Kasich set to sign major education bill
Gov. John Kasich is preparing to sign a sweeping education bill that seeks to strengthen ties between the state's employers and public schools and makes dozens of other policy changes. Kasich is to sign the bill today in Cincinnati. Under the measure, Ohio third-graders lagging in reading skills face the possibility of being held back for up to two school years as they get academic help. It sets adjusted training and retesting requirements for teachers who are deemed to be ineffective for two of the previous three years.

Husted OKs Summit County Board of Elections attorney search
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has given the Summit County Board of Elections permission to compile a list of attorneys that could represent it if it decides to sue the county for additional operating money. Husted broke a tie vote among members of the board of elections that’s clashed on a number of issues….Summit County Council only gave the elections board about half the money it says it needs to handle a presidential election when it approved its budget in March. Husted also sided with the Democratic members of the board in voting down a plan to buy copiers to make copies of voters’ photo IDs.

RTA won’t pay ticket machine manufacturer
Cleveland’s public transit agency says it won’t play the company that supplied its automated ticket machines.  The Greater Cleveland Transit Authority says the machines found along the Red Line and HealthLine are too complicated and are beginning to show rust just over three years after they were installed. The Plain Dealer reports RTA has withheld several million dollars from Xerox, which purchased the original contractor Affiliated Computer Services in 2009.

Summit, Portage County communities looking to share equipment
Several communities in Summit and Portage Counties are working on a plan to share equipment. The Beacon Journal reports Stow, Kent, Aurora, and several other communities are taking inventory of their equipment to see what can be shared and determining rental rates for some machines. The plan will save cities without machinery money while creating a new way for cities to pay for them.

Ohio promoting low-income student meal program
Ohio officials are trying to spread the word about a federal program that offers low-income children free breakfasts or lunches during the summer months, when they aren't able to get the meals at school. The Summer Food Service Program operates at about 17-hundred sites across 77 Ohio counties. According to state data, nearly 841,000 Ohio students, or about 45 percent, are eligible for free or reduced-cost school lunches based on their family incomes. The Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks has said less than one-fifth of eligible children participated in the summer program last year.

Former legislator begins prison term for fraud
A former state legislator who also was a southwest Ohio county commissioner has begun a four-year prison sentence for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and filing a false tax return. A federal judge sentenced 63-year-old Michael Fox, of Oxford, in March. Fox pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors but has continued to deny that he did anything wrong. The conspiracy charge involved payment of nearly $500,000 that prosecutors said Fox received for helping an attorney get a $1 million telecommunications contract with Butler County. Fox was a commissioner there after spending more than 20 years in the Ohio House.

Fair Finance fraud case set for trial
A federal judge will hear evidence on whether an Indianapolis businessman and his business partners who were convicted of swindling Akron-based Fair Finance investors out of $200 million should be kept in jail until they are sentenced. Prosecutors likely will argue during the hearing today Tim Durham is a flight risk and shouldn't be released. A federal jury in Indianapolis last week found Durham guilty of securities fraud, conspiracy and 10 counts of wire fraud. His business partners also were convicted. When sentenced, they could face decades in prison. The men were charged with raiding Fair Finance for personal use and conspiring to hide the consumer finance company's depleted condition from investors.  Durham's attorney says he'll appeal.