Morning News and Stuff

Today is Tax Day, which means income tax returns have to be filed by midnight. If you’re in a rush, there are a variety of online tax filing services out there, particularly for state and federal taxes. Cincinnati’s e-filing service can be found

here

.

Cincinnati is

outlining the time frame

for police, firefighter and other layoffs that the city says it must undertake to balance the budget. The layoffs are currently set for June 9, with layoff letters going out by then. The city administration says the layoffs are necessary because the city’s plan to lease its parking assets has been held up in court and a referendum effort, eliminating the use of parking funds to help balance the budget in time for fiscal year 2014. Opponents say there are alternatives, but Mayor Mark Mallory and the city’s budget gurus

recently criticized

the suggestions as misleading and unworkable.

Ohio House Republicans are once again

attempting to defund

Planned Parenthood in their latest budget plan, but this time they are also throwing in support for crisis pregnancy centers, which tout abstinence-only education, in a separate part of their budget proposal. The moves have sparked criticism from pro-choice groups around the state that say Republicans are trying to push their morality on women, while anti-abortion groups have praised the budget for enforcing family values and what they claim are more women’s health options.

The Medicaid expansion is

uniting Gov. John Kasich, Ohio Democrats, mental health advocates and other health experts

against the Ohio House Republicans’ budget proposal, which rejects the expansion. Supporters of the expansion point to studies that say the expansion will save the state money, insure nearly half a million Ohioans and help the state’s neediest, but Ohio Republicans say they’re concerned the federal funding backing the expansion will dry up at some point, even though there’s no historical precedent of the federal government failing to meet its Medicaid commitments.

State officials are

moving to reform

Ohio’s foster care system after several deaths were linked to poor oversight and regulations. The Foster Care Advisory Group sent out its suggestions last week, which include removing some rules to “normalize” foster children’s childhoods and eliminating county-by-county funding inequality.

Internet sweepstakes cafes have been closed in California and Florida — a move state officials are

looking to replicate

in Ohio.

Ohio gas prices are

low

this week.

A new state license plate design is

now available

.

A new strand of the bird flu is

here

, and it’s already killed 11 people in China.

Scientists have

reconstructed the ancestor

that came between the human and chimp.