Ohio

Two rulings against open records. Is Ohio Supreme Court shifting away from transparency?

Published

1 year ago

May 8, 2024

Two rulings against open records. Is Ohio Supreme Court shifting away from transparency?

In a matter of four months, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled against releasing information in two public records cases, and it is now weighing what to do two other high-profile records fights.

In a 4-3 decision issued in January, the court held that the cost of sending troopers to protect the governor at a Super Bowl game weren’t subject to disclosure. And in a 5-2 ruling in April, the court said that the Ohio Department of Health should redact from a database the names and addresses of Ohioans who had died, even though that death certificate information is released on a one-by-one basis.

Both of those lawsuits were filed by the owners of this newspaper.

Pending before the court now are two cases about whether police officers’ names can be withheld under a new law that is supposed to protect crime victims.

Cleveland area attorney Brian Bardwell, a former journalist who operates Speech Law LLC, said the two recent rulings are evidence of a long-running hostility toward open records from the Ohio Supreme Court.

“When it comes to government accountability, civil rights, public records, the solutions for the courts is always to just close the doors tighter and tighter and keep people out. They just want people to stop filing these cases and go away,” Bardwell said. “What they really need to do is start doling out harsher and harsher punishment to mayors and public police officers and other government officers who want to operate behind closed doors.”

But Columbus attorney Fred Gittes, who has been litigating open government cases for nearly five decades, said it’s difficult to predict how the supreme court will rule on records cases and the two decisions this year don’t make a pattern.

Ohio’s ‘sunshine’ laws

Ohio has “sunshine” laws designed to hold governments accountable and help the public know what their governments are doing.

The open records law lays out what records − budgets, meeting minutes, personnel files, police reports and more − must be disclosed upon request. The open meetings act requires public bodies to hold their meetings in the open.

Both laws have exceptions. For example, public bodies can meet behind closed doors to discuss pending litigation or the purchase of property. The open records law allows withholding records related to trial preparation, juveniles, public employees’ home addresses and other matters.

Should police officers’ names be disclosed?

The Ohio Supreme Court is considering other public records cases that could have sweeping implications for open government. Two cases involve how to interpret Marsy’s Law, a voter-approved constitutional amendment that is supposed to protect and support crime victims.

Police agencies across Ohio have used Marsy’s Law as grounds for not disclosing names of officers involved in fatal shootings and use of force. In cases where officers have been assaulted or injured in those incidents, they’re categorized as crime victims.

Nadine Young asked the Ohio Supreme Court to order the Blendon Twp. Police Department to disclose the names of the two officers involved in fatally shooting her daughter, Ta’Kiya Young, in a Kroger parking lot in August 2023. The police department argued that Young assaulted officers with her car, making them the victims.

The Young family and the Ohio Crime Victims Justice Center sued over the redactions, saying Ta’Kiya Young was the crime victim, not the officers. The Ohio Supreme Court ordered the police department to identify the officers to the court but has yet to rule on the overall case.

The Columbus Dispatch filed a similar lawsuit in October 2023 against Columbus police for failing to disclose names of officers involved in fatal shootings and use of force.

Police and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office declined to release footage or names after four officers and a deputy were involved in a July 2023 shooting that left 45-year-old Antwan Lindsey dead.

After three young boys were shot and killed at their home in Clermont County in June 2023, the sheriff’s office cited Marsy’s Law and redacted documents containing the officers’ narratives of the incident.

Cincinnati police have been withholding the names of homicide victims and redacting their names from incident reports for months, citing Marsy’s Law.

And the Akron Beacon Journal is suing the city of Akron to force disclosure of the identities of officers involved in three separate fatal shootings. That case, filed in 2022, does not involve Marsy’s Law. It is pending before the Ohio Supreme Court.

Gittes said in his opinion, police shouldn’t be allowed to keep their identities secret under Marsy’s Law because officers’ accountability is crucial given their power to arrest and use deadly force.

Without transparency, there is no accountability, he said.

Bardwell isn’t hopeful that the Ohio Supreme Court will rule in favor of transparency in the Marsy’s Law cases and that will give police agencies the go-ahead to hide more records. “If you give the police an inch on secrecy, they’re going to take a mile and I’m betting that’s where we’ll end up here as well.”

Lawmakers probably won’t make changes

State lawmakers could change the state law that describes how Marsy’s Law operates, change the laws that protect health care information from disclosure or make other tweaks to increase transparency.

“I won’t be holding my breath on it,” Bardwell said.

Gittes agreed and said lawmakers are more likely to add more exemptions to the open records law.

“Over the last few decades, the Legislature has been increasingly hostile to open government, records in particular,” he said.

Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

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Ohio

Northeast Ohio woman wins $100,000

Published

16 hours ago

October 30, 2025

Press Room

BEACH CITY, Ohio (WJW) – A Northeast Ohio woman is feeling lucky after finally winning big playing the Ohio lottery.

According to the Ohio Lottery, the winner is $100,000 richer after her ticket matched all five of the Rolling Cash 5 winning numbers: 11-14-19-25-29.

According to the lottery, the woman said she plays almost every day, but this is the first time she’s gotten a big winning prize.

After taxes, she will receive $72,875.00.

The winning ticket was claimed at Lucky Choice located at 577 W. Nationwide Blvd. in Columbus.

“She still is in shock, so she doesn’t have any immediate plans for her prize,” the Ohio Lottery website said.

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Ohio

A year later, here’s how much Beard bridge fire has cost taxpayers so far

Published

1 day ago

October 30, 2025

Press Room

A year later, here’s how much Beard bridge fire has cost taxpayers so far

A year-ago fire under the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge led to a 100-day closure.
Ohio spent nearly $8.7 million on bridge repairs, while Cincinnati will spend about $2 million to replace a destroyed playground.
Four suspects were arrested in connection with the fire, with one sentenced to up to 13.5 years in prison for arson.

Ohio spent close to $8.7 million to reopen the Daniel Carter Beard bridge over the Ohio River following the catastrophic year-ago fire that closed the bridge for 100 days.

The city of Cincinnati will be spending about $2 million more to replace the playground under the bridge, destroyed by the fire.

That $10.7 million price tag – which does not include the cost of city, county or state employees, some of whom continue to manage fire-related work – is less than an earlier estimate of $13 million.

But whatever the amount, taxpayers are the ones footing the bills.

“It’s unfortunately just part of doing business,” said Matt Bruning, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Transportation. “We have to absorb that.”

Fire brings 4 arrests, 100 days of disruption

Cincinnati fire officials were called to the base the Beard bridge at 3:20 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2024.

That’s where fire erupted around 3 a.m. at the 1000 Hands Playground in Sawyer Point Park along the river.

The Ohio Department of Transportation immediately closed the bridge, reopening the northbound side that night and later saying the southbound lanes would remain closed until mid-March. Even though Kentucky owns the bridge, Ohio took the lead because the fire damaged Interstate 471 on the Ohio side of the river rather than the bridge itself.

By Dec. 11, Cincinnati officials had arrested four suspects in connection with the fire, with county officials taking the four to court.

On Feb. 9, 100 days after the fire, the state reopened the bridge in full, ahead of the March target.

That chronology is now part of the history of the Beard bridge, named for the founder of the Boy Scouts of America, opened in 1976, and nicknamed the Big Mac for a shape and color that resemble McDonald’s iconic “M.” It cost $14 million then – what would be close to $75 million in 2025 dollars.

ODOT spent $8.7 million, before staff expenses

Ohio’s transportation department brought on Great Lakes Construction Co. of Hinckley, Ohio, to manage the repair work.

Working with more than two dozen subcontractors, Great Lakes demolished and replaced two sections of I-471’s bridge deck, along with warped steel beams. Contractors also repaired about 70 feet of damaged wall on the northbound side of the interstate.

The state paid Great Lakes close to $6.8 million, part of which went to subcontractors. It paid another $1.2 million for a painting contractor, $433,000 in engineering and other consulting fees, and $286,000 for inspections.

The state’s $8.7 million bill does not include what it paid ODOT employees diverted to the Beard project.

Its communication staff, as one example, produced close to four dozen press releases over 100 days with bridge-related updates.

Lead suspect now serving time in Ohio prison

Some costs of the bridge disaster are harder to quantify.

That includes work by the Cincinnati Fire Department to investigate the case, Cincinnati Police Department to arrest the suspects, and Hamilton County courts and prosecutor’s office to try them. It also includes costs absorbed by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections to jail one of the convicted suspects.

The suspects who created those costs include:

James Hamilton and Kaitlen Hall, who both pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in the case. Each was sentenced to probation and community service.
Zachary Stumpf, who pleaded guilty to obstructuring justice and was sentenced to three years of probation.
Terry Stiles, who admitted to one count of arson and one count of aggravated arson. He earned a sentence of nine to 13 ½ years in prison. Now 40, Stiles began serving time at Noble Correction Institution in the eastern Ohio town of Caldwell on June 11.

Prosecutors said Stiles and Stumpf set the fire, with Hall providing transportation. The three had been driving around the area that night, looking for scooters to steal, prosecutors said earlier. Hamilton was not present for the fire, but attempted to help the other suspects evade arrest, attorneys said.

Replacement of 1000 Hands Playground will include public, private funds

Fire-related costs also include $1.9 million to $2.1 million to replace the 21-year-old 1000 Hands Playground destroyed in the fire. Between $600,000 and $700,000 of that will go to playground equipment.

Cincinnati Parks Foundation will raise an unknown portion of those dollars, with the city covering the balance.

The Cincinnati Parks board OK’d a $50,000 down payment for the project in May, with parks officials bringing on Midstates Recreation of Pataskala, Ohio, to design it.

Parks officials will release a preliminary design for public feedback soon, spokesman Rocky Merz said. A final design should be complete early next year, he said.

The new playground will cover 11,000 to 14,000 square feet, to be installed east of the 1000 Hands site and south of the volleyball, tennis and pickleball courts at Sawyer Point.

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Ohio

Five reasons for concern for Penn State against Ohio State

Published

2 days ago

October 29, 2025

Press Room

Five reasons for concern for Penn State against Ohio State

After reading the headline to this article, Penn State fans will be hard-pressed not to ask, “where to start”? From where this game started in people’s minds in the preseason to now, everything concerning the Nittany Lions has gone downhill, while everything concerning Ohio State is coming up aces. They are the No.1 team in the country with most of their units and players ranked first nationally in every statistic. Meanwhile, there are not many positive vibes coming from Happy Valley. Thus, it will be a rough mountain to climb for the Nittany Lions on the road in the Shoe.

Here are the top five(out of many) reasons for concern for the Nittany Lions headed into their matchup with the vaunted Buckeyes.

Julian Sayin’s absurd completion percentage

For any freshman quarterback, some might say a 65% completion rate is a steady goal to have. It means that they are on track, but have something to improve upon. Say that to Julian Sayin, because he’s unlike any freshman QB ever. While some will point to the elite weapons around him, no one expected he would be completing a quite frankly absurd 80 percent of his passes. Some will also say that most of those have come on quick throws to the flats rather than any explosive throws. Still, it’s mighty impressive, and with that receiving corps, any throw is possible to make. Penn State will have to decide whether it wants to blitz at a high rate or try its best to hold up coverage. Both of those ideas could work if Sayin weren’t ambitious enough to throw the deep ball. Unfortunately for the Blue and White, he absolutely is.

Carnell Tate’s emergence

Speaking of Julian Sayin’s weapons, Carnell Tate might be the most dangerous one. Not only is he emerging as the true WR1 for this offense, but he’s making people forget about Jeremiah Smith as well, which is perhaps the scary prospect. On just 34 receptions, he has 587 yards and 6 touchdowns, averaging an astounding 17.3 yards per catch. He’s not just matching Jeremiah Smith’s output, in many ways, he could be exceeding it. For a Penn State secondary that, while it is one of the best in the nation, hasn’t been tested much, it is a daunting proposition. No defensive scheme can prepare you for Carnell Tate.

Ohio State’s record against Penn State…especially at home

This one hits harder because the Buckeyes have been tormenting the Nittany Lions even before they were a Big Ten team. Ohio State has an impressive record of 26-14 all-time against the Nittany Lions, but it’s their home record that’s so demoralizing for Penn State fans. They are 14-7 in the confines of Columbus, and to make matters worse, Penn State has only won twice in the Shoe since they became Big Ten members. It definitely hits home when you see former head coach James Franklin’s putrid resume as well. If there’s any team the Nittany Lions shouldn’t want to face in a time of crisis, it’s the Buckeyes.

Huge coaching disparity

It’s one thing to go on the road in a place you don’t often win with relatively green personnel in key areas. It’s quite another when the coach on the opposite sideline has the best all-time winning percentage in college football. Ryan Day has become the epitome of winning in college football and now has the national championship to prove it. While everyone thought there would be some growing pains with Sayin taking the reins of the offense and a high turnover on the defensive side of the football, it has been anything but, with Day really doing an exceptional job of understanding the ebbs and flows of his squad. On the other side of the spectrum, you have Terry Smith going into his second career game as head coach with a freshman QB playing in his second-ever start. Not necessarily the best of situations.

1 word: defense

This is perhaps the thing that should scare Penn State fans the most: Ethan Grunkemeyer facing this defense. In every single statistical category that matters, Ohio State is the undisputed leader. At every single level, you have elite NFL-caliber talents who get the job done no matter the team or where they’re at in the season. Players like Arvell Reese and Kenyatta Jackson sprang out of the woodwork while established vets such as Caleb Downs almost feel like they’re already playing with an NFL mentality. Ethan Grunkemeyer won’t know what’s coming to him on Saturday….even with a bye week to try and prepare.

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