Don Golden, president of United Steelworkers of America Local 1104, said about 50 employees have lost their recall rights because they remained on probation and would have to start over in the employment process.

The union represents about 460 employees at Lorain Tubular, many of whom had been out of work. Workers have been slowly returning over the past few months, Golden said.

U.S. Steel spokeswoman Erin DiPietro said the company doesn’t comment on operations except when discussing its quarterly projections and results.

In the company’s last quarterly report, released last month, the company announced its tubular had returned to profitability in the last quarter of 2009.

Read Wednesday’s Chronicle for more on this story.

Elyria Mayor Bill Grace delivers his state of the city address this afternoon. (CT photo by Bruce Bishop.)

ELYRIA — Mayor Bill Grace delivered a lead up to a discussion about possibly placing an income tax increase on the November ballot this afternoon when he delivered his annual State of the City address.

The year 2010 will be the year Elyrians decide if they want to live with reduced city services or give city leaders the additional revenue needed to increase what workers can do, Grace said during a combined meeting of the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce and Elyria Noon Rotary.

“The question will be: Will we continue with the revenue we have and the cuts we have or will we buck the trend and look to have better,” he said.

Grace did not offer specifics about how much of an increase is needed and City Council has yet to formally discussion the proposal. But one thing is for sure: Grace wants to build the city’s resource capacity.

“Which is the politically correct way of saying we need more money,” he said.

Read Wednesday’s Chronicle for more on this story.

Strickland said he’s tired of people who attack every idea that comes along and always look for something negative to say.

“We need cheerleaders for Ohio, not cheerleaders for failure,” said Strickland, a Democrat running for re-election. “I’m getting a little frustrated that every time an idea comes along we devote ourselves to finding all the reasons why we shouldn’t do it or it won’t work.”

He said that attitude is not the way to move Ohio forward.

In a coincidence that seemed to prove part of Strickland’s point, Republican Sen. Mark Wagoner sent a weather-related tweet around the same time that took a shot at the rail plan.

“With this snow and the roads, I should’ve ridden a dog sled to Columbus. Even that would be faster than Strickland’s train,” Wagoner said in his tweet. A message was left seeking comment from Wagoner.

Strickland said the plan will create at least 8,000 jobs and is a first step toward building a passenger rail infrastructure.

Some Republicans have questioned the plan, and newspapers have been full of letters to the editor on the topic, some supportive, some critical.

Ohio’s train project calls for a 79-mph startup service connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati. The goal is to lay the foundation for a higher-speed system that eventually will branch off to the Midwest and East Coast.

Although Ohio would not use any state funds to develop the project, the state must come up with $17 million annually to operate the service.

Amtrak released a study in September predicting that a restored service in Ohio would draw 478,000 riders in its first year and has the demographics needed for successful operations, including population density and a concentration of colleges and universities.

Fourteen states already have contracts with Amtrak to operate the kind of startup, conventional-speed service that Ohio is after.

Strickland says other states would have rejoiced to receive $400 million in federal funding.

“It is a first step, but it is an essential first step,” he said. “Trust me, if we had not gotten these resources, if we had not had the opportunity to take this significant first step, Ohio would have been left out.”

Lorain County JVS: No evening classes

EHOVE Career Center no adult evening classes

Elyria Drivers Exam Station is cancelling road tests, call to reschedule

Elyria YWCA Bingo

All Lorain City Schools sporting events for Tue 2/9 and Wed 2/10 have been cancelled

Oberlin City Schools: All evening activities

Black River Schools: All afternoon and evening activities

Fairview at Firelands boys basketball

Buckeye at Wellington boys basketball

Wellington vs Buckeye basketball

EHOVE Career Center no adult evening classes

BGSU Firelands closing at 12:30pm

Elyria Drivers Exam Station is cancelling road tests, call to reschedule

All Lorain City Schools sporting events for Tue 2/9 and Wed 2/10 have been cancelled

Elyria YWCA Bingo

Oberlin City Schools: All evening activities

Black River Schools: All afternoon and evening activities

Lorain County JVS: No evening classes

Wellington vs Buckeye basketball

EHOVE Career Center no adult evening classes

BGSU Firelands closing at 12:30pm

Elyria Drivers Exam Station is cancelling road tests, call to reschedule

All Lorain City Schools sporting events for Tue 2/9 and Wed 2/10 have been cancelled

Elyria YWCA Bingo

Oberlin City Schools: All evening activities

Black River Schools: All afternoon and evening activities

Wellington vs Buckeye basketball

EHOVE Career Center no adult evening classes

BGSU Firelands closing at 12:30pm

Elyria Drivers Exam Station is cancelling road tests, call to reschedule

All Lorain City Schools sporting events for Tue 2/9 and Wed 2/10 have been cancelled

Elyria YWCA Bingo

Oberlin City Schools: All evening activities

Bason

Corey A. Bason was taken into custody by police between 6:30 and 7 a.m. today, according to Lorain police Sgt. Mark Carpentiere.

Police declined to provide many details of the sexual assault, which is believed to have occurred late Monday at a home in the 6100 block of South Broadway. “It’s obviously an open investigation and we’re still in the process of talking with people,” Carpentiere said. “There is evidence at this point that a sexual assault took place.”

According to police reports, the girl’s mother, 21, was out for the evening and got a call from her sister, who was spending the evening with the 5-year-old. The sister, 23, told the mother that her daughter woke up crying and told her aunt she had been touched by Bason.

The mother drove to her sister’s residence to get the child and take her to Community Regional Medical Center. Hospital personnel advised the mother to contact the Lorain Police SANE Unit.

The girl told her mother that Bason pulled her pants down and sexually assaulted her, reports said.

When the mother confronted Bason about the incident, he denied any involvement, alleging another male who was present at the time, had assaulted the child.

“We’re obviously trying to sort out who knew who and what all the relationships were,” Carpentiere said. “That’s always the hardest part to figure out in a case like this.”

Bason was arraigned this morning in Lorain Municipal Court and is being held on a $1 million bond.

Wellington vs Buckeye basketball

EHOVE Career Center no adult evening classes

BGSU Firelands closing at 12:30pm

Elyria Drivers Exam Station is cancelling road tests, call to reschedule

All Lorain City Schools sporting events for Tue 2/9 and Wed 2/10 have been cancelled

Elyria YWCA Bingo

Wellington vs Buckeye basketball

EHOVE Career Center no adult evening classes

BGSU Firelands closing at 12:30pm

Elyria Drivers Exam Station is cancelling road tests, call to reschedule