Ohio
Retail sales of marijuana in Ohio can start Tuesday: Capitol Letter
Rotunda Rumblings
You’re ganja have a good time: The state released the list of 98 medical marijuana dispensaries expected to receive certificates of operation Tuesday morning, which allows them to open to recreational customers. Laura Hancock writes that under the initiated statute legalizing marijuana for adult-use, people over the age of 21 can purchase up to 2.5 ounces of flower and around 0.5 ounces of extract a day. But dispensaries may have lower purchasing limits during the initial green rush.
Minor threat? The Libertarian Party of Ohio has officially regained state recognition as a minor party, making it the state’s first third-party in four years. As Jeremy Pelzer reports, Ohio Libertarians are fielding candidates in a number of races this fall – including the competitive races for U.S. Senate and U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s 9th Congressional District seat, where the entry of a third candidate could affect the outcome.
Gassing up: Bernie Moreno, the Republican U.S. Senate nominee, is launching a bus tour this week. Per Andrew Tobias, Moreno’s first stop was Monday morning in Chillicothe, and he was met with protesters organized by the Ohio Democratic Party, including a giant inflatable cigar-chomping fat cat. In a speech, Moreno largely focused on bashing Vice President Kamala Harris, showing how Moreno is trying to tie Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown to national Democrats, who have fared poorly in Ohio recently.
Suit yourself: In his past business career, Moreno was sued by a former employee who said he was stiffed out of money that Moreno personally promised him before he was hired. Per Andrew Tobias, Michael Falcone alleged that he was fired in retaliation for complaining about the missing pay, which had to do with Falcone’s sales commission. But Moreno said Falcone was an at-will employee who failed to understand his compensation agreement. The previously unreported lawsuit, which was settled out of court, bears similarities to other old lawsuits that have become campaign issues for Moreno as he has run for the Senate this year.
Supported by the troops: Some of the Marines that U.S. Sen. JD Vance served with, while describing their own politics as comparatively more liberal, expressed respect for the now-candidate for vice president in interviews with The Washington Post. They described a bookish young man from a small town who needed to be warned against the predatory car loan advertisers that surround some military bases.
Adjustments for Usha: Donald Trump’s decision to pick Vance, a Cincinnati Republican, as his running mate has forced his wife to rapidly adjust to a constant Secret Service presence in their lives, in addition to constant political attacks on her husband, Sabrina Eaton writes. “We have code names now,” Usha Vance told Fox News in an interview aired Monday. “Our kids had a lot of fun with that.”
Not feeling lucky: In a massive ruling that could shake the tech world, a federal judge on Monday ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly over search engines and related ad markets. As Hancock reports, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost joined his counterparts in nearly every other state, as well as the U.S. Justice Department, in filing the antitrust action against Google, which will likely appeal the decision.
What we’re watching this week
1. How will Ohio’s maiden voyage with legal, retail marijuana sales play out?
2. The Ohio 10th District Court of Appeals is reviewing a case Tuesday morning challenging fracking in state parks
3. Lt. Gov. Jon Husted is scheduled to appear at a new Rumpke Recycling and Resource Center in Columbus on Tuesday
4. The National Conference of State Legislatures meets this week in Louisville. Gongwer News Service reports there’s an Ohio Night reception at Whiskey Row
On the Move
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Champaign County Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, spent the weekend in Iowa campaigning for GOP colleagues Zach Nunn, Ashley Hinson and Randy Feenstra.
Straight From The Source
“The strong opposition to the project that is documented by both the county and the sole township is especially noteworthy and compelling.”
-Ohio Power Siting Board staff, in a report recommending the full panel reject a permit allowing for development of a solar farm in Stark County, due to opposition from local elected officials.
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.
Out of prison, Indiana’s caviar king back on Ohio River to find fishing holes taken
David Cox, of English, Indiana, says once he began setting his nets again after a two-year prison sentence and a three-year ban on commercial fishing, all of his once-secret spots were taken.
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.
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It isn’t over until it’s over. That’s the case for both the UCLA Bruins football program recruiting and for quarterback Brady Edmunds. Edmunds is currently committed to head to Ohio State but he took a visit from UCLA offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy earlier this week.
Kennedy met Edmunds on Thursday despite the fact that the quarterback has been committed to the Buckeyes since December of 2024 but could the UCLA Bruins be making a run at flipping the quarterback?
Edmunds has only had an official visit with Ohio State but could UCLA heave a heat check on the 6’5” quarterback? New UCLA head coach Bob Chesney is off to an unbelievable start to his recruiting with the Bruins and flipping a recruit of Edmunds’ caliber would be his most impressive move yet.
247 Sports has Edmunds as the No. 16 quarterback in the class, which would give UCLA a clear predecessor for Nico Iamaleava whenever the Bruins current starting quarterback decides to head to the professional level.
It’d be a full circle moment for the Bruins, as Edmunds was originally recruited to Ohio State by former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, who bailed on UCLA to go run the Buckeyes offense. Ohio State is a great spot for a developing quarterback, as the Buckeyes produce tons of NFL talent, especially at the wide receiver position, which would help Edmunds put up some gaudy numbers in Columbus.
Chesney and the Bruins have geography on their side, Edmunds attends Huntington Beach High School in Southern California, which could potentially become a factor if Edmunds views UCLA as a program on the rise that’d be much closer to his friends and family than out in Ohio.
Time will tell if Kennedy’s visit will make a difference but UCLA’s recruiting has made waves in the first offseason under Chesney and the new regime.
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