Howard Wilkinson

Would the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage passed by an overwhelming majority of Ohioans in 2004 pass if it were on the ballot today?
 

We may soon find out.

We went through an entire presidential election cycle with barely a peep from the candidates on social issues such as gay marriage.

Now, though, the debate over gay marriage is front and center in Ohio.

Another Ohio Democrat - former U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton - has said she won't run for governor in 2014, leaving the field nearly wide open for the only active candidate, Cuyahoga County executive Ed FitzGerald.

Sutton told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in an e-mail Friday that she thanked her supporters, but said "I have decided that I will not run for governor in 2014."

Cincinnati lawyer Stanley Chesley - for decades one of the leading class-action trial lawyers in the country - has been disbarred from practicing law in Kentucky over his actions in a diet drug settlement.

The Kentucky Supreme Court accepted the recommendation of the Kentucky Bar Association to disbar Chesley from practicing law, but did not order him to pay $7.5 million in restitution, as the association had recommended.

Because Ohio has a reciprocal agreement with Kentucky, Chesley, who lives in Indian Hill, could lose his license to practice law in Ohio too.

Hamilton County Democrats will get a look at their only active candidate for Ohio governor on April 11, when Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald is the featured speaker at a county party fundraising reception.

FitzGerald, the 44-year-old former mayor of the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, announced last week he was forming an exploratory committee for a run for Ohio governor in 2014, when the Republican incumbent, John Kasich is up for re-election.

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory's Youth Jobs Program will take place Thursday, March 28 at the Duke Energy Convention Center, but the mayor said Tuesday morning he needs more companies to get involved.

Mallory, in a press conference with city council member Yvette Simpson, said that many city departments will be offering summer jobs to young people from low-income families, but there are now about 40 non-profit and for-profit companies to set up booths at the job fair, which will run from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.