Morning News and Stuff

A new Saperstein Poll suggests Ohioans

have dramatically shifted on same-sex marriage

, with 54 percent now supporting a new amendment to legalize gay marriage and only 40 percent against it. FreedomOhio’s amendment would repeal Ohio’s 2004 same-sex marriage ban and instead grant marriage rights to the state’s many LGBT individuals. CityBeat covered the same-sex marriage amendment in further detail

here

and the inevitability of gay rights

here

. Last week, Gov. John Kasich

reaffirmed his opposition to same-sex marriage and civil unions

, which likely holds bad political consequences because of changing demographics.

Will Portman, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman

’s

son, wrote about coming out to his father and the experiences that followed in

today’s Yale Daily News

. In the column, Portman explained why his father took two years to shift on same-sex marriage: “Some people have criticized my dad for waiting for two years after I came out to him before he endorsed marriage for gay couples. Part of the reason for that is that it took time for him to think through the issue more deeply after the impetus of my coming out. But another factor was my reluctance to make my personal life public.”

If the Ohio Department of Education adopts the more rigorous school report cards demanded by lawmakers, many of the state’s charter schools

will get F’s

. Most schools would fall under the new standards, but 72 percent of charter schools would fail — an unwelcome sign for alternative schools often touted by Republicans for offering more school choice. The schools’ advocates claim the discrepancy between charter schools and other traditional public schools is driven by demographics and greater diversity.

But Ohio’s charter schools are also

safer for LGBT individuals

than traditional schools, according to StateImpact Ohio.

City Councilman Chris Seelbach announced Friday that City Council is

poised to support a motion

that will prevent companies and other groups from discriminating if they take public funds. The initiative is coming together after the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (

GLSEN

) was

prevented from marching

in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Western & Southern has launched the next phase of its ongoing legal attack to run the Anna Louise Inn out of the Lytle Park neighborhood: The financial giant is now accusing ALI and the city of

lying and discrimination

. In a letter to City Solicitor John Curp, Western & Southern’s attorneys claimed ALI can’t take federal funds and continue refusing services to men. The city and ALI are so far unsure whether Western & Southern has a case.

Cincinnati’s Catholic schools have grown into

the sixth largest Catholic schools network in the nation

, serving 44,732 students in preschool through 12th grade.

New condos are opening in Over-the-Rhine

.

Thousands of jobs are

opening

at Ohio’s insurance companies.

Ohio gas prices are

up this week

.

A comet, not an asteroid,

may have killed the dinosaurs

. The study may provide fuel to those worried about an impending apocalypse: There are about two million asteroids more than one kilometer wide in the solar system, but scientists estimate that there are up to one trillion comets.