Morning News and Stuff

In Cincinnati, an ankle MRI can range in price from $367.46 to $2,865.42, but weak transparency laws

make it difficult for consumers to compare prices

. But to make up for the lack of transparency, some companies are providing compiled price and quality data to paying employers. A previous report from Catalyst for Payment Reform and the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute gave 29 states an “F” for health-care price transparency, Ohio and six other states a “D” and only New Hampshire and Massachusetts an “A.”

Ohio House Republicans killed Gov. John

Kasich’s

Medicaid expansion plan, but Ohio Democrats are planning to introduce the expansion as a standalone bill . The expansion, which was one of the few aspects of Kasich's budget that Democrats supported, would have saved the state money and insured 456,000 Ohioans by 2022, according to the Health Policy Institute of Ohio . CityBeat covered the Medicaid expansion and other aspects of Kasich

’

s budget proposal here .

In two 5-4 votes yesterday, City Council approved the executive director position for the streetcar project and a repeal on a “double dipping” ban. The city says it needs the measures to hire John Deatrick, the current manager of The Banks project, to head the streetcar project, but critics argue the city should not be making hires when it’s threatening to lay off 189 cops and 80 firefighters to balance the budget — even though the hire is through the capital budget used for the streetcar project, not the general fund that is used to employ cops and firefighters. CityBeat wrote more about the new position and the double dipping ban

here

.

This week’s commentary from CityBeat: “Religious Birth Control Exemptions Are a Double Standard.”

City Council also approved the Music Hall lease, which will enable extensive renovations. CityBeat covered some of the original details of the renovation plan when it was first announced

here

.

StateImpact Ohio has some information on how Ohio House Republicans’ plan for school funding

differs from Kasich’s proposal

. The big difference is Kasich’s plan was based on property taxes, which ended up being regressive, while the House plan is based on the average cost to educate each student, which makes it so less schools, particularly poor and rural schools that fell under Kasich’s plan, have their funding reduced. The House plan also expands performance-based pay and school choice, which Policy Matters previously found may

hurt students and teachers

. CityBeat covered Kasich’s proposal in further detail

here

.

Policy Matters Ohio

posted an interactive map

showing the county-by-county benefits of a state earned income tax credit. The credit, which mostly benefits low- and middle-income earners with children, is already used by the federal government and some states to progressively reward employment.

Freedom Ohio and Equality Ohio will debate the Family Research Council today over whether Ohio should legalize same-sex marriage. The debate will be streamed

here

. CityBeat covered Freedom Ohio’s same-sex marriage legalization efforts

here

.

The U.S. Postal Service will

drop its threats

to stop delivering on Saturdays after Congress denied the action.

A new study found humans tend to think strangers are

staring at them

.

Headline: “Why Are Monkey Butts So Colorful?”