Morning News and Stuff

If Tuesday's election was supposed to be a strong message from social progressives, women and younger voters, Ohio Republicans are not getting it. Instead, they are

continuing their pursuit of the heartbeat bill

. That’s what Ohio Senate President Tom Niehaus told The Cincinnati Enquirer yesterday.  At the time the heartbeat bill was originally suggested, it was called

the most radical anti-abortion bill in the country

. Yet Republicans, in cooperation with anti-abortion organizations, are pushing a version of the bill once again. Ohio Republicans have also shown interest in continuing their crusade against Planned Parenthood, according to Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio.

Cincinnati’s budget proposal is

coming later this month

. Specifically, Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls says it will arrive Nov. 26. City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. and his budget team are currently working on a budget to close a $40 million general fund deficit. One idea that was suggested recently in a memo was

privatizing parking services

, but it faces skepticism from Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld. The budget will first go through Dohoney, then the mayor and then City Council. However, this calendar year’s budget will only cover six months, and then the city will transition into filing budgets based on fiscal years on July 1.

To match some of Obamacare’s requirements, Ohio officials are considering

a hybrid approach to health care exchanges

. The exchanges are federally regulated insurance markets. As part of Obamacare, states have the option of creating their own exchange programs, which have to be approved by the federal government; setting up a hybrid approach, which is what Ohio is looking into doing; or putting the responsibility on the federal government.

During the lame duck session, the Ohio legislature will take up legislation to regulate puppy mills and election reform. Regulations on puppy mills were

previously covered

by CityBeat when a group tried to get dog auctions banned in the state. Election reform could mean a lot of things. The current Republican-controlled legislature previously tried to restrict and limit in-person early voting before

repealing its own rules

. Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has also suggested

“more strict” voter ID laws

.

In other election news, an upset federal judge

demanded

Husted’s attorneys explain a last-minute directive that changed rules on provisional ballots. U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley told the lawyers, “You have a lot of explaining to do.” The directive, which Husted sent out Nov. 2, shifted the burden of providing identification for provisional ballots from poll workers to voters. Voter advocates argued the directive was against Ohio law and would lead to more provisional ballots, which are ballots filed when a voter’s eligibility to vote is uncertain, being wrongly rejected. Husted and Republicans were heavily criticized for

alleged attempts at voter suppression

in the run-up to the election.

City Council

approved a $750,000 tax break for the E.W. Scripps Company

. As part of the deal, Scripps will hire for 125 new local jobs and retain 184 current employees.

The Wall Street Journal

covered

Cincinnati’s “pie war” between Frisch’s and Busken Bakery.

CincyTech, a nonprofit venture organization, has

invested $14.3 million since it began five years ago

. Its investments, which focus on information technology and life sciences, have helped create more than 360 jobs, according to company officials.

As part of a national movement, Cincinnati-based Kroger will be making an effort to

hire more military veterans

.

Republican Gov. John Kasich is

focused on his re-election bid for 2014

. When asked about whether he will run for president in 2016, Kasich said he has not made any announcements. The news came shortly after the Ohio Democratic Party began printing signs that say “Kasich... you’re next” on one side and “2014 can’t come soon enough” on the other.

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel won’t be leaving state politics any time soon. He says he’ll be running for

re-election in 2014

. Mandel is the Republican who led a failed bid for U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown. His campaign was

notorious for its dishonesty

.

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, may

take up running the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2014

. That would put him in charge of managing the Republican Party’s senate campaigns for the year. Republicans are

expected to make gains in the U.S. Senate in 2014

because 20 Democratic seats will be up for grabs, in comparison to 13 Republican seats, and 12 of the Democratic seats are in swing or red states.

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives won the popular vote, but they ultimately lost the House. The culprit for the discrepancy seems to be

politicized redistricting

. In Ohio, the Republican-led committee redrew congressional district boundaries to give Republicans an advantage. The First Congressional District, which includes Cincinnati, was redrawn to include Republican-leaning Warren County, which slanted the district in favor of Republicans and diluted the say of Cincinnati’s Democratic-leaning urbanites. On this year’s ballot, Issue 2

attempted to tackle the redistricting issue

, but Ohio voters overwhelmingly voted it down.

Some scientists are really excited by the discovery of

“Super Earth.”

What doomed the Mayans?

Climate change.