Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama will visit the politically important state of Ohio on Tuesday to continue selling his job-creation plan.

The White House announced Thursday, hours before Obama was to outline details in a nationally televised speech to Congress, that he would be making Columbus, Ohio, the second stop on a tour to rally the public behind his ideas to create jobs and boost the economy.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - County Republicans in central Ohio say they are making plans for the bellwether state's first-ever straw poll.

The Franklin County Republican Party event will take place Oct. 22 at the Ohio Union on the campus of Ohio State University.

Executive Committee Chairman Doug Preisse said the straw poll will give Ohio Republicans a chance to be heard in the increasingly competitive GOP presidential primary.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio Gov. John Kasich has appointed an Appalachia-area executive to the board of the newly created JobsOhio corporation that will oversee job creation and economic development in the state.

Kasich on Thursday named Lawrence Kidd to the board, completing his picks to the nine-member panel. The governor named the other members in July, including Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee and Procter & Gamble CEO Bob McDonald.

CLEVELAND (AP) - Job seekers eager to cash in on a casino opening early next year in Cleveland are flooding its operator with applications.

The Horseshoe Casino Cleveland began taking applications on its website Wednesday. A spokeswoman said more than 1,000 applications were received by mid-afternoon for 500 dealer and supervisor openings. Dealers will earn up to $40,000 a year, and supervisors will make $40,000 or more.

The application deadline is Sept. 30. More openings will be filled starting in December.

State records show staffers for both Republicans and Democrats in the Ohio Senate got pay raises this summer in the aftermath of state budget cuts and the passage of a law limiting public employee unions.

Payroll data reviewed by The Associated Press show 19 Senate caucus employees got pay hikes since July. The raises were firstreported Tuesday on the liberal political blog Plunderbund.