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A SERVICE OF OHIO'S PUBLIC BROADCASTING STATIONS
A SERVICE OF OHIO'S PUBLIC BROADCASTING STATIONS
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Lyle Berman, chairman and CEO, Lakes Entertainment and Dr. Bradford Pressman, co-founder MyOhioNow.com. Berman, founder of the World Poker Tour, and his Ohio partners want to build a $600 million resort and casino in Clinton County, Ohio. They say the venture would generate 5,000 jobs and $200 million in annual tax revenue to be shared by each of the state's 88 counties. To make the project a reality, backers will first have to get approval from Ohio voters who've repeatedly rejected proposals to establish casino gambling. They hope to put the issue on the ballot this fall.
Roundtable
Joe Frolik, editorial board member, The Plain Dealer; Greg Saber, reporter, WTAM 1100; Harry Boomer, reporter, 19 Action News.
State Caps Payday Lenders
The Ohio House has passed one of the nation's strictest limits on the interest charged by payday lenders. If the Senate goes along with the legislation, lenders will be limited to a 28 percent APR. The current practice is a flat charge of 15 percent on a $100 loan short term loan, which amounts to an annual rate of close to 400%. Lawmakers ignored lender complaints that the limit will put them out of business.
The Wright Stuff?
Like it or not, Senator Barack Obama has an unofficial running mate. Obama tried again to distance himself from the caustic rhetoric of retired Chicago minister Jeremiah Wright who performed Obama's wedding and baptized his children, but Wright's views were again on national display. Wright's appearances, including an interview with Bill Moyers of PBS, were intended to explain his incendiary pulpit remarks. Instead they only brought on further controversy and brought new questions about his relationship with Obama who denounced Wright's more recent remarks as "appalling."
Political Patronage
A report in this week's Plain Dealer focused attention on the practical side of political patronage. The newspaper looked inside the office of Cuyahoga County recorder Patrick O'Malley. There the paper found a number of employees it says qualified for their jobs mainly by virtue of their political connections. Political patronage has long been a fact of life in local government. The article looked at the extent to which it operates in one county office.
May 2, 2008