Latest Stories By Robert Higgs

Showing 13-24 of 36 items

Dave Thomas anecdote a favorite from 2011

State Rep. Jay Hottinger served up a Whopper, er, Classic Triple, when he told a story about Wendy's founder Dave Thomas to illustrate why Ohio should repeal it's estate tax.

We said "Where's the beef?" and made it one of our favorites from 2011.

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Sherrod Brown’s Red Sox claim one of 2011’s big hits

Sen. Sherrod Brown hurled a high hard one in defense of the Cleveland Indians when he got some good-natured ribbing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.

We raised our Chief Wahoo mug of morning Joe in salute and picked his claim about the Red Sox as one of the year's favorites.

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Location, location, location a favorite for 2011

Location is commonly cited as the most important consideration in buying real estate, and geographic location was the reason that Cleveland once was tagged as being -- or occupying -- "the best location in the nation."

Gov. John Kasich put  a new spin on that pitch to help sell Ohio. His claim became one of our favorites of 2011.

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Claim of foul deeds false, but a favorite from 2011

Demonstrations outside the Ohio Statehouse provided lasting images from the debate over Senate Bill 5, a proposal to restrict collective bargaining rights for organized labor.

But did they do the particularly foul act that Senate President Tom Niehaus cited?

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Canadian anecdote lands on 2011 favorites list

Ohio House Speaker William G. Batchelder loves telling a good story.

An anecdote about a top Canadian official seeking medical treatment in Ohio that he included in a floor speech got our attention and became one of our favorite items for 2011.

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Water pollution claim tapped for favorites list

Water pollution from sanitary sewer and storm runoff has long been a concern for one Cleveland councilman. His ward has nearly 2 miles of Lake Erie shoreline, much of which is public beach.

He compared the water quality to that of the Third World. We tapped as one of our favorites for the year. Could it really be that bad?
 

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Invasive species claim sails onto our favorites list

Invasive species, like zebra mussels, round gobies and bloody red shrimp, have hitchhiked into the Great Lakes from foreign ports in the ballast water that ships take on for stability.

So we were surprised when Rep. Steve LaTourette commented  that the problem of invasive species in the Great Lakes today was due to ballast. We checked out the claim then. And now we've  picked it as one of our favorites for the year.

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Governor’s health benefits claim a favorite from 2011

No issue dominated Ohio headlines in 2011 more than the efforts to rein in collective bargaining rights for public employees.

A claim by Gov. John Kasich put focus on a key point in the debate. We picked it as one of our favorites of the year.

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Energy usage claim makes our 2011 list of favorites

In a newspaper column he penned earlier this, year Sen. Rob Portman made the claim that the U.S. government is the largest energy user in the country.

We checked out his statement then and liked the item so much we tapped it as one of our favorites of the year.

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Quip about Ben Franklin among 2011 favorites

None of the Founding Fathers is more quotable than Benjamin Franklin.

Arguably the greatest mind of the founding generation his range of interests and prolific writing over his 84 years produced a shelf of memorable maxims, thoughts and observations.

So when a state legislator said he doubted Franklin could have envisioned Ohio's estate tax, it got our attention (we had our doubts that there was anything Franklin couldn't have envisioned).

We like this item so much we tapped it as one of our favorites of the year.

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Checking John Boehner on millionaire taxes, impact on small businesses

Will increasing taxes on millionaires squelch job creation?
   
That’s been an often repeated assertion of Republican leaders like House Speaker John Boehner.

But how well does that argument hold up on the Truth-O-Meter?

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Kasich making progress on some campaign promises

The Kasich-O-Meter tracks Gov. John Kasich's performance toward fulfilling pledges he made on the campaign trail.

We identified 21 specific promises he repeated several times, most of which deal with taxes, the state budget and education.

Here's some recent  updates.

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Showing 13-24 of 36 items