Today is the end of the world. Whatever.
Life sucks anyway.
dropped from 6.9 percent to 6.8 percent in November
. Gains were concentrated in trade, transportation, and utilities, financial activities and educational and health services, with losses in construction, leisure and hospitality, government, professional and business services and information services. Overall, the state’s non-agricultural wage and salary employment increased by 1,600.
But could the recovery last? U.S. House Speaker John Boehner is now
ditching efforts to avoid the fiscal cliff
, a series of spending cuts and tax hikes set to kick in at the end of the year. Boehner could not get Republicans to vote on a tax hike for people making more than $1 million a year, which isn’t even enough to make President Barack Obama’s demand of increased taxes on anyone making more than $400,000. If the United States goes over the fiscal cliff, the spending cuts and tax hikes will likely devastate the economy.
CityBeat wrote about U.S. Congress’ inability to focus on jobs
here
.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich finished the lame-duck session by
signing 42 bills into law
. The laws include loosened restrictions on gun control, an update to Ohio’s education rating system and $4.4 million in appropriations. The loosened gun control law in particular is getting criticized from Democrats in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., massacre. The law allows guns in the Ohio Statehouse garage, loosens concealed carry rules and changes the definition of an unloaded gun so gun owners can have loaded clips in cars as long as they are stored separately from guns.
CityBeat wrote about the need for more gun control in
this week’s commentary
.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters suggested arming teachers to avoid school shootings, but a considerable amount of research
shows that doesn’t work
. Cincinnati Police Chief James Craig
says arming teachers is a bad idea
: “Certainly we can look at other options, but when you talk about arming school teachers or a school administrator without the appropriate training, and training is not just going to a target range and being able to hit center mass. How do you deal with a crisis? We’re talking about a place with children.” Craig is now pushing crisis training as a major initiative.
Meanwhile, Sen. Rob Portman says
school shootings need a holistic approach
. The Ohio Republican says he will consider further restrictions on guns and armed school officials.
a housing recovery is well underway
. Cincinnati home sales are showing no signs of a slowdown.
getting six historic preservation tax credits
from the state government. As part of the ninth round of the program, the Ohio Development Services Agency is giving the city credits for parts of Main Street, parts of East 12th Street, parts of East McMillan Street, Abington Flats, Eden Park Pump Station and Pendleton Apartments.
The U.S. Department of Education is looking into
whether Ohio charter schools discriminate against students with disabilities
. Overall, charter schools in the state enroll as many students with disabilities as traditional public schools, but students with disabilities are concentrated in a few charter schools.
upheld Ohio’s exotic animal law
, which restricts who can own the animals in the state.
will replace retiring Justice Evelyn Stratton
on the Ohio Supreme Court. Gov. Kasich’s appointment of French keeps the court’s makeup of six Republicans and one Democrat.
Genetics is perfecting the Christmas tree.
From the Twilight Zone archives comes Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Christmas special
.
This article appears in Dec 19-25, 2012.