Butler County lawmaker’s bill helps vets find jobs (Hamilton Journal-News) Amended House Sub Bill 98 has passed both the House and Senate and is now waiting for Governor Kasich’s signature. The bill would allow state licensing agencies to consider veterans’ skill sets when they apply for a license, as well as grant special extensions to members of the Reserve and National Guard whose licenses expired while they were mobilized.
Case Western Reserve University researchers receive grant to create a robotic heart catheter (Cleveland.com) Case Western University received a $1.3 million, four-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a prototype robotic heart catheter that uses magnets to provide better imaging, resulting in safer procedures.
New Council to Develop Standards, Best Practices for Online Learning (The Chronicle of Higher Education) The Global Learning Council, led by Carnegie Mellon University, is a consortium of educators, researchers, and technology-company executives that will spearhead efforts to develop standards and promote best practices in online education. The Council will look for ways to leverage education-technology resources and disseminate data, while hoping to address broad questions, such as what would be good standards in online learning, what metrics to use, and what methods are most effective.
Sequester Woes for Research (Inside Higher Ed) A survey conducted by the Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and the Science Coalition, showed that sequestration has forced universities to lay off research-related personnel, delay projects and admit fewer graduate students. Higher education is actively lobbying for sequestration to end, or for research funds to be exempt, as they fear a second round of cuts may be coming in January.
Steelworkers increasing pressure on Kasich to help Ormet (Columbus Business First) Ohio manufacturer, Orment, cited high operating costs as they closed their doors and laid-off over 700 employees. Now a union is arguing that the Kasich administration should do more to push the Public Utilities Commission to work with Ormet to reopen, while Governor Kasich cites that the Commission is an independent agency that he has no influence over.
US businesses boost hiring despite the shutdown (Fox 19) According to the Department of Labor, employers added 204,000 jobs in October despite the 16-day government shutdown. While not all measures are as positive, the October report shows the resiliency of the American economy.
