Ohio

Ohio taxpayers sent families $966 million for private school tuition: Capitol Letter

Published

2 years ago

August 14, 2024

Ohio taxpayers sent families 6 million for private school tuition: Capitol Letter

Rotunda Rumblings

School work: The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce said that as of Aug. 7, the state has shelled out $966.2 million for private school scholarships for the school year that just ended. The General Assembly expanded one of the five voucher programs to include upper-income Ohioans and its participation has ballooned from 23,272 participating students in the 2022-2023 school year to 89,770 students last year. Numbers will be finalized in October, Laura Hancock reports.

Let’s make a deal: FirstEnergy on Monday signed an agreement with Attorney General Dave Yost’s office on Monday to pay $20 million to avoid prosecution on state charges over the House Bill 6 scandal, as well as to drop FirstEnergy from Yost’s HB6-related civil lawsuit. As Jeremy Pelzer reports, the agreement means the Akron-based utility will pay a total of just $250 million, plus an expected $100 million regulatory fine, to skirt charges for its role in the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history; consultants previously warned the company it could face up to $3.8 billion in fines if it was indicted.

Job qualifications: U.S. Sen Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, has introduced legislation that would make it easier for workers who lack four-year college degrees to get federal government jobs, Sabrina Eaton reports. The “Federal Jobs for STARs Act” that he introduced with U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, would remove unnecessary educational requirements from federal civil job postings on USAJOBS.com.

Failed investment: An indoor agriculture startup called AppHarvest that U.S. Sen. JD Vance invested in and publicly pitched “not only failed as a business after pursuing rapid growth, but also provided a grim job experience for many of the working-class Kentuckians” the Cincinnati Republican vowed to help, CNN reports. The rise and fall of the company, which declared bankruptcy last year, and Vance’s role in it, cuts against his image as a champion for the working class — an image that helped catapult him to the top of the Republican ticket as Donald Trump’s running mate.

Red meat: Although the speech Vance’s wife, Usha, delivered to last month’s GOP convention praised her husband for adapting to her vegetarian diet despite being a “meat and potatoes kind of guy,” the vice-presidential candidate is not a vegetarian and has frequently appears in photos “alongside all manner of plated flesh”, the Los Angeles Times clarifies. Only 4% of Americans identify as vegetarians, according to a recent Gallup poll. And these days, there’s little doubt: In popular American culture, vegetarianism often is perceived as “liberal, wimpy and feminine,” a food studies professor told the publication.

Speaking of red meat: A Washington Post fact check has evaluated a trio of claims that Vance made about Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, including a claim that she “wants to take away your ability to eat red meat,” and found them to be false. Other false claims it examines are Vance’s contention that Harris wants to take away gas stoves and his insistence that Harris has said it’s reasonable not to have children over climate change.

It pays to advertise: The National Republican Senatorial Committee canceled its fall cable ad reservations totaling more than $700,000 in the Ohio Senate race between Brown, the Democratic incumbent, and GOP challenger Bernie Moreno, Washington Examiner reports. According to AdImpact, NRSC canceled its full cable reservation in one of the most competitive races in the country in which ads were set to run between Aug. 31 and Election Day. In a social media post, the GOP Senate campaign arm said it still regards Ohio as a top pickup opportunity but believes its money can be more efficiently spent on hybrid ads.

Delayed again: For those anticipating an order over whether the state’s six-week “heartbeat” abortion ban is constitutional, the wait goes on. First, Hamilton County District Court Judge Christian Jenkins gave himself a deadline for the order on May 20. Then he pushed it to June 25. Then he pushed it to Tuesday. And on Tuesday, he pushed his deadline to Aug. 29. The state has been prohibited from enforcing the heartbeat law for 22 months, meaning women can obtain abortions past six weeks. But abortion clinics and doctors want Jenkins to weigh the law against the new abortion rights amendment that voters passed last November and strike down the law for good. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost agrees the ban is no longer constitutional but thinks other parts of the law should stand.

New job: Lee Strang, a University of Toledo law professor who was a driving force behind the legislature creating five new “intellectual diversity centers” at a handful of universities, was hired to lead one of them. Strang will be executive director of the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society at Ohio State University. Strang was also the leader of the University of Toledo’s intellectual diversity center, and has testified to the legislature on a number of issues, including in favor of the special election last year that was intended to foil the abortion rights amendment, Ohio Capital Journal’s Megan Henry reports.

Lobbying Lineup

Five organizations lobbying on House Bill 103, which would establish a K-12 social studies task force to implement the American Birthright standards by the conservative Civics Alliance. The bill hasn’t had any hearings since June 13, 2023.

1. Cleveland Metropolitan School District

2. Ohio Council of Churches

3. Ohio Federation of Teachers

4. Buckeye Association of School Administrators

5. Warren City Schools

Birthdays

State Rep. Thomas Hall

Grace Flajnik, legislative aide to state Rep. Justin Pizzulli

Straight From The Source

“Any application question or line item requesting an applicant’s race or ethnicity was removed from all materials provided to application readers or other individuals participating in admissions decisions.”

-A section of Ohio State University’s website, as reported by Ohio Capital Journal’s Megan Henry, who looked at how Ohio’s universities are treating affirmative action after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down race-based admissions policies last summer.

Capitol Letter is a daily briefing providing succinct, timely information for those who care deeply about the decisions made by state government. Subscribe to get Capitol Letter in your email box each weekday for free.

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Ohio

Urban Meyer recalls Pete Rose’s texts about Ohio State football

Published

6 hours ago

May 10, 2026

Press Room

Urban Meyer recalls Pete Rose’s texts about Ohio State football

Cincinnati Reds legend and well-known gambler Pete Rose was possibly more than just curious about Ohio State football’s 2012 season when he texted Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer.

Appearing on “The Triple Option” show with Alabama running back Mark Ingram May 6, Meyer told a story about his relationship with Rose.

After OSU hired Meyer, the Reds asked him to throw out the first pitch at a game. Meyer threw to his son, Nathan, and walked into the dugout, where Rose, MLB’s all-time hit leader, was waiting to greet him.

“I couldn’t get enough talking about ‘Big Red Machine,’ and he wanted to talk college football,” Meyer said on the podcast, explaining how the two spoke for hours and exchanged numbers.

Meyer said that during his first season, Rose texted him early on. He wanted information about the team, like news on Braxton Miller’s shoulder injury.

“I told that to someone, and they said, ‘You’re an idiot. Do you know he’s trying to get information from you for gambling, and you could get in trouble?’ ” Meyer said.

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Though Meyer asserted that he never disclosed much, he started to steer the conversations clear of college football after he realized Rose potentially wanted information for gambling.

The two had another conversation in Las Vegas, where Rose told Meyer he gambled daily after retiring.

Rose was banned from baseball for betting on the sport, something he admitted to in his 2004 autobiography. Rose was reinstated in 2025 and so is considered eligible for the Hall of Fame.

Still baseball’s most prolific hitter (4,256 hits), Rose died in 2024.

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Ohio

8th Annual Trumbull County Special Olympics Invitational held in Girard

Published

18 hours ago

May 9, 2026

Press Room

8th Annual Trumbull County Special Olympics Invitational held in Girard

GIRARD, Ohio (WKBN) – Over 100 athletes came together for the 5th Annual Trumbull County Special Olympics Invitational Saturday morning in Girard.

These athletes represent five different schools across Trumbull County to compete and spread the message of inclusion, achievement, and sportsmanship.

The Invitational continued its long-standing tradition of honoring the legacy of Randy Suchanek while celebrating the dedication and accomplishments of Special Olympics athletes throughout the region.

“You can hear all the excitement for this, for the athletes that are here today,” said superintendent Bryan O’Hara. “They work hard all year long to participate. We’ve always worked hand in hand with the rotary to get this accomplished is a lot of work behind the scenes.”

Participating schools included Ashtabula, Geauga, Columbiana, Kent-Portage and Trumbull Fairhaven

“There’s a lot of nice participation from girard students as you see behind us, and a lot of participation from the community helping out,” Girard-Liberty Rotary co-president Andy Kish added.

O’Hara added that the event keeps everything in perspective, seeing the athletes compete in the spirit of fun, along with the courage and determination that they show.

Alex Sorrells contributed to this report.

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Ohio

Can you eat Ohio River fish? Just Askin’

Published

1 day ago

May 9, 2026

Press Room

Can you eat Ohio River fish? Just Askin’

Can you eat fish from the Ohio River?

In 1975, future presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, bet 20 pounds of New England cod that the Red Sox would defeat the Reds in the World Series. If things went south for Boston, Ohio governor James Rhodes promised to send Dukakis 10 pounds of Lake Erie perch and 10 pounds of Ohio River catfish. The Reds ended up winning and the cod was sent to the Convalescent Home for Children, in Cincinnati.

At the time, people were still eating catfish from the Ohio without too much concern. The fish were also served at several restaurants along the river.

There were warnings in 1977

But two years later, in 1977, The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission released the results of a study of contaminants found in the tissues of Ohio River fish. They warned anglers in cities such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, Wheeling and Gallipolis that man-made chemicals known as PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, had been discovered in the river fish. Later, high concentrations of mercury were discovered in the fish, too.

Thanks to the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the environmental regulations that followed, the river is now cleaner than it was in the seventies. And it’s still teeming with a variety of fish, including catfish, striped bass, drum and black bass, among other species.

But even though PCBs were banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979, they are still found in fish, since they remain in the sediment in the bottom of the river. “Organisms live in the sediment and fish feed on them,” Rich Cogen, the executive director of the Ohio River Foundation told The Enquirer. Mercury is also a big problem, according to Cogen.

So the question is: Can you eat fish caught in the Ohio River?

The short answer is yes. But it depends on what species you are eating and where along the river you caught it.

There are also very strict limitations on how frequently you should eat them, according to the web site for the Ohio Sport Fish Consumption Advisory, part of the Ohio Department of Health.

In areas of the river between the Belleville Lock, located 204 miles downstream from the river’s origins in Pittsburgh, to the Indiana border, the advisory agency currently recommends consuming Ohio River fish no more than once a month max. That area includes Adams, Brown, Clermont, Gallia, Hamilton, Lawrence, Meigs and Scioto counties.

Here’s where to check

Recommendations change throughout the year, but you can keep up by visiting the Ohio Department of Health’s Sport Fish Consumption Advisory page, which provides updated information on when certain fish, usually bottom feeders such as carp, are deemed too dangerous to eat at all.

Here’s who should take a pass on Ohio River fish

The agency also warns that people who are more likely to have health effects from eating contaminated fish, includingchildren younger than 15 years old, pregnant women and women who are planning to become pregnant to avoid Ohio River fish altogether.

Just because you have to limit the amount of fish you eat, doesn’t mean the river is a bad place for fishing, as long as you limit your intake or do catch-and-release fishing. Just make sure you have a proper fishing license before casting your line.