Hagan wants Rush off air

Staff and wire report

YOUNGSTOWN

State Rep. Robert F. Hagan of Youngs-town, D-60th, is circulating a petition to remove conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh from Youngs-town radio.

Limbaugh, whose nationally syndicated show is heard on more than 600 stations, airs locally on 570 WKBN-AM .

The radio host has come under fire after calling a Georgetown University law student derogatory names after she testified to congressional Democrats in support of national health-care policies that would require employers to offer group health insurance that covers birth control.

Two radio stations, one in Massachusetts and the other in Hawaii, have already dropped Limbaugh’s show as a result of his comments, and at more than 20 advertisers have pulled ads from Limbaugh’s show.

The petition description seeks Limbaugh’s removal from WKBN “for his outrageous attack on a woman who wanted to testify in Congress.”

Hagan’s petition, available by visiting http://bit.ly/y3YrZO, had more than 1,700 signatures around 11 Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, Patricia Heaton, the star of “The Middle” and “Everybody Loves Raymond” TV shows, temporarily deleted her Twitter account after siding with Limbaugh’s criticisms of Georgetown law student Fluke last week via a series of barbed tweets. She returned on Monday to apologize to Fluke.

On Feb. 29, the actress wrote, “Hey G-Town Gal: Plz let us also pay for your Starbucks, movie theater tickets and your favorite hot wings combo deal at KFC! Anything else?”