Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - An Ohio competition challenging the public to create a new map of the state's legislative districts has been won - by an Illinois lawmaker.

Republican Illinois state Rep. Mike Fortner says he entered because redistricting is a hobby of his and Ohio's competition was the best he'd seen.

Illinois recently completed new maps, which are being challenged in court by groups charging that districts were illegally gerrymandered to benefit majority Democrats.

Ohio public schools have seen their graduation rates drop as districts nationwide move to a new federal formula for calculating students who finish high school.

For example, Dayton public schools have a 2010 graduation rate around 59 percent under the new formula, though the state's current calculation puts the district's graduation rate above 84 percent.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A survey predicts a 2 percent drop in Labor Day travel by Ohioans, compared to last year's holiday weekend.

Auto club AAA said Wednesday that the decline is anticipated because of recent uncertainty about the economy as well as rising air fares.

Gas prices are not expected to have much impact. AAA says 71 percent of people intending to travel around the holiday say the cost of gasoline won't affect their plans.

PERRYSBURG, Ohio (AP) - Chrysler Group LLC plans to invest $72 million in a northwest Ohio factory and says it is negotiating with state officials over incentives.

The automaker wants to modernize the Toledo Machining Plant in Perrysburg to produce new-generation torque converters and steering columns. The converters would be paired with new transmissions Chrysler is making in Kokomo, Ind., as part of the automaker's strategy to meet fuel economy requirements.

PITTSBURGH(AP) - The U. S. Geological Survey says the Marcellus Shale region contains some 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, recoverable natural gas, far more than thought nearly a decade ago.

Tuesday's figure is much higher than the last government assessment in 2002, which suggested about 2 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas.

The USGS says the estimate came from new information about the gas-rich formation underlying New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. Technical improvements in how wells are drilled also contributed to the new estimate.