Everyone vote today? I hope you did. I live in Congressmen Tom Reynolds (R - NY) district, you know the guy you have all been hearing about in regards to the Mark Foley page scandal, in fact I live in his home town. He lives in a gated community called Spaulding Lake just a few miles up the road. I picked the absolute WRONG time to head down to my polling place because it was also the time that he choose to cast his vote. Needless to say the high school where this fiasco was taking place was swamped with media and people. I'm going to have to come back later. Who am I going to vote for? Well Congressmen Reynolds has brought $500 million in federal money to my District since being elected to Congress. He also played a key role in the Bush administration decision to fund the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy (GLRCS) in 2005. The (GLRCS) is an international, interstate and interagency action group aimed at correcting many of the Great Lakes serious problems and will funnel billions of dollars into solutions for the next 10 yrs. Money speaks and Reynolds gets the vote.

Virus Threatens to Take Bite out of Ohio Fishing Industry

GREAT LAKES -- Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia, VHS for short, has forced a federal ban on bringing live fish in and out of Ohio from other Great Lakes states. Thirty-seven types of fish are on the banned list, including Rainbow Trout or Steelhead. Ohio brings in 400,000 Steelhead from Michigan every year as yearlings to stock Lake Erie's tributaries. "This is big time," says Phil Hillman of the Ohio Division of Wildlife. "We've got people from all over the world coming to Ohio to fish for Steelhead so you're talking about big bucks in terms of economic impact and the fisherman are real upset about this, they're already up-in-arms over this." The virus can kill fish, upsetting delicate ecosystems, but pose no problem to people eating the fish. The ban could also affect bait shops. Some kinds of minnows are already on the list and others, like Fathead Minnows from Minnesota and South Dakota, could be added. If that happens, the supply of bait would decrease dramatically. "It could almost put us out of business," says Marvin Hilley of Bass Boss Bait in Summit County. "Myself, as a wholesaler, plus the baitshops because they all depend on minnows to be shipped in from these states." Great Lakes groups are currently in Washington D.C. to try to get the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to lift the ban before fishing season begins again in March.