Simon van Zuylen-Wood is a reporter-researcher at The New Republic.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio's junior senator is endorsing Republican state treasurer Josh Mandel in the 2012 race for U.S. Senate.

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman says in a statement released by Mandel on Tuesday said that he would provide the necessary focus on jobs and the economy. Portman says he has helped Mandel and will continue to do so.

Mandel faces former state Sen. Kevin Coughlin. So far, Coughlin is the only announced candidate in a GOP primary that will decide who faces incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown.

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio - An Ohio woman had a day of thrilling ups and downs as she took a series of 50 sky dives from a small plane Tuesday.

Andrea Kemp calls her feat at southwest Ohio's Hook Field Middletown Regional Airport "a total adrenaline rush."

The Middletown Journal reports it's believed that she set an Ohio record for the most sky dives in one day by a woman.

Kemp compares it to eating chocolate, because she says "you can't stop."

CINCINNATI, Ohio - A measure to have voters make Reds Opening Day an official ceremonial holiday in Cincinnati is having difficulty qualifying for the city's Nov. 8 ballot.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that 81 percent of nearly 9,000 petition signatures reviewed by the county elections board were invalid because the signers live outside the city. Many people were asked to sign at Reds games.

The group behind the campaign believes it collected a grand total of up to 12,000 signatures.

Looking to set the record straight, the Whole Foods grocery chain says it is "still carrying and promoting halal products for those that are celebrating Ramadan this month."

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Groups in Ohio say the outcome of Wisconsin recall elections involving a collective bargaining overhaul will have little bearing on whether a similar law in Ohio is repealed this fall.

We Are Ohio spokeswoman Melissa Fazekas said Tuesday that the scenarios in the two states aren’t comparable.

In Wisconsin, Republican politicians who signed onto the law are being challenged. In Ohio, voters will decide Nov. 8 whether to keep the law that limits public unions. Ohio's constitution makes no provision for recalling elected officials.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio's elections chief says a liberal policy group has no legal grounds for challenging his certification of a fall ballot measure that seeks to exempt the state from provisions in the federal health care overhaul.

In a response filed Tuesday to ProgressOhio's lawsuit, Secretary of State Jon Husted says it's improper for the group to challenge the signatures submitted to get the measure on the ballot. He questioned the group's contention that extra information was included on petitions.

Good morning.

Financial markets in Asia and Europe have rallied today, extending the rebound that began on Wall Street Tuesday afternoon after the Federal Reserve said it plans to keep interest rates at rock-bottom levels for the next two years in a bid to help keep ailing economies from weakening further.

For most people, their biggest investment is their home. Following Standard and Poor's downgrade of U.S. credit, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, there may be even more uncertainty about buying or selling a home right now.

Russell Zanca, 47, has a three bedroom, one and a half bath vintage brick Georgian house on the market. The anthropology professor's home is on a quiet tree-lined street on Chicago's North Side.

"It's just a nice solid house," Zanca says.

A wildlife biologist is continuing to face questions about an influential paper he wrote on apparently drowned polar bears, with government investigators reportedly asking whether he improperly steered a research contract to another scientist as a reward for reviewing that paper.

"They seem to be suggesting that there is some sort of conspiracy that involves global warming and back scratching that appears to be frankly just nuts," says Jeff Ruch, a lawyer with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.