WKSU News: Noon headlines, July 2, 2012: Storms, schools, sales taxes, Mt. McKinley

Monday, July 2, 2012 Noon headlines, July 2, 2012: Storms, schools, sales taxes, Mt. McKinley Cleaning up Ohio; Cleveland school bill signed; sales taxes up, Denali vs. McKinley by WKSU's M.L. SCHULTZE	Web Editor M.L. Schultze

Mount McKinley was named after the Ohio-born president in 1896, and there's been controversy about that pretty much since.

Courtesy of fotopedia

In The Region:

AEP has 4,000 poeple working on repairs in Ohio

Cleveland school overhaul gets the governor's signature

Sales tax collections climb in Ohio

Ohio vs. Alaska; Denali vs. McKinley

The storm that cut through Ohio Friday night has left some 400,000 people in the state still without power, and it could take until this weekend to get electricity restored to them all.

The winds topping 80 mph Friday night largely spared northeast Ohio, though Akron-based First Energy continues to report spotty outages throughout the region.

But it was AEP’s territory across the state was devastated. Spokesman Tom Kirkpatrick says nearly 700,000 people lost power in two sets of storms. The company now has 4,000 line technicians, tree trimmers, damage assessors and others working out of 12 centers in Ohio.

KIRKPATRICK on crew activity

Windows Media (0:16)

(Click image for larger view.)

“Our physical crews work 16 hour days during the daylight hours; they’re most efficient, most effective at that time. In the overnight hours, we’re completing assessments, putting together job packets, preparing for them to be effective the very next day. So we’re working 24/7 with our people.”

Storms have been blamed for 17 deaths nationally, including that of a 70-year-old Zanesville woman. The severe weather also disrupted transportation of gas and diesel fuel, and medical supplies.

Gov. John Kasich declared a state of emergency, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency signed off on funding.

https://www.aepohio.com/outages/Default.aspx

Ohio governor signs Cleveland school overhaul
Governor Kasich signed a bill today that will drastically change how Cleveland schools evaluate and lay off teachers and sets up a closer relationship between the state’s second-largest district and privately run charter schools that operate in the city. The changes in state law gained bipartisan support and the backing of the Cleveland Teachers Union. They apply only to the Cleveland district, but are expected to be extended to other districts if they work.

Ohio sales tax receipts are up
Ohio’s sales tax collections were up nearly 6 percent for the first four months of this year compared to the same period a year ago. According to the Plain Dealer, the biggest boost in Northeast Ohio came in Medina County followed by Geauga, Portage and Summit.

Mount McKinley-Denali debate resumes
There’s another attempt to rename Alaska’s Mount McKinley, and this one is backed by the state’s U.S. senator, Lisa Murkowski. She wants to change the name of the highest peak in North America to an Alaskan term, Mount Denali.

Ohio’s congressional delegation has fought such attempts for decades because Mount McKinley is named after one of the presidents born in Ohio, William McKinley. Among those who fought hardest was retired U.S. Rep. Ralph Regula, and both representatives Tim Ryan and Betty Sutton are backing a bill to prevent a change now.

McKinley never visited the mountain named for him. Denali means “the high one,” and it is now the name of the park surrounding the mountain.

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