passed a sweeping sentencing reform designed to reduce the prison population and promote community corrections. House Bill 86 requires judges to first consult with the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction if they want to imprison a first-time, non-violent, low-level felony offender like Elder...

Read more in the Port Clinton News Herald.

Ohio mulls 'Stand Your Ground' law

A man wearing a hoodie lurking across the street may not be a threat. A man standing 10 feet away wielding a knife may very well be.

Somewhere between those two extremes is a murky gray area that lawmakers and law enforcement attempt to draw a line through.

When is a "threat" legitimate enough to justify deadly force in protecting oneself?

Read more in the Port Clinton News Herald. 

Local legislators’ work thus far

Dec. 27, 2011, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

Ohio’s legislative term is halfway up, so CentralOhio.com decided to check up on local lawmakers to see what they have accomplished in the past year.

Instead of just focusing on the biggest issue of 2011 — the state budget, CentralOhio.com asked them to dig a little deeper, to talk about their individual accomplishments both in sponsored legislation and committee work.

As follows are profiles of the area’s local lawmakers, and what they have done with their time in Columbus. 

Growth an opportunity for Ohio cattle industry

Dec. 23, 2011, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

Ohio might gain jobs by giving its cattle a first-class ticket to Turkey.

Demand for livestock is growing in developing nations. A group of lawmakers recently visited Turkey to gauge interest in shipping cattle from the Wilmington Airpark.

The air facility is in a unique location. It once belonged to DHL, a shipping company that shuttered its Wilmington operations in 2008 and signed the airpark over to the Clinton County Port Authority.

Since then, the port authority has sought to make use of the facility, said director Kevin Carver.

It has enough space to land large jets — the kind that would likely be used for shipping cattle, Carver said. It is about 10 miles west of Sabina, which houses one of six agricultural export inspection facilities in the country.

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.

Multiple primaries causing confusion

Dec. 5, 2011, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

Ohio congressional candidates don’t know what their districts will look like, or even when their primary will be, but the secretary of state is asking them to have petitions submitted by Wednesday.

The two primaries, one March 6 and the other June 12, stem from the battle over the once-a-decade redistricting process. However, there’s still talk in the House of Representatives of moving up the later primary.

“Having two primaries is not an ideal situation,” Shannon Boston, a spokeswoman for Ohio House Republicans, wrote in an email. “... But we only moved the primaries that are affected by the situation we find ourselves in with the potential congressional map referendum.”

Having two primaries presents a complication for the secretary of state’s office and uncertainty for candidates seeking congressional seats. Here are some questions and answers about the situation.

Ohio bucks trend, shifts funds to home-based care

July 16, 2011, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

While budget shortfalls have forced many states to move away from home-based care, Ohio is shifting toward it.

However, all providers, regardless of their setting, saw a decrease in Medicaid reimbursement rates this month.

Gov. John Kasich’s first two-year budget, which began July 1, decreases Medicaid reimbursements for nursing homes and increases funding for home-based care.

Fewer train crashes in Ohio in the 2000s

June 8, 2011, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

There were half as many rail-car crashes in Ohio last year compared with a decade ago, despite an increase in train traffic. State officials say this is because of better warning systems at crossings.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio released its 2010 railroad statistics, which showed 64 car-rail crashes in 2010, down from 123 in 2001. Fatal crashes statewide fell from 13 in 2001 to four in 2010.

With no state mandate, Ohio’s gifted children may see services cut

June 4, 2011, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

Rayne Wilson hid behind his mom on the couch, scared to talk to the company in the room.

His younger brother explained a computer game where players build a world around four basic elements. It requires math. It requires logic.

“I only made it to Level 2,” 6-year-old Brayson said.

The urge to brag finally was enough to break his silence.

“I made it to Level 11,” Rayne said.

When it comes to anything numerical or measurable, Rayne is brilliant. At age 7, he knows the full multiplication table. Give him a date two years out, he’ll tell you what day of the week it falls on — even accounting for the leap year. One day he visited his brother’s karate studio. His mother saved the map of the room that he drew from memory — done to scale.

Rayne is fortunate. Next year, a gifted specialist at Bucyrus Elementary School will work with him and his teachers to accommodate his skills. He’ll be in second grade, but move up to a third-grade math class.

Across the state, however, budget-crunched school districts are cutting their gifted staff, and the proposed state budget could eliminate dedicated gifted students.

Some small businesses start push to repeal Senate Bill 5

May 10, 2011, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

NEWARK — Rob Romine wants public employees who walk through his door to know he has their backs.

His downtown Newark business, Backstreet Haircutters, has displayed stickers on his doors that read: “This establishment proudly accepts business from hard working public and private employees.”

The stickers are part of the Proud Ohio Workers campaign, an effort to show Ohio’s small businesses support collective bargaining rights for public employees, said campaign spokeswoman Rebecca Scott. The stickers are placed on 600 business doors throughout the state.

Unmarried men outnumber unhitched women

Dec. 18, 2010, Port Clinton News Herald

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to the News Herald

Guys, a word of advice: If you like it, put a ring on it. Because in Ohio, women can be picky — especially those with a college education.

According to data just released in the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, there are more unmarried men than women in Ohio. Statewide, there are 11 unhitched men ages 15 to 44 to every 10 available women.

More men than women have never been married. Only 50 percent of households have a married couple. Only 20 percent of households have a married couple and a child younger than 18, according to the census data.

Local donors spend thousands in political process

Oct. 28, 2010, Port Clinton News Herald

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to the News Herald

There’s no escaping it. The campaign signs. The television ads. The mailers. Political campaigns dump millions into the local economy every two years in an effort to shape voter opinion.

Who pays for it all? It’s a mix. Thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this year, third-party groups can now run ads without disclosing their donors, who are mostly corporations and labor unions, said William Angel, a political science professor at The Ohio State University.

However, many of the dollars flowing through campaigns come from people here in the community. Individuals can give directly to candidates or to political action committees, which either will spend on a candidate’s behalf or give to the candidate directly.

Political donors in Ottawa County spent hundreds of thousands on elections this year, with the top donors spending about $161,400 on candidates.

Cordray, DeWine differ sharply on issues

Oct. 2, 2010, Port Clinton News Herald

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to the News Herald

Corruption. Health care. Crime lab delays. It doesn’t take much to get two opposing attorneys at each other’s throats, especially when they’re competing to be the state’s top lawyer.

Attorney General Richard Cordray, a Democrat, and Republican opponent Mike DeWine, a former U.S. senator, arrived Thursday at a meeting with CentralOhio.com editors and reporters chock-full of statistics and quotes from newspapers. DeWine had a folder full of paper and a legal pad full of notes, although his only handout to those attending was his wife’s cookbook. Cordray immediately asked about the debate format.

When the camera turned on, no biographical introduction or small talk took place. Both laid their arguments on the table, and a spirited debate ensued, with each pointing, cutting one another off and accusing each other of siding with corruption.

Cigarette tax a tough sell at Statehouse

Apr. 6, 2010, Port Clinton News Herald

BY RUSS ZIMMER

AND JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to the News Herald

Health advocates are pushing tobacco taxes as both a way to dissuade smoking and a means to bridge the state budget shortfall, but campaign concerns may stall any tax increases.

A growing number of states have been leaning on smokers to help plug budget holes, but no such plan is in the works for Ohio. For now, anyway.

Cash-strapped states are considering or enacting cigarette tax increases at a pace that has only been equaled in 10 other years since 1950.

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.

Gas prices down, families still struggle

Dec. 26, 2009, Port Clinton News Herald

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to the News Herald

Natural gas prices are down, which means it will cost less for households to keep warm this winter.

With the bad economy and record-high unemployment rate, however, people are struggling to pay their utility bills. There are a number of options out there for aid.

Ken Stammen, spokesman for Columbia Gas of Ohio, said because of the price decrease, the company has had fewer requests for help this year.

Fewer Ohioans lighting up than in past

Nov. 20, 2009, Port Clinton News Herald

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to the News Herald

Confronted with a public smoking ban, higher sin taxes and more anti-smoking efforts, fewer Ohioans are lighting up.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 20.2 percent of Ohioans smoked in 2008, a 7.5 percent decline from 2001, when Ohio ranked fourth in the country for smokers. The CDC data goes back to 1998, when the smoking rate was 26.2.

Ohio now has the 17th-highest rate of smokers, according to the study. The CDC reports that 21.5 percent of men in Ohio smoked and 19 percent of women.