Governor Taft-proposed Medicaid rule would let state take homes

[Algorem]

" "Why does the government want to take everything away from us?" "

Seniors blast health cost recovery plan

Medicaid rule would let state take homes

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/111589047335220.xml&coll=2

Thursday, May 12, 2005

State bill collectors will be able to take seniors' homes to repay Medicaid if lawmakers approve a change in Medicaid rules proposed by Gov. Bob Taft.

Meeting at the Mentor Senior Center this week, it didn't take long for seniors to decide what they thought of the idea. It has already been approved by the Ohio House as part of the state budget, and the Senate is expected to vote on it in the next few weeks.

"Why does the government want to take everything away from us?" asked Barbara Rankin, 62, from Mentor

"It's a government program and people have already paid for that," said Leila Slater, who lives in Chardon. "People have earned the right to Medicaid."...


"His office hasn't issued a news release yet, but Gov. Bob Taft has won a new honor: He's THE MOST UNPOPULAR GOVERNOR IN THE UNITED STATES, according to 50 separate but concurrent SurveyUSA polls.
The polls show Taft's approval rating among Ohioans is just 19 percent. North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven has the highest approval rating, at 71 percent."- http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/localpolitics/index.ssf?/base/opinion/111589043735222.xml&coll=2&thispage=2

Report: Agency considered additional investments with coin dealer

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/news-17/1115880979154650.xml&storylist=cleveland

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An official at the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation recommended the bureau invest an additional $25 million in rare coins after an auditor raised questions about the deal with a prominent Republican donor, a newspaper reported Thursday.

The Blade also asked the Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday to order the Workers' Comp bureau to release uncensored records related to the $50 million investment in coins with dealer Tom Noe of Maumee.

In a memo dated March 31, chief investment officer Jim McClean told bureau administrator James Conrad that he would recommend approving Noe's request for a new round of investments.

"While Mr. Noe appears to be a high-profile political figure within Ohio, the additional scrutiny this has focused on the Capital Coin Funds has only reinforced my beliefs that the funds are well managed with sufficient risk controls and operating procedures," McClean wrote in the memo...

Federal regulators issue coal-cleanup ultimatum to state

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/news-17/1115878871150430.xml&storylist=cleveland

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Federal regulators have put Ohio on notice that they'll assume oversight of the state's coal-mine cleanup program if the state doesn't put more money into it.

Ohio has consistently failed over the past 23 years to ensure timely reclamation of old mines through bond guarantees and fees charged to the industry, the U.S. Office of Surface Mining said in a May 4 letter to the state.

Ohio would be just the third state, after Oklahoma and Missouri, in the past 20 years to have its reclamation program fall into a federal takeover. That could make the state ineligible for federal coal cleanup funds.

Gov. Bob Taft and other governors are asking the federal government to continue collecting fees on coal to fund the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Trust Fund. The government's authority to collect the fees is set to expire in June, though a pending bill would extend the deadline through September...

Ohio power plants make 'dirty' list

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/111589069435221.xml&coll=2

Eastlake's power plant was among the top 50 dirtiest coal-burning plants in the nation last year, an environmental group said Wednesday.

Ohio had nine plants on the list, according to the second annual emissions report released by the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that advocates for more effective enforcement of environmental laws.

These 50 plants generated 14 percent of the total electric power from the nation's 359 coal-burning power plants, but those plants accounted for a disproportionately large share of air pollution, said Ilan Levine, counsel for the Integrity Project.

The 50 plants release half of all sulfur dioxide pollution; 42 percent mercury pollution; and 40 percent of nitrogen oxides, he said. These pollutants are released when coal is burned....



Legislative floor actions

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/news-17/1115897176204600.xml&storylist=cleveland

Legislative floor actions
5/12/2005, 7:38 a.m. ET
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Legislative floor actions in the House of Representatives and Senate from Wednesday, May 11.

HOUSE

PASSED

HB 34 SEARCH WARRANTS (Setzer) — To expand the time in which a search warrant must be returned in the investigation of an offense of importuning by means of a telecommunications device. 95-0

HB 36 LEUKEMIA MONTH (Carmichael) — To designate September as "Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Myeloma Awareness Month." 94-0...

[liberal N proud]

1. Steal from the POOR to give to the rich and the richer

[Algorem]

2. He must want to be the most unpopular governor in the WORLD.

Reminds me of the silent movie villain,evicting widows and all that.