Morning News and Stuff

A bill enacting new regulations on minor political party participation in state elections yesterday

passed through the Republican-controlled Ohio Senate

despite objections from the Libertarian Party and other critics that the bill will shut out minor parties in future elections. The bill now needs approval from the Republican-controlled Ohio House and Republican Gov. John Kasich, who would likely benefit from the bill because it would help stave off tea party challengers in the gubernatorial election. The proposal was sponsored by State Sen. Bill Seitz, a Republican from Cincinnati.

The Greater Cincinnati Port Authority yesterday

released drafts for contracts

with operators who will manage Cincinnati’s parking meters, lots and garages under the city’s parking plan, which leases the parking assets to the Port Authority for at least 30 years. Xerox will be paid about $4.5 million in its first year operating Cincinnati’s parking meters, and it will be separately paid $4.7 million over 10 years to upgrade meters to, among other features, allow customers to pay through a smartphone. Xerox’s contract will last 10 years, but it can be renewed for up to 30 years. The city administration says the parking plan will raise millions in upfront money then annual installments that will help finance development projects and balance the budget, but critics say the plan gives up too much control of Cincinnati’s parking assets.

City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee yesterday

approved nearly $854,000 in tax credits over 10 years for Pure Romance

in return for the company coming to and remaining in Cincinnati for 20 years. The city administration estimates the deal will lead to at least 126 new high-paying jobs in downtown Cincinnati over three years and nearly $2.6 million in net tax revenue over two decades. Pure Romance is a $100 million-plus company that originally planned to move from Loveland to Cincinnati with support from the state and city, but Gov. John Kasich’s administration ultimately rejected state tax credits for the company. Kasich’s administration says Pure Romance didn’t fit into an industry traditionally supported by the state, but critics argue the state government is just too “prudish” to support a company that includes sex toys in its product lineup.

The Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST), Cincinnati’s vitriolic tea party group, yesterday appeared to endorse John Cranley, who’s running for mayor against Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls.

Ohio conservatives are

defending their proposal to weaken the state’s renewable energy and efficiency mandates

, which environmentalists and businesses credit with spurring a boom of clean energy production in the state and billions in savings on Ohioans’ electricity bills. State Sen. Seitz compared the mandates to “central planning” measures taken in “Soviet Russia.” A study from Ohio State University and Ohio Advanced Energy Economy found Ohioans will spend $3.65 billion more on electricity bills over the next 12 years if the mandates are repealed. CityBeat covered the attempts to repeal the mandates in further detail

here

and the national conservative groups behind the calls to repeal

here

.

Ohioans renewing their driver’s licenses or state ID cards

will no longer be asked

whether they want to remain on the list of willing organ donors. The move is supposed to increase the amount of participants in the state’s organ donation registry by giving people less chances to opt out.

An Ohio Senate bill

would ban red-light cameras

. Supporters of the traffic cameras say they deter reckless driving, but opponents argue the cameras make it too easy to collect fines for the most minor infractions.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine

awarded $17 million in grants

to crime victims services around Ohio, including more than $49,000 to the Salvation Army in Hamilton County.

President Barack Obama is likely to

appoint Janet Yellen to lead the Federal Reserve

, which would make her the first woman to lead the nation’s central bank.

Lost in their smartphones and tablets, San Francisco train passengers

didn’t notice a gunman until he pulled the trigger

.

Scientists are bad at identifying important science,

a new study found

.