During a January 2010 stop at LCCC, Obama vowed to keep fighting for job growth and health insurance reforms. At the time, Ohio#39;s unemployment rate stood at 10.9 percent. The state#39;s latest unemployment rate is 7.6 percent.

After intense pressure from Catholic leaders and other Christians, President Barack Obama sought to reach a compromise Friday over contraceptive coverage in health care plans at religiously affiliated institutions, saying that insurance companies -- not the institutions themselves -- will be required to pay for birth control.

Under fierce election-year fire, President Barack Obama on Friday abruptly abandoned his stand that religious organizations must pay for birth control for workers, scrambling to end a furor raging from the Catholic Church to Congress to his re-election foes. He demanded that insurance companies step in to provide the coverage instead.

Washington — Under fierce election year fire, President Barack Obama on Friday abruptly abandoned his stand that religious organizations must pay for birth control for workers, scrambling to end a furor raging from the Catholic Church to Congress to his re-election foes. He demanded that insurance companies step in to provide the coverage instead.

President Barack Obama says he will bypass religious groups’ opposition to a health-insurance mandate by directing insurance companies to hand out free birth control services to employees of religious institutions.