Ohio
Ohioans know what they voted for last November. Yost's legal fights don't change that. • Ohio Capital Journal
It was plain what Ohio voters approved last November with Issue 1. An overwhelming majority of Ohioans voted for a reset on abortion rights after relentless government assault on reproductive freedoms under the state’s patriarchal theocratic rule.
The consensus of 57% of the electorate was to enshrine the fundamental right to abortion in the Ohio Constitution.
Issue 1 also explicitly barred the state from directly or indirectly burdening, prohibiting, penalizing or interfering with access to abortion, and discriminating against abortion patients and providers.
It’s right there in the ballot language of the constitutional amendment voters said “yes” to last November. But now, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who issued a legal analysis that largely stood against Issue 1 before it was approved by voters, argues Ohioans didn’t vote for what they did.
For months Yost has been doing his level best to legally obstruct implementation of the newly amended state constitution by maintaining the legitimacy of burdensome and discriminatory pre-Issue 1 abortion restrictions that clearly violate the letter of the law post-Issue 1.
He slow walks every single constitutional challenge to every single Republican statute still on the books that interferes with abortion access by erecting unnecessary government barriers between a woman and her right to an abortion.
Yost had the gall to contend that Ohio voters didn’t pass Issue 1 to block unnecessary government-mandated delays before patients are allowed to obtain abortions, or to eliminate government-mandated information (that is at least irrelevant and at worst distressing) prior to receiving care.
Yes. They. Did.
Yost cannot pick and choose, a la carte, which provision of the voter-mandated abortion rights amendment applies to unconstitutional restrictions that remain in the Ohio Revised Code.
But that’s what he’s trying to do in courtroom arguments to keep burdensome and discriminatory state abortion restrictions in force indefinitely, including the 24-hour waiting period for abortion patients – a medically unwarranted government mandate not applicable to any other medical procedure – plus separate, in-person visits for patients to be schooled in required anti-choice material designed to discourage abortions.
Yost and his fellow Republican theocrats like to intimate that childlike Ohioans who voted for Issue 1 didn’t fully understand what they were doing. The naïve majority who cast their ballots in favor of the amendment simply failed to grasp what it meant to the common sense abortion regulations Republican men had imposed on Ohio women.
Court filings by Yost’s office suggest gullible citizens thought a vote for Issue 1 would just give women the same abortion rights they had under Roe v. Wade. Never mind what the language added to the Ohio Constitution (and read by Issue 1 voters) actually said.
Yost analyzed that text at length last year before the November election in a disingenuous critique ripped by a former Ohio AG and AG candidate as “a biased hit piece that is intended to confuse voters and weaken support for the amendment.”
Yost concluded that all state abortion laws, such as the 24-hour waiting period and state mandated “informed consent” provisions, would likely be erased if the amendment passed. They “would certainly be challenged under Issue 1” and subject to the “exclusive scrutiny test” of the court as to whether or not they “burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against” the right to abortion, reasoned Yost.
The problem is, countered his peers, “no such standard of review exists in law – Yost has created it out of whole cloth to support his arguments.”
Yost was, wrote Marc Dann and Jeff Crossman, “deliberately misleading” with “hyperbolic claims and scare tactics.”
He was also revealing his fealty to partisan extremism over the public interest of truth-telling.
Today, Yost crafts his own textual interpretation of the changes Ohioans mandated in state abortion law and audaciously assumes what voters were thinking when they enshrined the right “to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions” in their constitution. It is obvious he does not respect the will of the people or acknowledge their sovereignty in self-governance.
Yost, ever the media hound, wants to attract attention as a courtroom combatant for the hard right. To that end, he will fight constitutionally protected abortion rights in Ohio with protracted litigation and frivolous appeals to subvert implementation of the law with whatever legal tool he has to keep Ohio women subjugated as second-class citizens.
Yost is fixated on is generating headlines and getting on TV. So he pursues partisan lawsuits with other Republican AGs to exploit MAGA wedge issues, especially concerning transgender equality, and files a slew of Trump-loving, regulatory-hating amicus briefs to the Supreme Court.
Ohio’s chief law enforcement officer waves off Trump’s 88 felony counts in four jurisdictions for charges ranging from “pervasive and destabilizing lies” about election fraud to illegally hoarding classified documents and falsifying business records in a hush money coverup to win the 2016 election. Yost appears guided by selective application of the law when it comes to the accused felon and presumptive presidential nominee of his party.
But Ohio’s AG is misguided if he thinks Ohioans are willing to concede that same selectivity when it comes to their hard-won constitutional right to reproductive freedom. They know what they voted for and so does Yost.
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Ohio
Ohio AG on human trafficking: It’s not rich and poor, it’s literally all around us
COLUMBUS, Ohio — For the second time in two years, the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force and the Steubenville Police Department have joined forces to combat human trafficking crimes.
In October, the operation led to the arrest of eight individuals for sex trafficking offenses, including men from Follansbee and St. Clairsville.
Earlier, in July 2024, 10 men from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia were apprehended and charged with solicitation and possession of criminal tools.
“It just goes to show that human trafficking happens everywhere,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said. “This isn’t a big city thing, it happens in small towns, it happens out in the country. It’s not rich and poor, it’s literally all around us.
“I am hopeful that the message is going out around Ohio and Steubenville and the Mahoning Valley — Don’t Buy Sex in Ohio!”
He also highlighted the support provided to survivors during these operations.
“We always have social service providers that partner with us that are on site. So, whether it’s something simple like a meal or a shower or something as necessary as an addiction treatment bed — we’re there to try and help provide the resource,” Yost added.
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For those affected by human trafficking, a victim services directory is available here.
Ohio
3 kids lead police on Ohio car chase after learning to steal vehicles on YouTube: officials
NEWBURGH HEIGHTS, Ohio — Three kids, ages 12, 11, and 8, led Ohio police on a chase in a stolen car on Saturday, according to police.
According to the Newburgh Heights Police Department, an 11-year-old was driving a car that was stolen from Parma, WEWS reported.
Officers chased the car on Harvard Avenue west over the Denison Bridge. Shortly after the chase began, the car crashed into a house on Denison Avenue, police said.
No injuries were reported.
Newburgh Heights PD said two brothers, an 8-year-old and an 11-year-old, along with a 12-year-old, began running from the police.
After police caught them, the kids told officers they watched YouTube videos to learn how to steal cars, police said.
According to the department, the boys were released to their parents, and police will file charges in juvenile court.
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Ohio
Ohio State vs Miami betting odds, point spread for Cotton Bowl game
Heading to Arlington, Texas, for the Cotton Bowl, Ohio State enters the New Year’s Eve College Football Playoff game as a multi-score favorite to beat Miami, according to BetMGM on Dec. 22.
Ohio State is the No. 2 seed in the 2025 CFP and received a first-round bye. After beating No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 10 Miami will face the Buckeyes for the first time since 2011. The Hurricanes are the lone ACC representative in the CFP field.
Miami intercepted Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed in the end zone with less than 30 seconds remaining to secure a first-round playoff win.
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See the betting odds for the Cotton Bowl below.
What is the point spread for the Ohio State-Miami Cotton Bowl?
As of Dec. 22, BetMGM’s point spread for the Cotton Bowl between the Buckeyes and Hurricanes is -10 in favor of Ohio State.
What is the moneyline for the Ohio State-Miami Cotton Bowl?
Ohio State has -375 odds to win against Miami in the Cotton Bowl on BetMGM.
What is over/under on total points for the Ohio State-Miami Cotton Bowl?
The over/under for the Cotton Bowl game is set at 42.5 points.
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