Fed officials, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown announce grants to help Ohio communities

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U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Avon)

Cabinet secretaries traveled throughout Ohio to announce new federal grants as an analysis shows that the state is receiving average funding from the federal recovery act.

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Lisa Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, were in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati today as part of a group of Cabinet secretaries that were crisscrossing the Midwest.

Solis and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Avon Lake, announced $1.66 million in job training funds to help 700 workers who are losing their jobs at Chrysler’s stamping plant in Twinsburg. Brown also announced the release of $19.1 million in trade adjustment assistance for any worker in the state who has lost a job because of trade-related issues.

In addition, Jackson disclosed two grants from the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act that will pay for the retrofit of clean diesel engines in vehicles.

The Ohio Department of Development received $5 million to place the technology in a variety of vehicles, such locomotives, construction equipment and trucks. The Hamilton County commissioners received $1 million for clean diesel school buses.

For the complete story, see Thursday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com