A Republican-led bill just introduced in the Ohio House would charge teachers and librarians with a felony offense for distributing material deemed “obscene.”

The problem is, the bill does not explain what materials would be considered obscene, despite laying a fifth-degree felony on the feet of teachers and “public school librarians” who may possess or share such material.

State Rep. Adam Mathews, R-Lebanon, put forth House Bill 556 last week, a bill that would “create criminal liability for certain teachers and librarians for the offense of pandering obscenity,” according to the language of the bill.

Librarian, in this sense, is defined as “a librarian employed by a school district, other public school … or chartered nonpublic school and a librarian employed in a school district public library.”

Teachers and school district librarians would be barred from creating, reproducing, publishing, promoting or advertising “obscene material.” They are also prohibited from creating, directing or producing “an obscene performance,” the bill states.

But what falls under “obscenity” is not clear from the initial language of HB 556, which has yet to receive committee consideration in the House. The word “obscenity” only appears three times in the six-page bill: in the title of the proposed legislation and twice referring to the title of the criminal offense.

“Obscene” shows up eight times in the bill, but only accompanying “material,” “performance,” “articles” and in a clause about giving notice about “the character of the material or a performance.”

HB 556 aims to amend existing statutes in the Ohio Revised Code, and pulls exact language from those statutes — for pandering obscenity and one explaining legal “presumptions in obscenity cases” — but neither of those statutes lay out what is considered obscenity either.

It’s that lack of clarity that is giving teachers and library groups hesitation on the bill.

The Ohio Education Association said it is still reviewing HB 556, and Ohio Federation of Teachers president Melissa Cropper said the group has not taken a position on the bill, but she is “concerned with the vagueness of the bill and the ability for it to be weaponized by bad faith actors who are focused on attacking public schools and libraries, not on protecting children.”

“We also question whether there is need for this new bill or if existing laws can address the concerns behind HB 556,” Cropper said in a statement. “We plan to discuss this bill and these concerns with legislators and with our members.”

Questions beyond the motivations of the bill are still coming up as well, including whether or not “school district public libraries” can include the libraries of a community that are also classified as school district libraries.

The Ohio Library Council’s executive director, Michelle Francis, said the group does “have concerns with the legislation.”

“We reached out to the sponsor and we look forward to meeting with him soon,” Francis told the Capital Journal.

The bill includes an “affirmative defense,” meaning if the person accused of pandering obscenity can prove the material or performance was “for a bona fide medical, scientific, religious, governmental, judicial or other proper purpose,” they can use that as a defense against the charge. The word “educational” was struck from the language in the proposal as reasoning for an affirmative defense.

As part of the affirmative defense, the material must also have been given by or to a “physician, psychologist, sociologist, scientist, health or biology teacher, faculty member, person pursuing bona fide studies or research, librarian other than a school librarian, member of the clergy, prosecutor, judge or other person having a proper interest in the material or performance.”

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – Ohio tourism saw another increase in 2023, with overall tourists, spending and tourism related jobs up from 2022.

According to Governor Mike DeWine, tourism in 2023 surpassed $56B in spending, surpassing pre-pandemic levels of $48B in 2019. More than 436,000 tourism jobs are also now in Ohio, also an increase from previous years.

In addition to the natural increase in tourism, Governor DeWine says his administration has made an effort to encourage people to spend more than just a few hours in the state. According to the state, tourists spending a day in Ohio will spend around $106 per person, while those who spend the night will more than triple that, spending $327 per person.

That desire to encourage people to stay longer has been shown in improvements to the state’s 10 park lodges. All of those will be updated prior to the end of 2024, hopefully leading to people using the parks and spending money. The state saw 48M overnight visits, with 238M visits in total.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio – Stormy conditions are back in the area forecast on Wednesday.

The National Weather Service is calling for a chance of thunderstorms tomorrow with the greatest chance coming during the afternoon hours. Moderate breezes are expected throughout the day, calming slightly late in the evening with overnight lows dipping into the lower 60s. Thursday also has a chance to see more thunderstorm activity with highs topping out in the mid 70s.

Hazardous weather outlook

An Air Quality Advisory for ground level ozone remains in effect until midnight Tuesday night for Cuyahoga and surrounding counties. Sensitive groups with breathing difficulties should monitor their outdoor activities at this time.

Cleveland daylight conditions

Cleveland gains 1 minute of daylight tomorrow.

Cleveland sunrise – 6:01 a.m.

Cleveland sunset – 8:46 p.m.

Extended forecast for Northeast Ohio

Skies will clear a bit Thursday night as overnight lows drop to around 60 degrees. Friday kicks off the long holiday weekend with mostly sunny skies in the morning along with a slight chance of an afternoon shower or thunderstorm and highs in the upper 70s.

Ohio regional radar