COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio State University is opening a storefront center to link researchers, students and entrepreneurs in an effort to turn ideas into marketable products and jobs.

The Columbus Dispatch reports the $2 million Office of Technology Commercialization and Knowledge Transfer opens tomorrow.     

The office sits in a busy area off campus that includes restaurants, a book store, a movie theater and other businesses.  Video kiosks at the site show discoveries in various fields, such as medicine, agriculture and bioengineering.

Brian Cummings joined Ohio State last year and was handed the task of turning ideas into cash. He's says the university is a leader in research but has not converted it into commercially viable businesses.

Small business owners are salivating at the prospect Ohio might raise up to $1 billion over five years by hiking taxes on natural gas liquids drillers and using the revenue to pay for a general income tax cut. 

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has adjusted a recently released report on state business incentives to show almost six in 10 recipients of economic development grants, tax credits and other perks have met the conditions of their state agreements.

That's an improvement from a December version of the report, which found nearly half of recipients had failed to meet their terms.

Overall, the adjusted compliance rate is 59 percent, up from about 52 percent originally calculated. A total of 199 businesses met the terms of their deals; 138 did not. Awards reviewed were from 2005 to 2010.

DeWine's office made the changes after receiving 1,622 additional files from the state Department of Development that administers the incentives.

The Kroger Co. says costs associated with consolidating its pension plan for workers led it to post a net loss in the fourth quarter, even as sales improved at the nation's biggest supermarket chain.

Some good news for consumers today: Columbus Gas of Ohio says a near-record gas supply is driving down prices.

Columbia says beginning in March, the average monthly bill for customers who spread payments out through the year will drop from $82 a month to $53. Columbia spokesman Ken Stammen says the price drop comes amidst a mild winter and near-record gas supplies.

“As a result of that, we’re seeing much lower prices of natural gas from what we anticipated last summer when we set the original budget payment plan for the year. We’re seeing less demand that what we anticipated, as well.”

The new rates take affect March 1st and run through the end of July.

The City of West Carrollton may be interested in the property that houses the City’s Appleton Paper plant.