Ohio lawmakers splint on "fiscal cliff" deal
Ohio’s congressional delegation was mostly split along party lines last night in the vote on the compromise bill passed by the House.  Ohio’s five Democrats voted yes, including outgoing representative Betty Sutton.  Retiring Republican Steve La Tourette also voted yes as did speaker John Boehner.  But Seven Ohio Republicans opposed the fiscal cliff deal including Medina County’s Jim Renacci.  In a prepared statement Renacci says “At the end of the day this legislation doesn’t fix the problem, which is Washington’s spending addiction.”  Ohio Senators, Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Rob Portman voted in favor of the deal. 

Power restored to Clevelanders in the dark
Thousands of Clevelanders brought in the New Year without power.  First Energy reports around 5,300 of its customers lost electricity after a large transformer blew Tuesday morning.  The outage hit as temperatures hovered in the mid-20s.  But power was restored by late afternoon.

 
Ohio estate tax dies in 2013 
The start of the 2013 saw the end of Ohio’s estate tax.  A bill signed into law last summer set January 1, 2013 as the end of what opponents called the death tax.  Before the repeal, Ohio had the lowest estate amount qualifying for the tax at just over $330,000.  Ohioans will, however, still have to pay the federal estate tax.

 
Ohio could soon see flat population growth
Of the 50 states, only two have lower population growth than Ohio.  People moving into Ohio, or being born here contributed to a 1.6 % population growth rate over the past decade.  Only Rhode Island’s 0.0 % growth and Michigan’s 0.7 % loss were worse.  Ohio’s shrinking population cost two seats in the new 113^th Congress that will convene Jan. 3.  Experts say Ohio’s current population growth of 0.03 percent  is so weak that it is likely the state will soon see net population loss for the first time in its history.

Attorneys for Chardon teen seek secrecy 
Attorneys for a teenager charged in the school shooting deaths of three students are challenging Ohio's law on insanity defense.  The defense representing 18 year old T.J. Lane are asking the trial judge in Chardon  to let attorneys for Lane detail their arguments in a sealed filing to be kept secret.  The defense says confidentiality is necessary because it covers evidence to be presented at Lane’s trial, which is scheduled to begin Jan. 14. The defense says confidentiality would avoid additional pretrial publicity.  Lane faces up to life in prison without chance of parole if convicted in the attack last Feb. 27 at Chardon High School.

Kasich will tout Ohio businesses at World Economic Forum 
John Kasich will be the first Ohio governor to make an overseas trip since Bob Taft went to Mexico in  2006  when Kasich attends the World Economic Forum this month in Davos, Switzerland.  Kasich is expected to outline his plan to better align worker-training programs to meet the needs of advanced manufacturers.  The privatized entity JobsOhio will pay for Kasich and his aides to attend the forum, as permitted by state law.  The governor is due to unveil his budget and school-funding formula just days after he returns from Europe.


Court upholds prostitution evidence 
An Ohio appeals court has reinstated prostitution charges against 19 dancers accused in a sex-for-hire scheme at a cabaret.  The Seventh District Court of Appeals in Youngstown says a lower court judge should not have rejected the use of surveillance videos as evidence in the case.  The videos were on the cabaret's computers seized by police with a search warrant.  The court ruled Monday that the security camera recordings, which allegedly provide evidence of prostitution, do not violate state or federal wiretap laws.  The misdemeanor charges allege the back in 2009 dancers engaged in prostitution at the Go Go Girls Cabaret in Austintown in suburban Youngstown

Cleveland homicides increased in 2012  
The number of people killed in violent crime in Cleveland rose in 2012 for the second year in a row.  The Plain Dealer reports 100 homicides last year in Cleveland according to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner.  Other tallies differ depending on how killings are categorized.  County wide 122 homicides were recorded in 2012, up from 104 the previous year.  In 2012, about 75 percent of the homicides in Cleveland and in the county as a whole involved guns.  Most were domestic or acquaintance-related homicides.

At least two Ohio cities have reported their first homicides of 2013.  Cleveland police reported that a man was gunned down on the porch of home on the city's east side at about 3 a.m. Tuesday. His name hasn't been released, and no arrests have been made.  The first slaying in the city of Dayton also likely occurred in the early morning hours of New Year's Day.

SW Ohio city sues to add taxes
An Ohio city has gone to federal court in its fight to tax civilian employees and contractors who work on part of an air force base.  The city of Riverside near Dayton says a provision of Ohio's municipal income tax law that prevents it from collecting taxes from employees at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is unconstitutional.  The Dayton Daily News reports that Riverside says the law provides an arbitrary and unjustifiable tax exemption to some government employees and contractors.  Ohio argues the state is allowed to pass laws that restrict cities' taxing authority.  The city lost a similar case in state courts.

Clevelanders take New Year dip in Lake Erie  
More than 300 Polar bears descended on Lake Erie to bring in the New Year at the 10th Annual Polar Bear Plunge at Huntington Beach.  The event is sponsored by the Cleveland Triathlon Club.  The air temperature was 25 degrees, but the wind chill felt like 11 degrees. The water was 38 degrees.

Kent State lands in Alabama, readies for Sunday bowl game  
Kent State’s football team arrives at Mobile Downtown Airport at 11:30 this morning.  They’ll start preparations this afternoon at South Alabama's practice field for Sunday’s GoDaddy.com bowl game.  Kent State University Athletics Director Joel Nielsen says "With it being 40 years since our last bowl experience, it’s going to be a wonderful trip for our student-athletes who are very deserving after the year they’ve had.”  No. 25 Kent State faces Arkansas State.  Kent State had an overall record of  11-2