Morning News and Stuff

In-person early voting is underway in Ohio. Find your nearest polling booth

here

.

If there’s a Democrat-led war on coal in Ohio, it’s not showing in the numbers. PolitiFact checked Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown’s claim that coal jobs and production have gone up in the state since five years ago, and it turns out

he’s right

. Brown’s remark was in response to Republican challenger Josh Mandel’s claim that Democrats are leading a war on coal. Brown and Mandel are fighting for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat, which CityBeat covered in-depth here . Currently, Brown leads by 5.5 points in aggregate polling.

The presidential campaigns are turning it up in Ohio. Ann Romney was in Greater Cincinnati yesterday to

campaign for her husband

, echoing

past visits from Michelle Obama

. President Barack Obama will be

in Cincinnati Sunday

. Mitt Romney will hold a

big rally in West Chester on Friday

. Ohio could be

the state to decide

whether Romney or Obama is the next president. Due to Ohio’s importance, lawyers from around the county will be

keeping a close eye on the state

. With six days of voting left, aggregate polling shows Obama up

2.3 points in Ohio

and the race

tied nationally

.

FiveThirtyEight

, The New York Times ’ forecasting model, says Obama has a 79.9 percent chance of winning Ohio and a 79 percent chance of winning the election.

The Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST) is suing Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) for

allegedly using city resources to campaign for Issue 42

, which will renew a CPS levy from 2008. In the emails, school officials discuss voter registration drives, signing up to support the levy and contributing to the levy campaign. But in a few emails, Jens Sutmoller, campaign coordinator for Issue 42, asks for personal emails to properly respond. COAST has endorsed a “No” vote on Issue 42. CityBeat covered Issue 42 and the problems facing CPS

here

. CityBeat also endorsed a “Yes” vote on Issue 42 here .

Dropping enrollment in urban district schools, including CPS, has caused

some schools to revise building programs downward

, saving the state money. In CPS in particular, the school’s project has dropped down to 50 buildings from 66 partly in response to a decline in about 10,000 students since 2002 to about 32,687 enrolled students today. The shift apparently has less to do with students moving to the suburbs and more to do with the greater availability of charter and private schools.

The Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority’s CEO Laura Brunner

laid out the Port Authority’s strategic plan yesterday

. The Port Authority seeks to fight poverty, attract residents and increase jobs by expanding inland port operations, developing land, stabilizing targeted communities, upgrading its public financing plan and transparently communicating progress, according to Brunner.

A small fraction of absentee ballots might have been rejected due to a

state data glitch

. The glitch caused Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted to deliver 33,000 updated registration records to local elections issues. Tim Burke, chairman of the county Democratic Party and county Board of Elections, expressed mixed feelings about the error: “Obviously, you hate like hell to have the secretary of state’s office, which had promised to have a very efficient election, popping something like that on us seven days out. … Having said that, I’m glad at least once they recognized that these names are out there they moved to get them to us so that we can do our best to ensure that these folks are not disenfranchised because of some administrative glitch.”

In related news, Husted got the

emergency stay he asked for on a recent voting ruling

. Husted said he was happy with the decision in a

statement

: “With six days to go before Election Day, I am pleased that the Court has granted a stay in this case so that I can give the 88 county boards of elections the clear direction they need on the rules for processing provisional ballots.”

There are a few teachers campaigning for office in Ohio, and NPR says

the campaigns could give Democrats and Obama a boost

. The surge of teachers is largely attributed to Senate Bill 5, which tried to limit collective bargaining among public employees. The teachers figure the only way to prevent another Senate Bill 5 is by holding office.

There are also Ohio Board of Education candidates on this year’s ballot. StateImpact Ohio has a look into some of those candidates

here

.

A

survey

found small firms are doing very little to prepare for Obamacare. Most don’t know what the national health care plan will even do for them. About 70 percent were unsure or incorrectly believed Obamacare will make them pay a tax.

Ever want to play Tetris with a pumpkin? Well, apparently someone has.