Members of teacher pension fund planning lawsuit to force transparency

MAY 3, 2021 | YAHOO FINANCE | by Jim Provance

By Jim Provance (The Toledo Blade), includes “The public records lawsuit will ask the Ohio Supreme Court to force the State Teachers Retirement System … to release information that investment firms have claimed is proprietary or a trade secret.”

Ohio teachers pension mauled by Panda

MARCH 3, 2021 | FREMONT NEWS MESSENGER | by John Damscroder

By John Damscroder, includes “… The New York pension forced FirstEnergy to disclose direct and indirect political spending along with lobbying expenses, twice a year, to keep the pension from putting the proposal to a shareholders vote. Thus, the company on the receiving end of a billion dollar Ohio Statehouse bailout the U.S. Department of Justice alleges passed with the help of $60 million in political bribes has reform imposed from New York rather than Ohio. …” (Note: Parallels with Illinois developments?)

Do states and cities ‘need’ Biden’s $350 billion in direct COVID-19 relief? It depends where you’re asking

FEBRUARY 8, 2021 | USA TODAY | by Joey Garrison

By Joey Garrison, includes “… Republicans have slammed the city and state relief as an unneeded bailout for liberal-controlled cities and states that mismanaged finances. This week they seized on a new J.P. Morgan study that found revenue growth in state governments declined only marginally since the pandemic hit, hardly the doomsday scenario that many forecasted last spring.”
 

Corruption in utility bailouts hurts ratepayers and the planet

FEBRUARY 3, 2021 | BROOKINGS | by Colby Galliher

By Colby Galliher, includes “… Because many of those older power plants operate at a loss, utilities taking this position often turn to local and state governments for subsidies or bailouts. While bailouts are not necessarily problematic in and of themselves, in some cases a shadowy constellation of individuals, organizations, and companies are the driving forces behind them. … They then take advantage of lax disclosure laws to conceal their involvement or their connections to the policymakers pushing to grant the bailout with public funds. …” 

Sixteen states lost population in 2020

FEBRUARY 1, 2021 | BALLOTPEDIA | by Scott Rasmussen

By Scott Rasmussen, includes “… On a percentage basis, the biggest increases were found in Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.”

Remote workers call city income taxes unfair

JANUARY 12, 2021 | WCPO 9 NEWS (CINCINNATI) | by John Matarese

Millions of Americans are now working from home, with the pandemic shutting down their offices since last March.

Why power companies and state-level corruption go together in America

NOVEMBER 23, 2020 | THE ECONOMIST

Larry householder sounds unrepentant. Until July the Republican was speaker of Ohio’s state assembly—a politician best known for his prodigious fundraising and helping his party colleagues raise cash. Then in July the feds came knocking.

Feds looking into whether Cleveland-area family swindled millions from program to help businesses during coronavirus

NOVEMBER 20, 2020 | CLEVELAND.COM | by Eric Heisig

Federal prosecutors are looking at whether a network of companies with names pertaining to farming that apparently do no agricultural work illegally obtained $7.2 million in government loans and grants from a program meant to help businesses adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Ohio’s head in the sand legislature needs to act to remove the HB 6 stain

NOVEMBER 9, 2020 | CLEVELAND.COM

Let’s examine the scorecard for House Bill 6 amid federal allegations it was the tainted fruit of the largest racketeering corruption case the Ohio Statehouse has ever seen.

Ohio forced to borrow more than $1.1 billion to pay unemployment benefits amid COVID-19

OCTOBER 29, 2020 | THE DAILY RECORD | by Catherine Candisky

Ohio has been forced to borrow more than $1.1 billion from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits to jobless workers as the pandemic-triggered recession keeps unemployment highs.

Franklin County authority provides $146 million for new Crew Stadium but doesn’t monitor spending

OCTOBER 21, 2020 | THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH (OHIO) | by Bill Bush

During the past year, tens of millions of public dollars have flowed toward construction of the Columbus Crew SC's new Downtown stadium and its Mapfre training facility, but the local officials who approved the payments haven't requested or received any details about how the team spends that money.

The nuclear bailout nobody’s talking about

OCTOBER 19, 2020 | THE HIGHLAND COUNTY PRESS (OHIO) | by Marty Schladen

Ohio state government continues to be gripped by an alleged $61 million bribery scandal involving a billion-dollar nuclear bailout.

Government tax revenues in some parts of the US are rebounding

SEPTEMBER 22, 2020 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Government tax revenues in some parts of the U.S. are rebounding as the economy emerges from the coronavirus lockdown, a positive sign for governors and mayors who had been bracing for the biggest fiscal crisis in decades.

Thirty-nine states ill-prepared for coronavirus pandemic

SEPTEMBER 22, 2020

The 2020 Financial State of the States report surveys the fiscal health of the 50 states prior to the coronavirus pandemic. This data is released today by Truth in Accounting (TIA), a think tank that analyzes government financial reporting.

City of Cincinnati avoids borrowing to balance its budget this year

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 | CINCINNATI BUSINESS COURIER | by Chris Wetterich

The city of Cincinnati will not have to borrow money to make its fiscal year 2021 budget, which began on July 1, come into balance.

Hedge fund managers can’t lose with public pensions

SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 | FREMONT NEWS MESSENGER (OHIO) | by John Damschroder

If I don’t do this no one else in Ohio media will.

When utility money talks

AUGUST 3, 2020 | THE NEW YORK TIMES | by Justin Gillis

The billion-dollar bailout of one of Ohio’s biggest utilities seemed suspicious from the start. It turns out the F.B.I. was paying attention, too.

Unholy alliance of power, money fueled corruption scheme

JULY 30, 2020 | DETROIT LEGAL NEWS | by Mark Gillispie

An accused co-conspirator called it an “unholy alliance” — dealings between a longtime Ohio politician seeking to restore his power and an energy company in desperate need of a billion-dollar bailout to rescue two nuclear plants in the state.

Balancing the debt with pandemic spending

JULY 27, 2020 | SPECTRUM NEWS 1 (OHIO) | by Taylor Popielarz

As Congress negotiates another coronavirus relief package, the federal deficit and debt are rising at record pace.

Ohio educators call for federal bailout

JULY 22, 2020 | WYSO 91.3FM RADIO (OHIO)

On Monday afternoon, Ohio teachers and union leaders called on the U.S. Senate to pass a COVID relief bill immediately.

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