State officials want to change the way health care is delivered to the 190,000 Ohioans served by both Medicaid and Medicare, so the beneficiaries must only deal with a single entity to receive services.

The federal Medicare program serves the elderly and disabled, while Medicaid provides coverage for the poor though state and federal funding. The two operate fairly independently from each other.

Officials say long-term care, behavioral and physical health services provided to people on both programs are poorly coordinated. As result, patients have worse health outcomes and are more costly.

Poor Will’s Almanack for the Second Week of January, the Second Week of Deep Winter.

All along the 40th Parallel, the sun starts to rise a little earlier this week of the year, marking a significant milestone in the progress of spring. The foxes know the days are lengthening. Watch for them playing and courting in the fields.

No matter the cold, beavers are stripping bark for food along the rivers. Skunks come out to root in the ground during the early thaws. The tufted titmouse begins its spiral mating flights. Blue jays give their bell-like calls. Sometimes pileated woodpeckers appear at your birdfeeder. Sometimes a fly will emerge indoors from a potted plant.

Recent northeast Ohio earthquakes linked to drilling wastewater have put Ohio's state seismologist in the spotlight.

Michael Hansen is a part-time state employee whose Ohio Seismic Network has an annual budget of $20,000. It's his job to monitor 26 quake detectors.

A 4.0 magnitude quake in the Youngstown area New Year's Eve was the 11th in the region during 2011. Columbia University researcher John Armbruster said that a northeast Ohio well used to dispose of wastewater from oil and gas drilling almost certainly caused the series of minor quakes. The well has been shut down by its owner.

The owner of a northeast Ohio well used to dispose of wastewater from oil and gas drilling plans to remove material from it to help lower its inner pressure following 11 minor earthquakes.

State officials say they believe injecting wastewater near a fault line created enough pressure to cause seismic activity. The latest and largest quake was Saturday in the Youngtown area and registered at magnitude 4.0, which can cause moderate damage.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources said Wednesday that Northstar Disposal Services LLC is taking 12 holding tanks to the site of the now-shuttered injection well to pump the material into the tanks.

Department spokesman Jason Fallon says he's unsure when the removal will start but seven tanks are already on the site.

Poor Will’s Almanack for the First Week of January, the First Week of Deep Winter

The progress of deep winter can be gauged by whatever milestones you select. You can track storms and snow or the frequency of birdsong, the state of last year’s plants, or the steady shifting of the sun and stars. The motions are slow and easily measured. This is a simple place to begin to follow the year.