Ohio

Slow burn — Ohio recreational marijuana dispensaries on way to sales

Published

2 years ago

July 5, 2024

Slow burn — Ohio recreational marijuana dispensaries on way to sales

COLUMBUS, Ohio — More than 100 dispensaries in Ohio are on their way to selling recreational marijuana. This comes after sales were anticipated to start in June.

The Division of Cannabis Control has given provisional licenses to 110 dispensaries so they can sell both medically and recreationally once they receive final approval.

Of the 110, Northeast Ohio has 36. Southwest Ohio has 29, and Central Ohio has 18. Franklin County has the most with 12, Cuyahoga with 11 and Hamilton with nine.

Click here to learn which facilities have a provisional license.

License applications must be approved or denied by Sept. 7, but the state and policymakers have continued to say that applications could be granted and recreational sales could happen by mid-June.

The passage of Issue 2 allowed adults 21 years of age and older to smoke, vape and ingest weed. Individual Ohioans are able to grow up to six plants with up to 12 per household. Click here to learn more about what the law entails.

High hopes for marijuana to hit store shelves sooner this summer

Ohio Cannabis Coalition’s Tom Haren is staying positive despite the delayed start date.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Haren said. “There is a lot of work that needed to get done.”

Consumers haven’t been able to buy weed legally because there is a process that takes place between getting a provisional license and getting a license with a certificate of operation.

The state has a list of requirements that shops need to meet, such as keeping visitor logs, having curbside and drive-through pickup and utilizing surveillance systems. Dispensaries will also have to demonstrate they can keep inventory aside to make sure medical patients continue having preferred access. Sellers will also have to do a test sale to a medical patient and a recreational consumer, among dozens of other tasks and evaluations.

“We’ve been going on a hiring blitz, of course, making sure that we’re staffed up,” Brandon Nemec with Verilife said.

But Gov. Mike DeWine wants more regulations.

“We have a problem of walking down the street with your five-year-old and there is marijuana smoke,” DeWine said in late June.

He has been asking for lawmakers to deal with his safety concerns for months.

The Senate has passed and proposed various changes to the law — like a restriction or ban on public smoking. However, it would limit home grow, reduce THC levels and ban the vast majority of vapes — among dozens of other restrictions and changes to what the voters chose.

House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) has been blocking it, and dispensaries support him.

“Honoring the will of the voters is very important,” Stephens said in late June. “That part has been done — this was passed in November and it’s still the law of the land.”

The lawmakers in both chambers allegedly agree that they want to put more stringent guidelines on advertising, but they can’t agree on the vehicle. The House wants a clean version of a bill — meaning they don’t want the Senate to “go against the will of the people,” which is what House leaders say the other chamber is doing.

The Senate leaders have argued that the citizens didn’t actually know what they were voting for, and they don’t actually want or need to be able to grow six plants as an individual or up to 12 plants per household.

In their most recent move, the Senate proposed S.B. 278, a bill that would ban all public smoking or vaping, but they didn’t reduce the home grow amount this time. House leaders, specifically marijuana enthusiast state Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord), said a public ban would not be happening under his watch.

The House and the Senate both proposed ideas, and their leaders have been arguing about whose policy is better for the state, which in turn has kept marijuana off the shelves despite being passed in Nov. and going into effect in Dec. 2023.

Republican squabbling keeps marijuana off shelves months after legalization

Even though sales didn’t happen as hoped in June, Haren said Cannabis Control is still ahead of schedule. Technically, they have until Sept. to issue the first batch of licenses.

“We’re very encouraged that we are a matter of weeks away from Ohioans being able to purchase legal, regulated, taxed, tested, adult-use marijuana products right here in the Buckeye State,” Haren added.

There will likely be no changes to marijuana policy until the end of the year since the chambers are in summer recess until after the Nov. election.

Here is a list of provisionally licensed facilities in Northeast Ohio:

Cuyahoga Co.

Amplify Bedford: 22803 Rockside Rd, Bedford
Amplify CH: 1782 Coventry Rd, Cleveland Heights
Cannavitz Ventures LLC: 13501 Lakewood Heights Blvd, Cleveland
Green Power OH: 13429 Lakewood Heights Blvd, Cleveland
Good Day Dispensary, LLC: 34480 Vine Street, Lake
GTI Ohio, LLC: 11818 Madison Ave, Lakewood
GTI Ohio, LLC: 1222 Prospect Ave E, Cleveland
GTI Ohio, LLC: 18607 Detroit Ave, Lakewood
Nectar Markets of Ohio, LLC: 1100 Saint Clair Ave, Euclid
OPC Retail II, LLC: 1978 W 3rd St, Cleveland
Twice The Wellness, LLC: 27900 Chagrin Boulevard, Woodmere

Summit

Greenleaf Apothecaries: 46 South Summit St., Akron
FRX Health of Cuyahoga Falls: 1682 State Rd., Cuyahoga Falls
127 OH: 737 East North St., Akron
Culture Retail Partners of Ohio, Inc.: 1568 E Archwood Ave., Akron
Curaleaf Cuyahoga Falls: 1220 Buchholzer Blvd Ste. C, Cuyahoga Falls

Lorain

CREAM Apothecaries Ohio LLC: 914 Cleveland St., Elyria
GTI Ohio: 1920 Cooper Foster Park Rd. W, Lorain
NMG OH 1: 709 Sugar Ln., Elyria
Citizen Real Estate: 5152 Grove Ave., Lorain

Stark

Citizen Real Estate, LLC: 401 Cherry Ave. NE, Canton
Mother Know’s Best, LLC: 3224 Cleveland Ave. NW, Canton
The Green Goat Dispensary, LLC: 4016 Greentree Ave. SW, Canton

Erie, Sandusky-area

Ohio Patient Access, LLC: 6019 Milan Rd., Sandusky
OPC Retail, LLC: 2344 University Dr. E, Huron
The Forst Sandusky, LLC: 5020 Milan Rd., Sandusky

Lake

127 OH, LLC: 382 Blackbrook Rd., Painesville
INSA Ohio, LLC: 27751 Chardon Rd., Willoughby Hills

Portage

Next-Level Operators, LLC: 331 E. Main St., Kent
Simple AG Ohio, LLC: 554 N. Chestnut St., Ravenna

Trumbull

B Cubed Operations Ohio, LLC: 437 E Liberty St., Hubbard
Green Leaf Medical of Ohio II, LLC: 2932 Youngstown Rd. SE, Warren

Medina

GreenBud, LLC: 5000 Park Ave. W, Seville

Ashtabula

Italian Herbs LLC: 2712 West Prospect Rd., Ashtabula

Mahoning

Quest Wellness Ohio II, LLC: 4323 Market St., Youngstown

Tuscarawas

Ratio Cannabis LLC: 1145 W. High Ave., New Philadelphia

Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.

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Ohio

3 thoughts on Ohio State hiring Arthur Smith as offensive coordinator

Published

11 hours ago

January 27, 2026

Press Room

3 thoughts on Ohio State hiring Arthur Smith as offensive coordinator

Ohio State is set to bring in Arthur Smith as its next offensive coordinator, replacing Brian Hartline, who was recently named the head coach at South Florida.

Here are three thoughts on Smith’s imminent hire:

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day values NFL experience

The hire follows a familiar pattern, as Smith is the latest coordinator to bring an NFL background to Ohio State.

Six of the eight offensive and defensive play-callers hired by Day over his tenure have spent previous years in the NFL.

Smith’s career arc most closely mirrors Matt Patricia, the Buckeyes’ current defensive coordinator. Both were rising stars during the 2010s and landed head-coaching jobs at the peak of their ascents before washing out and returning to roles as coordinators.

After Smith was fired by the Atlanta Falcons at the end of 2023, he spent two seasons as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive coordinator, helping them to twice reach the playoffs.

The approach worked well with Patricia, who elevated the Ohio State defense with NFL-style concepts that ranged from multiple fronts to coverage disguises as he replaced Jim Knowles last offseason. The Buckeyes finished 2025 with the best defense in the Football Bowl Subdivision, allowing the fewest points per game since Alabama 2011.

It figured to be worth repeating on the other side of the ball, especially after Day had relied on a first-time play-caller last year in Hartline, who had been the Buckeyes’ wide receivers coach before the promotion.

The experience of the 43-year-old Smith also allows Day to continue in a CEO-style role after remaining the primary play-caller for the offense in his first five seasons at the helm of the program. Day began delegating play-calling in 2024, though he briefly returned to the role for the College Football Playoff in December.

Arthur Smith adds a complementary strength

Smith’s best year as an offensive coordinator was with the Tennessee Titans in 2020.

The Titans were one of the highest-scoring offenses in league with an average of 30.7 points per game that ranked fourth out of 32 teams. They leaned on star running back Derrick Henry, who became only the eighth running back to rush for 2,000 yards in a season.

The Titans also finished drives during Smith’s two years as coordinator, ranking first in 2019 and second in 2020 for their red-zone touchdown percentage. They reached the end zone on three out of every four trips inside opponents’ 20-yard line.

If the success translates to Ohio State, it would pair well with the vertical passing that has long been the defining strength of Day’s offenses.

There were only five FBS quarterbacks in 2025 who completed more deep balls, as defined by Pro Football Focus as passes traveling at least 20 yards, than redshirt freshman Julian Sayin.

But the Buckeyes experienced a drop-off with both their running game, which went from 5 yards per carry in 2024 to 4.6 yards in 2025, and red-zone efficiency, where their touchdown percentage of 75.81% fell to 66.67%.

Smith should help in both areas, potential improvement that would enhance an offense that remains stacked with talent due to the return of Sayin and star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.

The absence of Chip Kelly, the former offensive coordinator who elevated the Buckeyes’ running game during their national championship season, was noticeable last fall.

The hope for the Buckeyes is that Smith can help them to rediscover the balance.

Scheme is the priority at Ohio State

Two assistants will replace Hartline.

Day made the first hire earlier in January with Cortez Hankton as receivers coach before finding Smith.

The addition of Smith will leave Ohio State with a staff of 11 primary on-field assistant coaches, one more than in recent seasons.

The expansion is the result of the NCAA’s removal of limit on staff sizes, a rule change introduced in 2024 allowing schools to hire an unlimited number of assistants to coach during practices and games.

The only restriction that remains in effect involves recruiting. FBS teams can send only 10 assistants off campus to recruit in addition to their head coach.

The current setup suggests Smith would not be out recruiting. It would be a rare arrangement for a coordinator, but not unprecedented, as Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has other assistants on the road in place of offensive coordinator Chad Morris and defensive coordinator Tom Allen.

As Ohio State moves in a similar direction, it would leave Smith largely focused on game planning and play-calling for their offense without having to travel for recruiting.

Smith would also be Day’s first offensive coordinator without being assigned to a position group.

Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Email him at jkaufman@dispatch.com and follow along on Bluesky, Instagram and X for more.

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Ohio

Columbus City Council urges state to block AEP Ohio rate hikes

Published

23 hours ago

January 26, 2026

Press Room

Columbus City Council urges state to block AEP Ohio rate hikes

The Columbus City Council passed a resolution urging state regulators to block a proposed AEP Ohio rate increase.
AEP Ohio claims its proposal will save customers money, but the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel estimates it will increase bills by about $30 per month.
Councilmembers suggest large electricity users like data centers, not residents, should bear the cost of infrastructure investments.
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is expected to make a final decision on the rate case later this winter or spring.

The Columbus City Council is encouraging state regulators to protect Columbus residents from rising electricity bills.

The council passed a ceremonial resolution 9-0 on Jan. 26 asking the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to block American Electric Power Ohio’s request to raise its distribution rates in 2026 for its 1.5 million Ohio customers.

Columbus City Councilmember Christopher Wyche, chair of the council’s Public Utilities & Sustainability committee, told The Dispatch ahead of the meeting that he was bringing the resolution forward because affordability is quickly becoming the number one issue for residents. He said council is concerned because PUCO has recently approved multiple AEP Ohio rate increases.

“It is clear that we are facing not only a rising cost of living crisis, but also an urgent energy affordability crisis that will have serious impacts on Ohio residents,” Wyche said at the meeting.

This symbolic vote comes ahead of state regulators meeting this week to hear evidence in AEP Ohio’s case. The electricity distributor proposed a settlement in the case on Jan. 7 that it says will save customers money. But the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, a state agency that advocates for consumers, says the proposal is riddled with “accounting gimmicks” to disguise a rate hike.

Customers’ electric bills will actually increase by about $30 more per month after tax credits and additional charges, or riders, are factored in, according to the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel.

AEP Ohio disputes the OCC’s assertions, saying its proposal will save customers $1.22 per month. But the electricity provider’s proposed rate decrease is only possible due to a credit it owes customers anyways, according to information the company sent to The Dispatch. Due to Accumulated Deferred Income Taxes, AEP Ohio owes customers $82 million. The credit is temporary and will run out in 18 months.

Wyche said the invited AEP Ohio representatives to speak at the City Council meeting but the utility declined. Speaking of its proposal, an AEP Ohio spokesperson previously told The Dispatch in an email:

“This is a good thing for AEP Ohio customers – it means all parties took concerns about affordability seriously. This settlement also allows AEP Ohio to invest in delivering reliable electricity safely, as well as make local infrastructure investments in local communities that drive economic development.”

Wyche told The Dispatch that increased strain on local electricity infrastructure is being driven by large users like data centers, adding that he’d like to see the burden placed on those businesses rather than residential customers. He said the state should require data centers to be built more sustainably so residents don’t foot the bill.

In the resolution, City Council urges PUCO to conduct a study on the impact of data centers on residential customers’ rates.

“A growing region needs to invest in its infrastructure, but longtime residents and working families shouldn’t shoulder that cost,” said Columbus City Council President Shannon G. Hardin in a statement released after the vote. “Runaway utility bills are pushing families to the brink, just to keep the lights on.”

The council’s action follows advocacy from the Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund and Columbus Stand Up. Columbus Stand Up has collected more than 2,500 signatures on its petition opposing rate hikes.

“AEP operates as an exploitive monopoly and without firm intervention, it will continue to extract resources from households, schools and public institutions across the state,” Columbus Stand Up co-founder Kwesi Low said at the meeting.

Because of the severe winter weather, the scheduled start of the PUCO evidentiary hearing was continued to Jan. 28, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. in Hearing Room 11-A at the offices of the commission, 180 E. Broad St., 11th Floor, Columbus. PUCO expects to make a decision in AEP Ohio’s case later this winter or spring, according to a spokesperson for PUCO.

Columbus Stand Up also moved its “Lights Out on AEP Rally” from Jan. 27 to Jan. 28 at noon at PUCO headquarters.

The city council meeting on Jan. 26 was held virtually due to winter storm Fern’s lingering impact. The budget hearing scheduled for Jan. 27 will also be held virtually due to the weather.

Government and politics reporter Jordan Laird can be reached at jlaird@dispatch.com. Follow her on X, Instagram and Bluesky at @LairdWrites.

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Ohio

Snow emergency levels remain high in Ohio. What it means for travel

Published

1 day ago

January 26, 2026

Press Room

Snow emergency levels remain high in Ohio. What it means for travel

Hamilton County is under a level 3 snow emergency and several local counties remain under level 2 snow emergencies, meaning only those who consider it necessary should be out on the roads as cleanup from this weekend’s winter storm continues.

Clermont, Warren and Butler counties in Ohio and Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties in Northern Kentucky remain under level 2 snow emergencies.

Under a level 3, roads are closed to non-emergency personnel. “No one should be driving unless it is a personal emergency,” a sheriff’s office alert states.

Under a level 2, only drivers who consider it necessary to travel should be on the roads. Under level 1, no roads are closed but unnecessary travel is discouraged.

Snow emergency levels in Greater Cincinnati, NKY counties

Snow emergency levels in local counties as of 5:45 a.m. Monday, Jan. 26.

Butler County: Level 2
Clermont County: Level 2
Hamilton County: Level 3
Warren County: Level 2
Boone County: Level 2
Campbell County: Level 2
Kenton County: Level 2

Snow emergency level in cities

Bellevue: Level 1 snow emergency effective noon Saturday. Avoid parking on streets, especially cul-de-sacs. Park as close to the curb as possible.
Blue Ash: Snow emergency through Tuesday, Jan. 27 at 5 p.m. Vehicles will face fines or towing for parking on city streets and public right-of-ways.
Cincinnati: Snow emergency starting Saturday afternoon. Move vehicles parked in a “Snow Emergency Zone,” indicated on parking signs. Vehicles could be towed or ticketed if they are not moved. Here is a full list of the city’s snow emergency routes.
Crestview Hills: Snow emergency effective noon Saturday to 6 p.m. Monday All vehicles must be removed from city streets.
Falmouth: Snow emergency effective at 2 p.m. Saturday. Snow emergency routes may be enforced to allow for plowing and emergency access. Parking is prohibited on those routes. Residents are advised to travel only if necessary.
Florence: Level 2 snow emergency.
Fort Mitchell: Level 2 snow emergency.
Ft. Wright : Snow emergency. All on-street parking is prohibited on all public streets.
Independence: Level 2 snow emergency. Parking is not permitted on city streets in Independence while the city is in a snow emergency.
Mount Healthy: Snow emergency from 5 p.m. Saturday to 5 p.m. Monday. No level specified. Parking on snow emergency routes prohibited.
Oxford: Level 2 snow emergency. Parking is not allowed on city streets designated as snow routes until the emergency is canceled.
Reading: Snow Emergency until noon Monday, Jan. 26
Southgate: Snow emergency effective through noon Monday.
Springdale: Snow emergency for all roads in the city starting noon Saturday, according to a Facebook post. No level specified. No parking is permitted on city streets under an emergency.
Taylor Mill: Snow emergency.

What do snow emergency levels mean?

Definitions for snow emergencies can vary by state and county, but here are the basics:

What is a level 1 snow emergency?

Roadways are hazardous due to accumulated, blowing and drifting snow and roads may be icy.
Motorists are urged to drive very cautiously.
No roadways are closed but unnecessary travel is discouraged.

What is a level 2 snow emergency?

Roadways are hazardous due to accumulated, blowing and drifting snow and roads may be very icy.
Only drive if it is necessary to do so.
Employees should contact their employer to see if they should report to work.

What is a level 3 snow emergency?

Ice, blowing and drifting snow has created extremely hazardous road conditions. Low visibility, extremely low temperatures and worsening road conditions are also factors.
Some or all county roads have been closed to all but emergency and essential persons.
No one should be on roadways unless absolutely necessary and violators could be subject to arrest.
All employees should contact their employer to see if they should report to work.

Indiana travel advisories

All of southeast Indiana is under a “red” travel warning due to the snowy conditions.

Dearborn, Switzerland and Ohio counties just outside of Cincinnati have been issued travel warnings, according the Indiana government’s live travel advisory map.

The “red” warning is the highest level of local travel advisory, meaning that travel may be restricted to emergency management workers only. During a warning, individuals are directed to:

Refrain from all travel.
Comply with necessary emergency measures.
Cooperate with public officials and disaster services forces in executing emergency operations plans.
Obey and comply with the lawful directions of properly identified officers.

This report will be updated. Enquirer media partner Fox19 contributed.

We’ve made this story free for all readers in the interest of public safety. Please consider supporting local journalists covering the community through a subscription.

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