After a great deal of grim news about Ohio's tight budget and bitter fights in the General Assembly, Gov. Bob Taft's Third Frontier campaign is a positive program to emerge from the capitol. The program is a big part of the governor's election promise to increase investment in Ohio and create new jobs, and it will make Ohio a center of advanced biotechnology research. Even though the state is now suffering from lean financial times, the Third Frontier will be a valuable part of the effort for long-term growth.
Taft called his program the "Third" Frontier because the first belonged to the pioneers and the second belonged to the industrial revolution. Ohio would spend no less on this most recent frontier than the previous two: For the next 10 years, the government will spend $1.6 billion on the Technology Action Fund and the Biomedical Research and Technology Transfer Fund — programs designed to recruit and encourage high-tech jobs from outside the state. The Third Frontier will also comprise the Wright Capitol Fund, named after aviation pioneers and Ohioans Wilbur and Orville Wright. The best part of the biotech initiative is that it will not be funded by a tax increase, but instead by a bond issue that taxpayers will vote on this November.
With Ohio unemployment at 6.2 percent — slightly above the national average — Taft has shown impressive vision in creating a statewide program to invest in new high-tech companies and encourage research. What's more, his ideas have already been proved. The overall method of the Third Frontier already has been shown to work on a smaller scale by an Athens company, Diagnostic Hybrids, Inc. The company received support from the investors, the state and the OU foundation in 1998, and in the years since has created between 80 and 90 local jobs. On a larger level across Ohio, Taft's Third Frontier should have similar rates of success. By making available such large amounts of capital to attract companies and create jobs, Gov. Taft is ensuring that Ohio's long-term financial picture will be rosy, even if its current situation is not.
Sosa deserves suspension for using illegal bat, says editorial board
Chicago Cubs superstar Sammy Sosa gave himself and baseball a black eye Tuesday night when he swung at a low pitch and cork exploded from his bat as it broke. Umpires ejected the Dominican slugger and sent Mark Grudzielanek, who scored on Sosa's hit, back to third base, erasing the run. As baseball officials investigate how the illegal bat came to be in Sosa's hands, they should not let his stellar background and popularity sway their judgment in imposing a punishment. Sosa should be suspended for 8 to 10 games, and investigators should scrutinize his record to make sure this is an isolated incident as he claims.
League officials X-rayed 76 other bats from the Cubs clubhouse yesterday and found no others that had been tampered with. Players "cork" a bat by drilling a hole in the wider end, called the "sweet spot." They fill the hole with cork, crushed rubber balls, or other lighter material, and then patch the end to disguise the tampering. Theoretically, the hollowed end makes the bat lighter, so players can swing faster and achieve more power when they hit. But according to an Associated Press story Wednesday, there is little evidence beyond players' suspicions that corked bats help with hitting. Indeed, the weakened end of the bat makes it more susceptible to break after a hard hit, meaning cork could leak and reveal players' tampering. When players use corked bats they are usually sub-par hitters or struggling through a slump, but Sosa is a prodigious hitter with 505 career home runs. Even though no other tampered bats were found, Tuesday's corking incident casts a long shadow over Sosa's career.
League officials are waiting to finish their investigation before punishing Sosa. He played Wednesday night in a game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. But whether he has other illegal bats or not, he still broke the rules of the game and should be suspended just as other player would be. If he selected the illegal bat by mistake as he claims he can restore fans' faith in him and baseball by returning from a suspension and continuing to hit homers with legal wood bats.
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