Obama opens 10 point lead over Romney in new poll
The latest poll from Quinnipiac University has President Obama leading Republican nominee Mitt Romney by 10 percentage points among likely voters – 53-percent to 43 percent. Mr. Obama was propelled by a 25 point advantage among women and a 35 point edge among voters under the age 35. Romney holds an 8-point lead among men. The poll released this morning also has the president leading in other swing states – Pennsylvania and Florida. Those results follow the Ohio Newspaper Organization’s Poll, released Sunday, that showed Mr. Obama winning Ohio by 5 points.

Environmental group blasts Ohio over driling regulations
A national environmental group says Ohio and several other states are failing to enforce regulations on oil and gas drilling. Earthworks released a report Tuesday that says the Ohio Department of natural resources doesn’t have enough employees to inspect the state’s 65,000 operating oil and gas wells. It also said more than 90 percent of the wells in Ohio go uninspected each year. Earthworks also contends Ohio’s penalties are too light. The group says it studied drilling regulations during the past year in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and other states. State officials said Tuesday that Earthworks used old information in its report and that Ohio has some of the strictest drilling regulations in the country. 

Ohio studies psychiatric drugs prescribed to kids on Medciaid
Ohio officials want to study the use of psychiatric drugs prescribed to foster children and other kids on Medicaid. The state's Medicaid director and other health officials on Tuesday said the state would invest $1 million over the next three years to improve and evaluate the use of mental health drugs prescribed to children. Health officials said many children in Medicaid have complex behavioral needs, and about 22 percent of Ohio's children in foster care are prescribed at least one psychotropic drug. Officials said some children are being prescribed multiple medications outside of accepted dosages. That has raised concerns about side effects that could affect the children for years. The state wants to develop guidelines for the drugs' usage. The initiative is expected to fully get under way next year.

Asian Carp DNA shows up again
DNA from the voracious silver Asian Carp have been confirmed in three out of 350 water samples from western Lake Erie’s Maumee Bay. It follows findings from samples taken from Sanduksy Bay this past summer.  Still, natural resources officials have been patrolling the lake with nets and electro shock probes but have not found any of the fish. 

Partial state report card data out today
Ohio’s Department of Education will release a scaled-down version of state report cards today, a month after their original release date. The state Board of Education held up the release after questions arose about whether as many as 100 schools had fudged the attendance data to keep likely poor-performers from showing up in test scores. Ohio Auditor Dave Yost urged the board to release the data, even if some of it may have to be adjusted later on.  Yost says he may not wrap up his attendance-rigging investigation until the New Year, which means the final report cards may not come out until later in 2013. 

Akron mother gets life in prison for baby meth death
The mother of a 17-month-old Akron boy who died after swallowing methamphetamine has been sentenced to life in prison. 21-year old Heather Lerch was convicted in a jury trial last month. Two other people prosecutors say were involved in the February death of the child in her Akron home also were sentenced to prison Tuesday.