Nurses will picket

Nurses will picket

MERCER, PA.

Nurses at Pennsylvania state correctional institutions plan to have informational pickets today to protest the state’s plan to outsource their jobs.

A demonstration at the State Correctional Institution- Mercer will take place from 1 to 4 p.m.

The state previously notified Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania, the state’s largest nurses union, of its intent to outsource prison nursing jobs to a private contractor.

Some state officials may propose legislation later this week in an attempt to block the outsourcing.

No drilling in forest

NELSONVILLE

The U.S. Forest Service has decided to hold off on selling drilling rights in Ohio’s only national forest so officials there can explore potential impacts from the process known as fracking.

Anne Carey, supervisor for Wayne National Forest, said in a statement Tuesday that more than 3,000 acres have been withdrawn from a natural-gas and oil-lease sale scheduled for Dec. 7.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a process in which water, chemicals and sand are blasted through pipes into rocks thousands of feet below the ground to unlock natural gas and oil.

Local leaders from areas near the forest in southeast Ohio had protested the lease sale, saying they feared a fracking accident could harm the forest.

New ODNR director

COLUMBUS

Gov. John R. Kasich on Tuesday appointed Jim Zehringer as director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Zehringer has served as director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture. Dr. Tony Forshey, the state veterinarian for the past six years, has been named interim director of ODA, according to a press release from the governor’s office.

Zehringer replaces David Mustine, who now oversees energy-development efforts at JobsOhio. Assistant Director Scott Zody has served as interim director of ODNR since Mustine’s departure Sept. 7.

Before his service at ODA, Zehringer was the state representative for the 77th House District and is the former owner and operator of Meiring Poultry and Fish Farm in Fort Recovery, Ohio.

Vindicator staff/wire reports