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Ohio’s $86 billion state budget clears Legislature, heads to governor

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Ohio’s  billion state budget clears Legislature, heads to governor


COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s new budget could include almost $3 billion in income tax cuts, funding for universal school vouchers, bans on flavored vape products, and hundreds of other measures. The $86.1 billion two-year budget cleared both chambers of the Republican-dominated Legislature on Friday evening, just hours before the legal deadline.

But the arduous six-month process isn’t over yet. Lawmakers also voted to extend the constitutionally binding June 30 deadline until July 3 in order to send the budget to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine for final approval — and possible vetoes.

It’s not clear when that might happen. In the meantime, the extension will take the form of an interim budget that will fund the state at the same levels as the last two fiscal years.

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Ohio’s top court has been ordered to take another look at the legality of the state’s congressional districts. The U.S.

FILE - Former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges, right, walks toward Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse with his attorneys Todd Long, left, and Karl Schneider, center, before jury selection in his federal trial, Jan. 20, 2023, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Borges has been sentenced, Friday, June 30, 2023, to five years in prison and three years of probation for his part in the largest corruption scandal in Ohio history. AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File)

Ohio lobbyist Matt Borges has been sentenced to five years in prison for his part in the largest corruption scandal in Ohio history. U.S.

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FILE - The Internal Revenue Service building stands in Washington on March 22, 2013. The rapidly expanding landscape of nonprofit collectives paying college athletes to promote charities has been hit with a potentially seismic disruption. A 12-page memo from the Internal Revenue Service released in June 2023 determined that in many cases, the nonprofit collectives may not qualify as tax-exempt if their main purpose is paying players instead of supporting charitable works. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

The rapidly expanding landscape of nonprofit collectives paying college athletes to promote charities has been hit with a potentially seismic disruption.

This booking photo provided by the Orange County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office shows Edward Hariston. Hariston, of Ohio, was being held in a Florida jail after attacking a police officer at Orlando International Airport, authorities said. An Orange County circuit judge set a bail of more over $50,000 for Hariston on Thursday, June 29, 2023, according to court records. (Orange County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

Authorities say an Ohio man is being held in a Florida jail after attacking a police officer at Orlando International Airport.

Despite a Republican supermajority in both chambers, the House and Senate versions had nearly 900 differences between them, including measures on how to fund education, public assistance programs and tax cuts as well as far-reaching policy issues overhauling how both K-12 education and public colleges and universities operate in the state.

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Republican Sen. Matt Dolan, co-chair of the budget’s conference committee, said the budget meets Ohioans’ needs and makes sure the state is a great place to start a business, educate kids and raise families.

And while Democrats said they got some wins, overall, the budget still doesn’t do enough to protect vulnerable populations while providing more benefits for the wealthy.

Here’s a look at what the state budget will be funding, or not funding, for the next two fiscal years:

TAXES

    1. Ohioans could see nearly $3 billion in income tax deductions over the next two years — in part by consolidating the current four tax brackets down to two. Critics say it mostly benefits those making over $100,000 per year.

    2. A business tax cut would eliminate the state’s Commercial Activities Tax for 90% of companies who currently pay it.

    3. Lawmakers cut out a $2,500 child tax deduction championed by DeWine, but eliminated a sales tax on certain baby products.

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    4. The budget would also create a Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, income tax deductions for homeownership savings accounts and a tax credit for the construction of single-family affordable housing.

EDUCATION

    5. Roughly $2 billion would be spent phasing in a universal voucher program over the next two years, providing income-based scholarships on a sliding scale for any Ohio child to attend private school, with scholarship amounts decreasing as income increases.

    6. The budget also continues efforts to implement a fairer, more reliable school funding formula from the last two-year budget, but factors in updated costs for expenses such as teacher salaries, transportation and technology needs, adding another $1.5 billion to the state’s allocations for public education over the next two fiscal years.

    7. It would also shift K-12 education oversight from the Ohio State Board of Education to an official appointed by the governor — drastically changing who makes decisions about academic standards, curriculum and district ratings.

    8. Lawmakers nixed a heavily-opposed ban on nearly all diversity and inclusion training requirements at public colleges and universities, a prohibition on faculty strikes, and barring public universities from taking stances on “controversial” topics such as abortion and climate policies.

    9. The base salary for teachers would increase from $30,000 to $35,000.

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    10. High school students in the top 5% of their classes would receive a $5,000 scholarship to attend in-state universities starting in 2025.

    11. Universities would be prohibited from requiring students to have certain vaccinations to be on campus.

    12. The budget eliminated a provision under the state’s “third-grade reading guarantee” which made kids repeat third grade if they didn’t pass a reading exam. The exam under the guarantee remains in place.

CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

    13. The budget would include a measure to require parental consent on social media platforms for Ohio children under 16.

    14. Children could see increased access to free meals at school.

    15. The income eligibility for government-funded child care would be raised from 142% to 145% of the federal poverty level. Critics say the small hike would not help with Ohio’s scarcity of affordable childcare, which is among the highest in the nation.

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    16. A provision that would have provided Medicaid to pregnant women and children up to 300% of the federal poverty level remains out of the budget. However, it would provide continuous enrollment for all children in the state.

    17. Some hurdles to obtaining household SNAP benefits were eliminated.

OTHER NOTABLE ITEMS

    18. A budget provision would allow over 7,000 Native American remains to be laid to rest in the state.

    19. It cut down a $1 billionOne Time Strategic Community Investment Fund for special projects down to $750 million, diverting some of that funding to Connect 4 Ohio, which will spend $500 million on state road projects.

    20. Funding for food banks would significantly increase from previous versions of the budget.

    21. The budget would overturn an Ohio Supreme Court decision to make the records of the OneOhio Foundation public. The foundation is in charge of spending $1.1 billion in opioid settlement money coming to the state over the next 18 years.

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    22. The budget would ban the sale of flavored vape products, a priority for DeWine, but leaves few consequences for those who violate it and does not allow local communities to place further restrictions on sales themselves.

    23. In-home health care workers providing services through Medicaid could see a wage increase from $16 to $18 under the proposal, something advocates say is desperately needed to boost recruitment into that workforce to meet demand.

    24. $16 million would be appropriated for a hotly contested Republican-backed August special election that could impact abortion rights.

___

Samantha Hendrickson is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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Ohio

One Ohio State Star Who Desperately Needs Revenge vs Oregon

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One Ohio State Star Who Desperately Needs Revenge vs Oregon


The Ohio State Buckeyes are preparing to face the Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl in what they hope will serve as some desirable revenge.

Remember: Oregon defeated Ohio State back in Week 7, handing the Buckeyes their first loss of the season. The Ducks would go on to go undefeated. Ohio State went 10-2 (now 11-2 thanks to its win over the Tennessee Volunteers).

The first meeting between the two teams was close, with Oregon emerging with a 32-21 victory. For on of the only times this season, the Buckeyes’ defense looked vulnerable.

But there was one player in particular who looked particularly exposed: cornerback Denzel Burke.

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Burke entered the season widely considered one of the best cornerbacks in the country and was also viewed as a potential first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

However, his performance against the Ducks altered his fate.

Burke surrendered eight catches for 179 yards and was burned for a couple of touchdowns in Ohio State’s loss, and since then, the 22-year-old has not quite looked the same.

His draft stock has plummeted, and his confidence also appears to have been adversely affected.

And it all started in Eugene, Or. back in October.

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Can Burke right the ship and come through with a bounceback showing against the top-ranked eam in the country?

The Buckeyes will need Burke. That’s for sure. After all, Oregon boasts one of the most explosive offenses in the country, and that’s due much in part to the Ducks’ high-octane aerial attack led by quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

Not only that, but Burke needs it for himself. A strong outing versus the Ducks would go a long way in gaining the attention of NFL scouts once again, and it could serve as a springboard for Burke the remainder of the College Football Playoff.

Burke has lost a bit of his shine since that disastrous performance at Oregon. If there is any Ohio State player who desperately needs revenge on New Year’s Day, it’s Burke.



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Cheers! A look back on beer and breweries in NE Ohio in 2024

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Cheers! A look back on beer and breweries in NE Ohio in 2024


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Mark Pope explains what went wrong on defense against Ohio State

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Mark Pope explains what went wrong on defense against Ohio State


Kentucky dropped to No. 61 in the latest KenPom defensive efficiency ratings after allowing Ohio State to score 85 points on 56.6 percent shooting overall and 68.4 percent from two. It was an abysmal effort on that end of the floor — and that’s with the Buckeyes going just 4-15 from three after entering the matchup shooting 41 percent from deep as one of the best in college basketball.

Mark Pope said the team’s magic number to open the season was 39 percent, hoping to hold teams to that hit rate defensively throughout the year. After hitting that mark in the first six games of the year, the Wildcats have done it just once in the last six. They’ve regressed in a major way and the staff is now looking for answers during the time off with SEC play coming in January.

What is Pope’s best assessment of what went wrong in New York City?

“Defensively, we gave up 15 points on rejects alone,” the Kentucky head coach explained Monday evening during his call-in radio show. “It’s just so uncharacteristic for us, just going away from where we’re leading the ball screen, right? I had made a huge emphasis about pushing our bigs up to try and get a little bit more of a presence at the point of the screen. When you let teams reject, it’s the worst thing to do, to push up the bigs.

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“Out of seven possessions, it was 15 points — all twos and an and-one, a perfect field-goal percentage. There was a lot we didn’t do well. A lot of things that are going to help us get better, and get better faster.”

He actually liked the way things started against the Buckeyes, holding firm in the first 10 minutes — plenty good enough to stay competitive while waiting for the offense to figure itself out. Then it was a disaster finish before halftime, then more of the same after the brea.

“It was interesting. We started the game well, we gave up an early three, but we were pretty solid-ish in the first 10 minutes, and then it started to get away from us,” Pope said. “There were a couple of real issues that we were struggling with. We were really struggling with — you know, it was very uncharacteristic of us, but we give up 15 points on rejects of high ball screens, which is exactly the opposite of what our defense is designed to do. That was really surprising. We took a bunch of different paths, but some of that — this is some that’s on me, some of that is my responsibility — is trying to solve some other things and push up our bigs. It gave us less security. And I was really surprised that we were having the issue we did.”

There were a number of reasons for it, not just one glaring weakness or culprit. You could call it an all systems failure on that end.

“We were getting beat going under on ball screens as the game went on. We threw out some zone, we blitzed some ball screens, but I was really surprised by that,” he said. “You’re just very much surprised that the issue actually arose. And it’s probably a bunch of stuff.

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“It’s a little bit personnel, it’s a little bit us getting a little extended, it’s a little bit maybe being distracted by other things, maybe some foul issues, but that was clearly — ball screens was an issue for us throughout the night. (Bruce) Thornton was a major issue for us, for sure. And so those are two things that we were trying to address personnel-wise, and dedication-wise, this game-wise.”

Fortunately for the Cats, they have plenty of time to go back to the drawing board and get this thing right.

“We just have to come up with the right answers in the right amount of time.”



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