Update: Cleveland City Council is still deciding whether to put the question of who hires the fire chief before voters in November.

Fire crews contain rail fire in Columbus
Columbus fire and emergency crews are continuing to deal with a fiery train derailment near the Ohio State Fairgrounds earlier this morning. Ohio Public Radio’s Jo Ingles has the latest details.

INGLES on derailment

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Assistant Columbus Fire Chief Dave Whiting says 10 cars of the 98-car train went off the track, and three of the cars carrying ethanol ruptured.

“It’s contained. It’s not spreading. It’s free burning,” Whiting said about eight hours after the accident, which occurred about 2 a.m. near the Ohio State Fairgrounds. About 100 residents within a one mile radius were evacuated.

Johnnie Rouse is one of them.  She says she was awakened by two loud booms.

“The sky lit up like the sun had fallen or something: just these great big fire, flames, you’d see the tree leaves glistening. … I was really scared.”

There’s no word, at this point, when Rouse and others will be able to return to their homes.  Authorities are also trying to determine the cause of the derailment.

Cleveland voters may decide if Mayor gets to pick the fire chief
Cleveland City Council is voting today on whether to let voters decide if Mayor Frank Jackson should appoint the city’s fire chief.

According to the Plain Dealer, if the charter change makes the Cleveland ballot and voters OK it on Nov. 6^th, Jackson would also appoint the command staff of the department instead of the selection coming from Civil Service.

The Fire Department is being investigated for illegal shift-trading, and one firefighter has already been convicted and others are under awaiting disciplinary action.

An audit of the department says that for years, firefighters paid others to work their shifts while they worked side jobs and still collected city paychecks, accrued seniority and got benefits. One showed up for his required shift just once in two years. The audit criticized management of the department for not catching or reporting the practice.

Canton has fired five firefighters in the same type of scandal.

Ohio's lieutenant governor draws a firmer line on health exchanges
Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor is underscoring that Ohio is unlikely to set up its own health-insurance exchange – leaving it to the federal government to impose one.

According to the Toledo Blade, Taylor argued in a speech to Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce this week that the exchange would cost $30 million to $40 million a year to operate and would not bring down health-care costs. As head of the Ohio insurance department, it would be up to Taylor to oversee the exchange, which will give consumers a choice of health insurance plans. Democrats say the recalcitrance of Gov. Kasich’s administration will ultimately hurt Ohioans.

Contractors head to the Ohio Supreme Court with tax arguments
Contractors argued to the Ohio Supreme Court this morning that the state is illegally diverting $140 million each year from road and bridge repair.

They say the state constitution prohibits money from fuel taxes from being used on anything but highways. But the state says it is not taxing the fuel directly. Rather, it says Ohio’s commercial activity tax – called a CAT tax and adopted in 2005 – is on the companies that sell fuel, not the fuel itself.