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The State of Ohio - Stalemate Over Slots
 
 
For a second week, the state is operating without a two-year budget. And the stalemate over slots that's deadlocked the budget's progress toward passage shows few signs of breaking. Gov. Ted Strickland and Senate President Bill Harris continue to make their cases to the media as talks go on to settle the impasse over whether slot machines should be allowed at Ohio's seven racetracks.

Other legislation is starting to move slowly through the Statehouse. The Senate passed a bill that went through the House weeks ago that would allow 16 year olds to donate blood, as long as a parent gives permission. And lawmakers have sent to the fall ballot an issue that would set up a board to create standards for care and treatment of livestock. Also this week - Gov. Strickland denied clemency to John Fautenberry, who's sentenced to die next week for a deadly shooting during a multistate killing rampage. The state says the number of Ohioans paying state taxes by credit card rose nearly 50% in three years. More low-income kids got free lunches last summer, but a report says many thousands more kids are eligible for summer lunch and are going hungry.

Much has been made of the hundreds of thousands of manufacturing and other jobs Ohio has lost in the last decade or so. But around the state, some environmentally friendly businesses have started up - for example, two of the nation's leading solar cell manufacturers are in northwest Ohio, which has deep traditions in manufacturing in the auto and glass industries. Sharing some details of the latest in green enterprise in Ohio are John Remy, spokesperson for the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio and Chet Chaney with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
July 10, 2009