Just a few weeks after settling on a deal that included a new GOP-drawn Congressional district map, legislative Democrats are asking the Ohio Supreme Court to find the new map of state House and Senate districts unconstitutional. A spokesman for the owners of a northeast Ohio injection well that agreed to shut down operations last week says they're paying for a geologic study of the area to find out why there have been nearly a dozen earthquakes in the area. Ohio's former Attorney General Richard Cordray may finally get the job he was nominated for months ago. President Barack Obama was in Cleveland this week and announced he was using his recess appointment power to install Richard Cordray as the head of the new the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
As potentially the most restrictive ban on abortion in the nation, the Heartbeat Bill got a lot of attention last year. But there were actually seven abortion related measures that were signed into law or were tucked into the state budget in 2011 - including a law that says Ohioans won't be able to buy coverage for abortion in the health insurance plans offered by the state's insurance marketplace or exchange, which would be set up under the federal health care law. The American Civil Liberties Union said it would sue the state over that law - but will do it by using the Tea Party backed Health Care Freedom Amendment approved by voters as Issue 3 last year. Talking about the battle over House Bill 79 are Mike Gonidakis, president and former executive director of Ohio Right to Life and Gary Daniels, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.
