Ohio Sunday Papers – Casinos: State Newspapers No Likey

• Huron County’s 18.3% unemployment rate – Associated Press
• State making more records available online – Columbus Dispatch
• Banks face long climb – Cincinnati Enquirer
• New Schools Fall Short of Strickland’s Standards – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: Fool’s Gold (Casinos) – Toledo Blade
• Editorial: False Promises (Casinos) – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: Highway Funds, er, Safety – Toledo Blade
• Editorial: Strickland – Let Charter Schools Bloom – The Plain Dealer
• Editorial: Trust in Change (Higher Ed) – Akron Beacon-Journal
• Op-Ed, Dennis Willard: Big Brother, Big Brother, big money – Akron Beacon-Journal
• Op-Ed, David Skolnick: Congressman Ryan Man of the Hour – Youngstown Vindicator
• Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: Gambling Promoters & Their Self Serving Ideas – The Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Jonathan Riskind: Pollution plan fuels bipartisan fight – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Joe Hallett: Ohio needs to upgrade Capitol statuary – Columbus Dispatch

Add Condom Sales to Recession-Proof Business List

From the Columbus Dispatch on Saturday:

Nationwide, sales of male contraceptives in food, drug and mass-merchandise stores increased 6.4 percent in the last 13 weeks of 2008 compared with 2007, according to the Nielsen Co., which tracks products.

Nielsen also counts how many condoms are sold, and that number went up 2.4percent in the same period.

The trend continued in January, with sales up 5.3 percent compared with the previous year and per-unit sales up 1.6 percent, Nielsen found.

Condom sales are pretty much recession-proof, said Carol Carrozza, vice president of marketing at Ansell Healthcare in Red Bank, N.J. Ansell is one of the largest manufacturers of condoms in the world.

“In this time of fear, people tend to be coupling more,” Carrozza said. “There’s a nesting effect, and people are staying home.”

Reluctance to have children in uncertain times also adds to the condom boom, she said.

The piece also dealt with Hilliard, Ohio condom entrepreneur Brian Frank.  His business, Undercover Condoms, has had a “rise” in sales even though the economy is “flagging.”

If you want to wrap your rascal, or your mate’s, go visit Undercover Condoms.  Buy Ohio!

One Piece of Good Economic News for Ohio

From the Columbus Dispatch:

The economic news in Ohio last year was mostly bad, but there was a bright spot: State exports grew by nearly 7 percent from 2007, officials said.

Numbers released this month by the U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration show that Ohio’s export total for 2008 grew to more than $45 billion, up 6.87 percent.

Ohio is the seventh-largest exporting state in the nation and is the only state to increase exports every year since 1998, according to the Department of Development.

Bloomberg: Cleveland, Detroit Canaries in the Coal Mine for Coming Commercial Real Estate Problems

From Bloomberg on Monday:

March 9 (Bloomberg) — If you want to know what’s going to happen to commercial real estate across the U.S., look no further than Cleveland and Detroit.

Those two metropolitan areas lead the U.S. in mortgage delinquencies for owners of office buildings, apartments, malls and warehouses, a sign that cities hurt by the housing crisis will see their commercial markets dragged down next.

Commercial properties with mortgage payments 60 days late or more rose to 3.93 percent as of March in the Cleveland area and to 3.75 percent in the Detroit area, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The North American commercial property delinquency rate is 1.1 percent, according to Standard & Poor’s. …

… Cleveland’s office vacancy rate was 14.8 percent in 2008 and is forecast to rise to 20.4 percent in 2010, according to CBRE Econometric Advisors, part of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., the largest U.S. commercial real estate broker. A rate above 20 percent would be the highest since 1991, according to Jon Southard, principal at CBRE Econometric.

Cleveland’s unemployment rate was 7.1 percent in December. Ohio’s unemployment rate was 8.8 percent in January as the state lost 214,600 non-farm jobs, including 90,600 in manufacturing and 12,000 in financial services.

More Inane Commentary from Columbus Tea Party Organizer

Meet Justin Higgins, a 19 year-old Ohio State University college Republican who’s got things all figured out.  I mean if it weren’t for Constitutional provisions against one so young holding the nation’s highest office, we could put young Justin there in the White House, hold him in high esteem like a young Dalai Llama and he could point us all along the path to political and economic enlightenment.

For now, though, we’ll have to settle for Saturday, March 14 at the Statehouse in Columbus where Higgins will be the master of ceremonies for The Columbus Tea Party.  The party begins at 11 a.m. and is sponsored by College Republicans and Americans for Prosperity.  (Do you know any Americans who are not for prosperity?)

Higgins and others are wigging out over the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka the Stimulus Bill.  The notion that the need for this bill rests in part on the unregulated economic behavior of most of the world’s major banks, investment houses and insurers is completely lost on them.  While Justin no doubt luxuriates in his college boy lifestyle subsidized by Mom and Dad, he’s got the time for contemplation to say stupid things like this on 610-WTVN radio today:

We’re going to protest and basically tell Governor Strickland that we don’t want him taking this stimulus money because the last thing we need is more unfunded mandates and more ridiculous spending on the state level.

When these funds run out, we have to pay for it.

Allow me to get right to the point with young master Higgins:  What the hell are you talking about?

Read more

Ohio Sunday Papers – Ill winds beginning to blow on Cap Square

• Governor’s doubters grow – Columbus Dispatch
• Foreclosure crisis everywhere in Cleveland – The Plain Dealer
• 1933 eviction riots in Cleveland bear similarities to today – The Plain Dealer
• Plummeting stock prices rock four venerable Toledo firms – The Toledo Blade
• Op-Ed, Joe Hallett: Brunner v. Fisher could be Dem nightmare – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Dennis Willard: Ohio legislators divided and evasive – Akron Beacon Journal
• Op-Ed, Aaron Marshall: Ohio House Republicans ready to fight – The Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Jonathan Riskind: Voinovich far from being lame duck – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: Ohio Auditor has waited long enough for data – The Plain Dealer
• Editorial: Stimulus should focus on fixing what’s broken – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: Passenger rail – waiting at the station – Akron Beacon Journal
• Some Lucas County agency heads get raises – The Toledo Blade
• Use of furloughs for workers on the rise – The Plain Dealer
• Personal bailouts sought on Ohio site – Akron Beacon Journal
• Where will the local stimulus dollars go? – Akron Beacon Journal
• Ohio stimulus proposals point out crumbling infrastructure – The Plain Dealer
• Fragile mental health safety net – Columbus Dispatch
• Ohio mental health facts – Columbus Dispatch
• Traficant could be back in Ohio soon – Youngstown Vindicator
• Dettelbach rises to top of U.S. Atty list – The Plain Dealer

NYT Magazine: Cover Story on Cleveland’s Foreclosures Crisis

Click the image below and check out an excellent piece in the  New York Times Magazine on the particular issues of home foreclosures in Cleveland.  Currently, 1 in 13 homes in the city are vacant.  Featured prominently in the article is Tony Brancatelli, member of Cleveland’s City Council.  Slavic Village is the scene of many of this article’s illustrations of individual issues in the Cleveland housing market.

Ohio Sunday Papers – Waiting to be Stimulated

• Experienced lobbyists have advantage due to changes in Ohio legislature – The Plain Dealer
• Editorial: Lt. Gov. Fisher could get chance to keep pledge – Youngstown Vindicator
• Editorial: Assault on Education (Charter Schools) – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: Brunner should sidestep the conflict – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: Triage for a sick economy – Toledo Blade
• Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: The bumps in Strickland’s road – The Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Dennis Willard: Legislators need some backbone – Akron Beacon Journal
• Donations v. Impartiality on docket – Columbus Dispatch
• School funding formula criticized – Associated Press
• Strickland plan would slash online school funding – Columbus Dispatch
• Stimulus requests rolling in to state government – Dayton Daily News
• How Clevelanders would spend stimulus – The Plain Dealer
• Path to stimulus money hazy – Columbus Dispatch
• Ohioans tuned into state’s history – Columbus Dispatch
• Hospitals object to fees for Medicaid – Columbus Dispatch

Ohio’s Jobless Rate Makes Big Jump

From the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services this a.m.:

Ohio and U.S. Employment Situation (Seasonally Adjusted)

Ohio’s unemployment rate was 8.8 percent in January, up from the revised rate of 7.4 in December, according to data released this morning by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Ohio’s nonfarm wage and salary employment decreased 59,700 over the month, from 5,271,900 in December, to 5,212,200 in January.

“Ohio’s labor market showed continued decline in January,” ODJFS Director Douglas Lumpkin said. “The unemployment rate rose to 8.8 percent as job losses increased in both the goods-producing and service-providing industries.”

The number of workers unemployed in Ohio in January was 524,000, up from 445,000 in December. The number of unemployed has increased by 181,000 in the past 12 months from 343,000. The January unemployment rate for Ohio was up from 5.7 percent in January 2008.

The U.S. unemployment rate for January was 7.6 percent, up from 7.2 percent in December.

Video: Gov. Ted Strickland on Face the Nation with Daniels, Corzine

Watch CBS Videos Online

Ohio Sunday Papers – It’s the Economy and Education with a smattering of Fisher, Brunner

• Editorial: Lawmakers must stop Strickland from killing charter schools – The Plain Dealer
• Editorial: Governor needs to tweek how he pays for education reform – Akron Beacon Journal
• Editorial: No Stimulus for Teardown – Toledo Blade
• Op-Ed, William Hershey: Ohio Dems Face Likely ‘Family Fued’ – Dayton Daily News
• Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: Will Ohio House Dems Hold Together on Budget? – The Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Joe Hallett: Governor Sinned a Bit in Securing Manna from Washington – Columbus Dispatch
• Welfare rolls soaring in Ohio – Columbus Dispatch
• Toledo aid agencies fear what’s over horizon – Toledo Blade
• Late bill payments cost state – Columbus Dispatch
• Big repairs needed for U.S. automakers – Toledo Blade
• How would you spend $500 million taxpayer dollars? – The Plain Dealer
• Dems’ fight a cost of success – Cincinnati Enquirer
• Op-Ed, Dennis Willard: Race crucial for Fisher, Brunner – Akron Beacon Journal
• Brunner: Senate bid not a conflict – Columubus Dispatch
• Ohio tries to clean up payday lending one more time – The Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Jonathan Riskind: Obama’s economic plans leave some edgy, angry – Columbus Dispatch
• Development board’s City Center planning only quasi-public – Columbus Dispatch
• Farmland disappearing – Columbus Dispatch
• Preservationists hope to see some stimulus – Columbus Dispatch
• Ohio businesses must file sales taxes electronically for first time this year – The Plain Dealer
• Ohio officials OK new workers compensation program – Dayton Daily News\
• KELLY PAVLIK COVERAGE – The Youngstown Vindicator

Ohioans Have Submitted Nearly 7,500 Project Ideas to State’s Stimulus Site

After only a couple of weeks, Ohioans are responding to Governor Ted Strickland’s call for stimulus project ideas in a big way.

According to the state’s stimulus website, as of Friday 7,495 proposed projects had been catalogued.  For now, the state is using the website to share stimulus information and collect data from organizations, counties, cities and the like regarding their “stimulus-ready” project proposals.  The information being collected is not an application for stimulus dollars, but rather a first step for the state in getting a big picture inventory of proposals.  Project proposers meeting stimulus requirements will be contacted about the formal application process.

Once stimulus dollars are being spent, the state’s site will be a place to check up on progress and see how our money is being spent.

Go here to see the site’s FAQ.

New Ohio Development Director (Interim) Mark Barbash

Governor Ted Strickland acknowledged during Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher’s Senatorial campaign presser that Ohio Department of Development Assistant Director Mark Barbash will step in as director on an interim basis.

Barbash’s other title at Development is Chief Economic Development Officer.  That work, alongside Fisher for the last two years puts the department in good shape from a continuity standpoint.

Barbash, a former investment banker, also served in private and public sector economic development roles in the city of Columbus.  Before being hired by Fisher in 2007, Barbash last served as director of the Columbus Ohio Department of Development.

Fisher has relinquished the directorship of Development due to his bid for U.S. Senate.

White House Releases State by State Job Creation Numbers from Economic Stimulus

According to the White House, the state of Ohio will net 133,000 jobs as a result of the recently passed – and today signed by President Barack Obama – American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

This is the economic stimulus bill passed by Congress last week in time for Diva Pelosi to make her trip to Europe.

Click Here for State by State List of Jobs to be Created

Ohio Sunday Papers – February 15

• Celeste, (Chris), exploring U.S. Senate run – The Plain Dealer
• Part of Strickland’s school funding formula involves judgement calls – Columbus Dispatch
• Plan calls for judging teachers on results – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: School Funding – Evidence of Confusion – Akron Beacon Journal
• State’s use of stimulus: Plodding or on Pace? – Columbus Dispatch

• Economists: This recession deeper than ‘83 – Dayton Daily News
• Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: Ohio Legislature = Boys Town - The Plain Dealer
• GM, Chrysler labor talks slow – The Plain Dealer
• Steamed about heating bills – Toledo Blade
• Surprise: Pryce becoming a lobbyist – Columbus Dispatch
• Ohio Turnpike toll plan takes from other states – Toledo Blade
• Food inspection complex, has holes – Columbus Dispatch
• Payday lenders use loophole to continue high interest rates – The Plain Dealer
• Health agencies brace for cuts – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: Improve Democracy – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Roger Geiger: Secret ballots must remain in union elections – Toledo Blade
• Op-Ed, Joe Hallett: High School buddies solve economic mess – Columbus Dispatch

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