ohio
ohio
Brown OK, Voinovich unhappy over health care
CLEVELAND — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio is fairly pleased with the final Senate health-care legislation that passed Christmas Eve, despite failing to secure approval for the public option he had been pushing for over the past several months.
Ohio’s junior senator, a Democrat, praised the bill for preventing insurers from denying coverage to children with pre- existing conditions and giving access to coverage for 30 million Americans who currently don’t have it.
But Democrats who control the Senate were forced to drop the public option to get the 60 votes necessary to avoid a Republican-led filibuster and bring the legislation to a vote. Brown believes the availability of a government- run insurance plan would force private insurers to compete and would lower the cost of insurance.
“This bill is a good bill, but it’s not great,” said Brown, of Avon. “A public option would have made it better. A Medicare buy-in would have made it better. But we weren’t able to do that. We passed a good bill that is taking major steps in keeping costs down and protecting people’s insurance so that they can’t be taken off the rolls because they’re too expensive.”
Ohio’s senior senator, however, views the bill the same way as his Republican counterparts, all of whom voted against the Senate bill.
“In my humble opinion, the way this bill was negotiated behind closed doors and without the input of members from both sides will sour relations and bipartisan discussion on other major issues to come before the Senate,” Voinovich said on the Senate floor.
3 found dead in duplex
AKRON — Authorities in Jackson Township say they are investigating the shooting deaths of three people found in a duplex.
Jackson Township Police Chief Harley Neftzer said officers responded to a call just before 8 a.m. Sunday and found two men and a woman dead from gunshot wounds.
Neftzer said two handguns were found.
The names of the victims have not been released pending notification of family members.
Showrooms find new life as places to play, learn
COLUMBUS — As auto showrooms close nationwide, schools, day-care centers, stores and other activities are filling some of the void.
An art college in Columbus. A yoga studio in Los Angeles. A food-bank warehouse in Oregon. Each has taken over one of the windowed, boxy spaces that used to tease passers-by with the view of shiny cars.
Architects and historians say depressed real-estate values and enthusiasm for green energy are contributing to a high level of interest in reusing showrooms. The showrooms are especially sturdy, naturally lit and often ideally located in high-traffic areas.
U.S. auto sales fell to a 26-year low in 2009, and General Motors and Chrysler shed dealerships as they struggled in the bad economy.
2 lawyers to plead guilty to money laundering
COLUMBUS — Two Columbus attorneys accused of laundering money for a drug ring that brought $100 million in illegal drugs to central Ohio from Arizona are scheduled to plead guilty early next year.
Charles W. McGowan, 41, and Kyle Hunter, 40, plan to plead guilty Jan. 6 in federal court to charges of laundering money for the drug ring run by Donald Dailey Jr.
Dailey, of Pataskala, was sentenced in October to 20 years in prison for his leadership of the ring, which involved cash and drugs crisscrossing the country in all types of vehicles.
The roles of McGowan and Hunter had been kept quiet while prosecutors worked out plea deals.
Prosecutors say Dailey paid McGowan to find attorneys for “drug mules” who were caught in other states. Payments were made in cash, often stashed in containers such as doughnut boxes or fast- food bags.
The operations of the ring have become clearer to federal investigators as charges they pressed against ring participants led to several becoming informants.
PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh man found shot to death in car
PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh man has been found shot dead in a car.
Police say officers responded shortly before noon Sunday to a report of shots fired and found a car stopped at the intersection of Alluvian Street and Glenbar Way.
Police say 31-year-old Daton Glenn was seated in the driver’s seat and was unresponsive. He had several gunshot wounds to the head. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
2 deaf men shot
PITTSBURGH — Police in Pittsburgh are investigating the shooting of two deaf men.
The victims were wounded shortly before 5 a.m. Sunday in the city’s Hill District.
Dispatch workers say one man was shot in the leg; the other was shot in the stomach. They were in stable condition.
Police say the victims’ deafness caused initial complications in the investigation.
Police did not have any other information immediately available.
Associated Press