Morning News and Stuff

Gov. John Kasich’s school funding plan may not be so progressive after all. In

his initial announcement

, Kasich promised the program will be more progressive by raising funding to poorer schools, but this fact from

StateImpact Ohio

seems to contradict that claim: “Under the projections released by the state, a suburban district like Olentangy that has about $192,000 of property value per student would get a more than three-fold increase in state funding. Meanwhile, Noble Local, a small rural district with about $164,000 of property wealth per student sees no increase in state funding.” The Toledo Blade found Kasich’s education plan

favors suburban schools

. The Akron Beacon Journal

pulled numbers that show

rich, growing school districts will do fine under the plan. According to The Columbus Dispatch, 60 percent of Ohio schools

will not see

increases in funding from Kasich’s plan.

The Ohio Department of Transportation is now

shying away

from statutory guarantees for northern Ohio in the Ohio Turnpike plan. Originally, Kasich promised 90 percent of Ohio Turnpike funds will remain in northern Ohio, albeit with a fairly vague definition of northern Ohio. Now, even that vague 90 percent doesn’t seem to be sticking around. But the plan would still be a massive job-creating infrastructure initiative for the entire state. The Ohio Turnpike runs along northern Ohio, so changes to fees and the road affect people living north the most.

WLWT published a thinly veiled criticism of local teacher salaries. The article pointed out Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) pays 45 of its employees

more than $100,000 a year

. Of those people, 42 are administrators and three are teachers. In comparison, the highest paid Cleveland school teacher makes $86,000. The article also glances over the fact CPS is “the number one urban-rated school district in the state” to point out the school district is still lacking in a few categories. As CPS Board President Eileen Reed points out, a school district needs to attract better educators with higher salaries if it wants to improve. Paying teachers less because the school district is performing worse would only put schools in a downward spiral as hiring standards drop alongside the quality of education.

County commissioners

seem supportive

of Kasich’s budget. Republican commissioners Chris Monzel and Greg Hartmann said the budget could be “revolutionary” by changing how county governments work. Democratic Commissioner Todd Portune highlighted the Medicaid expansion in the budget. As “revolutionary” as the budget could be, it’s not enough to make up for

Ohio and Kasich’s troubled past

.

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital was

ranked

the third best pediatric hospital in the United States by Parents magazine.

The Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments is looking for comments on updating the region’s bike map. Anyone who wants a say should leave a comment

here

.

The upcoming Horseshoe Casino is

partnering up

with local hotels to offer a free shuttle service that will seamlessly carry visitors around town.

One courageous grandma

stood up

to an anti-gay pastor. During a sermon, the pastor outed a gay high school student and told everyone they would "work together to address this problem of homosexuality." At that point, the grandma snapped at the pastor, “There are a lot of problems here, and him being gay is not one of them.” She then apologized to the boy and walked out.

Music has a lot of effects on the brain.

Here

is an infographic that shows them.

Bonus science news: Earth-like planets

could be closer

than most people think.