The Today in Ohio podcast called foul on what an Ohio lawmaker portrays as an innocuous tax proposal but could have far-reaching implications for reproductive rights in Ohio.

Republican Ohio House member Gary Klick has reintroduced his Stork Act — ” Strategic Tax Opportunities for Raising Kids — which would add “conceived children” to Ohio’s tax code as dependents eligible for exemptions up to $2,400. The proposal would also make baby items like clothing, pacifiers, and breast pumps tax-free.

But the Today in Ohio panel wasn’t buying the family-friendly packaging.

“This is kind of a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” said Lisa Garvin on the podcast. “On the surface it looks great and probably if a Democrat had introduced it, it might have gotten more support. But yeah, it’s about personhood.”

The timing hasn’t escaped notice. Coming more than a year after Ohioans decisively voted to protect abortion rights with an amendment to the Ohio constitution, the panel viewed the legislation as a backdoor attempt to establish fetal personhood—a legal concept that could be used to challenge abortion as homicide.

Said Chris Quinn: “Look, if he were serious about helping parents, we would be well beyond the child care support that we talked about for two years… This is pure nonsense from somebody seeking to outlaw abortion again, even though the voters have made clear that’s not going to happen.”

Quinn pointed out that childcare costs dwarf the expenses of cribs and baby clothes, yet Republicans have failed to advance meaningful childcare legislation.

“It’s more red herring nonsense from Republicans in the legislature who don’t really care about Ohio. They’re just pushing their silly dogma,” Quinn added.

Laura Johnston noted that despite the bill’s previous failure, its chances might be better with the current Republican supermajority.

The podcast discussion highlighted a pattern that many progressive critics have identified in Republican-led legislatures: intense focus on pregnancy and birth, followed by minimal support after children are born.

“These lawmakers are great about getting the kids to the point of being born and then they don’t care about them after that,” Quinn said. “They need to show that they care post birth, not just before they’re born.”

The bill had its first hearing on March 26, and while its future remains uncertain, the Today in Ohio team’s consensus was clear: this legislation is less about financial relief for expectant parents and more about establishing groundwork to challenge abortion rights.

Listen to the full episode for analysis of the proposal and how it plays into the battle over reproductive rights. Today in Ohio is a news analysis discussion by editors at cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer

Note: Artificial intelligence was used to help generate this story from Today in Ohio, a news podcast discussion by cleveland.com editors. Visitors to cleveland.com have asked for more text stories based on website podcast discussions.

Listen to full “Today in Ohio” episodes where Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with impact editor Leila Atassi and content director Laura Johnston.

The 2025 NFL Draft is coming! In an effort to educate you, the fantasy football fan, about the top players in the incoming class, I’ll be spotlighting a different player each day. I’ve already covered the top quarterback prospects, and now it’s time to move on to the running backs. I started with Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton, so let’s move on to one of the next best prospects, Ohio State’s Quinshon Judkins.

2024 Run Type: Zone 45% Gap 55%

Judkins joined the Rebels in 2022 and was productive right out of the gate, rushing for 1,567 yards and scoring 17 total touchdowns. He was voted a Freshman All-American and was a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award. As a sophomore, Judkins led SEC backs in rushing touchdowns. He entered the transfer portal in 2023 and landed at Ohio State, where he put up over 1,000 rushing yards while splitting the backfield work with TreVeyon Henderson.

Last season, Judkins was graded as the 20th-best running back in FBS by PFF. He averaged a solid 5.5 yards per rush and caught 22 passes out of the backfield. His stats were still very solid across the board despite splitting the workload with Henderson, so he’s fully capable of filling up the box scores at the next level, both in terms of real and fantasy football.  

In terms of his passing protection, Judkins proved in college that he can get the job done. That makes him a potential three-down running back at the NFL level with the right team.

1. Chicago Bears (No. 39 or No. 41)
2. Dallas Cowboys (No. 44)
3. Denver Broncos (No. 51)
4. Cleveland Browns (No. 67)
5. Pittsburgh Steelers (No. 83)

Judkins is a high-level prospect who is projected to be as much as a second-round pick in the NFL draft. He has good size and strength, and his touchdown prowess in college will make him an interesting option for fantasy football fans in re-drafts and dynasty formats.

In terms of draft order, the Bears have two picks in the round and could use one on a bigger back to pair with D’Andre Swift. That’s not an ideal scenario in fantasy, at least in Year 1. The Cowboys could take Judkins as a replacement for Rico Dowdle, as he would be a virtual lock to pass Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders on the team’s depth chart.

In the event that Judkins falls out of the top 50 overall picks, the Broncos could grab him at No. 51 to replace Williams as their starter. The Browns would also be a nice landing spot for Judkins, as he would “stay home” and be the projected starter to replace Nick Chubb. The Steelers could also use a new lead back to pair with Jaylen Warren with Najee Harris gone.

Five Catholic high schools from central and northeast Ohio will partner on football scheduling rather than move forward with a plan to create a new conference, DeSales assistant principal Jim Jones told The Dispatch on Monday.

The scheduling alliance between DeSales, Hartley, Watterson, Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit and Youngstown Ursuline will begin in 2026, which was the original plan for the Ohio Catholic Athletic Conference.

The OCAC was announced last July between those five schools, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph and Youngstown Mooney. The goal was to alleviate scheduling issues and strengthen competition among several of the state’s strongest Catholic programs.

Mooney, St. Vincent-St. Mary and VASJ later backed out because of cost and travel concerns.

In February, Jones told The Dispatch the OCAC was forging ahead, but the remaining schools would have to make sure the new league would be “sustainable.” The original OCAC plans called for a football-only conference with potential expansion into other sports at a later date.

“At this point, we want to get things off to a great start with the alliance and see what takes shape from there,” Jones said Monday. “It’s something that we want to keep building and hopefully things will happen, and maybe even more teams will want to get involved, but right now we just have to work with what we have.” 

DeSales, Hartley, Watterson and St. Charles will continue to play a CCL schedule, according to Jones, who has been the CCL commissioner since 2017. St. Charles was not involved with the OCAC.

With only three league contests, CCL teams are used to playing out-of-town teams and traveling to games.

“(The OCAC) just unraveled,” said Watterson coach Brian Kennedy, whose team won the Division III state title last fall. “We’ll play Ursuline and Walsh forever. We need games. For nothing other than scheduling, this was going to be nice. We already travel. Getting on a bus and driving for two or three hours to play a game doesn’t bother me. It’s trying to find games when everybody else is in league play.” 

This isn’t the first time CCL members have partnered with out-of-area programs. They formed an alliance with the southwest Ohio-based Greater Catholic League in 2019 to alleviate issues with scheduling, but that lasted for one season. 

“I’m slightly disappointed, but I’m not surprised,” Watterson athletic director Doug Etgen said. “I don’t mean that in a negative way towards any of the schools who backed out. We’ve been down this road before, so I’m very skeptical when these things start formulating. … I’m disappointed because I was looking forward to some other opportunities in some other sports to do some neat things to tie our teams together.” 

High school sports reporter Frank DiRenna can be reached at fdirenna@dispatch.com and at @DispatchFrank on X.

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