February 20, 2008

This is from the front page of today's The Columbus Dispatch, of Ohio.

See full text of this story via the web version of this article.

October 2, 2004

Ohio - Bush and Kerry court USEC workers

In Ohio, the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which enriched uranium, was closed in 2001. USEC Inc., which runs the plant, chose the site this year for a new facility that will use more modern technology. Workers there say Bush's promise - in writing - to support funding for the plant in Piketon made a big difference in how they voted in 2000. Now they are comparing the president's record over the last four years to Kerry's pledge.

In a letter to Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Ohio, Kerry said he would make sure ill workers get speedy compensation and would continue to support funding for cleanup and the development of new technology. The government has a compensation program for such workers but both Democrats and Republicans say it should be improved. "There are maybe multiple other issues that you can go on and on about, but this is definitely one of the major ones for employees," said Bob Givens, a Republican from Lucasville who has worked as a uranium material handler at the plant for 27 years.

Dan Minter, president of the workers' union, said he has met with Bush and Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards about the plant's future. "It certainly has been a primary issue. I have received invitations to events that I never would have expected," Minter said.

Both candidates have been campaigning hard in Ohio, a state Democrat Al Gore lost by just 3.6 percentage points. No Republican has won the White House without Ohio.

[Source: Malia Rulon (AP writer), "Bush, Kerry hitting on local issues in swing states", October 2, 2004 12:59 pm ET]

March 11, 2004

* Ohio - brain tumor patient 24% underdose (Cleveland Clinic Foundation)

September 27, 2003

Ohio scrapyard not owed compensation from government which sold him, without disclosure, radioactive scrap metal, sez District Court

If he had known that the 2,200 pounds of scrap metal he bought from Defense Dept in 1994 contained radioactive magnesium from a Minuteman nuclear missile, he would have done things differently. Now, he says his 27-acre plot has no chance of being sold. The government did spend $80,000 to find and clean up contamination on the land, but they didn't get it all. The government argued that what little contamination is left doesn't represent much of a health threat, and the land isn't even worth the amount that's already been spent on cleanup. The landowner says he'll appeal yesterday's court ruling.

[Ref: Mansfield (Ohio) News Journal, "Court downs man's radioactive lawsuit", September 27, 2003]

August 13, 2003

In most of the 24 states that have attempted deregulation, competitors either have not emerged or have bowed out of the difficult business of fighting entrenched utilities. Ohio, for instance, certified 38 new electricity suppliers when it opened its market to competition in 2001, but only one is actively marketing to households, and that service is offered only in one city.

[Source: Marianne Lavelle, "Some Therapy For Electric Bill Shock", U.S. News & World Report, August 18, 2003]

July 21, 2003

* Ohio - underdose during sinus tumor treatment at James Cancer Ctr

July 1, 2003