Some law enforcement agencies joining forces, but regionalism not likely (The Plain Dealer, May 18, 2009)  The consolidation puts the village and the township well ahead of most Cuyahoga County communities, where little collaboration is happening between law enforcement agencies.

Conneaut residents share vision for city (Ashtabula Star Beacon, May 13, 2009) The first Conneaut Cafe brought some 100 invitees, hand-picked to represent the demographics of the community, to the Conneaut Human Resources Center.

City's bond rating takes a dive (Toledo Blade, May 14, 2009) The bond rating agency Moody's Investors Service yesterday downgraded Toledo's rating on its general obligation debt by one notch, from A3 to Baa1, and the city's financial outlook from stable to negative.

City council adopts Goodyear project financing legislation (Akron Leader, May 14, 2009) The legislation reflected the fact that National City Bank has agreed to provide financing for the initial stages of Phase I of the Goodyear Akron Riverwalk Project. According to County Executive Russ Pry's office, the bank will purchase bonds from the Summit Count Port Authority totaling $17.2 million.

Survey: Cincinnati is a bargain (Cincinnati Enquirer, May 15, 2009) An abundance of affordable housing and the reasonable cost of living caused the region to be ranked fifth on Forbes' list of America's Best Bargain Cities.

Students develop plan to boost Alliance business (Canton Repository, May 15, 2009) Newly minted gold dollars will be showing up in Alliance retail outlets as part of a marketing plan born in a Mount Union College classroom. "The objective was to encourage Alliance residents to patronize Alliance businesses instead of shopping out of town or on the Internet,"

Ohio housing bubble called a myth (Youngstown Vindicator, May 15, 2009) Ohio's rise in foreclosures and slip in housing values can't be blamed on a housing bubble, says the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. That's because the state never had a bubble.

48 City posted expected to be axed today (Toledo Blade, May 15, 2009) While top officials in Mayor Carty Finkbeiner's office worked to finalize the list of civilian city employees who will lose their jobs in a layoff set for today, the police union and the city's budget commissioner disagreed over city revenue projections.

Economy may drive some to negotiate (Dayton Daily News, May 16, 2009) With high unemployment and a slow economy squeezing consumer spending, some retail property owners may find themselves faced with a tenant who wants to negotiate a cheaper lease.

Colleges boom despite economy (Columbus Dispatch, May 17, 2009) Many people feared that the economy would cramp the college dreams of thousands of prospective students, but schools statewide are reporting record numbers of acceptance fees and housing deposits for fall.

Cuyahoga County lank bank could launch Cleveland renewal (The Plain Dealer, May 17, 2009) Formally launched by the county in April, the nonprofit land bank is the first of its kind in Ohio. It could soon turn Cleveland into the nation's biggest urban laboratory on how a declining industrial city with a comatose real estate market can downsize gracefully - and prepare to rebound in the future.

Editorial: Help Ohio compete (Akron Beacon Journal, May 18, 2009) Hardly an hour passes at the Statehouse without multiple lawmakers declaring their utter devotion to job creation and efficient government. Thus, you would think they would rush to embrace a set of 25 recommendations designed to update and improve the way the state conducts building projects.

Governor's plan for revamping education in Ohio challenged (Education Week, May 18, 2009) Gov. Ted Strickland's ambitious plan to overhaul Ohio's education system-from revamping school finance to crafting new academic standards and extending the school year-appears to be facing a difficult political road.

New chance at funding thrills Ohio scientists (Columbus Dispatch, May 18, 2009)  The National Science Foundation received $3 billion, including $2.5 billion for research and $400 million for lab facilities. An additional $2 billion is available for research through the U.S. Department of Energy. Ohio State and other research institutions, including Ohio University, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Battelle and the Ohio Supercomputer Center, hope to land millions of that money.

Economic stress growing in Ohio, Licking County (Newark Advocate, May 18, 2009) View the interactive map of stress indicators for Ohio counties and the nation.

Ohio business incentives lag offerings by other states (Crain's Cleveland Business, May 18, 2009) A new study of Ohio's business incentives finds the state still needs to sharpen its efforts to compete with its neighbors despite tax changes enacted four years ago that have improved its ability to attract businesses and business expansions.

Calamityville funding decision will be worth millions to the area (Dayton Daily News, May 18, 2009) City leaders and Wright State University professors who want to build a multimillion dollar disaster response training center will learn today, May 18, if the state will give them taxpayer dollars to clean up environmental hazards at the proposed site.