Associated Press

As Ohio Sen. Rob Portman traveled through the state during this week's congressional recess, he got plenty of heat for his recent vote against a bipartisan bill that would have expanded background checks to more gun sales. 

Groups in favor of the legislation protested some of his appearances and an Ohio woman whose son was killed in last year's mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater tried to meet with Portman to express her frustration with his vote.

The commander of Ohio largest military installation says federal budget cuts will force a 40-percent reduction in the budget - but no jobs are expected to be lost.

Col. Cassie B. Barlow, commander of the 88th Air Base Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, says officials will have to "dig deep" to find the cuts.

The Dayton Daily News reports that the base's 13,000 civilian employees are due to receive 14-day furlough notices beginning early next week. Barlow said the unpaid time off work will begin in June.

The Ohio State Racing Commission has given the green light to new "racinos" in Dayton and in the Youngstown area.

The commission on Wednesday approved the transfer of racing licenses from other Ohio tracks to the new tracks to be built on the site of a former auto parts manufacturing plant on Dayton's north side, as well as one in Austin.

Federal budget cuts mean there will be no military presence at the popular Dayton Air Show for the first time in the event's nearly four-decade history.

Military cuts already caused the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds to pull out of the show. Now the air show says there will be no other military fighter demonstrations or displays at all.

The Dayton Daily News reports there won't even be any of the typical personnel support from nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base at the June 22-23 event.

Air Show General Manager Brenda Kerfoot called it "unprecedented."

A new report says Ohio leads the nation in insurance claims for metal thefts.

A National Insurance Crime Bureau report released Wednesday showed Ohio filed 3,228 claims from 2010 through 2012. That's 23 percent more than second-place Texas.

The numbers don't necessarily mean there are more metal thefts in Ohio, only that businesses and homeowners file more claims in the state. The Columbus Dispatch reported that Ohio insurance officials say they're not sure why more claims are filed in the state.