ELYRIA — The 331-page report detailing the management and operations of the Elyria Fire Department is a comprehensive document that touches on everything from minimum manning to the department’s benefit-rich contract that gives firefighters the luxury of a lot of days off.

Nearly all of the recommendations on staffing and fire station operation included in the report by the McGrath Consulting Group of Illinois contradict what the city is currently doing, as budget cuts have resulted in a department that sometimes operates with as few as 10 firefighters on duty and only two fire stations open.

Some of its more provocative recommendations are that the city should hire another assistant safety service director to work with the new fire chief, that the city should sell the new $1.1 million ladder truck it just bought and that the city one day should build two new fire stations  — one in Ward 3 and one in Ward 6 — and abandon its two stations downtown. (more…)

COLUMBUS — Gov. Ted Strickland wants lawmakers to limit what health insurance companies can charge to people who buy individual policies, part of the governor’s plan to provide coverage for 110,000 uninsured Ohio adults.
The cap on premiums will be part of the governor’s proposed budget, which will be introduced in the General Assembly soon, […]

COLUMBUS — The family of an 80-year-old Ohio woman who died of complications from salmonella has hired a lawyer and plans to fight for tougher laws, the woman’s son said Saturday.
Randy Napier of Medina, said tests have linked his mother’s death to a national salmonella outbreak. He did not disclose details of […]