Newspaper: Half of 9/11 loans in Ohio go bad

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A newspaper reports the government has written off nearly half the disaster loans it made to Ohio businesses that claimed economic damage from the 9/11 terror attacks.

The Columbus Dispatch reports Monday that about a third of those Small Business Administration loans have gone sour nationwide. The newspaper’s analysis of more than 11,000 of the SBA loans found that larger percentages have gone bad in states not directly tied to the 2001 attacks.

SBA records show the Ohio businesses that have defaulted include a Dayton aviation manufacturing company, an Akron bait shop and a dinner theater in Columbus. The federal agency won’t reveal how much of the money loaned went unpaid.

State records show more than half the Ohio companies with written-off loans are no longer in business.