Ohio
Ohio House GOP votes to take control of House campaign funds from Speaker Jason Stephens
The majority of Ohio House Republicans voted to strip Speaker Jason Stephens of control over House GOP campaign funds during a Wednesday morning meeting.
The resolution − backed by 38 of 67 House Republicans and a designee of the Ohio Republican Party − would give Rep. Phil Plummer, R-Dayton, sole authority over House Republicans’ campaign coffers, known as the Ohio House Republican Alliance, state Rep. Brian Stewart said.
If successful, the move could hurt Stephens’ bid to retain control of the speaker’s gavel next year. Stephens said Wednesday afternoon that he was not aware of the vote.
Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, is returning to the Ohio House of Representatives in 2025 and is openly campaigning to replace Stephens, R-Kitts Hill. If Stephens can’t spend campaign cash, it could hamstring his ability to elect candidates this November who support his bid for speaker.
In the March primary, Stephens spent at least $3 million defending Republican incumbents, most of whom backed his 2023 leadership bid. Four Republican lawmakers lost their seats to primary challengers.
“Jason Stephens has used the current OHRA bank account to spend all the caucus’ money defending a few hand-picked people,” Stewart, R-Ashville, said. “We cannot have that situation heading into the fall elections, and we cannot have the campaign fund being managed by a speaker who has every incentive to lose Republican seats.”
Stephens won the speakership in January 2023 with all 32 Democratic votes and 22 Republican votes for a total of 54. His challenger, Toledo area Rep. Derek Merrin, had 43 GOP votes.
Stephens’ opponents have tried once before to wrest control of campaign money. They filed a lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to block Stephens and his allies from spending the money, but Judge Mark Serrott denied their request before the primary. “It is impossible to ignore the specter of political gamesmanship that looms over this litigation,” Serrott wrote.
Stewart said the new vote was taken Wednesday to formalize what most House Republicans already said they wanted: Stephens to let go of the campaign account.
The resolution gives Plummer the power to form a new entity called the Ohio House Republican Organization to raise money and spend it on candidates − if Stephens doesn’t release the purse strings, Stewart said. “We are going to give people the opportunity to comply with the law and comply with the majority wishes of the caucus.”
All House Republicans were invited to the meeting, which occurred Wednesday morning at the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel downtown, Stewart said.
Meanwhile, a member of the Ohio Republican Party governing body Josh Brown has circulated a petition, asking the state party to “deal with Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens’ illegal, anti-Republican political spending.” That request will be addressed at the Ohio GOP’s next meeting, spokesman Dan Luscheck said.
Reporter Erin Glynn contributed to the article.
Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
Sometimes it pays to be forgetful.
An Ohio man’s oversight turned into a life-changing moment when his forgetfulness scored him a $500,000 lottery prize.
The unidentified Roseville resident told the Ohio Lottery that he went to cash a $50 winning Best of 7’s scratch-off in Zanesville but discovered he’d left the ticket at home.
Trying his luck again, the man said he decided to buy another Best of 7’s scratch-off at South 60 Market in Zanesville, and nearly became sick in his car when he realized he’d won half a million.
He called his wife to tell her the good news, but said she didn’t believe him – until their son confirmed it on the Ohio Lottery app.
The winning number was 13, which is also his dirt car racing number.
As for his advice on how he got so lucky, the man told the lottery, “You can’t win if you don’t play.”
After taxes, the man will take home $364,375, which he plans to use to pay off his house, buy a new car, and spend more time with his family.
Best of 7’s offers 60 chances to win per ticket, with one top and two second-tier prizes still remaining as of October 28, the lottery said.
BEACH CITY, Ohio (WJW) – A Northeast Ohio woman is feeling lucky after finally winning big playing the Ohio lottery.
According to the Ohio Lottery, the winner is $100,000 richer after her ticket matched all five of the Rolling Cash 5 winning numbers: 11-14-19-25-29.
According to the lottery, the woman said she plays almost every day, but this is the first time she’s gotten a big winning prize.
After taxes, she will receive $72,875.00.
The winning ticket was claimed at Lucky Choice located at 577 W. Nationwide Blvd. in Columbus.
“She still is in shock, so she doesn’t have any immediate plans for her prize,” the Ohio Lottery website said.
Timelapse video shows fire under Daniel Carter Beard Bridge
A surveillance camera near a pickle ball court captured the moments in the massive fire under the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge.
Ohio spent close to $8.7 million to reopen the Daniel Carter Beard bridge over the Ohio River following the catastrophic year-ago fire that closed the bridge for 100 days.
The city of Cincinnati will be spending about $2 million more to replace the playground under the bridge, destroyed by the fire.
That $10.7 million price tag – which does not include the cost of city, county or state employees, some of whom continue to manage fire-related work – is less than an earlier estimate of $13 million.
But whatever the amount, taxpayers are the ones footing the bills.
“It’s unfortunately just part of doing business,” said Matt Bruning, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Transportation. “We have to absorb that.”
Fire brings 4 arrests, 100 days of disruption
Cincinnati fire officials were called to the base the Beard bridge at 3:20 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2024.
That’s where fire erupted around 3 a.m. at the 1000 Hands Playground in Sawyer Point Park along the river.
The Ohio Department of Transportation immediately closed the bridge, reopening the northbound side that night and later saying the southbound lanes would remain closed until mid-March. Even though Kentucky owns the bridge, Ohio took the lead because the fire damaged Interstate 471 on the Ohio side of the river rather than the bridge itself.
By Dec. 11, Cincinnati officials had arrested four suspects in connection with the fire, with county officials taking the four to court.
On Feb. 9, 100 days after the fire, the state reopened the bridge in full, ahead of the March target.
That chronology is now part of the history of the Beard bridge, named for the founder of the Boy Scouts of America, opened in 1976, and nicknamed the Big Mac for a shape and color that resemble McDonald’s iconic “M.” It cost $14 million then – what would be close to $75 million in 2025 dollars.
ODOT spent $8.7 million, before staff expenses
Ohio’s transportation department brought on Great Lakes Construction Co. of Hinckley, Ohio, to manage the repair work.
Working with more than two dozen subcontractors, Great Lakes demolished and replaced two sections of I-471’s bridge deck, along with warped steel beams. Contractors also repaired about 70 feet of damaged wall on the northbound side of the interstate.
The state paid Great Lakes close to $6.8 million, part of which went to subcontractors. It paid another $1.2 million for a painting contractor, $433,000 in engineering and other consulting fees, and $286,000 for inspections.
The state’s $8.7 million bill does not include what it paid ODOT employees diverted to the Beard project.
Its communication staff, as one example, produced close to four dozen press releases over 100 days with bridge-related updates.
Lead suspect now serving time in Ohio prison
Some costs of the bridge disaster are harder to quantify.
That includes work by the Cincinnati Fire Department to investigate the case, Cincinnati Police Department to arrest the suspects, and Hamilton County courts and prosecutor’s office to try them. It also includes costs absorbed by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections to jail one of the convicted suspects.
The suspects who created those costs include:
- James Hamilton and Kaitlen Hall, who both pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in the case. Each was sentenced to probation and community service.
- Zachary Stumpf, who pleaded guilty to obstructuring justice and was sentenced to three years of probation.
- Terry Stiles, who admitted to one count of arson and one count of aggravated arson. He earned a sentence of nine to 13 ½ years in prison. Now 40, Stiles began serving time at Noble Correction Institution in the eastern Ohio town of Caldwell on June 11.
Prosecutors said Stiles and Stumpf set the fire, with Hall providing transportation. The three had been driving around the area that night, looking for scooters to steal, prosecutors said earlier. Hamilton was not present for the fire, but attempted to help the other suspects evade arrest, attorneys said.
Replacement of 1000 Hands Playground will include public, private funds
Fire-related costs also include $1.9 million to $2.1 million to replace the 21-year-old 1000 Hands Playground destroyed in the fire. Between $600,000 and $700,000 of that will go to playground equipment.
Cincinnati Parks Foundation will raise an unknown portion of those dollars, with the city covering the balance.
The Cincinnati Parks board OK’d a $50,000 down payment for the project in May, with parks officials bringing on Midstates Recreation of Pataskala, Ohio, to design it.
Parks officials will release a preliminary design for public feedback soon, spokesman Rocky Merz said. A final design should be complete early next year, he said.
The new playground will cover 11,000 to 14,000 square feet, to be installed east of the 1000 Hands site and south of the volleyball, tennis and pickleball courts at Sawyer Point.
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