Politics

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio's elections chief says a liberal policy group has no legal grounds for challenging his certification of a fall ballot measure that seeks to exempt the state from provisions in the federal health care overhaul.

In a response filed Tuesday to ProgressOhio's lawsuit, Secretary of State Jon Husted says it's improper for the group to challenge the signatures submitted to get the measure on the ballot. He questioned the group's contention that extra information was included on petitions.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio may be paying $6.3 million to purchase a building that it helped pay to construct.

That's the amount Cuyahoga Community College requested Monday from a state legislative panel to buy a Cleveland building from the Visiting Nurses Association of Ohio.

Except Senate Finance Chairman Chris Widener, who sits on the board, pointed out the state gave the nonprofit association $1.6 million to help build the building in the first place. He says the state is essentially paying for the building twice.  Widener was the only no vote.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A liberal policy group has until Friday to decide whether to challenge petitions supporting a fall ballot measure offering Ohioans a chance to opt out of portions of the national health care overhaul.

ProgressOhio launched an independent review of more than 546,000 signatures collected by Ohioans for Healthcare Freedom.  ProgressOhio Executive Director Brian Rothenberg claims initial findings suggested as many as 20 percent of petitions were flawed.

TOLEDO, Ohio - A panel dominated by Republicans will begin the task of redrawing congressional district lines for the next 10 years.

What's known as the Ohio Apportionment Board meets for the first time Thursday. The board members are the governor, state auditor and secretary of state - who are all members of the GOP - plus one lawmaker from each party.