Credit reports for Ohioians

Starting March 1, 2005, Ohioians can start requesting their free annual credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com. Ohio is among the eligible Midwest states in the second stage of the credit disclosure service "rollout." The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports on the details in this Feb. 27, 2005 story "Credit reports now will be free." The story offers this alternative tactic: "Order from either TransUnion or Equifax now (which are more relevant to Midwest consumers), then get the other in a few months and get the Experian report toward year's end."

Top Tech Cities

Columbus, Ohio ranks number seven in the list of Top Tech Cities according to a survey by Popular Science magazine. Their criteria included 36 technology indicators such as wi-fi hot spots, university research and development funding, and use of robotic technology. For more on the methodology see Techopolis Found. Other Ohio cities on the list are: Cincinnatti (38th); Cleveland (72nd); Dayton (93rd) and Toledo (101st).

RSS feeds from PUCO

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is the first and only Ohio agency to offer RSS feeds. Those interested can subscribe to two RSS feeds so far. One feed is for Recent PUCO New Releases, and the second is for keeping track of What's New on the PUCO web site.

Ohio Center for the Book

The Scout Report (Jan. 7, 2005 issue) has posted a great review of the Ohio Center for the Book (Cleveland Public Library). From the Scout Report: "The Center promotes books, reading, libraries, and literacy throughout the entirety of the state, and also serves as a catalyst for collaboration among readers, authors, publishers, educators, and other bibliophiles; " and "Overall, a lovely site and one that merits several visits." Find literary landmarks and authors by geographic location throughout the state.

Online directory of Ohio judges

The Ohio Judicial Conference has created an online Directory of Ohio judges. Judges can be located by name, by county or, by court. The directory reflects information for currently sitting judges and is based on the paper directory produced by the Ohio Judicial Conference for Ohio's judges. Newly elected judges from the 2004 election are already listed in the online directory.

Blawg of the day

Many thanks to Tom Mighell over at inter-alia for listing the Ohio Legal Research Blog as "Blawg of the Day" back on January 10, 2005. He asks who the Ohio Legal Researchers are. We are the librarians who are revising the Ohio Legal Research Guide last published in 1997. The original authors (Putnam and Schaefgen) are now joined by a third author, Kathy Hall from Ohio State.