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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2009 > May > 13
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Obama pokes fun at Boehner
It’s Wednesday, and we’re just now getting to the funniest Dayton-related humor out of last weekend’s White House Correspondent’s Dinner: President Barack Obama’s shout-out to House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester.
Here’s Obama’s quote direct from the White House transcript:
“In the next hundred days, our bipartisan outreach will be so successful that even John Boehner will consider becoming a Democrat. After all, we have a lot in common. He is a person of color. Although not a color that appears in the natural world. What’s up, John? “
Boehner, R-West Chester, an avid golfer, is notorious on Capitol Hill for his deep tan, though we prefer to point out his penchant for poking fun at reporters’ wardrobes.
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House OKs bill to combat dating violence
Legislation to require all Ohio school districts to adopt policies to prevent and combat teen dating violence passed the House 62-35 on Wednesday, May 13.
“If it just saves the life of one young woman or one young man it’s well worth it,” said Rep. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, a supporter.
Opponents, however, called House Bill 19 an unfunded mandate that usurped local control of schools.
“The heavy hand of state government does not belong here,” said Rep. Nan Baker, R-Westlake.
The bill was named in honor of Tina Croucher of Monroe in Butler County who was 18 in 1982 when an ex-boyfriend shot her to death as she slept. Her parents were in the House gallery for the vote.
The bill would require districts to include dating violence prevention education for students in grades 7-12 within the health education curriculum.
It also would require the state board of education to develop a model dating violence prevent policy and standards for dating violence prevention studies.
The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
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ISUS students join Statehouse charter school rally
To shouts of “we love our school,” charter school backers rallied outside the Statehouse on Wednesday, May 13, to urge more state support for their schools.
Rally organizers estimated the crowd at 4,000 and one of the biggest contingents - 200 - came from Dayton’s ISUS Trade and Tech Prep High School, a dropout recovery school.
“We need more money and we need the money to be equal to our fellow high schools,” said ISUS student Jerad Redic, 21, who’s studying construction.
“I’m here because we need to keep charter schools open,” said Alandria Worthy, 17, who’s studying health care at ISUS and wants to be a pediatrician.
Michelle Clayton, 40, came from Middletown with her three children - Talmon, 10, Victoria, 9 and Nicole, 8 - all students of the Ohio Virtual Academy, an online school. She had home schooled her children earlier.
“This is the best of both worlds,” Clayton said of combining home schooling with the academy’s curriculum.
Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, promised the crowd that charter schools would get better treatment in the GOP-controlled Senate than they did in Gov. Ted Strickland’s proposed budget and the version passed by the Democratic-controlled House. The budget now is before the Senate.
Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, told the crowd to tell Strickland and lawmakers not to “play politics” with the students’ future.
Rep. Seth Morgan, R-Huber Heights, who took his fight to get information on Strickland’s school plan to the Ohio Supreme Court, said that if charter schools don’t get fair treatment in the budget “I think he (Strickland) might find himself in the Supreme Court again.”
Amanda Wurst, Strickland’s spokeswoman, said the governor had changed how charter schools are funded to be based on what the schools are doing. She said she didn’t know if Strickland heard the pleas from the rally that were directed at his corner office in the Statehouse.
More than 80,000 students attend charter schools in Ohio.
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Building trades’ labor group backs casino ballot proposal
The Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Trades Council, representing about 8,000 union construction workers, has endorsed a ballot proposal to permit casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.
“Regardless of one’s view of gambling, it is a fact that Ohio residents are currently exporting jobs and tax revenue associated with it to neighboring states,” council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Pasquale Manzi said in a letter released on Wednesday, May 13.
Backers of the casino plan have until July 1 to submit petitions with signatures from 402,275 voters to get the proposal on the Nov. 3 ballot. Key backers of the plan are Penn National Gaming, Inc. and Dan Gilbert, majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The council represents workers from unions in Franklin, Delaware, Fairfield, Fayette, Licking, Madison, Marion, PIckaway and Union counties.
