Politics

State records show staffers for both Republicans and Democrats in the Ohio Senate got pay raises this summer in the aftermath of state budget cuts and the passage of a law limiting public employee unions.

Payroll data reviewed by The Associated Press show 19 Senate caucus employees got pay hikes since July. The raises were firstreported Tuesday on the liberal political blog Plunderbund.

HB 194 is an omnibus election reform bill introduced by Reps. Mecklenborg and Blessing.  The bill has some controversial aspects to it, and is the subject of much debate.  Below is a link to the Ohio Legislative Service Commission analysis of the bill.

Officials are considering whether Ohioans should be granted limited driving privileges after their license has been suspended for something not related to driving, such as not paying child support.

 The suspension procedures are being studied by a working group including agencies such as the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and insurance company representatives. The Columbus Dispatch has reviewed the group's recommendations and reports they include allowing deadbeat parents to drive to work or to job interviews.

CINCINNATI (AP) - Vice President Joe Biden says this Labor Day finds unions under the most direct assault in generations and needing to fight to keep from losing hard-won rights.

Biden spoke Monday to a major labor gathering in Cincinnati, as Ohio unions are revving up a campaign to overturn a Republican-pushed law passed this year that restricts collective bargaining for the state's public employees. He says there is a battle across the country for "the heart and soul of the labor movement."