Representatives of Dover, Ohio-based Brownfield Communities Devemoplemt Co. say they have two potential tenants that could bring 1,100 jobs combined.

One would create 850 full-time jobs and the other, 280 full-time jobs. Those tenants were not identified.

The deal also calls for the city of Ontario to receive up to $2 million if the promised jobs don’t arrive.

General Motors Co. shut down the plant in 2010. The factory had opened in 1955.

The new owners plan to demolish half of the plant and turn it into a modern multi-tenant site.

Terms of the sale weren’t released.

The Sunday night fire at a two-story vacant house in downtown Mansfield was the worst yet. The house ended up collapsing, but nobody was hurt.

Fire officials are trying to determine if all the fires this year are related.

The president chose to hold his campaign rally in a tree-shaded park in the heart of downtown Mansfield. Access to the event was by ticket only. The curious, and a group of protesters, were kept several blocks away.

The sign-carrying demonstrators did not explain why they were chanting “Shame on you, Barack.” It’s likely the president never even saw them. Mr. Obama, meanwhile, seemed buoyed by the sea of supporters around him.

“No matter who you are or what you look like or where you come from, here in America, you can make it if you try,” the president said. “That’s what this campaign’s about Ohio, and that’s why I am running for a second term as president of the United States of America.”

The tone of the event at first was like a pep rally. But the president got down to business focusing his remarks on the middle class. In a city that’s been struggling with high unemployment the president hammered away at Republican opponent Mitt Romney’s tax cut plan which includes cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

“Ohio, we do not need more tax cuts for folks who are already doing really well,” said Mr. Obama. “We need tax cuts for working Americans. We need tax cuts for families who are trying to raise their children and keep them healthy and send them to college and put a roof over their heads.”

Mr. Obama said that America’s real economic strength lies in the middle class, not in the ranks of millionaires and billionaires.

“We know this country wasn’t built from the top down it was built by the middle class,” the president said. “It was built by farmers and factory workers and start-ups and small businesses and companies that sent American products overseas not sending American jobs overseas. That’s what built Ohio and that’s what built America.”

Mr. Obama’s remarks clearly resonated with the crowd.

“I just think the one percent that are trying to represent us as Americans, it’s not working,” said Barbara Peiker, who echoed the president’s sentiments.

“We need people who are real; in touch with middle class America because we can’t build a solid America from the top down because they are out of touch with us,” Peiker said.

Following the president’s speech, former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland remained a loyal Obama ally.
“If for no other reason, Ohio should support his reelection because he saved the American auto industry and he saved thousands and thousands of Ohio jobs,” Strickland said.

Strickland, like others in the crowd, also was skeptical about the direction the country might take should Mitt Romney be elected.

“I really do believe that Mitt Romney wants to take us back to the same circumstances, the same policies that led to this recession. And we need to move forward, not backward,” Strickland said.

A Romney spokesman said the Republican candidate believes lower tax rates across the board would jump-start the U.S. economy.

After the Mansfield rally, President Obama moved on to Akron for another stump speech. Click here for a report from WKSU’s Mark Urycki.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has approved permits for a Texas-based company to operate two injection wells in Mansfield.

The Mansfield News Journal reports local governments are being asked to contribute thousands of dollars to a fund to help protect residents’ interests. It could be used to oppose creation of the wells or to fund research and litigation about potential side effects of the wells, such as groundwater contamination.

Local leaders met to discuss the issue Friday, and none said they disagreed with the plan to work together.

It’s unclear how much money they want to raise.