Unemployment Insurance Cutoff Threat Sends States Scrambling
Arthur DelaneyHuffington Post
Alec Johnson of Delaware, Ohio, paid close attention last month as members of Congress fought over a bill to reauthorize the federal unemployment insurance he'd relied on for the past year. Eventually, they struck a deal averting an abrupt cutoff for nearly 2 million unemployed Americans, preserving the jobless benefits until March.
So Johnson, 59, was annoyed to learn that even after all that fussing, more politicians need to act to keep his checks coming. "I was surprised," he said. "I sort of thought I had a certain hunk of time."
Ohio is one of several states where the local government needs to take quick action to claim the final 20 weeks of federal unemployment insurance, which for Johnson, a laid-off political organizer, would kick in come February.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/10/unemployment-insurance-states-cutoffs_n_1195504.html
Ohio Speaker Bill Batchelder Not the Best at Taking Care of His Medina House
Posted by Erich Burnett on Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 12:52 PM
Cleveland Scene
As speaker of Ohio’s House of Representatives, Bill Batchelder has made it his specialty to ram through popular issues like the recently overturned Senate Bill 5 and everything that makes women hate Republicans.
Yes, the 30-year servant is a busy man around Columbus. But what of his down time in his hometown of Medina?
One would think that upon returning for the weekend, he might catch up on a few projects in need of attention, such as picking up the garbage cans strewn about his lawn, fixing broken railings and downspouts, or perhaps picking up a bit of the accumulating trash.
http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2012/01/11/ohio-speaker-bill-batchelders-home-looking-like-a-ghost-house
http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2012/01/11/ohio-speaker-bill-batchelders-home-looking-like-a-ghost-house
Budish Questions Lack of House Dem Appointment to Study Committee
Hannah Report 1/10/12
House Democratic Leader Armond Budish (D-Beachwood) Tuesday objected to House Speaker William Batchelder (R-Medina) not putting a member of Budish's caucus on the newly created Ohio Housing Study Committee.
The study committee was created in the budget bill to review the Ohio Housing Finance Agency. The legislation called for two members from each chamber to be appointed by Batchelder and Senate President Tom Niehaus (R-New Richmond.) While Niehuas appointed Sen. Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster) and Mike Skindell (D-Lakewood), Batchelder chose Reps. Cheryl Grossman (R-Grove City) and Peter Beck (R-Mason.)
http://www.hannah.com/DesktopDefaultPublic.aspx?type=hns&id=188226
Politics Notebook: GOP Question Democrats' Lawsuit Bill; Budish Alleges Partisanship In Study Committee Appointments
Republicans on Tuesday questioned the legality of Democrats' request to bill the state for their lawsuit challenging the newly redrawn General Assembly districts.
House Republicans' legal counsel Mike Lenzo said the House and Senate Democratic caucuses might not have followed proper procedure in hiring the law firm Perkins Coie to file a lawsuit on their behalf before the Ohio Supreme Court. (See Gongwer Ohio Report, January 4, 2012)
Since the attorney general is by law the default attorney for state officials acting in their official capacity, Democrats should have obtained a special counsel contract before hiring the firm, he said, noting the GOP caucuses got permission from the AG to hire private attorneys to represent them in a separate redistricting lawsuit.
Housing Committee: House Minority Leader Armond Budish (D-Beachwood) said all-Republican appointments to a study committee on the Ohio Housing Study Committee violated the tradition of bi-partisanship on such panels.
With the study committee, which the biennial budget (HB 153
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