Ohio is home to more than 200 data centers, making it about the fifth-highest state in the country by count. Virginia remains the national leader, with Northern Virginia widely described as the world’s largest data center market. But the gap that matters most is in what has not been built yet. A University of Virginia analysis projects Ohio will add 77 data centers by 2030 — roughly the span of the next governor’s four-year term. A single proposed campus near Piketon, in Pike County, has been pitched as a potentially historic project: the U.S. Department of Energy says SB Energy, a SoftBank Group company, plans to build what it described as the world’s largest artificial intelligence data center on leased land at the Portsmouth Site, and WOUB reported the Pike County project could become one of the largest data center campuses in the nation.

What a governor actually controls

A governor does not personally approve data centers. But the office controls nearly every state body that decides where they go, what they cost, and how they are powered. As governor, Ramaswamy would appoint the nine-member board of JobsOhio, the state’s private development arm that hands developers their incentive packages; the Ohio Power Siting Board, which signs off on where large energy projects and their power sources are built; the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, which sets the rules utilities operate under; and the Ohio Tax Credit Authority, which grants the industry’s tax exemptions. As one analysis of his portfolio and the agencies he would oversee put it, the boards that subsidize, site and regulate the industry would all report to him.

The siting process already tilts toward approval. Under House Bill 15, the energy law enacted in 2025, certain power-project permit applications are automatically approved after 60 days unless the Power Siting Board affirmatively denies them, according to Policy Matters Ohio. Since June 2025, the board has approved more than 2,000 megawatts of behind-the-meter natural gas generation — power plants built to serve a single large customer — including, in October 2025, a 73-megawatt fuel cell facility within 800 feet of a Franklin County neighborhood.

What Ramaswamy has promised

Ramaswamy has not been subtle about his intentions. “It takes two years to build an AI data center or Bitcoin mining firm or whatever — all of which I want in the state, by the way,” he told a Republican dinner in Wintersville in March 2025, according to The Times Leader. On his verified X account that same month, he wrote: “We’re seeing an AI data center boom (which is good), right at the time when we face supply constraints on baseload power generation,” adding, “I’ll unshackle energy production in Ohio, from fossil fuels to nuclear energy, without apology.” His campaign website promises to “streamline energy project permits and remove unnecessary regulations so projects get built on time and on budget.”

In May, Ramaswamy keynoted Utah’s Operation Gigawatt Summit, an industry event built around accelerating energy production, infrastructure and deployment. The summit website says it focused on energy production at scale, grid modernization, infrastructure for growing demands, and policy that enables building. After winning the May 5 primary, he pledged that Ohioans would “wake up to lower utility bills because the state is producing more energy” under his administration.

The bottleneck — and the bill

The promise of lower bills runs into a problem Ramaswamy has not resolved publicly: how new electricity generation would offset the enormous demand the facilities he wants would create. The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel says a single hyperscale data center can draw as much electricity as 100,000 homes. New baseload generation, whether gas or nuclear, takes years to bring online.

The grid bottleneck is real, but the status has changed. AEP Ohio had paused new data center service commitments while regulators considered a data center-specific tariff. In July 2025, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio ordered AEP Ohio to file new tariffs and lift its moratorium on connecting new data centers. AEP later said data center customers had previously estimated needing more than 30,000 megawatts of electricity; after the tariff process began, 13,022.7 megawatts paid for formal studies and 5,642 megawatts signed binding contracts under the tariff, in addition to 12,219 megawatts of contracts signed before the tariff went into effect.

Meanwhile, the costs are landing on households and the state budget. Ohio’s data center industry collected an estimated $2.5 billion in state and local tax breaks between 2017 and 2024, and the state’s data center sales tax exemption alone cost about $1.6 billion in 2025 — roughly 11 times an earlier Department of Taxation estimate, according to figures reported by Signal Ohio. The Public Utilities Commission has since approved an AEP tariff requiring large new data centers to pay for at least 85 percent of the electricity capacity they reserve for 12 years, an effort AEP says is designed to keep infrastructure costs off other customers. The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel notes that data centers create relatively few permanent jobs once they are built, and a Democratic congressman has introduced federal legislation aimed at making the facilities pay their own way.

Industry and business groups counter that the economic return is real. The Ohio Chamber of Commerce Research Foundation credits data centers with supporting about 95,217 jobs and contributing $11.8 billion to Ohio’s gross domestic product in 2024. At a recent legislative hearing on the industry, company representatives told lawmakers they would pay for the grid upgrades their operations require.

What could slow it down

The buildout is not guaranteed, and the resistance has come from a notable place: the rural, conservative parts of the state that make up much of Ramaswamy’s base. The Ohio Newsroom reported earlier this year that around 18 municipalities were considering or had already enacted moratoriums that pause construction and approval of data centers. Tiffin’s city council approved a 12-month moratorium of its own. An all-volunteer group organized as Ohio Residents for Responsible Development cleared the Ohio Ballot Board in April and gathered signatures for a constitutional amendment to ban data centers drawing more than 25 megawatts. The effort came up short of the signatures needed for this November’s ballot and is now targeting 2027.

Outgoing Gov. Mike DeWine has also used the office as a brake, vetoing a 2025 attempt to repeal the sales tax exemption and later pausing new exemptions after the cost overruns came to light. The Associated Press reported that DeWine’s office cited the rising cost of the tax break and the Legislature’s review of the industry in declaring a pause on granting the incentive to new applicants. Whoever succeeds him inherits that same veto pen.

The contrast on the ballot

Ramaswamy’s Democratic opponent, former state health director Amy Acton, has staked out the opposite approach. Her “ActOn Lowering Costs” agenda calls for lowering household costs, and the Statehouse News Bureau reported that Acton wants more guardrails for data centers, including requiring them to cover added utility and environmental costs, using union labor, and restoring energy-efficiency programs rolled back under House Bill 6.

Ramaswamy’s enthusiasm has also drawn scrutiny over his finances. A May 2026 report from the progressive group Innovation Ohio, titled Vivek Ramaswamy’s Data Center Portfolio: Divided Loyalties, concluded that his personal holdings span chip makers, cloud and data center operators, industrial real estate trusts, and cryptocurrency — every tier of the industry he would regulate. “Ramaswamy is far too entangled with this industry to make sure it does right by our communities,” Innovation Ohio President Michael McGovern said in releasing the report. Ramaswamy has framed the buildout as an economic opportunity for the state and rejected new limits in favor of producing more energy.

The general election is November 3, 2026.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

In a 5-4 decision, the court found that federal law does not prevent states from accepting late-arriving ballots. The ruling is a victory for Democrats and voting rights advocates, who had said setting a hard, Election Day deadline for ballot arrival would risk disenfranchising voters amid fears of deteriorating mail service.

The case, RNC vs. Watson, centered on whether federal law overrides a Mississippi law that requires mail-in ballots postmarked on or before Election Day to be counted as long as they arrive within five business days of the election. Thirteen states have similar laws, which extend a “grace period” to ballots that arrive through the mail after polls close.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, writing for the majority, said that federal law didn’t preempt the state law because elections represent when voters make a decision, which must be done on or before Election Day. Voters who cast their ballot by mail have made a decision by Election Day, Barrett reasoned.

“The electorate’s choice is made when voting is complete, not when ballots are received,” Barrett wrote.

Barrett cautioned that the decision rested on the interpretation of federal law, not the U.S. Constitution. She noted that the court was not considering the scope of Congress’ authority to regulate federal elections — suggesting that if Congress passes a nationwide ballot arrival deadline that the justices might uphold such a law.

Barrett was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. 

Justice Samuel Alito dissented, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch. Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined part of the dissent.

“If ballots received after election day are added to the set of ballots that dictate the election’s outcome, the electorate’s choice does not occur on election day, and the federal election-day statutes are violated,” Alito wrote.

States with grace periods

In addition to Mississippi, other states with some form of grace period include Alaska, California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.

Some local election officials had warned that requiring all ballots to be received by the close of polls would burden their offices as they try to quickly warn voters about the change just months before the midterms. More ballot drop boxes that let voters keep their ballots out of the mail could help, they say, but also cost money.

“Ultimately, the voters may be harmed as well,” election officials in California, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington wrote in a court brief, warning that some ballots may not be received in time, “despite best efforts by careful and proactive administrators and local governments.”

But some Republican secretaries of state had urged the justices to strike down “grace period” laws. Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry and Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray wrote in a court brief that an Election Day deadline “provides the bright-line rule that effective election administration demands.”

At least 725,000 ballots were postmarked by Election Day 2024 and arrived within a legally accepted post-election window, The New York Times has reported, citing election officials in 14 of 22 states and territories where late-arriving ballots were accepted that year. 

Overall, about 30% of voters cast a mail ballot in 2024, according to data gathered by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

RNC challenged law

The Republican National Committee challenged the Mississippi law, which was defended by Mississippi Republican Secretary of State Michael Watson. The RNC argued a longstanding federal law that sets the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as Election Day for federal offices preempted state laws that allow ballots cast by Election Day, but received later, to count.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in October 2024 that federal law requires ballots to be received by Election Day. President Donald Trump last year also unilaterally attempted to require mail ballots to be received by the end of Election Day in a sweeping executive order on elections. Much of that order was blocked in federal court.

The Supreme Court issued Monday’s decision against a backdrop of uncertainty surrounding mail ballots. Trump signed an executive order in March that would restrict voting by mail by requiring states to provide lists of possible mail ballot voters to the U.S. Postal Service in advance. A federal judge recently blocked major portions of the order, triggering a near-certain appeal.

Paul Clement, an attorney for the Republican National Committee, said during oral arguments at the Supreme Court in March the prospect that the outcome of an election could change because of ballots arriving after Election Day would be unacceptable to losing candidates. After the 2020 election, President Donald Trump demanded election officials not count ballots that came in after Election Day, but states kept counting ballots.

“If you have an election and the election is going to turn on late-arriving ballots in a way that means what everybody kind of thought was the result on Election Day ends up being the opposite a week later, 21 days later, the losers are not going to accept that result. Full stop,” Clement told the justices.

Attorneys for Watson argued that both legal and historical precedent supported his position. States may decide that voters have made their final choices when ballots are submitted to state officials rather than when they’re received, according to Watson.

This is a developing report that will be updated.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The Next250 demonstration, organized by a coalition of advocacy groups, featured a massive “Declaration of Interdependence” requiring more than a dozen people to hold it during a march past the northern barricaded perimeter of the White House, where President Donald Trump was present this weekend.

Event organizers scheduled the rally to counter the Trump administration’s Freedom 250 programming, which is taking place on the National Mall over several weeks.

The few hundred rallygoers convened for nearly four hours in McPherson Square before marching toward the White House via the former Black Lives Matter Plaza, a pedestrian-only zone created by the city in June 2020 during unrest after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. 

The plaza was repainted  in March 2025 under the order of Mayor Muriel Bowser after Trump took office and Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., introduced legislation in Congress saying it had to be redone or the district would lose federal funding. 

Causes represented ran the gamut: advocacy for stricter gun laws, a $25 federal minimum hourly wage, universal voting rights for the formerly incarcerated, and the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage and leader of the Living Wage for All coalition, said lobbying for higher wages is “maybe the biggest” priority of the Next250 platform.

“For the last several years, we’ve been thinking ahead about wanting to use the 250th anniversary of the country as a moment to declare our unity as a people around a set of values and policies,” Jayaraman said.

“We’re often told we’re too polarized to get anything done, but the truth is that we actually know that we agree as a people across red, blue, and purple states that everybody who works deserves to earn enough to feed their families. Everybody who sends their children to school should be able to do that without them being shot up by assault weapons. Everybody wants a planet to live on, and a climate we can live in.”

Jayaraman praised Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., for introducing a bill on June 25 to raise the federal minimum wage to $25 an hour. 

Murphy was joined in the legislation by Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Andy Kim, D-N.J., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. A companion bill in the House is sponsored by U.S. Reps. Delia Ramirez, and Jesús “Chuy” García, both Illinois Democrats, Analilia Mejia, D-N.J., and Lateefah Simon, D-Calif.

Clara, a 56-year-old Mexican immigrant from Queens, New York, who did not want to share her last name for fear of being targeted, said she’s worried about the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on birthright citizenship. Trump ordered the end of birthright citizenship, a right granted in the Constitution, upon beginning his second term.

“As a mother of U.S. citizen children, that worries me about the future of the country. I have a U.S. citizen daughter, and I think that one of those federal changes could affect other immigrant families,” Clara said through an interpreter, Kimberly Vega, 27, of Staten Island, New York.

Both sat with Las Doñas, an advocacy group for women immigrants that has chapters throughout the U.S.

Reymane Sanders, 36, of New Haven, Connecticut, traveled to the rally with the organization Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People & Families Movement to advocate for restoring the right to vote across the U.S. for convicted felons. Sanders served 17 years in prison.

“Typically I definitely support (the cause) when it comes to filling out petitions, but this will be the first time that I actually put my body, my mind, everything all into the whole movement,” said Sanders. 

The Next250 demonstration was collectively organized by the separate organizations All of US, Next 250, Get Free and 50501.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The plea resolves an 18-count indictment against Bolton, who lives in Bethesda, Maryland. He has agreed to pay a $2.25 million penalty, the DOJ said. He could face up to five years in prison, according to the release.

During his stint as national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019, Bolton recorded “highly sensitive classified information” from his official duties in a personal diary. He shared the diary entries with two family members who were not cleared to have access to the information, which included top secret material, according to the indictment.

“John Bolton held a position of extraordinary public trust as the country’s top National Security Advisor, and he betrayed that trust, jeopardizing our nation’s security,” Hayden O’Byrne, the acting deputy assistant U.S. attorney general for the National Security Division, said in the statement. “Today’s resolution ought to send a message to other public officials whom the public has entrusted with classified, national defense information.”

Bolton and Trump

Bolton’s attorney, Abbe David Lowell, said in a statement Friday that Bolton’s plea took responsibility for a mistake, which was “what real leaders do,” and contrasted that approach with Trump’s conduct while the Department of Justice secured similar federal charges against the then-former president in 2023.

“By contrast, President Trump thumbed his nose at the classified information laws, took actual classified documents to his Florida mansion, interfered with the investigation of that conduct, and has never accepted any accountability for his conduct,” Lowell wrote. “Ambassador Bolton, whose offense was only keeping a diary which contained classified information, kept a record to preserve history, but Donald Trump kept secrets to serve himself.”

Since leaving the White House, Bolton has been a consistent critic of Trump’s foreign policy. 

That has continued even after he was indicted last year. Bolton, who also held roles in President George W. Bush’s administration and is associated with the neo-conservative wing of the Republican Party, has repeatedly slammed on social media Trump’s deal with Iran as recently as this week.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

“I knew and learned that disability rights and everything that I am able to do as an intervention specialist, or a special ed. teacher, was hard fought for and won, which also means it was under threat,” Thomas said.

She left her job to lead the Columbus Education Justice Coalition, but Thomas said she misses the classroom every day, and has held on to the belief that the job of an educator “may be one of the most politically charged careers in this day and age.”

“I do think that if you are called to do this work, it is worth it, but you should go in eyes open, and go in knowing public education is under attack, and if certain folks have their way, then other systems and education would be under attack, too,” Thomas said.

Educators and advocates like Thomas are worried that reduced public school funding and a lack of resources has taken its toll already, causing teacher shortages both in Ohio and nationwide. But there is hope that opportunities exist, if the state can get behind them.

National, pervasive, and ongoing

Anyone and everyone in the education field is looking for solutions to staff shortages in public schools. While advocates blame the problem on a lack of financial support from the state government, officials are pushing for more creative recruitment strategies.

“The teacher shortage issue, the teacher pipeline issue, whatever buzzword we’re using to identify it at the moment, is something that’s national, pervasive, and has been ongoing for quite some time now,” said Jason Wagner, Ohio’s interim superintendent of public instruction.

Wagner told a May meeting of the Ohio State Board of Education that across the country, more than 400,000 teaching positions were unfilled or filled by teachers without full certification in the 2024-2025 school year. That amounts to 1 in 8 teaching positions in the U.S.

The biggest shortages are in the areas of special education, science, and math, Wagner said, though deep shortages are also present in English/language arts, elementary education, and career technical education.

State data is a little more complicated, as the full picture of what the teacher shortage looks like needs work, according to educators and advocates. The Ohio Education Association and the Ohio Federation of Teachers said anecdotal evidence from around the state certainly shows a struggle to attract and retain qualified teachers, but they’re awaiting new data on teacher “vacancies” from the state.

“It could be that we’re not seeing a whole lot of openings yet, but this anecdotal data of having less applicants apply means that looking down the road we could have a potential shortage bigger than what we have right now,” said Melissa Cropper, head of the Ohio Federation of Teachers.

The most recent state operating budget included a provision directing the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce to begin collecting data on teacher vacancies in the 2026-2027 school year. That data isn’t expected to be released until at least the end of 2027, according to Wagner.

The interim superintendent said the state’s annual education report cards show a “pretty steady, gradual decline” in the rate of properly certified teachers. He said it’s something the state “should take note of,” but that Ohio is faring better than other states when it comes to qualified teacher retention.

Ohio’s percentage of core academic courses taught by properly credentialed teachers stood just above 97.5% in 2024, a small rise from the previous year, though still lower than any year between 2015 and 2022. Wagner said pandemic-year credential flexibility caused a jump in 2020.

“So while, yes, we can observe trends here, it is worth noting that Ohio does rank very highly as far as … national averages compared to other states with actually having properly certified teachers in the classroom,” Wagner said.

He also noted that Ohio’s starting salaries are “comparable” with the U.S. average. According to state data, Ohio’s average starting salary for a teacher is $43,800, versus the U.S. average of $44,530.

Still, he said, the vacancy data is going to be “very helpful when we have it.”

Teachers need more

Math teacher Laura Fehskens said she came to her subject area because of the shortage of math teachers when she came out of school.

“I wanted to be a teacher, but I also wanted to have a job when I came out of school, so that was one of the tipping points in choosing secondary math, was that I knew there were jobs out there,” said Fehskens, who teaches at the Miami Valley Career Technical Center.

Though that was more than a decade ago, she has watched school administration battle with a fading pool of candidates for jobs.

“I spoke with both my direct supervisor and one of the other supervisors, and they stated that the pool of qualified candidates is maybe half as big as it was when he began as a supervisor 15 years ago, and it’s even worse for math,” Fehskens said.

Fehskens and Thomas agree on some of the main factors playing into the lack of interest in the field: lack of respect and support for teachers, a lack of commitment to consistent funding for public schools, and the increasing weight of documentation and standardized testing.

“I hear from a lot of my friends who are still in the classroom that they don’t have time to teach anymore because of the paperwork that goes with it,” Thomas said. “I had a lot of paperwork … but it’s triple now with the legislation that has come from the state, and a lot of the things that are mandated at the federal level.”

Education advocates decried the underfunding of public schools as EdChoice private school vouchers were made nearly universally available to all income levels. Opponents of the voucher system say its taking away from public school coffers and population.

Without the proper funding for wages and resources, educators say class sizes have increased, teachers are overburdened, and it’s a struggle to meet accommodations for the students that need it most.

Fehskens said Miami Valley has had to get “super creative” in finding ways to provide small group testing to those with special needs and individualized education plans that require them. Sometimes that means pulling a student out of an elective, or conducting two days of testing just to serve a student properly.

“If we had the staff that we needed, if we had the funding needed to provide for those staff, then those students would better receive those accommodations in real time and that’s, of course, going to be better for the student and the teachers in the long run,” Fehskens said.

Bringing in a new generation

While colleges and universities are working to find ways to bring in new teachers, a state-funded program to build up the workforce didn’t make it past the state operating budget.

The Grow Your Own Teacher scholarship that provided $7,500 per year for four years to students going into education is no longer accepting applications as the state works to “wind down” the program, according to Jana Fornario, of the Ohio Department of Higher Education.

The program allowed students to receive the scholarship if they agreed to teach for at least four years in their home district. If a spot was not available in their home district, the scholarship winners could serve at another “high-need” district.

The scholarships had recently been expanded to allow students at educational service centers, community schools, and career tech to be nominated for the scholarships. In the 2025-2026 school year, 856 students were nominated for the awards, 206 were awarded scholarships, and 168 accepted, according to state data. The amount was a significant bump from the year before, which Fornario said could be because of the expanded eligibility, but also because the program was more publicly known.

“I think the flexibility contributes, but I also want to say that we saw much more interest and awareness from districts,” Fornario told the state board of education.

For the 2026-2027 school year, the agency was able to award scholarships with remaining funds, taking students from previous waitlists of applicants. A scholarship was accepted by 143 students this year.

“I believe if we had been able to conduct a new round, I think we would have seen continued exponential growth, in all likelihood,” Fornario said.

Wagner told the State Board of Education that while financial incentives are important, growing the teacher workforce “has to be a comprehensive approach.”

“Reducing the turnover rate, engaging in efforts to increase our retention, not only benefits our students, but also benefits district and school administrators who are trying to fill these gaps in ways that are sustainable and not costly to the district or the school that they’re in,” Wagner said.

New bills currently active in the Ohio Statehouse would work to narrow grade bands for educator licenses, and could give student teachers compensation to incentivize them to stay. Ohio Senate Bill 144, which has bipartisan support but has been stuck in the Ohio House since November, would require the Ohio State Board of Education to specify whether a license is being issued to teach grades Pre-K through five, fourth through eighth grade, or grades seven through 12. Current law only requires licenses to specify pre-K through eighth or grades seven through 12.

“We really think that any kind of shortage or staffing issues at the middle level will be solved with not just a (preschool through eighth grade) license, but the P through 5, and then a four through eight comprehensive license would be able to solve those shortages just as easily,” Dr. Melissa Askren-Edgehouse, president of the Ohio Association of Private Colleges for Teacher Education, said during a meeting with the state board of education. Askren-Edgehouse is also the director of the school of education at the University of Mount Union.

Ohio House Bill 523 would allow a public school to pay a student teacher a stipend determined by the school, and allow public colleges and universities to establish a lower tuition rate for a student enrolled in a “teacher preparation program” while working as a student teacher. The bill also has bipartisan support, has passed the House, and is awaiting Senate consideration.

Associations and academics working in teacher education said higher education institutions need to bridge the gap to bring new teachers into the workforce, which is happening at some schools.

Universities like Bowling Green and Miami of Ohio already have partnerships with technical schools and career centers to help high-schoolers get a leg up in the education field, according Dr. Alicia Crowe, president of the Ohio Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Kent State University, where Crowe is an interim dean and professor, is also working with multiple local schools to create teaching pathways.

Private institutions are trying out similar programs to help reduce the cost for students hoping to go into education.

“Many of these programs are surrounding primary education or primary intervention specialists, but they can earn an associate’s degree (at a community college) and then only need four semesters at a university,” Askren-Edgehouse said.

The use of “teacher academies” is also proving useful for students exploring the idea of becoming an educator, giving students hands-on experience in schools and with teachers.

“The programs are doing great at the high school level, and we’ve been seeing some success with the students coming to us,” Askren-Edgehouse said. “So it’s great that they’re having that exposure very early on when they’re still in high school, so they can really say yes, this is definitely the profession for me.”

On top of giving teachers incentives to stay in the field, earnest appreciation goes a long way without the need for extra resources, according to Wagner.

“It is our obligation to spread the message that yes, it is tough, but it is worth it, that this is a noble profession, that we have educators who make a difference in people’s lives,” Wagner said.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

A mix of 116 school districts and independent schools have armed staff members, as of June 17. Many of the schools are rural, but there are some urban and suburban districts. 

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill into law in 2022 that grants local boards of education authority to decide whether to allow their teachers and school workers to carry firearms.

It lowered the required training hours for armed personnel from 700 hours to at least 24, but school boards have the authority to mandate more hours. 

“It’s not a sufficient amount of training,” said Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper. 

“We’re talking about highly intense situations that require a lot of not only tactical training on how to use weapons. but how to deal with making split second decisions.” 

She testified against the bill when it was in the legislature in 2021. 

“I wish that (the lawmakers) would trust us with what we’re actually trained to do, which is to educate students,” Cropper said. “We are firm believers in local control around issues, but we still think it is bad policy for schools to allow teachers to carry guns.”

The law did grandfather in some school districts that had previous training, as long as the training met the requirements of the law. 

There have been more than 430 school shootings since Columbine in 1999, according to The Washington Post. 

Antwerp Local Schools in Paulding County has had a few armed staff members for years. The rural school district has about 700 students and about 100 staff members. 

Police response was the main factor in the decision to arm staff, said district superintendent Marty Miller.

Antwerp has a police department, but they also rely on the sheriff’s department about 10 miles away. 

“Our concern for us was if there was a situation that unfolded, what kind of law enforcement could we get here, and how fast,” Miller said. 

“What we could get here if we needed law enforcement obviously was not going to be sufficient. His party can be over for the bad guy in terms of accomplishing what he wants to accomplish.”

The district currently has four staff members who are armed and receive training each year, Miller said. The district also has a school resource officer. 

“We are confident that they will respond if needed, and that they are there just gives us a better feeling when something happens,” Miller said. 

The district decided not to arm any teachers, but rather staff members who are moving around during the day. 

The district wants people to know they have armed staff members. 

“If it can be a deterrent — and what may appear that there’s only one police officer in town, kind of thing, but there are armed staff — that might convince a bad person who has intentions, ‘maybe I won’t go near that place’ because of that,” Miller said. 

“It’s just letting the public know that your children are protected.”

Euclid City Schools Board of Education in Cuyahoga County decided to arm some of the district’s staff in 2022, said district spokesperson Dominick Ferlito. 

All of their armed employees are Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy trained.

“Our top priority is providing students and staff with a safe, welcoming environment where students are free to learn, create and reach their full potential,” Ferlito said in an email. 

**“**We continue to work closely with local law enforcement and safety partners to regularly review and strengthen our safety procedures and protocols.”

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on X or on Bluesky.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

With six months left before the 79-year-old walks off into the sunset, the impact of his belated call to action on capital punishment is negligible. He knows it.

Persuading right-wing supermajorities in the Ohio Statehouse to end the death penalty or, failing that, getting a statewide public vote on the issue anytime soon is a nonstarter.

Just months ago, Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman declared he would vigorously oppose getting rid of state executions. Ohio Senate President Rob McColley said he could not imagine his Republican caucus repealing the death penalty law.

Ditto for the Republican candidate for governor McColley is running with, Vivek Ramaswamy.

Even the new attorney general DeWine appointed last month to finish former AG Dave Yost’s term swiftly rejected his benefactor’s argument. Andy Wilson did say he was grateful the governor had not commuted the sentences of the 113 inmates on death row in Ohio — which DeWine could still do to prevent their executions after he leaves office.

But surely the seasoned politician had no expectation that his party would be receptive to his latest directive when it broadly supports the death penalty as a tool for retributive justice.

So why tilt at windmills with a parting appeal to abolish it as a conscience-clearing move to no other end? 

And why did DeWine wait until he was almost out the door to take a public stand against capital punishment? He had eight years to do something.

Yes, DeWine has maintained an unofficial moratorium on state executions throughout his governorship.

It has been clear from Day One of his administration that the longtime proponent of the death penalty changed his mind about it.

Given his evident aversion to state-sanctioned killing, it seems dubious that DeWine had a sudden epiphany about the subject.

Well-established data on the death penalty has consistently shown that it had no proven deterrent effect on violent crime.

Extensive research across criminology, economics and law also concluded as much in study after study.

Yet DeWine wants us to believe that only now did he reach the same conclusion that  reams of empirical studies have underscored for ages; there is no credible evidence that the death penalty reduces homicide rates.

The governor suggested the analytics of capital punishment as a non-deterrent prompted his demand to scrap the death penalty as a prudent, if not moral, course.

DeWine explained his change of heart on the death penalty as a “cumulative” process that had only recently crystallized into certain opposition. (You will forgive me if I don’t quite buy DeWine’s ‘Road to Damascus’ story about his overnight metamorphosis on the death penalty).

Ohioans may agree or disagree with the governor’s position, but few expect anything to come of it. GOP lawmakers have no intention of fulfilling the governor’s legacy bucket list.

DeWine’s eleventh-hour pitch for abolishing the death penalty was a performance for publicity. Another all-show-no-go passion project that draws attention but goes nowhere.

Daytonians are nodding. They gave up waiting for DeWine to “do something!” on commonsense gun control after the 2019 mass shooting in their city.

He gave impassioned assurances to spearhead sweeping gun reform measures through the General Assembly which went nowhere. But DeWine did sign every gun rights absolutist bill that loosened gun regulations drafted to protect the public. 

Ohioans love their state parks and thought their governor did, too. He never missed an opportunity to grandstand on park enhancements.

But when it came to safeguarding Ohio’s treasured natural resources, DeWine sided with fossil fuel polluters itching to drill in state parks and wildlife preserves in 2023.

Ohio Senate Bill 219, which awaits his signature in 2026, is an even worse giveaway to outside gas producers that cuts corners to drill inside state parks, weakens environmental regulations, cuts local leverage and more.

DeWine could give another gift to the oil and gas industry at the expense of public lands even as he showcased Ohio’s 76 state parks as the best in the nation. 

The governor also signaled that he’s done signing voting restrictions that Republican lawmakers regularly send to his desk.

But he could cave to Trumpian right-wingers on another deeply flawed mail-in voting bill (Ohio House Bill 472) rushed through the legislature at the last minute that would make it harder for many eligible voters, especially seniors, the disabled, students, and Ohioans in rural areas to vote by mail?

DeWine could veto egregious voter suppression or in-park drilling—or quietly sign off his acquiescence in a Friday night news dump to avoid publicity.

But he wanted to generate attention with his staged press conference about the death penalty. And the national media noticed.

A red state governor calling for an end to state executions doesn’t happen every day.

DeWine banked on glowing coverage that portrayed him (wrongly) as a moderate Republican.

His record of enacting extreme legislation — from abortion bans and fracking in state parks, to permitless conceal carry, relentless voting barriers, and the most corrupt energy bill ever — belies his constructed image as a measured Midwest conservative willing to go the mat for what he believes.

I guess the lame duck governor might yet surprise with a warranted veto or sustained commitment to repeal Ohio’s death penalty.

But if past is prologue, he won’t. 

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

With artificial intelligence, experts say, hours of footage can be analyzed in minutes, making it easier for police to track or target a participant long after the demonstration ends.

As law enforcement agencies increasingly embrace AI, some civil liberties advocates, legal scholars and policing experts warn that the technology could amplify surveillance, introduce hidden biases into investigations and make it harder to challenge evidence in court. They also worry about a future in which AI takes on a more active role in policing and criminal investigations.

“It’s especially concerning sort of the ways that these tools could supercharge that kind of surveillance and enforcement,” said Rachel Levinson-Waldman, the director of the liberty and national security program at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy organization at the New York University School of Law. Levinson-Waldman has written extensively about the risks of police surveillance and the unregulated use of AI in policing.

Artificial intelligence in policing is not new. For decades, law enforcement agencies have used data-driven and automated tools, including facial recognition systems, automated license plate readers, predictive policing models and video analytics that can flag objects or activity in recorded footage.

What is changing is the speed, scope and complexity of those tools. As police departments accumulate growing volumes of digital evidence — from body camera footage and surveillance video to jail calls, social media records and case files — AI is increasingly being used to help sort, search and analyze that information.

“AI is going to basically be able to sort through otherwise overwhelming amounts of data in ways that we just haven’t seen yet, and give police and prosecutors and the government a lot more power over us in ways that I think will be deeply uncomfortable for many of us,” said Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, a law professor at George Washington University and the author of “Your Data Will Be Used Against You: Policing in the Age of Self-Surveillance,” a book published this year.

Cris Moore, a computer scientist and professor at the Santa Fe Institute, a research and education center, said the technology is advancing faster than agencies, regulators and courts are able to fully assess its implications, raising questions about transparency, accountability and the role automated systems should play in policing decisions.

“It’s fair to say that the speed at which technologically created evidence has been adopted, and the aggression with which it’s being pushed makes it hard for the legal community to keep up,” Moore said.

State legislatures and police departments are still developing rules to govern how AI can be used in public safety settings. While some agencies have adopted internal policies or vendor-specific guidance, there is no consistent national framework, and state-level approaches remain limited and uneven.

At least two states, California and Utah, have recently enacted laws regulating the use of generative AI in police report writing, requiring disclosure when AI is used and adding safeguards around accuracy and oversight.

More broadly, more than a dozen states have passed laws regulating related technologies such as facial recognition, drone surveillance and automated license plate readers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Emerging tech

Some of the major companies offering AI-powered tools for law enforcement include Axon, Motorola Solutions, TRULEO, Flock Safety, Clearview AI and others. Their products can search body-worn camera footage, analyze large datasets, review digital evidence and case files and identify potential suspects through facial recognition.

Some of these systems are built into centralized platforms that are able to pull and search for data from sensitive databases and police records.

There are very real constitutional, statutory and practical risks with this new model of agentic policing.

– Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, law professor at George Washington University

Mark43, a cloud-based software company serving more than 300 public safety agencies, offers two AI-powered tools. ReportAI helps officers draft reports using information from dispatch records and body camera footage, while BriefAI summarizes case information for investigators and supervisors.

Police agencies can choose which AI features to enable and who can access them, and the system maintains audit logs of AI-assisted activity. Mark43 told Stateline that dozens of agencies are using, testing out  or evaluating the AI features.

“Our core mission is to help responders spend less time on administrative work, so that they can spend more time serving in their communities,” said Wendy Gilbert, Mark43’s senior vice president of product.

Some experts are wary of AI being used for decisions that could affect a person’s rights or freedom, such as identifying suspects, recommending enforcement actions or influencing arrests. Critics warn that AI-generated outputs can make mistakes, reflect biases in underlying data and create a risk that officers or investigators place too much weight on the technology’s recommendations.

They also argue that many AI systems operate in ways that are difficult for the public — and sometimes even officers — to fully understand.

One source of concern is the possible advent of “agentic policing.” Future technologies could integrate body-camera footage, camera networks and other data sources into a single system capable of generating investigative leads, identifying potential suspects or suggesting connections between cases.

Even if humans remain responsible for final decisions, critics say, such systems could shape investigative judgments in ways that make it more difficult to understand how conclusions were reached.

“All that data is going to be dumped into an AI model, and they’re going to query it to say who’s the most likely suspect,” said Ferguson of George Washington University. “The AI is going to be running the agentic analysis of it and come up with the answer, and then police and prosecutors have to kind of work backwards to see if it’s accurate.”

Ferguson warned that this flips the traditional investigative process on its head.

“We’ve never started with an answer and made people work backwards,” he said. “There are very real constitutional, statutory and practical risks with this new model of agentic policing.”

AI companies and some law enforcement agencies argue the technology is designed to assist officers, not replace them. They emphasize that officers are responsible for reviewing, verifying and approving AI-generated information, and that the tools are intended to reduce administrative work and help people navigate large volumes of data more efficiently.

“AI should increase accountability, not reduce it, and so we’re doing everything in our will to provide transparency, governance and human control,” said Zach Barden, the lead product manager for AI at Mark43.

In recent years, a growing number of police officers across the country have been accused of misusing AI-powered tools, including automated license plate reader systems, available through their departments to track people for personal reasons.

In April, a former Costa Mesa, California, police officer pleaded guilty to using law enforcement databases and Flock Safety cameras to monitor his wife, a mistress and several romantic rivals. Similar allegations have surfaced in Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

Flock Safety, one of the nation’s largest providers of automated license plate readers, uses roadside cameras to capture images and video of passing vehicles, including license plates and basic vehicle details, and store them in searchable law enforcement databases.

Some communities have reconsidered their use of automated license plate reader systems, with at least 30 cities ending or canceling contracts since early 2025 amid growing concerns about surveillance and data sharing, NPR reported in February.

A Flock Safety representative was not available for an interview with Stateline before publication. In a May blog post, the company said misuse of its system is rare and noted that permanent audit logs help identify and investigate improper access.

The company said the camera network has helped agencies recover missing people, connect cases across jurisdictions and identify suspects more quickly.

Reshaping public safety operations

While some law enforcement agencies have moved forward with early deployments, others are taking a more cautious approach as they assess potential benefits and risks.

In Maryland, the Montgomery County Police Department, one of the state’s largest law enforcement agencies, is in the early stages of exploring potential uses of AI, including tools to support non-emergency call handling, translation and transcription services, and report writing to reduce administrative workload and improve efficiency.

“We want to bring technology to policing, but we need to make sure that we do it safe(ly), we do it efficiently, and that when we do do it, we’re setting the community and ourselves up for success,” said Capt. Cody Fields, the director of the police department’s media and public information division.

In Arkansas, officials are developing the Arkansas Criminal Intelligence Network, a centralized cloud platform designed to connect data across police agencies in the state and support the use of advanced AI-powered analytical tools.

In Hawaii, the Maui County Council earlier this month approved a $1.7 million expansion of high-tech policing tools, including cameras and drones supported by AI to assist with real-time monitoring and emergency response. Last year, the Honolulu Police Department announced a pilot program with Axon, which offers a generative AI feature that helps draft police reports using video and audio transcriptions from body-worn cameras.

Legal and evidentiary concerns

Police reports often play a critical role in investigations and court proceedings, and some experts warn that errors introduced by AI systems could have significant legal consequences if they go undetected.

Errors introduced by AI systems, including inaccuracies, omissions or misinterpretations of context and language, could influence how evidence is understood by investigators, prosecutors and judges.

Experts and industry leaders generally point to a few safeguards: clear disclosure when AI is used in reports, mandatory human verification of all AI-generated text, regular independent auditing of tools, and training for law enforcement and legal stakeholders on how the systems function and how to trace outputs back to raw audio, video and other source evidence.

Those recommendations align with a framework released earlier this year by the nonpartisan think tank Council on Criminal Justice, which calls for rigorous independent validation of AI systems, enforceable procurement standards, ongoing performance monitoring, and clear human oversight to ensure operators can override AI-generated outputs.

“The pace of change is really pretty dramatic, and there’s a lot of energy and churn and attention to these issues,” said Jesse Rothman, the director of the Council on Criminal Justice’s task force on artificial intelligence. “The opportunities and the risks are really serious.”

Stateline reporter Amanda Watford can be reached at awatford@stateline.org.

This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Ohio Capital Journal, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The report estimates that imprisoning a woman costs between $87,000 and $122,000 a year, or roughly 25% to 75% more than the average annual cost of about $70,000 per incarcerated person, including both men and women.  Women make up about 10% of the nation’s correctional population.

Researchers attributed the higher costs to a combination of factors, including smaller prison populations, the need to house women with different security classifications in the same facilities and higher healthcare expenses.

“As the number and cost of incarcerating women grow, policymakers have an opportunity to pursue approaches that better enhance accountability, public safety, fiscal responsibility, and the well-being of families and communities,” Stephanie Akhter, the director of the Council on Criminal Justice’s Women’s Justice Commission, said in a news release.

The report projects those costs will continue to grow over the next decade. Researchers estimate the number of women under correctional control, including prisons, jails, probation and parole, will rise from about 992,000 in 2022 to 1.1 million by 2035.

Most of that growth is expected to occur in confinement settings. The women’s prison population is projected to increase 27% by 2035, while the jail population is expected to grow 20%, according to the report.

As a result, annual spending associated with women’s involvement in the justice system is projected to rise from between $23 billion and $26 billion in 2025 to between $30 billion and $34 billion by 2035.

The report says the increase reflects both projected population growth and rising correctional costs. Researchers noted that women’s prison populations declined during the COVID-19 pandemic but have been growing again since 2021, in some places rebounding faster than men’s populations.

The analysis also attempted to quantify some costs that fall outside correctional budgets. Researchers estimated that the loss of unpaid household labor and caregiving performed by women in prison amounts to about $2.8 billion annually, a figure projected to rise to $3.8 billion by 2035.

A companion report released alongside the analysis modeled the effects of cutting women’s time served in prison by 50% in Illinois and North Carolina. Researchers estimated that earlier releases would result in roughly 100 additional arrests annually in each state among women who otherwise would have remained incarcerated, with about 9 in 10 involving nonviolent offenses, while generating more than $60 million a year in net savings.

The reports were prepared for the Council on Criminal Justice’s Women’s Justice Commission, which studies women’s involvement in the criminal justice system and related policy issues.

Stateline reporter Amanda Watford can be reached at awatford@stateline.org.

This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Ohio Capital Journal, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Most of the critical violations were marked corrected during the inspection. At four facilities—a Tiffin Kroger, The Corner Restaurant in Bloomville, a Tiffin Bob Evans and Mi Tequilas in Fostoria—at least one critical violation was not recorded as corrected on-site. Under Ohio’s food code, a critical violation is one directly linked to the risk of foodborne illness.

Inspected Thursday, June 11, 2026, the Tiffin supermarket received one critical violation during a standard/process review inspection. Health district inspectors cited the store under the cold-holding rule for time/temperature controlled for safety (TCS) foods after a seafood island case registered 50°F. Inspectors recorded shrimp at 50°F and salmon at 45°F, above the 41°F maximum required to limit bacterial growth. According to the record, no temperature alert had been received for the case, and staff planned to monitor whether it was in defrost mode and remove the shrimp and salmon if it was not. Kroger #594 carries a Risk Level IV designation, the highest risk category assigned to food operations.

Read the full story at https://tiffinohio.net/posts/10-seneca-county-food-facilities-critical-violations-june-2026/.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The contributions were made to joint fundraising committees set up to raise money for Merrin’s Ohio 9th District bid, including one tied to Emmer Majority Builders, a fundraising venture led by U.S. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota, that pools major-donor money for targeted Republican candidates. Those committees transferred their net proceeds to Merrin’s campaign.

Adam R. Kidan, listed in the filings as an executive at the Florida firm Atlantic Solutions Group, contributed $3,500. Kidan and Abramoff pleaded guilty in 2005 to conspiracy and wire fraud in the fraudulent purchase of the SunCruz Casinos gambling fleet — the deal at the center of the corruption scandal that sent Abramoff to prison — and in 2006 each was sentenced to five years and 10 months in federal prison. The two were ordered to jointly pay $21.7 million in restitution; Kidan has since become a prolific Republican donor, giving more than $1 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee.

James H. Batmasian, identified in the filings as the owner of a Florida investment firm, gave $1,487. Batmasian, the largest commercial property owner in Boca Raton, pleaded guilty in 2008 to failing to remit about $250,000 in federal payroll taxes and served an eight-month prison sentence. President Donald Trump pardoned him in 2020.

Both men have contributed to numerous Republican candidates and committees.

Merrin, a former state representative from Monclova Township who describes himself as a real estate investor, won the May 5 Republican primary and faces a Nov. 3 rematch with Democratic U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur in a district redrawn to lean Republican. The contributions are detailed in filings with the Federal Election Commission.

Merrin’s campaign could not be reached for comment.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

In a statement issued June 25, DeWine said the 6–3 ruling in Mullin v. Doe means more than 10,000 Haitians living legally in Ohio through TPS — most of them in the Springfield area — “will now be here illegally and will be subject to immediate deportation.”

“Today’s decision is a legal decision. As I have stated in the past, the policy to remove these individuals from this country is a mistake,” DeWine said. He added that the Haitians “were working and contributing to our community and economy yesterday,” but that “today it is now illegal to employ them.”

DeWine described conditions in Haiti as dire. “The violent gangs run most of the country. The government barely functions. And, the economy is in shambles,” he said. He pointed to the federal government’s advisory against traveling to Haiti and to the Federal Aviation Administration’s prohibition on U.S. carriers flying there because of the danger of aircraft being fired on by gangs.

“Changing the immigration status of these individuals is not in the best interest of the United States nor Ohio,” DeWine said.

What the court decided

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the TPS statute bars federal courts from reviewing most challenges to the termination of the program, and that a claim by Haitian plaintiffs that the termination was motivated by race was unlikely to succeed. Justice Samuel Alito announced the judgment of the court. The decision reversed lower-court orders that had paused the terminations and cleared the way for the Department of Homeland Security to end protections for roughly 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians.

The case reached the court after then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem moved in 2025 to terminate the designations for both countries. The court’s opinion notes that Haiti’s designation was set to end following a November 2025 notice. The current homeland security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, is the named party in the consolidated cases.

In a dissent joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the TPS holders had asked only to remain in the country while their case continued, and parted with the majority over a ruling she said would expose them to severe harm. The terminations are set to take effect within weeks unless the lower courts intervene, according to legal groups representing TPS holders.

What it means for Ohio

TiffinOhio.net has reported that an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Haitians live in Springfield — a mix of TPS holders, citizens and people with other legal status — part of roughly 30,000 people with temporary status across central Ohio. Local officials and economists have estimated that deportations would remove hundreds of millions of dollars in annual economic activity, including about $300 million a year in Clark County.

DeWine has been among a small number of Republicans to oppose the administration’s effort to end Haitian TPS, and he has previously argued that stripping the workers of legal status would damage Ohio’s economy. The DeWine family also has personal ties to Haiti: the governor and his wife, Fran, helped support a school there named for their late daughter, which closed in 2024 because of gang activity.

Hours after the ruling, hundreds of people gathered in Springfield to support Haitian residents, with clergy, attorneys and community leaders urging families to prepare legally for possible deportation.

Background

Congress created Temporary Protected Status in 1990 to provide short-term relief for people who cannot safely return to their home countries. Haiti was first designated in 2010 after a devastating earthquake, and the protection was extended in 2021 after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. Although intended as a temporary measure, TPS designations have in practice lasted for years.

Ahead of the decision, immigration attorneys and Springfield faith leaders had warned that a ruling against TPS holders would immediately strip work authorization and protection from deportation. The U.S. House voted in April to extend TPS for Haitians through 2029, but that measure has stalled in the Senate.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Nathaniel H. Cain, 23, entered not-guilty pleas to both counts at an arraignment on Thursday, June 18, before Seneca County Common Pleas Judge Damon D. Alt, court records show. His bond was continued at $75,000 with no 10 percent option, and the judge scheduled a pretrial hearing for Tuesday, July 28.

A grand jury returned the two-count indictment on Monday, June 8. Count one charges domestic violence under Ohio Revised Code 2919.25(A), a first-degree misdemeanor; count two charges strangulation under R.C. 2903.18(B)(2), a third-degree felony. Cain was originally charged by complaint in May with a single count of strangulation, and the domestic violence count was added through the indictment.

Read the full story at https://tiffinohio.net/posts/fired-trooper-cain-pleads-not-guilty-strangulation-domestic-violence/.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Riley Q. Flores, 26, of Costa Mesa, California, faces two first-degree felony charges — rape and kidnapping — filed June 24 in Circleville Municipal Court, according to court records (case No. 2600530). The charges, brought by the Circleville Police Department, stem from alleged conduct on June 23. The warrants were entered with no bond, according to dispatch records.

Circleville police asked for help locating Flores shortly after 3:30 p.m. Thursday, telling dispatchers he had fled on foot the night before and was believed to be unarmed, the records show. Authorities tracked his cell phone to an area north of U.S. 224, and deputies found him hiding in a barn near the northwest corner of U.S. 224 and South State Route 19, the Sheriff’s Office said. He was in custody by about 4:35 p.m. Deputies from the office’s enforcement unit, working with the Circleville and Bloomville police departments, made the arrest without incident.

After the arrest, detectives executed a search warrant on Flores to recover evidence relevant to the investigation. The warrant was signed by Judge Damon D. Alt of the Seneca County Court of Common Pleas, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Flores was taken to the Seneca County jail and remained in custody pending transfer to Circleville, the seat of Pickaway County in south-central Ohio. He had not entered a plea, and court records did not list an attorney for him. The charges are allegations; a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted.

“I am proud of all of our personnel involved in the apprehension and the execution of the subsequent search warrant to assist the Circleville Police Department with their investigation. It’s great to see the resources, training, and technology we work diligently to provide for our deputies being utilized to continue to make this county and other communities a safe place. Job well done to all involved!” Sheriff Fredrick W. Stevens said.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Standing alongside local officials, demonstrators held signs reading “Jon the Con,” “First Energy’s Golden Boy” and “Ohioans can’t afford Jon Husted’s corruption,” some pairing photos of Husted with the rising cost of their electric bills. Several wore T-shirts reading “Unpaid Protester.” Community members and local leaders gathered to oppose FirstEnergy’s proposed rate increase and to link it to the fallout from the HB 6 scandal, WTOL reported.

What brought residents out was the latest in a string of rising electric costs. FirstEnergy’s proposed three-year distribution plan would add about $5.30 a month each year to a typical Toledo Edison residential bill — an average increase of roughly 2.8% annually — according to figures the company provided to WTOL. The plan affects only the distribution portion of a bill and would take effect only if the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approves it.

The officials who joined the residents echoed their message. “At a time when Ohioans are worried about affording a tank of gas or a loaf of bread, here’s just another cost that the hardworking families of Toledo and Ohio are burdened with,” Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said, per WTOL. “So we might ask ourselves why. Why is this happening?” State Rep. Erika White, a Democrat who represents Ohio House District 41 in Lucas County, called for transparency: “We pay some of the highest utility costs across the country. We need accountability first. Where are the funds going?”

FirstEnergy says the plan is about strengthening the grid, not past misconduct, and rejected any connection to the HB 6 scandal. “We’re a different company than we were back then, new leadership and new plans to improve,” spokesperson Brooke Conlan told WTOL. Conlan said the plan supports about $800 million a year in infrastructure upgrades and about $83 million a year in tree trimming and vegetation management, “all aimed at reducing outages and improving restoration times.”

The demonstrators’ anger traces back to HB 6, the 2019 law that delivered a ratepayer-funded bailout to nuclear plants owned by a FirstEnergy subsidiary and sits at the center of what prosecutors have called a roughly $60 million corruption scheme. Evidence in the state criminal case against former FirstEnergy executives Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling — and reporting by The Associated Press drawn from Husted’s official calendars — has documented meetings and phone calls between Husted and central figures in the scheme, as TiffinOhio.net has reported. Separately, the average Ohio residential electric bill has risen about $663 a year since the law took effect, based on PUCO data, though not all of that increase is attributable to HB 6.

Husted has never been charged with or accused of any crime in connection with the scandal, and he has denied playing a meaningful role. “My role was very clear. I wanted the nuclear power plants to remain operational,” he said in a January 2026 interview with NBC4 Columbus. Husted, a Republican, was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Gov. Mike DeWine in January 2025 and faces former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in the Nov. 3 special election.

The state case against Jones and Dowling ended in a mistrial on April 1, and a retrial is scheduled to begin Sept. 28 in Akron. For residents who turned out Thursday, there is also a more immediate avenue: the PUCO will take public comment as it reviews the rate proposal. WTOL reported it contacted Husted’s office for comment and was awaiting a response.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The schedule opens at 9 a.m. with the Cruisin’ Thru the Years classic car show, sponsored by Reineke Family Dealerships, running until 11:30 a.m. Registration opens at 8 a.m., and a sign-up form is available online.

The outdoor pool opens at noon and stays open until 6 p.m. Day passes can be purchased at the pool, and memberships are available online. Food vendors will be set up in the park throughout the day.

Inflatables for children, sponsored by NOPEC, will be available from 2 to 6 p.m. Live music begins at 4 p.m., with Spoiled Rotten performing from 4 to 6 p.m. and headliners Walley and the Beavs taking the stage from 7 to 10 p.m.

Fireworks are scheduled to begin around 10 p.m. Because of the size of the shells being used this year, the display will be set off from the baseball field across from the YMCA on Summit Street, the city said. No parking or viewing will be permitted on the north end of Hedges-Boyer Park, and the city advised visitors to expect limited parking in the park on July 4.

All events are free to the public except admission to the pool.

For more information, residents can call (419) 448-5408, visit www.tiffinohio.gov or check the Tiffin Park & Recreation Facebook page.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

State officials are set to decide whether to accept bids or open up 23,000 acres of publicly owned wildlife preserves in eastern Ohio to the fracking industry.

The votes Monday could amount to a significant expansion of Ohio’s public lands leasing process, which has existed in dormant fashion since 2011 but was kick-started in 2023 via legislation passed by Republican lawmakers and signed by Gov. Mike DeWine. 

The Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission, a panel of gubernatorial appointees, will decide whether to accept the best bids for about 15,000 acres, split between Jockey Hollow and Egypt Valley wildlife areas. The two expanses stretch over a hilly section of the state a few miles east of Piedmont Lake. 

The commission is also scheduled to vote on whether to open another 8,000 acres of Egypt Valley to oil and gas development. If approved, the state will have leased out more than 30,000 acres of Salt Fork State Park and six state wildlife areas, mostly in the Belmont-Harrison-Guernsey county region. 

Ohio received about $57 million in signing bonuses from the first 7,000 acres leased by the state, mostly via the lease at Salt Fork, one of Ohio’s largest. And that doesn’t include the 18% to 20% in royalty payments Ohio is set to receive when extraction begins. 

An Ohio Department of Natural Resources spokesperson couldn’t immediately provide state royalty revenue data on Thursday.

Near-unanimous opposition in public hearings to fracking public lands

Despite near-unanimous opposition in public hearings and written comment periods, the OGLMC has almost always accepted land nominations as they’ve rolled in since 2024. 

State law shields the identity of the company that “nominates” the land at the OGLMC and only releases a company name when a winning bid has been selected. 

A subsidiary of Gulfport Energy, an Oklahoma company, previously won a small lease for about 31 acres of Egypt Valley. A company spokesperson didn’t respond to an inquiry. 

The state acquired the land at Egypt Valley via the Wildlife Restoration Act, which uses money from a special tax on guns and bullets to buy land for conservation purposes. Consol Energy gave Ohio what’s now Jockey Hollow after it was “extensively” surface mined between 1958 and 1968, according to ODNR.

The projects approved by the DeWine administration have all proposed drilling vertically from well pads adjacent to public lands. Thousands of feet underground, those well bores turn 90 degrees and reach laterally for oil and natural gas trapped in shale underground.

Save Ohio Parks, a grassroots advocacy group of environmentalists in Southeast Ohio, issued a statement criticizing what it has described as a “rubber stamp” OGLMC legal process. 

“This is an insane amount of land that could be approved and awarded for fracking in just one meeting,” said Cathy Cowan Becker, board president at Save Ohio Parks. “If all these nominations and bids move forward, the state will have approved four times as much of our public land for fracking in 2026 as it did during the last three years combined.”

Signal Ohio is a nonprofit news organization covering government, education, health, economy and public safety.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

More than a dozen people spoke at a rally outside of Springfield’s City Hall Thursday night. 

“We had hoped that this would be a time of celebration, but it has become a time of lament,” said Carl Ruby, pastor of Springfield’s Central Christian Church.

“This is not a time to throw a punch or a rock, it is the time to turn the other cheek. It’s a time to go the extra mile to sacrifice our comfort and to suffer if need be to protect the lives of others.” 

People cried and hugged each other. Several held signs saying ‘Immigrants Make America Great,’ ‘Springfield is for everyone,’ ‘Love thy neighbor,’ and ‘We are commanded to welcome strangers.’ 

Some of the speakers prayed for the Haitians and Springfield. The World House Choir from Yellow Springs lead the group in songs. 

Mia Perez, founder of Voices of Immigrants, urged Haitians to act now. 

“Do not wait until ICE is at your door,” she said. “Gather your documents, keep copies of your immigration papers, work permit, passport, court notices.”

Many of the speakers emphasized this is the time to help Haitians. 

“You must also prepare,” said Katie Kersh, an attorney with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality in Dayton.

“You need to decide what you stand for and what you are willing to fight for in the coming days.”

Springfield Neighbors United has launched an emergency food and diaper drive, said Rev. Dr. Marian Stewart, one of their volunteer leaders. 

“There are a lot of babies in town,” she said. “Let me tell you, we need to take care of them in this hard time. These days, I ask you, follow your heart, put kindness, empathy, and compassion in the center.”

Ruby thanked Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who was born in Springfield, for his support and asked him for help. 

“We need resources to provide translators, we need resources to help with food, and anything the state can do would be deeply appreciated,” Ruby said. 

About 30,000 Haitians with temporary status live in central Ohio and an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Haitians call Springfield home, with a mixture of temporary protected status, citizenship, and other legal status.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a program that allows people from specific countries in conflict or facing natural disasters the chance to live and work in the United States for a set period of time. 

“Haitians who came to this country with the promise of safety, who follow the law and apply for TPS and often asylum have now been left with no TPS protection,” Kersh said. 

This means Haitians can theoretically be detained by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at any moment, she said. 

“These individuals followed the law, and the law abandoned them,” Kersh said. 

She recommends Haitians living in the U.S. talk to an immigration attorney for a consultation to evaluate their options. 

Haitians can apply for asylum, but the Trump administration put an indefinite freeze on processing all asylum applications at the end of 2025.

“Our immigrant neighbors and community members need to prepare,” Kersh said. “They need to make a plan, they need to decide what will happen to their children if they are detained.”

More than 1,000 children born in Springfield with American citizenship have Haitian parents, Viles Dorsainvil has previously said. 

“I’m not sure the school district will know how to deal with it,” Dorsainvil said on Thursday. “And the parents as well, they do not know if they will continue to send their kids to school.”

Dorsainvil came to the United States from Haiti in 2020 and is the executive director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield.

“This decision has brought fear, uncertainty, and pain to countless families who have built their lives, contributed to the communities and called the United States home,” he said. 

Dorsainvil spoke directly to his fellow Haitians. 

“We will not allow fear to define us,” he said. “Our resilience has carried us through these many hardships before, and it will continue to carry us through this one as well.” 

Dorsainvil also thanked the Springfield community. 

“You have welcomed your neighbors, spoken out against injustice, defended vulnerable families, and refused to let hate and division have the final word,” he said. 

“Your friendship and your courage has given hope to many people during one of the most difficult chapters of their lives as we face this unsettling moment.” 

“We want you here,” someone shouted from the crowd while Dorsainvil spoke. 

Springfield experienced a shrinking population for decades as manufacturing jobs disappeared, but Haitian immigrants have grown Clark County’s workforce by more than 10,000 workers.

“You cannot remove our neighbors without us feeling the hurt,” said Rev. Michelle Boomgaard with Christ Episcopal Church in Springfield. 

“You cannot remove children from our children’s classrooms, their friends, without us feeling hurt, you cannot remove star athletes from our sports teams without us feeling the hurt.”

Haiti is currently plagued by gang violence and instability, with many fleeing the small Caribbean nation to the United States for their lives. A top security official and chief of staff to the nation’s defense minister was recently kidnapped.

Many of the Haitian refugees in America have no homes to return to in Haiti. The U.S. Department of State currently has a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for Haiti.

“Many of them cannot safely return to Haiti,” said Biassu Pierre, a community organizer for Advocates for Basic Legal Equality. 

“They came to the United States to escape violence, stability, and danger. Going back to Haiti is not simply returning home, it’s good men returning to a place where their lives are at risk today.” 

Ohio state Rep. Munira Abdullahi, D-Columbus, said this is the time for people to come together. 

“Are we going to let them take our neighbors away from us? Absolutely not,” she said. 

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on X or on Bluesky.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Debate over a third reconciliation bill has been simmering in the background for months, though GOP lawmakers have yet to reach consensus about whether they should draft another massive package, like they approved last year, or a more narrow one that could help the party boost defense spending.

That budget reconciliation process gives Republican leaders a way to get around Senate rules that would otherwise force bipartisanship, giving them a loophole out of negotiating major legislation with Democrats. 

But it comes with several hurdles in order to get that special treatment, including that each provision in the bill have an impact on federal revenue or spending that is not deemed “merely incidental” by the Senate parliamentarian. 

Those in-the-weeds restrictions aren’t especially important to President Donald Trump, who wants Republicans in Congress to prioritize a voter identification bill, which cannot move through reconciliation, over everything else.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., tried to find middle ground in late June, proposing lawmakers use reconciliation to create a grant program for states that implement voter identification requirements. 

Johnson acknowledged the challenges to using reconciliation amid narrow majorities in each chamber, but said he thinks Republicans can accomplish their goals if they “stick together.” 

He, however, didn’t have details to share. 

“Stay tuned. We’re working through that,” Johnson said. “Doing a reconciliation bill is a very complicated process of consensus building, where we have a collection of ideas that, I think, every Republican, certainly, agrees with in principle.”

A few hours later, sitting in the Oval Office, the president batted down the idea of any compromise on the elections bill, creating more public disagreement between the top Republicans in the country. 

“Not really. No,” Trump said when asked whether he’d “be open to a compromise measure” moving through the reconciliation process. 

Hardball tactics

Lobbying for the full bill, which would require people show proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID when casting a ballot, isn’t only coming from the president. 

Far-right Republicans in both chambers are using hardball tactics to cajole their leaders to get the legislation to Trump’s desk, even if it means delaying work on their colleagues’ priorities.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee is one of several Republicans posting on social media and holding press conferences. He recently called for Americans to “encourage your senators to resume debate on the Senate floor—with a plan to keep debating it until it passes.”

“Tell your senators: Pass the SAVE America Act,” Lee wrote in another post. “Accept no excuses or half measures.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has become somewhat frustrated with constant pressure from some of his members, who are diverting time and resources to a bill that cannot pass. 

“At the end of the day, I have to deal with reality,” Thune said. “And sometimes the alternative universe that is X doesn’t reflect the facts on the ground.”

Thune said it’s been “very clear” for some time there isn’t enough support among Republicans to change the Senate rule that requires at least 60 lawmakers vote to limit debate on most bills. That legislative filibuster forces bipartisanship and gives the minority party, which could be Republicans as soon as next year, a seat at the table. 

“There are not the votes to nuke the filibuster and there aren’t going to be 10 Democrat votes to all of a sudden support the SAVE America Act,” Thune said. “Those are just hard realities and I think people at some point have to come to grips with that.”

Trump cancels signing for housing bill

West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said that despite months of effort, the voter identification bill doesn’t have the votes to become law. 

“If you can’t get to 60, you can’t pass it. I mean, that’s pretty simple,” she said. “Now, he says talk it to death and people will change their minds. I don’t think that’s a strategy that’s going to be in success. We tried that earlier this year to keep talking, we didn’t get to the end.” 

Capito said voters want to see Republicans focus on issues that can improve people’s lives, like the broadly bipartisan housing affordability bill both chambers approved this month. Trump was set to sign that bill during a ceremony on Capitol Hill but canceled at the last minute to try to push through the election bill. 

“So, yeah, they want to see us do something,” she said. “They don’t want to see us sitting up there yakking all the time.”

Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, wants to use the time to avoid another government shutdown when the next fiscal year begins Oct. 1 — no easy feat following three shutdowns over the last year. 

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., hopes to reach final agreement on the farm bill in the months ahead after years of delays and stopgap measures for those agriculture and food safety net programs. 

He brushed aside demands from some other GOP lawmakers to use the budget reconciliation process to pass another party-line package.

“We had trouble with the one that we just did and that was very, very narrow. I mean, that was strictly Homeland Security,” Boozman said. “When you start doing a bigger package, like they’re talking about and you start involving various committees, it becomes a lot more issues involved that you have to work out. And so it just gets very complex.”

Boozman added that working through the several steps of that process takes weeks, which lawmakers may not have. 

Other priorities

Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley said the party needs to focus on legislation that would lower “the cost of everything,” in part, by eliminating taxes on gasoline and health care.  

“That’s something that would be a huge benefit to every working person out there immediately,” he said. “Let them take all health care costs off of their federal taxes, so they paid no taxes on it.”

Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy said he thinks lawmakers should use the budget reconciliation process to significantly bolster defense funding. But he said “duh” when asked by States Newsroom whether the limited number of days in session would make that difficult. 

Lawmakers are set to be out of session for nearly all of August and September.

“I think if we want to get more money for defense, we have to do it through reconciliation, which means we need to start immediately,” he said. 

Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno has a lengthy list of issues he wants to see Republicans address before November, including a bill he’s set to release later this summer with Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren that would shore up the Social Security trust fund. 

“It’s not really a third-rail issue, because what we’re saying is that everybody should pay the same amount of money for Social Security,” he said. “When you have something that literally 90% of Americans support, I think we should be able to get something on that across the finish line.”

The two lawmakers wrote in an op-ed published in The New York Times the bill would raise the cap that ensures people don’t pay into Social Security on earnings more than $184,500.

“Since the vast majority of Americans make less than that, most people are paying Social Security taxes on 100 percent of their earnings while the highest earners are paying on only part of theirs,” they wrote.

“Why should a middle-class nurse pay a larger share of her paycheck — than a wealthy corporate lawyer?” they added. “This is doubly unfair in an economy in which top earners’ wages, over time, have pulled far ahead of those of the average worker.”

Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said he’d like lawmakers to ensure E15 gasoline, a blend that includes 15% ethanol and is usually unavailable in summer, can be sold year-round, though he hadn’t thought about any other issues the party should press for ahead of November. 

“I guess I can’t answer your question,” he said. “I just haven’t thought about it.”

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell specifically halts the department’s new definition of “professional” degrees, which was limited to 11 fields and would impose lower loan caps for groups not included in its definition, including nursing, teaching and social work. 

The ruling, which covers two consolidated lawsuits, came just a week before the provision was slated to take effect July 1. It marks a setback for a key part of President Donald Trump’s administration’s forthcoming overhaul of the federal student loan system. 

The department finalized regulations, published May 1, that implement sweeping changes outlined in the GOP’s “big, beautiful” law, including new caps on federal student loans, with different limits based on whether a degree was “professional.” 

But it overreached by narrowing what degrees qualified as professional, Howell wrote, saying Congress intended to keep the definition in place when the law passed in July 2025.

“The Rule is likely contrary to law,” Howell wrote. “The Rule’s definition of ‘professional degree,’ and thus the category of students benefiting from the high loan caps, is likely narrower (than) what Congress intended.”

But she declined to halt the department from enforcing the forthcoming loan caps because they were written into the law. 

Howell wrote that “this litigation cannot remedy plaintiffs’ primary frustration over the elimination of uncapped borrowing to pursue graduate education and the concomitant benefits of enabling more students from working families to earn a graduate degree in a chosen career field and attracting students more broadly to enter the American workforce in fields understaffed and in areas underserved.” 

Challenge from health professionals

Wednesday’s ruling stems from a pair of combined challenges by associations representing people in fields that do not fall under the new “professional” definition and would thus face lower annual and lifetime borrowing caps. 

One suit was filed in May by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners; the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners; the American Association of Colleges of Nursing; the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health; the National Education Association; and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. 

The other lawsuit was filed earlier in June by the PA Education Association and the American Academy of Physician Associates. 

In the May suit, the challengers argued that “the final rule’s definition of ‘professional degree’ excludes many degree programs that prepare students for a specific profession, and that may qualify as a professional degree under the 2007 regulatory definition adopted by Congress, including degrees in nursing, education, public health, and marriage and family therapy.” 

Unlimited borrowing eliminated

Part of the regulations eliminate a key loan program for graduate and professional students that allowed for unlimited borrowing and establish new annual and aggregate loan limits for those students.  

Graduate student loans will be capped at $20,500 annually and have a $100,000 aggregate limit, while professional student loans would have a $50,000 annual limit and $200,000 aggregate cap. 

But the programs within the department’s “professional” category and thus subject to the higher loan cap are limited to: pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, theology and clinical psychology. 

In response to a request for comment, the department said in a statement it was “reviewing the order and will take appropriate action,” adding that “we look forward to implementing the RISE student loan provisions and offering new, affordable repayment plans on July 1.” 

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

States and territories showed off cultural and agricultural exports at exhibits stretching nearly a mile. Attendees snapped photos on the small Grand Ole Opry stage in the Tennessee booth, kids tried putt-putt at Indiana’s miniature golf course and cowboys rode horses at Montana’s rodeo. 

A 110-foot Ferris wheel slowly turned at the center of the freshly manicured lawn, framing the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol in the distance on either side. Nearby stood a model of Trump’s controversial “triumphal arch.”

People collected swag from each state — drawstring bags from Ohio, stickers from South Dakota, snacks from Tennessee — and could receive a stamp on state fair passports.

The fair is part of the larger Freedom 250 programming and kicked off Wednesday night with a rally on the mall featuring a speech from the president that closely resembled his remarks along the 2024 presidential campaign trail. The festivities will continue over Independence Day, when Trump will deliver a second speech followed by what is promised to be an impressive fireworks display. 

The president will visit North and South Dakota as part of his Freedom 250 tour for the opening of the Teddy Roosevelt presidential library and Independence Day eve fireworks above Mount Rushmore.

Freedom 250 then extends into August with a high school athletic competition in Washington, D.C., dubbed the “Patriot Games” and a Freedom 250 INDYCAR race around the National Mall.

The administration’s celebration is separate from the America250 commission, created by Congress a decade ago, and which has its own nationwide programming this year.

From Lake Erie to the Ohio River

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and first lady Fran DeWine greeted guests in Ohio’s pavilion. The couple posed for photos in front of a map of the Buckeye State.

“We wanted to see on the wall all the different things, from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, all the different fun things you can do in Ohio,” the Republican governor said, adding the state has local celebrations and initiatives planned for the 250th anniversary, including “Movies in Ohio” for community showings of films that feature the state.

Ohio’s first lady showcased a children’s literacy exhibit on the opposite wall and touted the roughly 427,000 participants in the state’s partnership with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, a program that mails free children’s books monthly to households with kids under age 5. 

“We’ve mailed out 27 million books. We know that a child’s brain is 80% developed by age 3, so we want to get them those books early,” she said.

Reflecting on America’s milestone birthday, the governor said, “We’re always a work in progress, Ohio’s a work in progress, this country is a work in progress.”

“I think you know the thing we need to keep in mind, all of us, is there’s some essential core principles that we all believe in. … We may disagree about different policies, but the core principles are the same,” he said.

Cartwheels on the lawn

People from various states walked from exhibit to exhibit, while stopped in the nation’s capital during road trip vacations.

Tanya Geders, 43, of St. Louis, Missouri, did a cartwheel in the mall lawn, trying to persuade her son to join in. The family stopped at the state fair on their way to Virginia Beach.

“We’re like, well, if we go to the ocean, we can go to D.C. and what a better time to be here than the 250th anniversary,” Geders said.

Robyn Toman, 71, of Severn, Maryland, escorted her 12-year-old grandson Miles to meet DeWine and grab a photo with the governor.

Toman said she remembers the country’s bicentennial.

“I was a kid about his age, and I came in 1976. I said, ‘We’re gonna go, let’s go down to D.C. for a couple days and see this,’” she said. 

“We’ve enjoyed it. We went over to the archives yesterday, and saw the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. And, oh, that was so nice, that was fantastic.”

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The Health Policy Institute of Ohio analyzed the most recent U.S. Census data to find that the more than 5,600 Black-owned businesses in Ohio employed more than 64,000 employees. The data also showed that annual payroll for those businesses had increased by 82% between 2017 and 2023.

“The data on the economic impact of Black-owned businesses in Ohio demonstrates that the state’s diversity is one of its greatest strengths and that the success of the Black community leads to success for the state overall,” the institute stated.

Annual payroll from Black-owned business went from $1.3 billion in 2017 to $2 billion in 2023, according to census data.

Analysis of data from the same period by the Brookings Institution spotlighted five areas of Ohio, three of which have seen growth and two that have seen dips in the number of Black-owned businesses. In the Toledo metro area, 3.3% of all businesses are owned by Black employers, an increase of 85% from 2017. The Akron metro area has seen a 27% increase in Black-owned businesses, and the Cincinnati area saw 125% growth between 2017 and 2023, with 3.5% of all businesses Black-owned.

The Dayton area and the Youngstown metro area have seen drops in Black-owned businesses, with Dayton’s number dropping by 56%, and Youngstown’s down by 39% between 2017 and 2023.

While the areas had overall increases over the seven-year span, all but one area saw drops in Black-owned businesses when the data was narrowed to 2022 to 2023, the most recent data studied.

Toledo’s number went down 1%, Akron’s lowered by 29%, Youngstown’s was 77% less, and Dayton’s Black-owned businesses saw a 56% drop. Cincinnati saw a rise of 18% in the one-year span, according to the Brookings Institution.

The data was similar to states around the country, with the institution showing 72 metro areas in the U.S. with growth, of the 116 areas studied. Metro areas with the largest losses from 2022 to 2023 were Atlanta, San Francisco, Raleigh, Charlotte, and Virginia Beach. The study said “recent attacks on government programs that center on diversity, equity, and inclusion threaten continuing progress,” noting the Minority Business Development Agency’s elimination by the Trump Administration, and changes to the Small Business Administration’s program to bring federal projects to “socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses.”

“With numerous structural barriers to growth – such as credit access, intergenerational wealth gaps, and outsized levels of debt – Black-owned businesses will not magically grow without inclusive and intentional policy and investments,” Andre Perry and Hannah Stephens wrote for the Brookings Institution.

White employers continue to own the most businesses by far in the nation, and data shows Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander employers own the least, with Asian American, Latino or Hispanic, and Black owners falling in between. Despite this, Black employers saw the second-largest proportional increase, according to the Brookings analysis.

“As underrepresented race and ethnic groups own more employer businesses, their share of ownership moves closer to their share of the population,” Perry and Stephens wrote. “This growth is a tool to combat centuries of racial disparities in ownership and wealth.”

In 2023, Black Americans made up 14.4% of the U.S. population, but only owned 3.4% of businesses, according to census data.

In a 2023 report by the Ohio Department of Development, the state reported the Black community as 14.5% of the state’s total population, and reported Black-owned businesses made up 11% of all businesses.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Ohio House Bill 173’s supporters contend it’s good deal for consumers. The measure included protections against utility shutoffs and access to the federally funded Home Energy Assistance Program. Late additions to the bill even required submetering companies to charge slightly less than the typical residential rate.

But detractors pointed to submetering companies’ reputation for unexplained fees and shoddy customer service. Residents at a submetered complex can’t use Ohio’s Percent of Income Payment Plan, and they can’t shop for a different power provider like any other Ohio ratepayer.

In his veto message, DeWine nodded to the sponsors’ efforts to protect consumers.

“However,” he added, “the submetering model, itself, is fundamentally flawed.”

What went wrong

“What is a utility?” is at the heart of the submetering debate. Ohio law holds that a company “engaged in the business of supplying energy” to consumers is a utility. Submetering companies insisted that definition didn’t fit their business. Instead of delivering energy to consumers they were delivering it to landlords.

Ohio regulators bought that explanation. The state supreme court did not.

In a unanimous April decision penned by the governor’s son, Justice Patrick DeWine, the court determined “there is little question” submetering companies meet the statutory definition of a utility. It’s an important distinction because, as a utility, submetering companies would be subject to more stringent oversight from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

Ohio House Bill 173 attempted to split the difference — mandating more PUCO oversight than current law but stopping short of classifying submetering companies as utilities.

Ohio Supreme Court reverses PUCO decision, finds utility resellers are utilities under state law

That didn’t fly with Gov. DeWine.

“While this bill does contain some consumer protections,” he said, “they are not as robust as those afforded to customers of Ohio’s electric utilities.”

The governor pointed to the same critiques raised by opponents and added that the court’s ruling only applies to submetering companies that are buying and reselling power. Third party companies that calculate a tenant’s power use and divvy up the billing are welcome to continue operating.

The distinction, DeWine said, is the business model.

“For that work, the third-party billing company is paid a fee by the property owner,” he wrote. “The billing company does not buy the electricity at wholesale price and sell it at retail price.”

DeWine’s veto comes after some last-minute political largesse from one of Ohio’s primary submetering companies.

As The Columbus Dispatch reported, early this month, Nationwide Energy Partners CEO Michael DeAscentis II gave $12,5000 to Republican candidate for governor, Vivek Ramaswamy. His running mate, Rob McColley, currently serves as Senate President. DeAscentis gave another $10,000 to the chair of the Senate Public Utilities committee, Ohio state Sen. Shane Wilkin, R-Hillsboro, and $16,615 to House Speaker Matt Huffman.

Reactions

Critics of H.B. 173 welcomed DeWine’s decision. Ohio state Rep. Tristan Rader, D-Lakewood, called the veto “a victory for basic fairness.”

“This bill would have codified a broken submetering scheme that puts middlemen between tenants and the utilities they depend on.” he said. “After the Ohio Supreme Court affirmed that these companies can be treated as public utilities, HB 173 would have weakened hard-won consumer protections for renters and utility customers.

Ohio state Rep. Sean Brennan, D-Parma, said, “The issue is whether all Ohio utility consumers are entitled to the same rights, protections, and access to assistance programs.”

Ohio Democrats urge Gov. DeWine to veto submetering bill

“No Ohioan should receive fewer consumer protections simply because a third-party company inserts itself between the customer and the utility service they depend on,” he continued. “Creating a second class of utility consumers is bad public policy, and this veto helps ensure that every Ohioan is treated fairly.”

But the bill’s sponsor, Ohio state Rep. David Thomas, R-Jefferson, contends the veto only maintains a broken status quo.

Despite what his veto message says, renters and consumers aren’t actually gaining anything by him vetoing this legislation,” Thomas said. “They’re actually losing the in law protections that we put in place.”

Instead of black and white expectations for the industry, Thomas predicted on more lawsuits and legal uncertainty as the PUCO figures out how to regulate submetering companies.

“The legislature has been trying to put guardrails and regulations around the industry for 15 years now,” he said. “This was the furthest it’s gone we’ve never gotten it out of one chamber, let alone to the governor’s office.”

Still Thomas took the veto in stride and said he’s ready to go back to the drawing board.

“I’ve been vetoed many times before. I think I may be the most vetoed legislator currently,” he said. “We didn’t give up on those policies, and I don’t think we can give up on this.”

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

A great bulk of everyday people are sinking in a quicksand of endless struggles, feeling desperate, helpless, hopeless, while our feckless, egomaniacal, careless, reckless ruling class showers itself in gaudy, self-obsessed, look-at-me excess.

The most vile aspects of our national character and the worst of the American stereotypes crash around our public space chewing up people’s lives and hawking them into the spittoon of our collective historical shame:

Loud, loudly wrong, ignorant, excessive, might-makes-right, cruelty, armed-to-the-teeth, strutting and striding, bullying, and oh-so-tough.

Oh, so weak.

So very very weak.

So insecure, and so obviously so insecure.

Deluded like children playing at action heroes in their movie-minds, with no care or concept of the depth and breadth and complexity of actual human life in the very real world.

Except children have the capacity for growth and wonder and curiosity impossible for these calcified so-called adults running the country.

The callous selfishness of, Greed-is-good and I’m-gonna-get-mine-so-who-cares-about-anybody-else.

The cowardly myopia of, It-doesn’t-affect-me-so-what-do-I-care.

The chilling ignorance, lack of empathy, lack of humanity, lack of compassion, and lack of historical comprehension spewed in the eternal American sins of continued shameless racism and discrimination being enacted once again as a matter of brutal public policy.

And they think they’re being clever.

They especially think they’re being clever when the courts that they’ve vandalized, radicalized, and politicized officially excuse their atrocious behavior.

This time the pathetic fools declaim, Racism-is-actually-over-it’s-reverse-racism-that’s-the-problem, as they follow the timeless playbook.

And this debased ignorance becomes sanctified in the decisions of the nation’s highest court, to roll back civil rights, voting rights, human rights.

The sick, fetishized cruelty of, Good-I’m-glad-those-people-are-being-hurt-they-deserve-it.

The stone-cold pathological depravity of, Empathy-and-compassion-are-actually-bad-things.

America faces our anniversary as the world’s oldest democracy not as a celebration but a reckoning.

We must now take stock of our situation and decide whether we shall snuff out the remaining embers of our constitutional republic in sacrifice to the egomania and moral rot of the age.

A free people may vote their way out of freedom; that is a free choice, but it is also a robbery of future generations who would never then have any such choice.

This betrayal of future generations steals their birthright, the “apple of gold,” as Abraham Lincoln called it, the “political religion of our nation” enshrined in the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, and never yet fully realized, now being betrayed once again.

Consider the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence in full.

In full is key.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident…”

It begins with our fundamental equality as human beings — and therefore deserving of the same exact natural rights and dignity no matter who we are, all of us included, nobody left out, all of humanity.

The second sentence does not end at the individualistic “pursuit of happiness,” a common mistake.

It ends much later, not on the note of individualism in the introductory clause, but on the collectivism, collective interest, and supremacy of the people over the government found in its concluding lines.

Because all of this — all of our government, everything you see — is meant to be for the safety and happiness of the people, all the people. Full stop.

That’s so far from reality right now it’s a joke, and that’s where we’ve gone so catastrophically wrong.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The introduction about the individual under the laws of nature is an extension of Lockean thought based on Thomas Aquinas based on a synthesis of Augustine of Hippo and Aristotle:

This fundamental idea that we are all, by our nature, indeed born free in nature, in the full bloom of our individual righteousness of diversity, and we only bind ourselves together voluntarily in what Rousseau called the social contract.

The Declaration acknowledges the greater truth of that bond, and its basis in both our individual natural rights and our free choice of social contract, by proclaiming that all governmental power is derived “from the consent of the governed.”

This is the contract for our collective good, where we recognize that our own narrow self-interest must have limitations to protect the interests of others and our collective interests now and into the future — even and perhaps especially for our ideological opposites — because that’s how we ensure the protection of ourselves, and aspire to liberty and justice for all.

Moreover, “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends” — destructive of the people’s natural rights to life and liberty, meant to be secured in the bond of self-government — the people further reserve the right of supremacy over our government to do as we wish to effect our collective safety and happiness.

Put simply, all power is inherent in the people and politicians are nothing but public servants. Do not worship them, ever. They are your employees, nothing more. Hold them accountable, relentlessly.

And if politicians are only serving themselves, if they are only serving their own greed and lust for power and the moneyed elites who plunder and profiteer, and they sacrifice the public good at the altar of power and greed and ego, then they have betrayed the public trust and they are of no use to our self-government in their positions.

Past Americans spilled their blood for the rule of law now being ignored.

Past patriots gave their lives for the freedoms, liberty, and protections now being betrayed.

The birthright of future generations is at stake.

We can continue on in a hateful mess of chaos and destruction, or we can heal and build together.

That decision is before each and every one of us right now, and every day.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Texts from colleagues and rumors on social media delivered the unsettling news: The Auburn Board of Trustees had voted to dissolve the school’s faculty senate and give itself ultimate authority over academic decisions, including curriculum.

“What was really surprising … is the lack of knowledge that most of our faculty leaders had about the decision,” said Brooks, who’s been teaching at Auburn since 2006.

Faculty leaders across departments at Auburn — one of two flagship public universities in Alabama — said they learned of the proposal a day before the vote. The board approved the changes unanimously and without public discussion.

“To have that (decision) be the sole product of the Board of Trustees, with no input from faculty, is really unusual,” Brooks said.

The move at Auburn came two months after Alabama’s Republican-dominated state legislature passed a law curtailing the power of faculty senates at the state’s public colleges and universities. That law exempted Auburn and the University of Alabama, because their governing structures are enshrined in the state constitution. Some faculty felt Auburn’s eagerness to follow it anyway signals the board’s willingness to bend to political pressure.

The Auburn trustees did not respond to a request for comment, though the board said in a statement that its new policy is “intended to advance academic quality, transparency, consistency and institutional alignment while preserving meaningful faculty participation.”

Alabama isn’t alone. Since last year, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas and Utah have enacted similar laws that give greater power to politically appointed boards and administrators while weakening tenure protections and faculty sway over curriculum and university leadership. In Indiana, the new state budget gives Republican Gov. Mike Braun full authority to appoint members of Indiana University’s Board of Trustees.

Supporters of such measures frame them as efforts to hold taxpayer-funded public colleges and universities accountable at a time when many Americans are questioning the value of increasingly expensive college degrees. Many conservative lawmakers also say they are taking aim at liberal bias on university campuses.

Multiple studies have found that professors tend to be liberal, though it’s less clear whether they are pushing their views in the classroom. In a 2022-23 survey by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, nearly 56% of faculty described themselves as liberal or far left, compared with about 13% who said they were conservative or far right and roughly 32% who described themselves as “middle of the road.”

“I think our institutions do need to be run, at a minimum, fiscally, as a business, so that we make sure that the money our taxpayers are pouring into … our universities is used and utilized in the correct way,” Kentucky Republican state Sen. Lindsey Tichenor said earlier this year before voting for a measure to allow the state’s public colleges and universities to fire faculty for financial reasons, such as low enrollment in a particular program or department or a budget shortfall.

Opponents said the measure was a way for legislators to get around higher education tenure protections. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed the bill, but lawmakers overrode him.

Faculty advocates, free speech groups and unions warn the new wave of laws will chill academic freedom and make universities more susceptible to political influence.

“Students, faculty and staff in almost every state have less say in how colleges and universities are run than they did a generation ago, and I don’t know if that resonates with members of the public,” said Barrett Taylor, a professor at the University of North Texas whose research focuses on higher education policy, finance and governance.

“I do think most people probably don’t want to send their kids to a college where they feel like the politicians are in charge,” he said.

Unprecedented power

One of the most far-reaching of the new measures is a Texas law enacted last year that grants political appointees unprecedented power over the state’s public colleges and universities.

University boards, which are appointed by the Texas governor, now have authority over hiring decisions of college administrators and more control over university curricula. The new law, passed by the Republican-majority state legislature, also limits the power of faculty senates and councils, shifting them to advisory-only roles.

Texas Republican state Rep. Matt Shaheen, the bill’s sponsor, told his colleagues on the House floor last year that its goal is “to ensure degrees earned in Texas are of value and prepare our students for success, both in life and in the workforce.”

The Senate sponsor of Texas’ new law was then-state Sen. Brandon Creighton, a Republican who became chancellor at Texas Tech University a few months after the bill passed. Using his authority under the new law, Creighton in April ordered the school to cancel academic programs centered on sexual orientation and gender identity, and directed faculty to recognize only “two human sexes.”

In a recent survey by the Texas Tech University Faculty Senate, about half of the faculty who responded said they chose to alter their teaching content in response to memos from Creighton and another chancellor laying out new guidelines and restrictions on course content. More than half said they were considering jobs at other universities.

Since the law was enacted, several professors at other Texas public universities have been fired: A Texas State professor was fired after speaking about political organization at a socialist conference; a Texas A&M professor lost her job after a video of her discussing gender identity with a student went viral; and a professor at the University of Texas, Austin, was dismissed from his senior vice provost role for “ideological differences.”

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, in response to the vice provost’s ouster, said on X that “Texas is targeting professors who are more focused on pushing leftist ideologies rather than preparing students to lead our nation.”

Model legislation

Texas’ new law closely tracks model legislation shared in February by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. On its website, the institute argues that university board members “can act as a counterweight to the excesses of university faculty and administrators,” and that too much faculty autonomy has made campuses “insular and sclerotic.”

State involvement is necessary, the institute argues, to hold universities accountable to the public. It says that required general education courses should be reviewed and approved annually by administrative boards to make sure they’re relevant and worthy of public investment.

Distrust in higher education has become an election issue, John Sailer, the Manhattan Institute’s director of higher education policy, wrote in an email.

“Legislation is a blunt-force instrument but it isn’t sufficient,” Sailer said. He emphasized that changes have to happen at the institutional level. “Concretely, this looks like giving boards a say in matters that reflect the university’s overarching mission, like the core curriculum.”

But critics argue that everyone benefits from colleges and universities that aren’t subject to partisan politicization. They say the move toward top-down governance at universities will erode academic freedom and pressure faculty to align their research and teaching with ideological interests rather than independent inquiry.

And university boards are increasingly chosen for political loyalty and wealth, rather than for commitment to the institution, said Hank Reichman, professor emeritus at California State University, East Bay, and former chair of an academic freedom committee at the American Association of University Professors.

“I think people are naive if they think that (lawmakers’) political agenda will be limited to just getting rid of DEI and gender studies programs,” he said, adding that he’s seen interference in medicine and other sciences. “It’s really an attack on independent learning.”

Action in multiple states

In Indiana last year, lawmakers gave the governor sole appointing power over Indiana University’s board of trustees by slipping the language into a must-pass budget bill in the final hours of the legislative session. It also limited faculty boards to advisory-only roles.

“The state has an interest in being sure that it (the university) is operated in the best way,” Indiana Republican state Rep. Jeff Thompson told his colleagues on the House floor last April. “And by the way, the governor would be the one that has to answer to the people.”

Braun later exercised his new power by removing three members of the university’s board who’d been elected by school alumni under the previous system. Braun’s replacements included two conservatives: an attorney who previously worked on his campaign and a conservative commentator and former sports reporter who was suspended by ESPN in 2021 for statements about Barack Obama’s father and her company’s COVID-19 vaccine requirements.

In April of this year, Tennessee also enacted a law increasing top-down governance by barring university leadership from taking faculty recommendations on disciplinary decisions. Under higher education’s tradition of shared governance, such decisions would usually involve input from a tenured faculty member’s peers.

Lawmakers in other states also are exerting control over academic programs and degree requirements.

Iowa Republican lawmakers inserted a requirement into a budget bill approved last month that undergraduate students at the state’s three public universities take both an American history course and one on American government in order to graduate. State lawmakers mandated that those courses at the University of Iowa must come through the Center for Intellectual Freedom, which they created last year to counter what they viewed as liberal bias in education.

Utah passed a law this year that diminishes faculty control over exams and assignments, allowing students to request exemptions based on “sincerely held” beliefs, as well as a law that restructures university oversight.

Ohio lawmakers this year tried to tie university funding to institutions’ compliance with a law they passed last year banning DEI efforts, but the bill died in committee.

And in Kansas, the GOP-controlled legislature overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill named for Charlie Kirk, the late conservative activist, that bans college free-speech zones that limit where students can protest or advocate for causes.

The legislature also tucked a provision into its budget bill that bans public colleges from requiring students to take courses on “DEI-CRT,” the acronyms for diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory, respectively.

Suspicious of higher ed

Republican lawmakers have been pushing some of the most visible changes, but both political parties are interested in exerting more control over higher education, said Taylor, the University of North Texas professor.

“We’re not arguing that the two parties’ agendas for higher ed are commensurate or equally likely to have the same consequences,” Taylor said, “but we do think that both parties are suspicious of higher education and are seeking to exert more control over it, though in very different ways.”

As a historian, Auburn professor Brooks said she and some of her department colleagues were not surprised to see political battles spill onto campus. The changes have been more jarring, she said, for faculty members in disciplines that are further removed from the culture wars, such as forestry or engineering.

“There seems to be a sense from the (university) administration that the only faculty that are disturbed, unsettled, distressed about the situation are a small group of malcontents,” she said. “I think that’s a complete misconception. It’s widespread.”

Stateline reporter Anna Claire Vollers can be reached at avollers@stateline.org

This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Ohio Capital Journal, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour has not increased since 2009, losing more than 30% of its purchasing power since then because of inflation.

Alaska and Oregon will see statewide increases in the wage floor July 1: Alaska’s $13 minimum wage will increase to $14 per hour. In Oregon, where the minimum wage varies by region, minimum wage rates will reach as high as $16.80 in the Portland metropolitan area. 

In California, where the minimum wage varies across industries, many healthcare workers will see a spike in the wage floor July 1. Hospitals and healthcare systems with more than 10,000 employees must pay most employees at least $25 per hour, safety net hospitals must pay most workers at least $19.28 per hour and dialysis clinics must pay $24 per hour.

This past January, the minimum wage increased across dozens of cities, counties and states. An annual report from the National Employment Law Project, a nonprofit advocating for workers’ rights, found that 88 jurisdictions will raise their minimum wages by the end of this year. 

While voters in conservative and liberal states have approved minimum wage increases, the minimum wage remains stagnant at $7.25 across 20 states, according to that organization.

The issue failed to gain traction last week in Oklahoma, where voters rejected a proposal to gradually increase the state’s $7.25 rate to $15 per hour by 2029.

“Tonight, voters chose to protect Oklahoma’s economic momentum and one of our greatest competitive advantages: affordability,” said Chad Warmington, president and CEO of the State Chamber, which opposed the increase, after the vote. 

Opponents of minimum wage hikes, which often includes small business owners, say the mandates can lead to job cuts and higher prices for consumers. But proponents say that a higher wage floor is needed to keep up with rising costs and that workers tend to spend more as their wages go up, boosting the overall economy. 

David Ottoson, who owns the retail store Rainbow Foods in downtown Juneau, Alaska, said the state’s minimum wage levels the playing field for businesses. In a news release from the advocacy organization Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, he credited higher wages as playing a role in the longevity of his natural foods grocery store, which has operated since 1980.

“We’re doing well, and a big reason is that we treat fair wages as an investment. They’re how you keep good people and run a business that lasts,” Ottoson said in the release. 

Most of July’s scheduled minimum wage increases are planned in cities across the country. 

In Chicago, the minimum wage will increase from $16.60 to $17.05. San Francisco’s rate will increase from $19.18 to $19.61 per hour. And in Washington, D.C., the minimum wage will increase from $17.95 per hour to $18.40 per hour. 

Stateline reporter Kevin Hardy can be reached at khardy@stateline.org. 

This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Ohio Capital Journal, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Ethan Lucas Mercado is charged with improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle, a violation of Ohio Revised Code 2923.16(B) and a felony of the fourth degree, according to the Seneca County Clerk of Courts. The case is active in Seneca County Common Pleas Court, where it was filed June 23 before Judge Steve C. Shuff. Jail booking records list a $150,000 bond.

The single felony count covers knowingly transporting or having a loaded firearm in a vehicle in a way that makes it accessible without leaving the vehicle. A related misdemeanor charge of driving under a financial-responsibility suspension was dismissed, booking records show.

Mercado, listed at a Findlay address in court records, has retained attorney Sagan S. Kahler, who filed a demand for discovery and a request for a bill of particulars the day the case was filed, according to the docket. Seneca County Prosecutor Derek W. Devine is listed as the prosecuting attorney. No plea has been entered, and Mercado is presumed innocent.

According to reports released to TiffinOhio.net under a public records request, the Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call at about 12:08 a.m. reporting possible shots fired at a trailer at 5473 N. Township Road 63 in Jackson Township. A caller reported that a gold Honda Accord had circled the residence, and the caller’s father followed the car and relayed its location to dispatchers as deputies responded, the reports state.

Read the full story at https://tiffinohio.net/posts/findlay-man-charged-felony-2-loaded-guns-car-fostoria/.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

John Kulewicz, a Columbus-area attorney and Upper Arlington city councilman who won the May Democratic primary, filed a complaint with Ohio Inspector General Randy Meyer over JobsOhio board chairman Josh Rubin. Rubin is the founder and chief executive of The CJR Group, a Columbus lobbying firm whose clients include American Electric Power — the Columbus-based utility that, so far, is the only Ohio electric company to publicly express interest in the small modular nuclear reactors the new fund is meant to support.

JobsOhio defended its process. A spokesperson told WFMJ-TV that the agency does not discuss the companies it is in conversations with, and that anyone with a conflict of interest must disclose it and recuse themselves from discussions on such proposals. The spokesperson described the effort as one “focused on leveraging Ohio’s abundant supply of natural gas to increase electric generation and natural gas to sites, attracting small modular reactor companies in the future and developing a nuclear workforce that will be required to lead the nation.”

JobsOhio is a private nonprofit economic-development corporation created by the state and funded with profits from Ohio’s liquor enterprise. Its records are largely exempt from public-records law. The agency recently established a $100 million fund to support small modular reactors, or SMRs — including site preparation, workforce training, and incentives for manufacturing and production. The compact reactors are widely promoted as a way to power the data centers driving Ohio’s surging electricity demand. AEP signaled its interest in small nuclear projects on a May earnings call and could be positioned to receive grants or low-interest loans from the fund.

Kulewicz’s complaint centers on Rubin’s dual role: as JobsOhio’s board chairman, he helps lead the agency that created the fund; as head of CJR Group, he runs a firm that lobbies for AEP.

“Common sense and transparency would prevent the head of a secretive quasi-governmental organization from giving a $100 million grant to what appears to be a client of his private company,” Kulewicz said.

He added: “In effect, JobsOhio, using Ohio liquor profits, is paying AEP to develop mini-nuclear reactors that will have little to no local oversight and be owned by the utility company itself. And the CEO of the firm that lobbies for AEP is the Chairman of the state agency that is granting the $100 million to develop the technology.”

No grant to AEP has been awarded, and the inspector general has not determined whether Rubin’s role violated any standard. Kulewicz asked the office to review it.

Kulewicz linked the fund to a broader push at the Statehouse. “It is clear with the Ohio General Assembly’s push to require all data centers to have 50% of their electric output come from on-site generators that Ohioans will see many of these nuclear reactors in their neighborhoods,” he said.

Lawmakers are weighing several measures that would change how large electricity users power their operations. A heavily amended version of House Bill 646, advanced by the Ohio Senate in June, would require the largest data centers — those drawing more than 250 megawatts from the grid — to generate or procure their own electricity rather than draw from the standard service available to other customers. And House Bill 15, the sweeping 2025 utility overhaul, already expanded “behind-the-meter” self-generation and gave the Ohio Power Siting Board expedited authority to approve on-site power plants — approvals that can move forward without local zoning review. In Tiffin, city council this spring enacted a 12-month moratorium on data center development while it weighs whether to allow the facilities at all.

That framework has direct Seneca County roots. The Senate companion to House Bill 15, Senate Bill 2, was sponsored by state Sen. Bill Reineke, R-Tiffin, who represents the 26th Senate District covering Seneca County and serves as Senate president pro tempore. Reineke voted for House Bill 6 in 2019, the FirstEnergy-backed nuclear and coal subsidy law at the center of the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history.

A separate bill would go further. House Bill 862, introduced this spring by Rep. Adam Mathews, R-Lebanon — a lawyer and licensed nuclear engineer — with co-sponsor Rep. Bob Peterson, would allow electric distribution utilities such as AEP to build, own, and operate nuclear plants and recover costs from customers, reversing a roughly 25-year-old ban on Ohio utilities owning power generation. The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association has urged lawmakers to reject it.

“This bill is not a nuclear development strategy. It is a utility ownership strategy,” OMA President Ryan Augsburger said, drawing a comparison to House Bill 6.

Kulewicz, who has previously sought investigations into JobsOhio, framed the complaint around accountability. “Ohio needs an Attorney General who will put a stop to self-dealing and backroom deals by enforcing transparency and accountability of public officials,” he said. “Most importantly, mini-nuclear reactor technology in local communities deserves transparency, scrutiny, and local involvement in the decision-making process. As Ohio Attorney General, I will fight for transparency, honesty, and local government inclusion.”

Kulewicz, a longtime attorney with the Columbus firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, won the Democratic primary in May over former state Rep. Elliot Forhan. He will face Republican Keith Faber, the state auditor, in the Nov. 3 general election for the seat being vacated by term-limited Attorney General Dave Yost.

Kulewicz is scheduled to bring his statewide “Transparency Tour” to Tiffin on Sunday, July 12, with a 4 p.m. stop at the Tiffin Historic Trust.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The money comes from Ohio’s capital budget for fiscal years 2027 and 2028. Gov. Mike DeWine signed that legislation, Senate Bill 450, on June 15. The roughly $3.7 billion package funds parks, trails, recreation facilities, historical sites and other community projects across Ohio, and the Hedges Hills Pump Track was among the local projects selected for funding.

According to the city, the state money will specifically pay for three ride walls intended to expand skill-progression opportunities at the track.

The facility is designed for bicycles, skateboards, scooters, rollerblades and similar wheeled equipment. Planned features include a main pump track for riders of all skill levels, an ADA-accessible tot track for younger riders and an evening lighting system, the city said.

The total project cost is about $324,000. Funding comes from the City of Tiffin, private donations, community foundations and the state, according to the announcement. The city credited the Seneca County Collaborative with helping secure the state funding.

“The Hedges Hills Pump Track will provide a unique recreational opportunity for youth, families, and visitors while further strengthening Hedges-Boyer Park as a destination for outdoor activity,” Mayor Lee Wilkinson said.

“The capital budget award allows us to move beyond the basic track design and incorporate features that will make this a more dynamic and engaging facility,” said Bryce Kuhn, director of Tiffin Parks & Recreation. “The ride walls funded through this award will create additional challenges and progression opportunities for riders while helping establish Hedges Hills as a premier destination for wheeled recreation in Northwest Ohio.”

Project plans call for the track to be open to the public at no cost during regular park hours, the city said. The ADA-accessible tot track is intended to provide access for younger riders and people of all abilities.

The city said the project has drawn support from local governments, community organizations and recreation advocates, and that the nearest comparable facility is about 45 minutes away.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio, or RTLACO, lists Ramaswamy among its endorsed 2026 candidates, and his campaign includes the group on its own endorsements page. As reported by NBC News, the coalition says its endorsement is conditioned on a candidate being “in fundamental agreement” with its policy document.

RTLACO’s policy document lays out positions across reproductive and end-of-life issues. On abortion, it says the group “opposes abortion at any point of gestation” and “opposes abortion for pregnancy resulting from rape or incest.” On birth control, it states: “RTLACO cannot support any form of contraception,” adding that the coalition instead supports natural family planning.

The same document — the one RTLACO says its endorsed candidates must be in “fundamental agreement” with — also opposes all forms of in vitro fertilization, the fertility treatment used by many couples trying to conceive. It states:

While the Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio empathizes with the many couples who turn to IVF as a treatment for infertility, we oppose IVF because IVF entails creating multiple embryos, resulting in selective abortions after implantation. Furthermore, cryopreservation is incompatible with the respect owed to human embryos. IVF screens human embryos for genetic disorders, handicaps, and sometimes gender. The “undesirable” embryos are often discarded and thus their dignity is reduced to that of a commodity, lacking the preservation of the dignity due to all human life. Whereas IVF is used for a surrogate pregnancy, RTLACO supports adoption and other legitimate, morally ethical, and life-affirming technologies and procedures that do not violate the intrinsic nature of the marital act nor treat human beings as commodities.

The coalition’s legislative team chair, Linda Theis, told NBC News that its leaders “met with Vivek early in the spring last year, a couple of different times.” She described those meetings as the basis for the endorsement: “He assured us that he was totally with us. We met with him a second time, and he made sure that he said to us — he verbalized that he was all about protecting life without compromise, which is our main standard, so that was our big thing.” Asked directly whether Ramaswamy had made any commitments to the group on contraception, Theis said, “No, we have not discussed that.” Ramaswamy’s campaign did not respond to NBC News’ requests for comment about whether he agrees with the coalition’s position on contraception.

In announcing the endorsement, RTLACO President Kate Makra called Ramaswamy “unequivocally pro-Life” and said the coalition “looks forward to partnering with Vivek to foster a more vibrant culture of life in Ohio.”

Ramaswamy has previously spoken in favor of contraception access. NBC News noted that in a 2023 CNN interview during his presidential campaign, he said he supported “substantive provisions in the law that codify greater responsibility for men in cases of confirmed paternity tests and also greater access to options like contraception, adoption and otherwise.” At a Republican primary debate that year, he promoted “access to contraception, adoption” and “the missing ingredient in this movement: sexual responsibility for men.”

RTLACO’s 2026 endorsement list also includes state Rep. Gary Click, the coalition’s endorsed candidate in Ohio House District 88.

Ramaswamy won the Republican primary on May 5, 2026, and faces Democrat Amy Acton, a physician and former director of the Ohio Department of Health, in the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, is term-limited and cannot seek re-election.

The race comes after Ohio voters enshrined the right to abortion in the state constitution in 2023. Ramaswamy’s broader record on abortion, including his past praise for six-week bans, is detailed in prior TiffinOhio.net coverage.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed legislation Wednesday evening that would have rolled back newly enacted legal protections for Ohio renters’ electric bills in “submetered” units.

House Bill 173 would have reversed an Ohio Supreme Court opinion that said submetering companies were public utilities and therefore subject to state regulation. This would entail new scrutiny from a previously unregulated industry.

But according to DeWine, the submetering industry is “fundamentally flawed” because it leaves its customers lacking several legal protections and perks given to ratepayers of traditional gas and electric utilities.

“If this bill became law, Ohio, for the first time, would be legitimizing and legalizing this flawed submetering model,” he said in a statement. “Therefore, this veto is in the public interest.”

DeWine specified three disadvantages for submetered customers: They can’t shop around for cheaper sources of gas and electricity like all other customers; they can’t enroll in a utility-funded state program that allows low-income earners to pay only a percentage of their income for electricity; and they can be charged for electricity costs in common areas, which he said effectively make rent costs less transparent.

“As a consumer protection principle, tenants should only be individually billed for the electric service usage for which they are individually responsible,” he said.

His comments align with the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, a state agency that advocates for residential ratepayers and opposed the legislation. Its director, Maureen Willis, said in a statement late Wednesday praising the veto and adding that “Ohio consumers should not have different utility rights simply because of where they live.”

Rep. Dave Thomas, the Ashtabula Republican who sponsored HB 173, said the utilities, which have lobbied against submeterers and fought them in court, won while renters lost.

“This veto does not give renters anything except more legal gray area and no actual law protecting them,” he said in a text Wednesday night. “Governing by [a] vague Supreme Court ruling with guaranteed lawsuits coming is no way to regulate an industry. I look forward to working with Ohio’s next Governor to protect these customers.”

The bill passed roughly on partisan lines, with Republicans in support and Democrats opposed. Any veto override must begin in the state House. A spokesperson for House Speaker Matt Huffman couldn’t be reached for comment. Several House Democrats praised the veto Thursday.

Submetering companies operate by paying landlords to take over electric distribution to tenants, the end users, from a building’s master meter. From there, they bill customers like a traditional utility would. The companies say they buy electricity at a wholesale price before selling it at the same price as the local utility’s standard service offer.

The two largest known industry players in Ohio – Nationwide Energy Partners and American Power & Light – are regularly accused of price gouging their self-professed 55,000 customers. Over the past five years, the PUCO has received more than 300 complaints about each, according to a spokesperson. Customers have also taken to the statehouse, media and online reviews, insisting they’re being unfairly charged by a de facto monopoly.

Utility companies, led by American Electric Power, have tussled with the submeters in the Ohio Supreme Court, claiming the company has improperly acted as an unregulated utility company. As that case proceeded, some Democrats voted for early iterations of HB 173, deeming it better than the status quo and safer than the whims of a pro-business court.

But Justice Pat DeWine, the governor’s son, in April wrote a unanimous opinion for the Ohio Supreme Court siding with AEP and against Nationwide Energy Partners.

Republicans passed the legislation handily among themselves. Supporters, including property developers and a manufactured home trade association, note that the bill codifies several legal protections for submetered customers that didn’t previously exist in law. It requires them to charge a 3% discount to customers compared to the local utility’s standard service offer price. And it requires the PUCO to set up a complaint system for customers.

The Ohio Environmental Council lobbied for DeWine to veto the bill. Nolan Rutschilling, managing director of energy policy for the organization’s action fund, said it would “advantage utility reselling companies over hard-working Ohioans who are struggling to pay their utility bills.”

Signal Ohio is a nonprofit news organization covering government, education, health, economy and public safety.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

About 330,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians are living in the United States with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a program that allows people from specific countries in conflict or facing natural disasters the chance to live and work in the United States for a set period of time.

About 30,000 Haitians with temporary status live in central Ohio and an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Haitians call Springfield home, with a mixture of temporary protected status, citizenship, and other legal status.

“Today’s decision is painful,” said Carl Ruby, pastor of Springfield’s Central Christian Church, in a statement.

“But our calling has not changed. Scripture teaches us to stand with the vulnerable, tell the truth about our neighbors, and refuse to let fear have the final word. Haitian families belong in our community, and we will continue to stand beside them with courage, compassion, and conviction.”

Springfield experienced a shrinking population for decades as manufacturing jobs disappeared, but Haitian immigrants have grown Clark County’s workforce by more than 10,000 workers.

Springfield became a flashpoint in the 2024 Election when Trump and JD Vance spread racist lies about Haitian immigrants there.

Haitians were initially granted temporary protected status after Haiti’s earthquake in 2010 killed 222,570 people. 

The Biden administration extended Temporary Protected Status to Haitians in 2021 after the assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moïse. 

Syria was first granted TPS in 2012 and the country continues to experience ongoing armed conflict, terrorist violence, kidnapping, hostage taking, and crime. 

Haiti is currently plagued by gang violence and instability, with many fleeing the small Caribbean nation to the United States for their lives. A top security official and chief of staff to the nation’s defense minister was recently kidnapped.

Many of the Haitian refugees in America have no homes to return to in Haiti. 

The U.S. Department of State currently has a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for Haiti and Syria. 

Deporting Haitians in Springfield would eliminate roughly $300 million in annual spending from Clark County, with an estimated economic loss projected to exceed $400 million.

Ohio Immigrant Alliance’s Executive Director Lynn Tramonte is calling on Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno and Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted to do something. 

“You cannot let Haitian-Ohioans be deported to a country where they will be killed,” she said in a statement. 

“They are our family members, co-workers, friends, and neighbors. They are our people now. You cannot sit back and let this happen. You have power.”

At the federal level, the U.S. House voted in April to extend TPS for Haitians through 2029. The bill is now in the U.S. Senate, but the White House said President Donald Trump would veto the bill. 

TPS for Haitians was set to expire Feb. 3, but U.S. District Court Judge Ana C. Reyes blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to end temporary protected status for Haitians living in the United States. 

The Trump administration quickly appealed the decision and lower courts blocked its efforts to end Haiti’s TPS. 

This story will be updated. 

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on X or on Bluesky.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The decision halts, at least until a nearly certain appeal is heard, efforts by the U.S. Postal Service to require states to submit the names of likely mail voters before it delivers ballots. It also stops the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from compiling lists of voting-age citizens in each state.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, an appointee of President Barack Obama in Massachusetts, is the first judge to block the March 31 executive order. State and local election officials have raised concerns that its requirements would inject chaos into preparations for the November midterm elections.

Talwani ruled that Trump had asserted too much control over elections in several parts of the order as he directed federal officials to quickly take actions that he argues are needed to prevent noncitizen voting, which rarely occurs.

“The Constitution does not grant the President any specific powers over elections,” Talwani wrote.

Order overpowered states

The executive order directed Postmaster General David Steiner to put forward a rule requiring states, at least 90 days before a federal election, notify the Postal Service whether they intended to allow ballots to be sent through the mail. States would then have to submit to USPS a list of voters planning to vote by mail at least 60 days before the election.

Talwani wrote that the Postal Service lacks any authorization by Congress to put forward binding regulations on mail-in voting. The Constitution, she wrote, “reserves the power to determine voter eligibility to the States alone.” 

The executive order also required the Department of Homeland Security, with help from the Social Security Administration, to compile a list of voting-age U.S. citizens living in each state and then provide that information to state officials at least 60 days before each federal election. The order does not tell states how to use the data.

The list of citizens would be drawn from naturalization and Social Security records, according to the order. It would also include data from SAVE, a powerful computer program maintained by Homeland Security that verifies citizenship by checking names against information in federal databases. 

The executive order pointed to no relevant constitutional or legal authority supporting the compilation of the citizenship lists, Talwani wrote. Trump “lacks any authority to compile voter lists for each State,” she wrote.

A day before the decision, Steiner told a U.S. Senate committee that a proposed Postal Service rule to implement the executive order would lead to non-delivery of ballots in states that don’t provide lists of anticipated mail voters — a position condemned by Democrats.

“Trump is trying to turn the Postal Service into a voter suppression machine. This is not election security — it is election interference in broad daylight,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a Wednesday statement.

Latest setback

Trump has suffered a series of setbacks in recent days in his efforts to influence the administration of state-run elections. 

A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that the Department of Justice wasn’t entitled to state voter rolls. Senators also continues to rebuff the president’s attempts to pressure them into passing the SAVE America Act, which would require voters to show documents proving their citizenship.

Talwani’s decision came in a lawsuit brought by Democratic state attorneys general. It is the second major district court ruling over the executive order, after a judge in Washington, D.C., declined to stop the order because the Trump administration hadn’t taken enough action to implement it.

Under Thursday’s decision, federal officials must notify their employees within a week that sweeping portions of the executive order are void.

And on Monday, a judge blocked the use of SAVE to search for noncitizen voters.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The justices, in a 7-2 decision, threw out a $1.25 million verdict a Missouri court awarded to a man who said long-term use of the weedkiller Roundup caused him to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. 

The herbicide, produced by Monsanto, does not include any warning of carcinogenic material and Monsanto and parent company Bayer deny there is any link.

The decision created an unusual split for the conservative-dominated court, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh writing the majority opinion and his fellow conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch joining a dissent written by liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The majority ruled that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, or FIFRA, which governs herbicide use, preempts state claims like the one awarded to John Durnell of St. Louis. 

Roundup’s label complied with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations, to which states cannot add requirements, Kavanaugh wrote.

“In sum, federal law requires Monsanto to sell Roundup with the label that EPA approved at the initial registration and that EPA has subsequently re-approved on multiple occasions—that is, the label without a cancer warning,” he wrote. 

“Durnell’s state tort claim, by contrast, would require Monsanto to add a cancer warning to its labels. That Missouri-law requirement is ‘in addition to’ and ‘different from’ Monsanto’s federal-law labeling obligations.”

In her dissent, Jackson wrote that the majority’s decision improperly prioritized national uniformity over consumer protection.

“In accepting Monsanto’s argument and holding that Durnell’s failure-to-warn claim is preempted, the Court misunderstands FIFRA’s requirements, misinterprets the scope of FIFRA’s preemption, and ultimately leaves Durnell without a remedy for the significant harms he has suffered,” she wrote.

Durnell sued Monsanto and parent company Bayer in 2019, claiming that exposure to Roundup over two decades led to his cancer diagnosis. A Missouri trial court awarded him $1.25 million, and a state appeals courts affirmed the ruling.

The Supreme Court was the first federal court to hear the case. 

Federal law typically trumps state law, which Monsanto and the Justice Department emphasized during April oral arguments. Industry groups across the economy tend to support federal supremacy because it saves companies from complying with 50 separate regulatory schemes across states.

The EPA, which regulates labeling requirements for herbicides, does not require the kind of warning the Missouri jury said was appropriate.

T_his is a breaking news story and will be updated._

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Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

White House budget director Russ Vought wrote in a letter that in addition to addressing “urgent needs” for the Defense Department, the funding would help the U.S. government assist with the Ebola outbreak and provide aid to American farmers.

Funding for the Energy Department, he wrote, would “support nuclear and other energy security requirements, primarily for the National Nuclear Security Administration.”

The supplemental spending request asks Congress to provide money for “restoration and construction projects in and around Washington, D.C.,” as well as the project that would modernize Penn Station in New York City. 

The proposal asks lawmakers to add a few policy changes, including the year-round sale of E-15 gasoline, to any supplemental spending bill they may approve in the weeks and months ahead. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, praised the move on social media. “Pres Trump’s admin is exactly right 2say yr-round nationwide E15 is ‘urgent’ & ‘needed’ Congress MUST pass yr-round nationwide E15 by end of fiscal yr Im very glad 2 see it incl in Defense Dept’s supplemental request,” said Grassley.

The proposals didn’t appear to have broad consensus among Democrats, who would likely be needed for any emergency funding to become law. 

Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote in a statement the administration’s request “is not merely meant to pay for the president’s disastrous war, but an attempt to secure tens of billions of additional dollars for unrelated Pentagon priorities that should rightly be considered through the annual appropriations process.”

“I will closely review this request in its entirety and ensure we take care of our servicemembers, but I will not rubberstamp tens of billions more for this disastrous war of choice,” Murray added.

Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, wrote in a statement she will “evaluate the Administration’s supplemental budget request.”

“I plan to convene an Appropriations Committee hearing so that Senators can hear directly from the relevant Administration officials,” she said.  

The supplemental spending requests ask lawmakers to provide:

• $67.15 billion for the Defense Department

• $11.1 billion for the Agriculture Department to provide aid to farmers

• $3.36 billion for the State Department for diplomatic, security and global health programs

• $2.03 billion for the U.S. Coast Guard

• $1 billion for the Transportation Department to “to assist in the final design and construction of a modernized Penn Station in New York City”

• $1 billion for the Labor Department to “increase the benefit levels for participants of certain pension plans that were sponsored by Delphi Corporation and terminated as a result of General Motors’ bankruptcy in 2009″

• $767.5 million for the Energy Department

• $600 million for the General Services Administration’s federal buildings fund

• $500 million for the National Park Service to upgrade a seawall and improve the World War II Memorial

• $40.26 million for the FBI for its role in the Iran war and “other classified needs”

• $36.18 million for the Treasury Department’s office of terrorism and financial intelligence

• $13.1 million for the Homeland Security Department’s operations and support account that was part of a “classified request.”

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The United States added 172,000 jobs in May, more than doubling economists’ expectations. But Ohio saw a modest decrease, losing 2,400, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. 

However, that followed strong gains in previous months — 8,100 in April and 10,100 in March. 

Amid those mixed numbers, unemployment continued to fall. It was down to 3.7% in May, the third consecutive monthly decline.

One of the reasons for the drop is concerning, said Molly Bryden, a researcher with the think tank Policy Matters Ohio. 

That’s because unemployment only measures the portion of people without jobs who are in the labor force. It doesn’t count people who are too old, too sick, have departed the state or just stopped looking.

“Both statewide and U.S. job gains have consistently surpassed expectations this year,” Bryden said said in a written statement.

“While Ohio’s job losses in May don’t give cause for concern on their own — as monthly job estimates are always subject to revision — job growth doesn’t tell the full story. There are 58,000 fewer working Ohioans in the labor force than there were at this time last year, despite growth in Ohio’s working age population, which increased by 38,000 over the same period.” 

It’s hard to say why fewer Ohioans are participating in the labor force, but the portion has now dropped down to the national average.

“Ohio’s shrinking labor force has been driving down the labor force participation rate, which, until May, had hovered above the U.S. rate,” Bryden said.

“Now, that gap has closed. The weakening labor force participation rate could have long-term consequences for Ohio’s economic growth.”

Other dynamics could also have consequences. 

Consumer spending — a huge pillar of the economy — has fallen in recent months as Ohioans have become rattled by rising gas prices and other inflation, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland reported earlier this month. And overall inflation hit 4.2%, a three-year high.

While gas prices have fallen on news that the United States and Iran have started to negotiate a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, experts warn that energy prices could take months to return to their pre-war levels.

Bryden, of Policy Matters, also warned of pain even if Ohioans return to the job force and Ohio keeps adding jobs.

“Even if Ohio sees a hiring turnaround next month, economists warn that stagnant wage growth nationwide could exacerbate the growing affordability crisis,” she said.

“At 4.2%, inflation is the highest it’s been in three years, reflected by the ongoing decline in consumer confidence. In the near term, Ohio’s working families are vulnerable to the inflationary impacts of U.S. economic policy, facing greater challenges to afford the rising cost of groceries and other necessities, along with global energy price shocks caused by the war in Iran.”

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

State data cited by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio showed that 10.6% of Ohioans are a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and a 2026 Health Value Dashboard released by the institute showed health disparities particularly in the area of mental health for LGBTQ+ Ohioans.

The data showed that gay, lesbian, and bisexual state residents are 2.6 times more likely than other Ohioans to report “frequent mental distress,” and transgender individuals are 3.5 times more likely to report it.

For researchers who study the impacts of policy and other efforts for and against the LGBTQ+ community, a consistent theme exists when it comes to a lack of support, resources, and even data showcasing this particular population.

“Stigma and discrimination against this community is a serious factor,” said Dr. JaNelle Ricks, an associate professor of public health at Ohio State University.

“It influences so many things, but it’s definitely going to influence things like the negative political rhetoric that we’re hearing in this country.”

Ricks has spent her career studying sexual and reproductive health for historically marginalized communities, and diving deep into the data surrounding HIV risk and prevention.

While there has been a strong focus on eradication of HIV for decades and some improvement over the years, “those who are most at risk and have the worst outcomes aren’t seeing the same level of improvement.”

While medications and treatments are available, the ability to disperse not only treatments but prevention education to the general public, especially communities of color and women, depends on stronger support at higher levels.

“It really has to do with the powers that be, in terms of funding that’s available and where they think the importance is to target, so if there isn’t the money to try to educate and get access for the communities that are most in need, it’s difficult to see change,” Ricks said.

Being able to access healthcare in general is a struggle for LGBTQ+ individuals, and with legislation in Ohio and elsewhere that banned gender-affirming care for minors, for example, a need for healthcare can often clash with the hesitation to seek help.

Through her studies primarily of LGBTQ+ youth and young adults, Dr. Lauren McInroy has observed a population that may be experiencing similar things to their peers, like mental health issues caused by bullying and cyberbullying, but the added layers of identity and struggles that come alongside them complicate matters.

“So it’s not that the population inherently has different health and mental health outcomes, it’s the realities that they live with every day,” McInroy said.

The stress of stigma and a lack of representation in their every day life, often combined with “minority stress,” for communities of color and other populations, creates “chronic cumulative stress,” a struggle that McInroy says has been coined “death by a thousand cuts.”

“All of that stress and the lack of social support and community is really what leads to disproportionately poor health and mental health outcomes, because you’re carrying that stress through the day with you,” she said.

Negative impacts online and in the world can create more longterm effects, not just for the individual, but also for the state and world as a whole.

“We see lowered productivity, so work in adults, and school successes in young people,” McInroy said. “There’s an increase in medical costs, because they are waiting longer to access care and that means they’re getting worse a lot of the time.”

Recognizing the ripple effects of one population’s health outcomes can be a powerful message for other Ohioans whose attention might be elsewhere.

LGBTQ+ individuals seek care less because of fears of discrimination, and also a lack of insurance access, which creates a sicker population, and one that risks dying as a result.

“Even if they had insurance, again, stigma and discrimination is an issue,” Ricks said. “You might have untrained providers, you might have unwelcoming environments, you might experience discriminatory treatment which is going to make you less likely to follow up, or seek additional healthcare, which again influences death and illness rates.”

A lack of data

Before any care can be given, though, advocates say it would be helpful to have a full picture of what kind of care is needed, and where the resources should go.

Ricks is part of Greater Columbus Insight, a group of researchers collecting data on the health and wellness of LGBTQ+ Ohioans in Columbus, home to the largest population in the state.

Through a community advisory board, listening sessions, and surveys, the group hopes to help local organizations establish programs, obtain funding, and advocate for policy.

Ricks said it’s important for the group to be able to collect data, partly to be able to provide it to advocates working on the ground to improve things.

“For those organizations, and policymakers, and decision makers who are interested in equitable distribution of resources, they need the information to be able to justify making decisions,” Ricks said.

But the data provided through the group’s research doesn’t only provide supplemental help for advocates, but in some cases represents the limited data that exists on LGBTQ+ health.

A report from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found measures related to gender identity and sexual orientation were removed from federal data collections, which the institute attributes largely to executive orders and policies from President Donald Trump saying that “transgender, nonbinary, and intersex identities would not be recognized by the federal government.”

In a study of the data from January 2025 to January 2026, the Williams Institute found that 94% of data elements that were removed from federal demographic collections were gender identity measures, and at least 60 collections also removed sexual orientation-related elements.

The analysis found that 23 collections removed sexual orientation or gender identity data “from bias motivation questions, precluding the ability to report discrimination on these bases,” and the majority of the eliminations were made through change requests made to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, not through a formal “notice-and-comment process.”

“These removals span multiple data collection types, including national surveys and surveillance systems, government-funded research studies, programmatic monitoring systems and evaluation studies, and administrative forms and records,” the institute’s study stated.

The type of data that had been removed is “essential for understanding the characteristics of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations … assessing and addressing their needs, allocating public and private resources, and developing impactful policy at the local, state, and federal levels,” according to the study.

Even when presented with data, however, Ohio lawmakers and national policymakers have still passed laws that experts say go against scientific evidence and public opinion about LGBTQ+ policy.

“A lot of lawmakers have access to data and have heard numbers and still are not making decisions that are in the best interest of this community,” Ricks said. “I think it really goes back to the stigma and discrimination piece.”

How to move forward

The Health Policy Institute of Ohio provided a look at an ideal environment for LGBTQ+ Ohioans through a proposal of what state data would look like if disparities for the population were eliminated.

According to the institute, removing disparities in health would result in 97,000 less gay, lesbian and bisexual Ohioans reporting frequent mental distress, along with nearly 31,000 less transgender residents reporting such distress.

More than 55,000 LGBTQ+ Ohioans would have the opportunity to see a doctor without the barrier of cost, and 54,000 fewer members of the community would report “poor overall health,” according to the institute’s 2026 Health Value Dashboard.

Putting that data into quantifiable steps requires nuance and commitment, according to McInroy and Ricks.

For McInroy, who studies the impacts of technology on LGBTQ+ youth and young adults, being online can have its faults, but can have its benefits as well.

“Technology is a risk, but also offers them a lot of opportunities to meet their mental health, behavioral health, and social needs that a lot of them don’t have access to otherwise,” McInroy said.

“They can go online, they can see media that reflects their identities, they can see alternative discourses they don’t otherwise have access to.”

There are also community-building opportunities, access to role models, and helpful resources.

Being able to access “LGBTQ-competent” care could go a long way to help improve the health of many youth and young adults in Ohio, and even just a change in the way the care is discussed could create a better landscape for those who need it, according to McInroy.

“Sometimes at the moment (gender-affirming care) is viewed as encouraging LGBTQ+ identity, particularly in the context of the discourse around minors,” she said.

“But what it really is is the ability to acknowledge and affirm their identity as they express it, and understanding … providing identity-specific care.”

The rhetoric at the higher levels of government can seem overwhelming to those fighting against LGBTQ+ stigma and negative impacts, but Ricks said smaller wins are building up to bigger ones.

“We are seeing, particularly on a local level in a lot of places, where people are amplifying their support,” Ricks said.

“And I think if we are focused on what we can do locally, and continue to be thoughtful about how we can build on that, that’s where, at this point in time, we can have the most impact.”

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Located in Hamilton, Ohio, the Butler County jail is separated into three facilities: the Corrections Center on Hanover Street, which is the main complex and holds the most people, including ICE detainees. Then the Resolutions Jail on Second Street, and the Court Street Jail on Court Street, which handle overflow. 

The jail holds roughly 1,063 people. According to data from ICE updated in February, 362 of the jail’s inmates at that time were ICE detainees. The Butler County sheriff renewed the jail contract with ICE in March of last year.

One hundred thirty-one EMS calls have been made since March 5, 2025, records show. One hundred ten were sent from the Corrections Center itself. Collectively, twenty-one were made from the overflow facilities Resolution and Court Street.

Comparatively, 105 calls were made from the jail in 2024. From March to December of that year, 100 calls were sent from the Corrections Center. Four from Court Street Jail and one from Resolution. 

Butler County does not retain audio recordings of 911 calls. It is also unclear how many were made on behalf of ICE detainees as opposed to members of the regular prison population. 

EMS logs show the reasons for these calls range from pregnancies to seizures. “General illness” is the most common category, appearing thirty-one times from March of last year to present. “Chest pains,” appear twenty-eight times. 

Other reasons listed in the logs are as follows:

• Seizures: 12

• “Trauma”: 10

• Fall: 5

• Unconscious: 5

• Stroke: 4

• Assault: 2

The jail has faced allegations of medical neglect and abuse by lawyers, activists, and former detainees. 

Law enforcement authorities deny any mistreatment.

“There is a completely false narrative going on with the community that are activists, and I will say that definitively,” said Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer in a phone interview. 

Dwyer listed the facilities personnel, including one doctor, a physician’s assistant, a nurse practitioner, a dentist, three nurses, nine full-time paramedics, seven part-time, four EMTS that are full-time and two that are part-time. 

“In our facility, we have medical staff in the building 24/7,” Dwyer said. 

“There’s medical care here. And in a facility with a thousand inmates, you’re always dealing with something… but I can guarantee you if you come to this facility as an ICE detainee and you have a medical need, it’s going to be solved. It will be dealt with.” 

Others disagree. Among those who say Butler County Jail is unfit to hold ICE detainees is Pastor Irvin Heishman from West Charleston Church of the Brethren in Tipp City. 

Armando Reyes Rodriguez, a member of Heishman’s church, was detained by ICE on April 14, held in Butler County Jail for three months. 

He now resides in Honduras, his birth country.

Heishman visited and spoke about the conditions inside the jail. Heishman also discussed guard treatment of detainees, and recounted being introduced by Armando to a man who was “beaten badly enough that he had to be put in the hospital.”

“They threw him against that so hard that his arm was all messed up. And I saw him a week after it happened, and that was still oozing, like, liquids and blood from the wound. And he had no bandages. I was like: they’re really not even going to provide a bandage or something like that?”

The detainee was Luis Tenelanda. Deported to Ecuador, Tenelanda is filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, alleging that a sergeant punched him so hard he needed to be hospitalized. 

“(The) Defendant punched Mr. Tenelanda in the stomach, under his ribs….As a result, Mr. Tenelanda fell back and hit his head and his arm on the metal bunk bed, causing him to pass out,” states the court filing about the incident, which allegedly occurred on June 8 last year. 

The suit claims it took 40 minutes to an hour for the medical person to arrive, and when Tenelanda went to the jail’s medical unit, they told him he was in good condition. 

Only after Reyes-Rodriguez noticed his bleeding arm was Tenelanda taken to an outside hospital, the suit alleges, on June 10.

“Mr. Tenelanda’s stomach and arm continue to cause Mr. Tenelanda extreme pain. Mr. Tenelanda is still currently unable to bend or to lift his left arm. There is pain from Mr. Tenelanda’s elbow to his shoulder at all times. As a result, Mr. Tenelanda has difficulty getting dressed and showering because he cannot use his arm,” states the court filing. 

Butler County Jail strongly denies these allegations.

Lynn Tramonte, executive director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, slammed the treatment of detainees at the jail in an interview with the Ohio Capital Journal.

Tramonte’s organization is representing Tenelanda, and has represented other ICE detainees from the Butler County Jail. Tramonte recounted how numerous clients have said Butler County Jail didn’t address their medical needs. 

“This is like the punishment and torture of people who haven’t committed crimes or are not even being accused of crimes,” Tramonte said. “And they’re being put in this jail. And it’s all simply as a strategy to get people to give up on their cases and deport.”

Julie Nemecek is the founder of the Nemecek law firm in Columbus, Ohio, and has represented several ICE detainees held in Butler County Jail.

Nemecek spoke about a doctor who “comes maybe every two weeks,” saying that the wait for medical care is very long.

“But especially clients who have mental health conditions, serious mental health conditions, they are not getting care, they are not getting the medication they need, and it’s inhumane,” Nemecek alleged.

Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer spoke about the tours given to people who want to inspect the facility.

“I have hosted religious organizations. I had pastors from the area come in and tour the facility, and saw it, got to see ICE inmates in their environment. The state has come down for their inspections. And I can only say it any more boldly, that it is a false narrative.”

Dwyer added that he believes no amount of inspection will change the attitudes of people who oppose the jail’s ICE contract.

“I’ve had some of the activists come in and see it. It doesn’t matter. They stick with whatever narrative they want.”

Heishman was one of a dozen church leaders who toured the jail last August. According to him, access during the event was limited. 

“We were able to look into the pods where the detainees are kept, but were not allowed to go in,” Heishman said. “We weren’t allowed to talk to anybody. They showed us the medical facilities, but there were no doctors there. They were just empty rooms. Yeah, so we really didn’t get to see much.”

In Heishman’s eyes, the jail doesn’t distinguish between ICE detainees and regular criminals. 

“There’s supposed to be a difference when a person is detained for a civil matter. But you don’t get that difference at the county, at least, I certainly haven’t seen it at Butler County Jail.”

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Ninty percent of children over the age of two play video games, and online games have become a huge part of how children play and learn today.

In fact, about half of all American children under 16 have played Roblox. The platform has become as much a part of modern childhood as the school bus, and is now an important part of how millions of kids play, learn, and socialize.

As the president of Ohio PTA, I hear from parents every week who feel overwhelmed by technology and worry they’ve already lost ground to algorithms and apps they don’t understand.

I get it. But our responsibility as parents is to prepare our children for the world safely and confidently online and offline.

PTA encourages community collaboration to ensure safe, inclusive, and positive digital experiences for all children, youth, and families, fostering learning and healthy lifestyles and ensuring they are equipped with the technological literacy and access to thrive in an increasingly digital world.

I encourage every Ohio parent to do what I did: sit down with your child and play with them online.

There are silly and imaginative games, but there is also real substance.

Through Roblox’s learning hub, I found thousands of popular games that are just as educational as they are entertaining, like Mission Mars, where kids design and operate rovers to complete scientific tasks, and Lua Learning, which introduces real coding concepts used by professional developers.

Some of the most popular creators on the platform are even kids themselves.

As much as I love how my kids are learning new tech skills, keeping them safe is my top priority.

Parents can restrict or disable chat entirely, block specific users or experiences, and set limits on screen time and spending.

Images and videos cannot be shared in chats, and text and voice communication pass through strict filters.

Roblox recently went even further by announcing they would divide the platform into age-based accounts — “Roblox Kids” for ages 5 to 8, and “Roblox Select” for ages 9 to 15.

These build on their facial age estimation system that requires checks for chat access, helping ensure children are only communicating with others in similar age ranges.

While these are meaningful steps, Roblox isn’t the only responsible party here. The other part is engagement from us, the parents.

We don’t keep children from the playground because there’s a chance they might fall off the monkey bars or encounter a bully.

We take them to the park, we watch, we intervene when needed, and we gradually trust them as they learn how to stay safe, even when we aren’t with them.

Rather than removing our children from platforms that have become central to how their peers connect and learn, parents should lean in. We should be understanding the tools, setting boundaries, and staying engaged in how our children are using these platforms.

Parents should be asking questions and consistently using the parental tools the platform provides. In our house, we play together, on shared computers, in our family room.

In 2026, our children need us in these spaces alongside them, teaching them how to navigate safely, just like we do in other aspects of their lives.

Nicole Lesnick is the current President of the Ohio Parent Teacher Association and a parent to eight children.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

House Bill 472, sponsored by state Rep. Jodi Salvo (R-Bolivar), would have required absentee voters to either upload a photo ID and electronic signature to a state-built online portal or mail a photocopy of their ID to their county board of elections. In his veto message, DeWine said the requirement would do nothing to stop fraud while making it harder for eligible voters to cast a ballot.

“House Bill 472 would not discourage fraud, would not add any real security, and would create an additional and significant burden for Ohioans who vote by mail,” DeWine wrote. He added: “H.B. 472 is all burden for so little benefit. Therefore, this veto is in the public interest.”

The veto blocks, for now, what would have been a substantial change to how more than a million Ohioans vote. Ohio has required photo ID for in-person and early voting since 2023, but absentee voters currently verify their identity using a signature and either the last four digits of their Social Security number or a driver’s license number. Under H.B. 472, those steps would have remained and a photo ID requirement would have been layered on top, taking effect with the 2027 general election.

A homeless-ID bill that became a voting bill

H.B. 472 did not begin as a voting measure. As originally introduced, the bill was a bipartisan effort to waive fees so Ohioans experiencing homelessness could more easily obtain state identification cards and vital records such as birth certificates. Senate Republicans added the absentee photo ID language late in the process, shortly before the bill cleared the legislature.

The amendment was tied to a separate Republican priority: a proposed constitutional amendment, headed to the November ballot, that would let the state require photo ID for absentee voting. Lawmakers folded the mail-in ID requirement into H.B. 472 in part to satisfy House members who were reluctant to back the ballot measure without also writing the requirement into state law.

The late change appeared to cost the bill support. It had originally cleared the Ohio House with a single dissenting vote; after the Senate added the ID language, the House concurred 60–34 and the Senate passed it 23–10, with Sen. Bill Blessing (R-Colerain Township) joining Democrats in opposition.

The bill’s original Democratic co-sponsor, Rep. Christine Cockley (D-Columbus), asked to have her name removed and urged DeWine to veto it.

“The bill was hijacked by the Senate Republicans and turned into something completely different,” Cockley said. “What started out as a great piece of bipartisan legislation turned into a bill about voting rights.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which had urged a veto, said the late amendment grafted an unrelated voting fight onto a bill meant to help vulnerable residents. “What started as a straightforward, nonpartisan bill addressing fees for birth certificates and IDs for homeless individuals has now been co-opted by election deniers still re-litigating President Trump’s 2020 defeat,” ACLU of Ohio Advocacy Director Collin Marozzi said in a statement before the veto.

DeWine: an ID can’t be matched to a face through the mail

Much of DeWine’s veto message focused on a practical objection. A photo ID works at a polling place because a poll worker can compare the picture to the voter standing in front of them, he wrote — a check that is impossible with a mailed ballot.

Requiring the ID for mail voting, DeWine wrote, “does not provide election officials with any opportunity to verify if the ID picture matches the face of the voter and thereby serves as no additional verification of the voter’s true identity.”

He also argued the bill stacked new steps onto a process that already works, pointing to the existing requirement that absentee voters provide identifying information and a signature. The added requirements, he wrote, “are burdens, nonetheless, and when layered upon the existing steps already required to vote absentee and vote by mail, there would certainly be voters discouraged from exercising their right to vote.”

DeWine cited warnings from election officials and seniors’ advocates that the change would fall hardest on older and less-connected voters. Quoting the bipartisan Ohio Association of Election Officials, he noted that “senior citizens, individuals living in long-term care facilities, voters with mobility challenges, and those with limited access to technology may face additional burdens that could discourage participation or prevent otherwise eligible voters from casting a ballot.” The AARP, he wrote, echoed that concern, cautioning that “increased complexity can make it harder for eligible voters to successfully complete the process.”

The governor also flagged the cost. Building and maintaining the secure online portal the bill required would force the secretary of state to spend significant unfunded money, and county boards of elections would absorb new administrative costs with no added resources — what DeWine called “an unfunded mandate both for the Ohio Secretary of State and for every county in Ohio.”

He reserved praise for one piece of the bill: a provision letting voters apply for absentee ballots online. That reform, DeWine wrote, “is much needed, and I commend the Legislature for passing it. It is unfortunate that it is in a bill that I must veto.”

The same governor signed a ballot deadline restriction in December

The veto lands six months after DeWine took the opposite action on a different voting bill. In December, he signed Senate Bill 293, which eliminated Ohio’s four-day grace period for mail-in ballots and required that all absentee ballots reach county boards of elections by the close of polls on Election Day. That law took effect in March.

DeWine signed S.B. 293 while saying he disagreed with it. “I normally would veto a repeal of this four-day grace period. And, frankly, that’s what I wish I could do,” he told reporters at the time. He said he signed it anyway because a pending U.S. Supreme Court case out of Mississippi could strike down such grace periods nationally, and he did not want Ohio’s rules thrown into question close to the 2026 election.

That sequence has left DeWine, who is term-limited and in his final year in office, drawing an idiosyncratic line on voting law: signing a restriction he said he opposed when he felt cornered by litigation, and vetoing one he viewed as pure cost and obstruction. As far back as 2023, he had said a sweeping package of election changes he signed that year would likely be the last he would approve.

What happens next

Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers and could override the veto, but the legislature is on its summer recess. Senate Finance Chair Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) said he was disappointed by the veto but was unsure whether lawmakers would return to attempt an override.

The fight is unlikely to end with H.B. 472. Ohio voters will decide in November on the constitutional amendment that would allow a photo ID requirement for absentee voting — the same requirement DeWine just rejected in statutory form. The state’s two secretary of state candidates are split on the issue: Republican nominee Robert Sprague, the current state treasurer, backed the mail-in ID requirement, while Democratic nominee Allison Russo, the former House minority leader, urged DeWine to veto it and pointed to drafting errors in the rushed bill.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Postmaster General David Steiner defended the rule at a Senate hearing and dismissed accusations that the Postal Service was acting politically after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March restricting voting by mail. 

“If a state refuses to turn their absentee voter list over to the federal government, will the Postal Service still mail their ballots under this proposed rule?” Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, asked Steiner.

“Under our proposed regulation, no,” Steiner replied.

Steiner’s testimony, before the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, marked the clearest acknowledgment yet by a federal official that the rule threatens to upend voting by mail across the country. 

If the rule takes effect and Democratic-led states refuse to comply, the requirements would effectively limit mail voting to Republican-led states during November midterm elections to decide control of Congress.

The Postal Service put forward the rule after Trump ordered Steiner to require states to submit lists of anticipated mail voters to the agency as a condition of having ballots delivered. 

Trump cancels signing ceremony

The executive order is one of several steps the Trump administration has taken this year to influence how elections are administered, along with the Department of Justice suing states to obtain sensitive voter data.

Underscoring the depth of Trump’s interest, as Steiner was speaking Wednesday morning the president abruptly called off a U.S. Capitol ceremony to sign a bipartisan housing bill because of the Senate’s refusal to pass the SAVE America Act. The legislation would require voters to show documents, such as a birth certificate or passport, proving their citizenship.

“Now we have this new rule you’ve put out saying that states have to turn over their voting rolls and you, the U.S. Postal Service, will decide who’s approved to send their ballot through the mail,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, said. “It’s just another backdoor way of trying to influence this election.“

Slotkin said Trump’s decision to cancel the housing bill signing demonstrated the “level of obsession this president has” over elections.

Turning over names 

Every state would have to provide the names of residents expected to vote by mail. Additionally, eight states and Washington, D.C., conduct elections by mailing all voters a ballot, meaning election officials would have to provide information on every voter. Those states include California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington.

Trump and his aides argue the restrictions are needed to combat noncitizen voting, which occurs very rarely. Democrats and voting rights groups have sued over the order, arguing it’s an unconstitutional assertion of presidential authority over state-run elections. No judge has yet halted it.

Steiner sought to place himself outside the controversy and said, in response to a question, that the Postal Service would adhere to a court order blocking the rule if one were issued. Asked about the legal authority underlying the rule, he said he would “have to defer that to the courts to understand the authority.”

Steiner, who became the postmaster general in July 2025, cast the rule as primarily focused on best practices for election mail, a description that understates the scope of the proposal, which postal experts call unprecedented.

“I’m not a political person and the Postal Service is not a political organization,” Steiner said.

Dems urge Steiner to withdraw rule

Democrats expressed sharp disagreement with Steiner and accused him of folding to Trump’s efforts to exercise more control over elections. Steiner answers to the USPS Board of Governors, not the president, and his critics say he is endangering the agency’s independence by complying with the executive order.

Every Senate Democrat, as well as two independents who caucus with the party, on Tuesday signed a letter to Steiner urging him to withdraw the rule. The letter warns that aside from the rule’s legal and constitutional problems, it’s not feasible for state and local election officials to meet its requirements.

“The proposed regulation demands that the Postal Service set up an entirely new system and database to process and transmit millions of absentee ballots that is secure and accessible to every American election official, just months prior to a general election,” the letter says.

At Wednesday’s hearing, GOP senators mostly steered clear of the mail ballot rule, instead focusing on the official topic, the Postal Service’s finances. But Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, accused Democrats of hypocrisy over their past support of the “For the People Act.” 

The sweeping bill, offered when Democrats last controlled Congress, would have required states to offer same-day voter registration and expand mail voting. Opponents said it amounted to nationalized elections.

“Three years later all of them are testifying, ‘It’s outrageous, President Trump is trying to nationalize elections.’ No, he’s not, he’s trying to get rid of voter fraud,” Moreno said, adding that Democrats had now “dug up from their bottom desk drawer” the Constitution.

“Should we get back to post office stuff now?” Moreno said.

“Absolutely,” Steiner replied.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Shaver, the president of Fostoria City Council and the Democratic nominee in Ohio’s 5th Congressional District, introduced a restored 1939 Nash LaFayette — which his campaign is calling the “Brian Mobile” — in a post on the campaign’s Facebook page.

“Meet the Brian Mobile!” the post reads. “Be on the lookout for this union-made 1939 Nash Lafayette (components of which were made in OH-5) as Brian travels this district, turning every mile into something meaningful — building real connections.”

The campaign framed the vehicle as more than a curiosity. “We’re traversing something more important than just a campaign trail,” the post said. “Every stop is a chance to share stories and hopes for our future.”

The 1939 Nash LaFayette was the entry-level series produced by Nash Motors, the Kenosha, Wisconsin, automaker that later merged into American Motors Corporation. The campaign describes the car as “union-made” and says some of its components were built within the present-day 5th District.

The blue sedan, with whitewall tires and a “Brian Shaver for Congress” placard on its door, fits the retail-politics approach Shaver has leaned on since winning the nomination. In June, he launched a district-wide “Tacos and Transparency” listening tour, with stops at Mexican restaurants across the district’s nine counties.

Shaver, 48, teaches social studies at Fostoria Junior/Senior High School and was elected president of the Fostoria City Council. He won a four-way Democratic primary on May 5 with 28.68% of the vote, earning the nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, a Bowling Green Republican who has held the seat since 2007.

The matchup is a steep one. The Cook Political Report rates the district R+14, and Latta defeated his 2024 Democratic opponent by roughly 35 points. Independent candidate Dalton Franklin will also appear on the November 3 ballot.

Shaver has built his campaign around government accountability and access, pledging support for campaign finance limits, term limits and stronger congressional oversight. He has repeatedly contrasted that message with Latta’s record on constituent access, noting that the incumbent has not held a town hall in more than a decade.

A full schedule of campaign events is posted on Shaver’s website, brianshaverforcongress.com/events.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

That vote is now a backdrop to the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Mike DeWine. The Republican nominee, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, has a long public record opposing abortion — one he built largely during his 2023 campaign for president, and one that stands in tension with the amendment Ohioans approved.

Ramaswamy’s stated framework is that abortion belongs to the states, not Washington. He has repeatedly said he opposes a federal ban, arguing the issue should be decided at the state level. A governor also cannot unilaterally repeal a constitutional amendment; Ohio’s protection for abortion up to fetal viability remains in force regardless of who occupies the office, and altering it would require the courts or another statewide vote. Ramaswamy’s campaign has not publicly detailed whether, as governor, he would support new legislative restrictions on abortion access.

What is on the record is how Ramaswamy has described his own position. He has called himself “unapologetically pro-life,” a phrase he used on his own account on July 11, 2023, and repeated to reporters that week. In that same July 11 post, he praised the lawmakers behind Iowa’s six-week abortion ban, writing that he was “proud of” the Iowa governor “and the Iowa legislature for protecting life.” Speaking at the National Conservative Student Conference later that month, he described Iowa’s six-week standard as “progress that should come from the states.” A six-week ban prohibits abortion once embryonic cardiac activity is detected, often before many women know they are pregnant.

On the ruling itself, Ramaswamy has said the justices got it right. During an August 2023 presidential debate, he said he believed “Dobbs was correct to overturn” Roe, framing abortion as a matter for state law. He has also said abortion should be treated as a “human rights” question rather than a “women’s rights” one.

Ramaswamy’s running mate brings a more direct legislative record on the issue. Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, was a cosponsor of Senate Bill 23, the 2019 law known as the Human Rights and Heartbeat Protection Act, according to the Ohio Legislature’s official record. At the time, McColley said in a statement from his office that he was “proud” to cosponsor the measure. The law banned abortion after a detectable fetal heartbeat and made no exception for rape or incest; its only exception was for a medical emergency threatening the life or a major bodily function of the pregnant patient. DeWine, who signed it, said at the time that government’s role is “to protect the most vulnerable among us.”

That ban is not currently in effect. It was blocked in court, and a Hamilton County judge struck it down in 2024 after the passage of the reproductive-rights amendment, which protects abortion up to viability — generally 22 to 24 weeks — and later when a physician determines it is needed to protect the patient’s life or health. Even with the amendment in place, Republican lawmakers have continued to pursue measures that test its limits.

The Democratic nominee, Dr. Amy Acton, a physician and former state health director, has made reproductive freedom a central contrast in the race. “Ohioans have made it very clear that they trust women to make their own decisions about their bodies,” an Acton campaign spokeswoman said. “As Governor, Dr. Amy Acton will protect reproductive freedom.”

Ramaswamy won the Republican primary on May 5, 2026. He and Acton meet in the general election on Nov. 3.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The endorsement was announced in a June 18 letter from OFT President Melissa Cropper, who cited Jones’s support for public schools, higher education, libraries and the workers who staff them. The union represents about 20,000 educators, higher-education faculty, support staff, librarians and public employees across Ohio.

“We need people like you in office fighting for the working people of Ohio,” Cropper wrote.

Jones, a production supervisor at the Toledo Molding & Die plant in Tiffin and a member of Tiffin City Council, said the support reflects what is at stake for the district’s schools.

“Public schools built this district — in Tiffin, Clyde, Fremont, and every town in between,” Jones said. “The people who teach our kids and keep our libraries open shouldn’t have to wonder whether their state representative is in their corner. They’ve got my word that I will be.”

A 1991 Clyde High School graduate and U.S. Army veteran, Jones served four years in the Army, including with the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment — the Old Guard — before returning to Tiffin and building a career of more than twenty years on the factory floor. The OFT endorsement adds to a list of labor and veterans’ organizations backing his campaign, which earlier this year drew the support of the national veterans group VoteVets.

A reliably Republican district, narrowed by a bruising primary

District 88 has long been considered reliably Republican. But the incumbent, Rep. Gary Click of Vickery, emerged bruised from the May 5 Republican primary, winning by fewer than 600 votes — 52.28 percent to 47.72 percent — over challenger Eric Watson. Click carried his home county of Sandusky but lost Seneca County to Watson, surviving only on his Sandusky margin. Watson declined to endorse Click after the race.

Jones, who lives in and was elected in Seneca County — the county Click lost — ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. Seneca County Democrats have pointed to the primary turnout and the incumbent’s narrow margin as evidence of momentum heading into the fall.

The two candidates enter the general election with contrasting records. Click, a Baptist pastor first elected in 2020, is the primary sponsor of House Bill 68 — the Saving Ohio Adolescents from Experimentation, or SAFE, Act — which bans gender-affirming care for minors and, through its Save Women’s Sports Act provisions, restricts transgender participation in school sports. Jones has centered his campaign on economic issues, including utility and housing costs, property taxes, manufacturing jobs and public school funding.

Jones’s campaign says he is not accepting corporate PAC money in the race. More information is available at the Jones campaign website. The general election is November 3.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

A pressure ulcer slowly tore open a hole in the skin over Sam Frank Ray’s tailbone, leaving his raw bone exposed over weeks to the infection that eventually killed him, according to a lawsuit his family filed late last year. 

Bedsores, the byproduct of cut-off blood circulation when the body lies still in one position for too long, are considered highly preventable injuries. They can be avoided by repositioning an immobilized person once every two hours. But they can turn lethal if they’re allowed to progress. 

Ray’s lawyers say he was left in the same position through 33 separate eight-hour shifts in September 2024. Staff failed to reposition him and take him to the toilet, instead directing him to use adult diapers and await being changed, likely increasing his infection risk, the lawsuit alleges. 

Ray’s family didn’t know anything was wrong until he was hospitalized as the infection spiraled out of control, according to Michael Hill, a lawyer representing Ray’s family. The family’s lawsuit against the Arbors at Sylvania, in Toledo, is pending.

“It’s a catastrophic situation at that point. And he passes away,” Hill said in an interview. “It’s one of those things where he should have never gotten a bedsore to begin with.”

The lawsuit Hill filed notes Ray’s death is similar to that of a woman named Lucy Garcia, a patient at the Arbors at Oregon, a nearby nursing home in the same chain. A lawsuit filed by her estate said the same thing happened there, with an infected bedsore leading to her death in July 2024. 

“All the tissue on her backside down to her bone had died off, including muscle,” Garcia’s lawsuit states. “The open bedsore was exposed to Lucy’s own feces and urine from Arbors at Oregon leaving her in soiled adult diapers, and the wound was infected with bacteria causing sepsis.”

Garcia’s estate dropped the lawsuit against the Arbors at Oregon with prejudice, which means she can’t make the same claim again and suggests the parties reached a private settlement. Neither side would confirm. 

About a year after Garcia’s death, regulators cited the facility for bedsore problems and other shortfalls.

State inspectors have repeatedly flagged patient deaths and treatment errors at Arbors homes. And lawyers suing some of the facilities say the operators pare down staffing to bare minimums, leaving patients exposed to preventable falls, bedsores, infections and escapes. 

Taken together, lawsuits and regulatory inspections of the 16 skilled nursing homes facilities that comprise the Arbors at Ohio – places to stay for those who need less care than a hospital but more than most families can provide at home – paint a picture of care that at times ranges from poor to dangerous. 

Since Jan. 1, 2024, at least 11 plaintiffs have filed lawsuits accusing Arbors facilities of negligence or medical errors that caused patients’ deaths, according to thousands of pages of court records analyzed by Signal Statewide. 

In that same time frame, state inspectors have faulted three Arbors facilities in Ohio for contributing to the death of three patients via different sorts of medical errors. 

And that’s to say nothing of disturbing incidents at some Arbors nursing homes, documented by state health officials on behalf of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, including a summer zoo trip that led to multiple heat-related hospitalizations, a forgotten ventilator application that nearly killed a patient, instances of residents going missing for days, and others, according to a review of hundreds of pages of nursing home inspection reports. 

Administrators at several Arbors facilities named in this report deferred comment to Prestige Healthcare, a Louisville management company that operates the chain. Bill Gray, a company spokesperson, declined to comment on a list of written questions. Attorneys representing the company in court didn’t respond to written questions. 

“The company’s position is no comment,” Gray said. 

Spotty penalties from regulators

Accountability from regulators is spotty, as control of the facilities is divided between unique operating companies for each facility, related entities that own the land the nursing homes sit on, and Prestige Healthcare. 

The Ohio Department of Health considers violations on a one-by-one basis, and doesn’t consider that facilities are a member of a chain or larger system, a spokesperson said.  

Over the most recent three-year period, CMS, the final arbiter for discipline of nursing homes, has fined Arbors facilities on 18 occasions for a total of more than $648,000, according to agency data as of mid-June. The Ohio Department of Health recommends that a facility be fined, but CMS sets the amounts. The final figure typically reflects a 35% reduction in exchange for facilities agreeing not to contest the penalty. 

The fines comprise a small sum compared to facility revenue. Data provided by the Ohio Department of Medicaid shows Medicaid has paid Arbors facilities a total of $233 million in revenue over the past three calendar years. That sum doesn’t include payments from private insurers. 

ODH spokesperson Ken Gordon added that the department can also withhold future Medicaid reimbursement payments if the facilities fail to remediate any shortcomings in 15- and 180-day windows.

“It is important to understand there is a wide range of enforcement actions, which are governed in part by the severity of the violations and also a facility’s past history,” Gordon said. “Fines are only one of those actions. The idea is to prompt swift action to correct the issue.”

CMS inspections state that poor care at three Arbors facilities – Milford, Stow and Minerva – contributed to patients’ deaths. Only one facility paid a fine – the Arbors at Milford, where CMS claims a nurse’s failure to notify staff physicians of a patient’s worsening diabetes attack contributed to the resident’s “untimely death.”

The facility paid a $35,000 fine in connection with the incident. That year, it received more than $6.2 million in revenue from Medicaid repayments. 

At the Arbors at Stow, CMS blamed a patient’s “medication non-compliance” that caused her death on the facility’s staff. Regulators fined the facility $48,000 but suspended the payment – the facility received $6.8 million via Medicaid reimbursement revenue that year.

Staff’s failure at the Arbors at Minerva to notify a doctor before a patient’s downward spiral and death, as described by CMS, in January 2025, according to an inspection report. Records as of mid-June don’t reflect any fine. 

CMS declined to comment or answer written questions.

Lawsuits allege negligence

The wrongful death lawsuits identified by Signal Statewide filed against the Arbors all allege that thin staffing led to the falls and bedsores that caused patients’ deaths. 

Along with Lucy Garcia, the estates of now-deceased patients of at least two other Arbors facilities have filed wrongful death lawsuits since January 2024 that have ended with plaintiffs dropping their cases with prejudice, suggesting a private settlement.

That includes Brenda McNeil, who died of a brain bleed caused by a fall that occurred two days after she checked in to the Arbors at Oregon. 

And it includes the estate of Sharon Kay Abner, a 68-year-old West Virginia woman, which sued after a pressure ulcer devolved into sepsis and osteomyelitis, an infection of the bone. 

Lawyers for both sides declined comment on the final outcome of the lawsuits. 

The claims from alleged victims of Arbors’ care are similar from case to case. The family of Philip Rice alleged he died from an infection caused by a pressure sore while residing at the Arbors at Marietta. The family of Nancy Altizer said she died following a fall and pressure sore while staying at the Arbors at Gallipolis. And Gary Wade Conner died after allegedly falling while staying at the Arbors at Oregon. 

These cases are all pending and haven’t been ruled on by a court. Will Eadie, a Northeast Ohio attorney representing Conner’s family, declined to discuss a pending case but said he has filed “a fair number” of lawsuits against Arbors facilities. 

He said the key indicator to gauge quality of care is staffing – a facility’s biggest source of overhead, and often the culprit behind preventable issues like bedsores or falls. 

Arbors facilities average 2.9 out of 5 stars on staffing, according to CMS’ analysis of payroll data.

“Staffing is kind of the root of most nursing home problems,” Eadie said. “You’re really talking about nurses and aides who might want to do well, but they are burned out, overworked, or there’s a bad culture of it being OK to not have adequate care.” 

Plenty of research backs up the idea. More nursing home staffing tends to produce better health outcomes for patients, studies show. 

And a recent white paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, relying on more detailed data required by regulators in Illinois, has accused nursing home industry operators of “tunneling profits” to related entities to understate their earnings. Those “hidden profits” would equate to a 36% increase in a ratio that measures staffing hours per resident. 

A hellish trip to the zoo 

Some of the problems flagged in the CMS inspections – which are carried out regularly or in response to complaints by the Ohio Department of Health – were nonfatal in nature but still injurious and troubling. 

Case in point – a field trip for 13 residents that the Arbors at Pomeroy, in Southeast Ohio, organized to the Columbus Zoo in June 2025. 

While the heat index crept up to 90 degrees, the residents spent a long six hours at the zoo. Some complained about the heat and duration. According to the report, the day started to sour on the drive home, where residents were boarded onto a bus that hadn’t been cooled down, where they ate fast food on board with the doors open. 

“The Administrator stated the van was really hot inside (all the doors and windows were open at that time) and she did not know why it was so hot,” a state inspector wrote.

One resident started to get “restless, jerking on other people’s seats” before opening the emergency window on the bus. He then became unresponsive, according to CMS’ writeup of the incident. He was unconscious for about 15 minutes until an ambulance arrived. 

“[He] had a temperature of 105.7 degrees Fahrenheit and was transferred to the hospital where he was placed on a ventilator and treated for heat stroke,” an inspector wrote. 

Another resident found unresponsive had a temperature of 104 degrees and was treated for heat stroke. 

“[She] stated she went to the hospital but stated she did not remember much about the day,” the CMS inspection states. “The resident did not recall eating a sack lunch at the zoo or eating at a fast-food restaurant on the way home. The resident was unable to recall when she got too hot.”

They didn’t make it home until midnight. A custodian who inspectors summoned for an interview said she was told by her superiors to “only say nice things and not be negative,” according to CMS. She wrote out a statement for inspectors, but it was re-written by the director of nursing “due to the things she had written.”

CMS fined the facility $37,551 in connection with its inspection, according to data tracked by investigative journalism outlet ProPublica. 

An abrupt discharge

Sherry Kemp Woodyard knew her husband, a 71-year-old veteran wrestling with dementia and post-traumatic stress disorder, had been through a tumultuous few months at the Arbors at Delaware. This at times included aggressive behavior, police intervention and a trip to a behavioral health facility to stabilize him. 

But she didn’t know that the facility administrator refused to take Walter Woodyard back to the facility after his last hospitalization, instead attempting to drop him off at Kemp’s home. The administrator didn’t provide any advance notice, she said.

Kemp wasn’t home, and could only communicate with her confused husband and the facility administrator by phone and Ring doorbell camera as they stood outside in an unusually bitter February chill. 

“The administrator is saying ‘I’m not taking him back, I’m leaving him on the porch,’” Kemp said in an interview. “It’s 12 degrees there.”

Instead, Woodyard was taken to Grady Hospital, which doesn’t offer behavioral care. A social worker called Kemp. 

“She says, ‘I have your husband.’ And the words she used to me was that he was ‘dumped’ here,” Kemp said. “And saying that word, I was like, ‘What do you mean he was dumped here?’”

Kemp eventually arranged for her husband’s transfer to a Veterans Affairs facility near Dayton, where he now resides. 

An outraged Kemp soon filed a complaint with the Ohio Department of Health, of which she provided a copy. The complaint sparked an unannounced inspection of the facility. 

The state officials substantiated Kemp’s allegations, citing the facility for failing to ensure the safe discharge of Woodyard. 

Moreover, they found a spread of other problems in the facility. Several of the residents’ rooms there measured between 54 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Your complaint was completed in conjunction with additional surveys,” Angela Fox, a survey administrator, wrote to Kemp earlier this year in response to her complaint.

“Our investigation revealed Arbors at Delaware does not meet the requirements of the [Medicaid] program and was cited for violations of federal and/or state regulations where appropriate.”

What is the Arbors at Ohio?

The corporate structure of the chain of facilities makes it difficult to unspool the question of who’s responsible when something goes wrong. 

Several Arbors facilities declined to comment about CMS findings but referred inquiries to “corporate” – a reference to Prestige Healthcare, a Louisville company, which declined comment.  

Company paperwork points to a mazelike structure. For instance, Arbors at Delaware LLC lists as its agent the Delaware Opco LLC, whose business filings include the address of Prestige Healthcare. 

In 2023, the nursing home’s land was purchased by a property holding company. This structure is true of several Arbors facilities reviewed by Signal Statewide. 

CMS data, analyzed by the investigative news outlet ProPublica, list as major investors in the Arbors chain the B&Y Healthcare S Corp, B&Y Trust, Cody Healthcare S Corp and Craig Flashner 2007 Trust. And according to the same database, Craig Flashner and B&Y Trust are affiliated with Medilodge, another chain of 50 nursing homes around Michigan. 

The legal architecture has a purpose, according to Hill, a lawyer who has sued the company. Every entity is either there to limit tax liability or insulate the owners from the financial risks of a lawsuit, he said. 

Arbors, he said, probably isn’t much better or worse than other major nursing home chains. He noted his several pending cases against an industry rival in central Ohio, claiming the facility’s understaffing and neglect led to a man’s death. 

“I think what you’re seeing is a representation of chains across Ohio, and really, across the country,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything particularly abnormal, unfortunately, about the Arbors.”

Signal Ohio is a nonprofit news organization covering government, education, health, economy and public safety.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Trump had been scheduled to sign the bill, which passed the Senate Monday and House Tuesday with wide margins, during a Capitol ceremony.

But in a pair of social media posts prior to the event, he derided the overhaul aimed at lowering housing costs as “minor” before refusing to sign it entirely.

“Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

The controversial SAVE America Act, a top priority for Trump, addresses the extremely rare phenomenon of noncitizen voting. Republican senators have told Trump there are not enough votes in the chamber for it to pass.

The housing bill’s Senate sponsors, Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott and ranking Democrat Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, sought to lower the costs of housing construction by removing regulatory barriers, expanding the uses of federal housing grants and banning institutional investors from buying single-family homes.

Scott, a South Carolina Republican, lauded the bill Tuesday as not only bipartisan, but nonpartisan, addressing universal needs.

Republican leaders framed the measure as addressing affordability, which is expected to be a key issue in November’s midterm elections amid stubborn inflation.

The measure, which combined elements of proposals in each chamber, appeared on a fast track to becoming law after the Senate approved it 85-5 Monday and the House voted 358-32 Tuesday. The White House had said Trump supported the bill.

The House opponents were virtually all from a group of conservatives, led by Florida’s Anna Paulina Luna, who said she would oppose all legislation from the Senate, and even some House rules resolutions, until the Senate passed Trump’s elections security measure.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said during a Wednesday morning press conference that he spoke with the president earlier in the day and that he is going to delay signing the housing bill until Congress approves a grant program for elections through the complex budget reconciliation process. That’s the same procedure the GOP used to enact its “big, beautiful” law and $70 billion for immigration enforcement.

“You have to put it on a reconciliation bill,” he said. “We believe that if you create a grant program that ties it to reconciling the budget and you allow blue states, if they come to their senses and they want to avail themselves of election integrity proposals and ideas and policies, they can draw down from a federal fund and use those funds. We’re willing to invest heavily in that.”

Johnson said he told Trump that Republicans in Congress can enact that policy if they “stand together.”

“As you know he has a window of time before he has to sign a bill and he’s going to use a bit more of that window of time,” Johnson said. “And we’re going to go through this together.”

Johnson said he expects Trump to sign the housing bill within the 10-day window.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Senate approval marked the first time both chambers have agreed in a rebuke of Trump over his war in Iran.

The concurrent resolution, which passed 50-48, does not require the president’s signature and its enforceability has been a perennial topic of debate. 

The Senate’s approval occurred against the backdrop of the administration’s peace deal negotiations with Iran, which have been criticized from both sides of the aisle.

Four Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the measure: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska; Rand Paul of Kentucky; Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy, who recently lost his primary race after Trump endorsed an opponent; and Susan Collins, who’s fighting a tough reelection campaign in Maine. 

Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted no. Paul and Fetterman have broken ranks with their parties on several previous Iran War Powers Resolution votes.

Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was recently hospitalized, and Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania did not vote. McCormick was with Trump on a trip to Pennsylvania.

Debate over impact

Trump administration officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, argue that War Powers Resolutions are not constitutional. 

The U.S. Supreme Court in 1983 ruled against the validity of congressional measures that do not require a president’s signature.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Congress “stood up to Donald Trump and voted to end his costly, unnecessary, and devastating war with Iran.”

“Let me be clear: for the first time, this resolution has passed both chambers of Congress and does not require the President’s signature. The message from the only branch of government with the power to declare war is unmistakable: the Trump administration must withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities in Iran. The pressure on Republicans mounts,” Schumer said in a statement following the vote.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., who sponsored the original resolution that passed the House on June 3, said the measure is binding and the president “must cease all hostilities against Iran.”

“Regardless of what President Trump says, this measure is binding under the War Powers Resolution, and I will explore all legal avenues to ensure the Executive complies with the will of Congress. Congress never authorized this failed war, and the president certainly has no authority to continue it indefinitely without our consent as the Constitution demands,” Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said in a statement.

The White House declined to comment on the vote.

Negotiations continue

Administration officials, who maintain hostilities ended in early April, are on a 60-day clock to hammer out a final agreement with Iran. 

As part of a temporary memorandum of understanding in effect during talks, the administration lifted its naval blockade of Iranian ports and economic sanctions on Iranian oil, allowing the Islamic Republic to now sell on the global market. 

The interim deal also charges Iran with demining the Strait of Hormuz and allowing tankers and cargo ships to travel unimpeded while Iran and Oman create a scheme for passage through the narrow shipping route where one-fifth of the world’s petroleum traveled prior to the war.

Trump issued social media threats to Iran over the weekend as Iran’s new Persian Gulf Strait Authority continued to impose certain requirements for ships to pass.

Thirteen American service members died in the war launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28, and over 400 have been injured, according to the Pentagon. Thousands of civilians across Iran and the Gulf region were killed during the fighting.

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Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The House passed the bill, 358-32, sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk a day after the Senate’s 85-5 vote. The White House has said the administration supports the measure and Trump’s aides would advise he sign it.

The bill would reduce some regulatory hurdles, including environmental reviews, to home construction and expand the possible uses of federal housing funds. It includes a high-profile provision to ban private equity firms from buying single-family homes.

The bill would allow money from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program to be used for construction of new affordable housing. It would also tie the amount some cities and states receive from the $3.3 billion grant program to their rates of affordable housing construction.

Increasing worries over cost of living

The action from Congress this week reflects a bipartisan focus on affordability, as both parties have sought to address voters’ increasing concerns with the cost of living that has been consistently rising since the start of the decade.

Margaret Spellings, the president and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center, said at a housing policy conference hosted by the Washington, D.C., think tank that the rising cost of housing was due to a lack of supply.

“During the past two decades, the U.S. has simply not built enough housing to meet demand,” she said. “This supply-demand imbalance has led to soaring prices and rents in communities across the nation, with millions of households struggling to make their payments and unable to achieve the American dream of home ownership.”

She added that the issue had animated policymakers at the national, state and local levels.

“Housing is now a top-tier issue here in Washington and in state capitols and city halls all across our country,” she said.

Broad consensus

The measure includes provisions from earlier proposals in both chambers, reflecting a consensus not only between the two major parties but between the two chambers of Congress that often cannot agree on how to approach even broadly supported legislation.

Sen. Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican who chairs the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, lauded the measure’s broad appeal in a pre-recorded message to the BPC conference.

The bill was nonpartisan, reflecting “advocacy on behalf of common sense,” he said.

“But it does take a bipartisan coalition who puts America first,” he said. “Your work encouraging all of us to put the country first, to put first-time homebuyers first, has resulted in legislation passed through the Senate yet again, and this time is on a path straight to the president’s desk.”

The committee’s ranking Democrat, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, called it a “BIG WIN to build more housing” in a post to social media Tuesday.

“I’ve worked on this bill for over a year,” she wrote. “It’s still possible to find bipartisan, common ground on legislation that actually helps the American people.”

Conservatives revolt

Despite the bill’s broad appeal, a bloc of House conservatives frustrated with the Senate’s inability to pass a Trump-supported bill to require photo ID at polling places and other measures they say are important to secure elections, mounted a last-minute objection to the housing bill.

Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna was the most vocal member of the opposition Tuesday, pledging to vote against other bills and House rules resolutions until the Senate passed the elections security measure, titled the SAVE America Act, whose proponents have noted would restrict noncitizen voting, which is already illegal and extremely rare.

“I will be voting no and oppose other bills AND rules until we fight for SAVE America Act,” Luna wrote on social media Tuesday afternoon, well after the bill had been scheduled for a floor vote. “That means if House GOP leadership chooses today to move the SENATE HOUSING BILL under suspension (getting rid of our house rules) I will vote to shut the floor down. I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE.”

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Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The campaign’s credit card spending has jumped dramatically in recent months. Just since April, Ramasawamy’s campaign has put $280,892 on an American Express card.

Ohio campaign finance reports require campaigns to disclose each individual transaction — not just how much they spent but who they paid and what they purchased with the money. Ramaswamy’s campaign is only reporting its monthly credit card bill.  

State law requires verification like a receipt or cancelled check for any expenditure of $25 or more. Ohio’s campaign finance handbook directs treasurers to attach a credit card statement or some other documentation to verify an expense’s legitimacy. It’s not clear that Ramaswamy’s campaign has provided that documentation.

To some observers, like the former leader of the Ohio Elections Commission Phil Richter, Ramaswamy’s reporting isn’t that big of a deal so long as the campaign eventually provides information to back up its spending.

“If it’s provided in a timely manner, there’s a little bit of a delay, but it’s not that out of the ordinary,” he said.

Others, though, see a troubling lack of transparency.

“How you spent the campaign cash should not be an obstacle to reporting what you spent it on,” Catherine Turcer from Common Cause Ohio said.

Brendan Glavin from OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan money in politics research group, warned that the campaign’s reporting could have negative ripple effects.

“Campaigns are their own economy,” he said, with workers often supporting multiple candidates and specializing in specific parts of the process.

“So, this sort of thing, if people can do less and get away with it, then that’s going to get around very quickly,” he said.

How we got here

Because state law requires campaigns to provide supporting documentation for credit card reimbursements, Ohio Capital Journal requested that information from Ramaswamy’s campaign and the Ohio Secretary of State in April.

That month, the campaign filed its pre-primary campaign finance report, which included more than $162,000 in credit card reimbursements.

The campaign did not respond to an email, and although the secretary’s office acknowledged receipt of the public records request, it has yet to provide any documents.

In the meantime, Ohio held its primary election and Ramaswamy won the Republican Party nomination for governor.

Ramaswamy’s post-primary campaign finance report included two additional months of $90,000-plus unitemized credit card reimbursements.

The Ohio Capital Journal again reached out to the secretary of state and the campaign by email and over the phone.

The secretary’s office still has not supplied supporting documentation. The office also didn’t respond to questions about whether such documents exist.

A phone call to the Ohio Elections Integrity Commission, which handles campaign finance oversight after that duty was rolled under the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office by Republican lawmakers beginning in January of this year, was routed back to the Secretary of State’s press office.

The Ramaswamy campaign again failed to answer an email. After a follow-up call, Ramaswamy’s press secretary promised to look into the issue, but did not provide documentation by Ohio Capital Journal’s deadline.

Even if every penny spent was a legitimate campaign expenditure — which it may well have been — reporting transactions under a single credit card reimbursement obscures how the campaign is spending money. It also leaves room for doubt about whether those transactions are legitimate.

Ramaswamy’s spending in context

The $509,473 Ramaswamy’s campaign has put on a credit card so far represents less than 2% of its overall expenditures. That’s due, at least in part, to the rapid pace of Ramaswamy’s spending.

The race is on track to be the most expensive governor’s race in state history. Ramaswamy has spent $28.3 million since announcing his campaign last year, and there’s four full months to go. 

During the entire 2018 campaign cycle — from his announcement in June of 2017 to his post-general report in 2018 — Gov. Mike DeWine spent $27.8 million. His 2022 reelection bid cost just shy of $17 million.

Although many campaigns use credit cards, Ramaswamy is an outlier in terms of dollar amount and reporting. 

If credit card reimbursements show up on an expenditure report at all, the amounts are usually small and the purpose is mundane.

It often looks like former Democratic state Rep. Richard Dell’Aquila spending $467 on catering for a campaign event in 2022, or Republican state Rep. Jim Thomas spending $52 last year on a ticket for the Canton City School District Hall of Fame Induction.

Since 2022, the only example of a candidate reporting a credit card payment like Ramaswamy was Republican state House candidate Lilli Vitale. In 2022, her expenditure report was a single $23,382 line item listed as “campaign expenses on personal credit card.” It’s not clear whether the Ohio Elections Commission formally investigated Vitale’s campaign. There is no case file listed for her in its archives.

Still, Vitale’s total is dwarfed by individual months of the Ramaswamy campaign’s credit card spending.

Ramaswamy’s campaign treasurer isn’t new to campaign finance reporting. Kevin Broghamer’s website says his company was founded in 2009 and lists several high profile clients including Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted and the Ohio Republican Party.

Also, Ramaswamy has experience reporting itemized credit card transactions. During his 2024 presidential run, Ramaswamy’s campaign finance reports included each individual expenditure separately. In October 2023, for instance, he spent $57,411 on food, lodging and event rentals throughout New Hampshire. He even paid $1,250 to get the Piscataqua Rangers Junior Fife and Drum Corps for a campaign event.

But in Ohio, Ramaswmay’s campaign has reported only a monthly lump sum reimbursement — effectively building a wall around those transactions. Getting any information about the campaign’s credit card use requires filing public records requests. That takes time, but the campaign calendar isn’t waiting.

“Which means that really accurate information could be lost during an election,” Turcer said.

The cop on the beat

Last year, state lawmakers eliminated the Ohio Elections Commission, the politically independent body charged with investigating campaign finance violations.

At the time, lawmakers argued that the commission was too slow and ineffectual. Secretary of State Frank LaRose, for instance, called it “increasingly toothless” in a letter to lawmakers, and noted almost $100 million in fines had gone uncollected.

“There is no reason to have campaign finance laws in Ohio if we cannot meaningfully enforce them,” he said, adding that “wrongdoing might actually be deterred if fines were treated as more than a suggestion.”

In the commission’s place, lawmakers created the similarly named Ohio Election Integrity Commission, which is housed in LaRose’s office.

From the outset, critics worried about putting campaign finance under the purview of a partisan officer.

After the proposal passed the Ohio House, the League of Women Voters urged Ohioans to call state senators and tell them to “protect independent campaign oversight.”

The group warned that, “Allowing elected officials and their allies to oversee violations of the rules that govern their own campaigns sets up a system ripe for favoritism and selective enforcement.”

LaRose, who is a Republican, has endorsed Ramaswamy. LaRose is also currently running for state auditor.

“Not that out of the ordinary”

Phil Richter has decades of experience in Ohio campaign finance law as the former executive director and staff attorney for the Ohio Elections Commission. He retired after lawmakers disbanded the commission.

Richter isn’t overly worried about the way Ramaswamy’s campaign is reporting expenses. He acknowledged that it’s insufficient, but said it’s the kind of problem campaign finance auditors deal with on a regular basis.

If the campaign doesn’t submit receipts or other documentation informally, Richter said, auditors will send out an official request.

“To assure that they’re not personal expenses that are being improperly refunded,” he said. “I think it’s fair to assume that they’re not, but that would be the process.”

Richter added that Ohio statutes give the campaign 21 days to respond, and it’s common to grant extensions if a campaign requests one.

If a campaign still doesn’t comply, he said, it’s up to the Ohio Election Integrity Commission to determine how to proceed, whether that’s hearings, sanctions, or some other course.

The Ohio Capital Journal asked LaRose’s office whether the Ohio Election Integrity Commission has made requests for additional information or begun any other kind of investigation. The secretary did not respond.

To Richter, the disclosure aspect of campaign finance reporting is more important than the timeline. He explained campaigns make mistakes or submit insufficient information on a regular basis.

“It isn’t quite as noticed as it might be here when you’re talking about almost $100,000,” he allowed, “but as long as the information is provided, that’s the critical thing that Ohio’s campaign finance laws want to assure.”

A more critical view

Other observers are far less forgiving. 

“I’m shocked. I mean, it’s certainly not the spirit of the law, if it’s not outright illegal,” Ohio state Sen. Bill DeMora, D-Columbus said.

Outside of serving in the state Senate, DeMora has spent years working as a campaign treasurer for other candidates and public officials.

As an example of how reporting is supposed to work, he described going to the Democratic National Convention. To get reimbursed by his campaign, DeMora had to provide receipts for his hotel, airfare, and everything else.

“If he’s not doing that, he’s violating the law,” DeMora said. “I don’t know why the Secretary hasn’t done something, because certainly when we have campaign finance reporting laws, it is for knowing where the money is being spent.”

DeMora added that if the shoe were on the other foot, and Democratic nominee for governor Amy Acton had racked up big credit card bills, he believes the Secretary would pursue it aggressively.

Common Cause Ohio Executive Director Turcer agreed that campaigns shouldn’t be able to obscure transactions behind a monthly credit card reimbursement.

Even for legitimate expenses, that arrangement requires the public to file records requests to see the underlying transactions, she said.

“It’s just silly that the way that the campaign pays their bill would get in the way of voters having easy access to information,” Turcer said. “And this is just basic campaign finance information that we should have — there’s no reason for there to be any hoops.”

The Ohio Capital Journal’s request for documents related to the Ramaswamy campaign’s pre-primary report has gone unanswered for eight weeks: enough time for the campaign to hit another campaign finance reporting deadline, with yet more $90,000-plus monthly credit card reimbursements.

Expenditure reports are an important tool, Turcer said, for donors to see how judiciously a campaign is spending its money. Putting transactions behind a wall, even temporarily, takes that tool away, she said.

In addition to the time it takes to produce public records, Turcer said “it’s not atypical” for the Secretary of State’s office to be a year behind when it comes to reviewing campaign finance reports for compliance with state law.

“If the campaign doesn’t share the documents that are required by law,” Turcer added, “And the Secretary of State doesn’t share the documents, which is also required by law, we have to be left wondering what happened.”

Outside observers

Glavin, from OpenSecrets, said Ohio’s campaign finance rules really don’t leave room for interpretation.

“It’s unambiguous that you’re supposed to itemize each transaction,” he said. “So, on that front there doesn’t appear to be any question of how this should be done.”

Like Turcer, Glavin said nondisclosure has consequences.

“That is a lot of money, right? Even for a gubernatorial race,” he said. “But in any kind of state race, that’s a lot of money that’s being spent by a candidate that essentially has eliminated real disclosure.”

The Campaign Legal Center’s Director of Strategic Investigations Brendan Fischer agreed that Ohio’s rules include an expectation that underlying transactions get itemized.

“You can’t avoid disclosure by putting campaign expenses on the credit card,” he said. “And in poking around a little bit and looking at the way that other campaigns and committees have reported credit card payments, it does appear that Ramaswamy is an outlier.”

“It’s entirely possible,” Fischer said, that this is just a mistake, but at the same time, “it’s not the kind of thing that should just be ignored.”

“When a leading candidate reports more than six figures in payments to a credit card company without disclosing the underlying transactions,” Fischer said, “voters lose the ability to evaluate whether campaign funds are being spent on legitimate campaign expenses or personal indulgences.”

“Voters and a candidate’s donors have a right to know how that candidate is spending their money,” he said.

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky.

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Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The increase is $12 million a year in Ohio and $1.1 billion nationally — and that doesn’t even count the money that gets stolen or the cost to investigate and prosecute corruption, the report released earlier this month by Rebuild Local News says.

Those costs represent increased interest on municipal bonds as lenders worry that without a reporter on the beat, local officials w±ill misappropriate funds.

“Local journalism performs a core fiscal function: continuous, external oversight of public institutions,” the report said. “When that oversight erodes, governments face less scrutiny over spending and procurement decisions, increasing the likelihood of wasteful spending and corruption.”

It added, “For these reasons, bond markets perceive greater risk of lending to unmonitored local governments and thus demand a higher interest rate as compensation for bearing the additional credit risk. The higher borrowing costs for local governments are ultimately borne by local taxpayers in the form of increased taxes and reduced spending on public services and infrastructure upkeep.”

Rebuild Local News is a nonprofit organization that advocates ways to make local journalism sustainable.

That sustainability has been under dramatic assault over the past decade.

The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University last year reported that 50 million Americans had limited or no access to local news — an all-time high. It said Ohio had lost 54.4% of its newspapers since 2005, the seventh-most of any state.

In Ohio, 1.04 million, or 8.7%  of residents, live in 21 news desert counties, the Rebuild Local News report said. Those counties have $1.3 billion in bond debt, and the fact that they’re news deserts makes it $12 million more expensive each year to service it, the report said. 

The Rebuild Local News report was written by the group’s research director Matthew Baker and Dermot Murphy, an associate professor of finance at the University of Illinois Chicago. It builds on a 2020 study by Murphy and two other academics that found that newspaper closures are associated with higher municipal borrowing costs.

“Following a newspaper closure, municipal borrowing costs increase by 5 to 11 basis points, costing the municipality an additional $650,000 per issue,” that study said. “This effect is causal and not driven by underlying economic conditions.”

Baker and Murphy defined a news desert as a county with no local newspaper, and used census data to determine how many people live in them. They also looked at total issuance and the mix of municipal bonds.

Using the 0.86% news-desert premium estimated in the 2020 study, they determined how much more people in news deserts are paying, assuming that those counties were borrowing in the same proportion as non-news deserts.

The researchers said the higher costs aren’t just a matter of coincidence. 

“Critically, this estimate is causal rather than correlational: neighboring counties with similar economic conditions but still-robust news coverage do not experience an increase in borrowing costs,” it said.

In addition to higher interest rates come other costs, the report said.

“The stakes of this watchdog function are not abstract,” it said. “The Youngstown Vindicator, a 150-year-old daily that closed in 2019, had spent decades exposing organized crime and public corruption, contributing to dozens of convictions. Its absence removed a check that no internal control replaced.”

It just makes sense that without a reporter sitting in public meetings, making open-records requests and roaming government halls, an unscrupulous public official would be more likely to try something sketchy.

The report gave an example.

“In Bell, California, a low-income, predominantly Latino community of approximately 36,000 people in Los Angeles County, city officials spent years raising their own pay with almost no public scrutiny,” it said. “By the late 2000s, the city manager was earning $787,637 a year, the police chief $457,000, and city council members nearly $100,000 for what was officially part-time work. All of these raises were approved at public municipal meetings that lacked robust newspaper coverage.”

The Los Angeles Times later learned of the situation and reported it out.

Ruben Vives, one of the reporters who broke the story, said it was too late in the game.

“Someone would have got wind of this earlier had there been a reporter there,” the report quoted him as saying. “This is just a prime example of when you turn away, and you let something like this just kind of grow and grow, and it becomes sort of a cesspool of corruption.”

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Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.