Ohio
A judge puts a short-term pause on HB 68 in Ohio prior to its effective date J
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — A judge in Franklin County put a short-term pause Tuesday on House Bill 68, a statewide ban on gender-affirming care for trans minors that would have taken effect in less than two weeks, according to court documents.
Attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio and Ohio Attorney General’s Office laid out their cases for and against a temporary restraining order Friday morning in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas in front of Judge Michael Holbrook—who has set bond in the case at $50,000, according to court documents.Holbrook wrote in his 15-page ruling that he found the plaintiffs’ arguments “more persuasive.”
“Beyond the legal framework addressing the threat to plaintiffs’ constitutional rights … there is little doubt as to the irreparable nature of the actual physical injury to plaintiffs,” he wrote. “There is certainly a point where the changes to the body as a result of the progression of puberty cannot be reversed.”
Filed by the ACLU in March, the original lawsuit seeks to block HB 68 from going into effect on schedule and at all. It is on behalf of two 12-year-old transgender Ohio girls and their families, one from Hamilton County and one from Franklin County, and argues they would lose “critical, medically necessary health care” under HB 68.
The legislation in question blocks trans minors from access to gender-affirming care and from participating in girls’ athletics. HB 68 also bars physicians from prescribing hormones and puberty blockers to minors and creates penalties for those who do. The bill also mandates that K-12 and collegiate teams in Ohio be “single-sex” and enables athletes to bring forth civil lawsuits against any institution that violates that mandate.
But ACLU of Ohio Legal Director Freda Levenson argued Friday that without immediate enjoinment of the soon-to-be law, transition treatments will pause statewide—including for the two girls in the suit, whose identities have been concealed.
“The sad truth is that the plaintiffs will also suffer immediate, very palpable harms,” she said in court Friday.
In a statement following the ruling, Levenson said she was “thrilled and relieved” by the win, but that the legal battle will go on.
Attorney General Dave Yost, in an statement, said he’s confident the final ruling will be in the state’s favor.
“This is just the first page of the book. We will fight vigorously to defend this properly enacted statute, which protects our children from irrevocable adult decisions,” he wrote.
Erik Clark, with Yost’s office, on Friday questioned the rush. Clark said the court proceedings should play out normally so the state can make its full case for why the new law is necessary.
“We believe that people of goodwill have differing views on how to handle this difficult situation,” Clark said in court Friday. “We believe parents, doctors, children, youth coaches can disagree, and they can disagree in goodwill.”
More broadly, the ACLU of Ohio is arguing that HB 68 goes against the Ohio Constitution by breaking a single-subject rule for legislation and discriminating against trans minors, among other claims. Last June, two individual proposals become one when the Ohio House folded House Bill 6, the single-sex athletics requirement, into HB 68.
“The legislature made no effort even to pretend there was one subject,” Levenson said. “It didn’t even bother to come up with a unified title.”
But Clark argued the bill, in its entirety, addresses trans youth issues. Holbrook didn’t buy that.
“The very title of the Act references two subjects,” he wrote.
The ACLU has also cited the recently-ratified Issue 1, which codified abortion rights in the state constitution, as something that extends to the potential protection of gender-affirming care.
Clark said doctors don’t have the power to wholly self-regulate, under the Health Care Freedom Act or other laws. “In one medical situation, maybe you’ll get steroids, in a different situation it may not be okay. Who makes these rules? The legislature, just as they always have,” Clark said.
HB 68 would have taken effect next Wednesday, but this order blocks it for at least two weeks, until Holbrook decides on a preliminary injunction—a more permanent pause as court proceedings play out.
Ohio
New Richmond, Ohio teen lands record 101-pound blue catfish: See the mammoth catch
Ohio teen catches 100-pound blue catfish
15-year-old girl Jaylynn Parker, a sophomore from New Richmond, Ohio, caught a 101-pound blue catfish.
A 15-year-old girl from the Midwest beat the state record when she landed a mammoth blue catfish in the Ohio River.
With a touch of help from her dad, Jaylynn Parker, a sophomore from New Richmond, Ohio, snagged the 101-pound beast on April 7 in Clermont County, the Cincinnati Enquirer, part of the USA TODAY Network reported.
New Richmond is a historic village on the Ohio River, about 20 miles southeast of downtown Cincinnati.
Jaylynn caught the massive catfish jugging – when a person lets bait dangle beneath a free-floating canister attached by a line to a fixed point like a tree trunk or something else on shore. The process is sometimes also called juglining.
The Outdoor Writers of Ohio, who crowed Jaylynn with the title over the weekend at a conference, keeps Ohio’s official angling records, Fred Snyder, chairman of the Outdoor Writers of Ohio Record Fish Committee, told the Enquirer.
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What’s the Ohio state record for blue catfish?
Jaylynn’s catch weighed precisely 101.11 pounds and spanned 56 inches long and 39 inches around.
The fish was so heavy, Jaylynn’s father, Chuck Partner, and family friend, Jeff Sams, helped the teen pull it in.
It was not immediaty known whether the teen used a lure or bait to reel the fish in.
Photos taken of Jaylynn’s huge snag show the teen posing behind the fish grinning ear to ear.
Video obtained by the USA TODAY Network shows the fish being released back into the river after the catch.
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How much did the previous blue catfish caught in Ohio record weigh?
The standing record blue catfish − a 96-pound fish, was pulled from the Ohio River in 2009 by rod-and-reel angler Chris Rolph of Williamsburg.
What is the world record blue catfish?
According to Field and Stream, the biggest known blue catfish caught weighed 143 pounds and was reeled in by Richard Nicholas Anderson from Kerr Lake in Virginia on June 18, 2011.
Anderson used chicken as bait to lure the monster, the American magazine reported.
Contributing: Bebe Hodges with the Cincinnatti Enquirer and Dave Golowenski, special to the Columbus Dispatch.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.
Ohio
Northeast Ohio Weather: Showers this morning; gradual clearing this afternoon
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – A cold front is working its way through the area today. There will be a risk of showers through early afternoon then the clouds will clear out from west to east this afternoon. Afternoon temperatures around the 70 degree mark in most towns. A clear sky and light wind tonight will allow for temperatures to dip into the 40s. A warmer day in store tomorrow with sunshine in the morning followed by some building clouds in the afternoon. Another cold front is forecast to track through Wednesday evening. There is a slight chance of a passing shower later tomorrow afternoon, but most will not see any rain with this guy. High temperatures will be approaching 80 degrees. Sunshine in the forecast Thursday.
Copyright 2024 WOIO. All rights reserved.
Ohio
Large brawl leads to shooting that kills 1 at Waffle House in Ohio
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A man was shot and killed after a large brawl at a Waffle House near Ohio State University’s campus on Monday morning.
WBNS-TV reported that police were called to the Waffle House on North High Street in Columbus at around 2:30 a.m. on Monday for a fight inside the restaurant. The fight reportedly spilled outside the Waffle House and a shot was fired, killing 38-year-old Ronald Diggs. The Columbus Dispatch reported that the fight involved 15 to 20 people.
Officials said two other people were injured during the fight, the TV station reported. They were taken to local hospitals for evaluations. Their conditions are not known at this time.
WBNS-TV reported that no other details about the shooting were released.
Anyone with information can call the Columbus Police Department’s Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-8477.
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