Five things to know for Friday, Oct. 10

Amazon Data Services delinquent on Licking County taxes

Amazon Data Services is responsible for $911,225.35, or roughly 10%, of Licking County’s delinquent property tax bills, which the company owes for its properties in the New Albany International Business Park, The Reporting Project at Denison University reported.

In total, the county advertised $9.2 million in delinquent property taxes, roughly half of which would go to local schools. The tally totals 1.6% of the $586 million in property tax bills mailed by the county treasurer’s office this year.

Ohio initial unemployment claims increase

Ohioans filed 5,159 initial unemployment claims between Sept. 28 and Oct. 4, which was 677 more than a week earlier, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services announced. Roughly 1,000 of the claims were flagged to confirm their legitimacy.

Ohioans filed 40,955 continued unemployment claims last week, a total that was 398 fewer than the week before, as Ohio’s August unemployment rate was 5%, higher than the national unemployment rate of 4.3%. Ohio’s labor force participation rate in August was 62.5%, slightly higher than the national labor force participation rate of 62.3%.

Bill: Bring home the bucks for tying the knot

Ohioans could soon reap the benefits of marriage — but not necessarily in the way many might be thinking.

Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania, has proposed a measure, the “Invest in Marriage Act,” that would give employers tax credits for offering at least a $1,000 bonus to employees who get married, WBNS-TV reported. The measure, should it make it into law, would cost the Buckeye State roughly $35 million annually.

“We are trying to incentivize marriage here in the state of Ohio,” Williams told WBNS-TV. “…Our interest is to look at the studies which show a correlation between family structure and the social and economic outcome for children.”

House passes bill to ease driver training law for military members

The Ohio House of Representatives has passed House Bill 434, which “ensures that individuals with military or federal ties, who hold valid foreign driver’s licenses and visas, are not burdened with duplicative requirements that were not meant for them,” state Representatives Bernie Willis, R-Springfield, said in a release. “It is a measured, targeted fix that restores the law to what the legislature originally intended.”

“For the base to serve its essential function to our state and our country, allies from overseas are frequently brought in to work collaboratively with the American military, and they can be stationed here with their families for a month, a year, or even more,” state Rep. Brian Lampton, R-Beavercreek, added in a release. “We don’t want them to be disadvantaged because they can’t legally drive until they complete driver’s ed. And we don’t want the operations of the base to be limited because of this sort of red tape.”

Legislation would allow educators to teach ‘the positive influence of religion’

Proposed legislation “allows Ohio’s educators, when teaching American history, to include instruction on the positive influence of religion—particularly Christianity—on the development of our nation’s ideals, its civic institutions, and its culture,” state Rep. Mike Dovilla, R-Berea, said in prepared testimony to the House Education Committee.

House Bill 486, The Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act, “is not about rewriting history. It is about restoring honesty and depth to the way we teach it,” added Dovilla, who sponsored the measure with state Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery.