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Senate Leadership Fund, Ohio NBC affiliate spar over Sen. Sherrod Brown 'too liberal for Ohio' fact-check

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Senate Leadership Fund, Ohio NBC affiliate spar over Sen. Sherrod Brown 'too liberal for Ohio' fact-check

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There is beef over an Ohio political ad. 

A conservative Super Pac has urged an Ohio NBC affiliate to correct an on-air fact-check by an analyst with a liberal social media history who disputed claims that Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown supported sex changes for minors and biological men in women’s sports — but the Cleveland-based station doesn’t appear concerned. 

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The Senate Leadership Fund put out an ad criticizing Brown for backing President Biden’s “extreme liberal agenda,” claiming the Ohio Democrat backed Biden by “voting to let transgender, biological men participate in women’s sports,” supporting and “allowing puberty blockers and sex change surgeries for minor children,” in addition to supporting Bidenomics.   

The Senate Leadership Fund, which is aligned with Sen. Mitch McConnell and was created to help build a Republican Senate majority, concluded that Brown, who is being challenged by Trump-backed businessman Bernie Moreno, is “too liberal for Ohio.”

WKYC digital anchor and legal analyst Stephanie Haney fact-checked the ad, saying its assertions were false. WKYC aired a portion of the ad before Haney took the Super Pac to task.

‘PREGNANT PERSONS’: OHIO SEN SHERROD BROWN SCRUBBED ‘WOMEN’ FROM BILL ON PREGNANCY

WKYC digital anchor and legal analyst Stephanie Haney declared assertions in a Senate Leadership Fund ad were false. 

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“Let’s start with the claim that Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown supported allowing puberty blockers and sex change surgeries for minor children,” Haney said, noting that the ad cited an interview Brown did in 2023 with WSYX.

“A child’s health care decisions are between them, their parents, their families, their doctors, not politicians,” a clip of Brown said. “I will never agree with anybody that wants to bring politics into the family situation with health care. Period.”

Haney then read a statement from Brown’s campaign team: “Sherrod’s comments cited in the ad were not in support of puberty blockers or gender reassignment surgeries, but instead a call to keep politicians out of decisions that should be made between families and doctors.”

Haney told viewers she could “verify” the Senate Leadership Fund claims were “false.”

Haney, who has called former President Trump “racist” and fawned over former President Obama on her X account, then moved on to the claim about women’s sports.

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The Senate Leadership Fund put out an ad criticizing Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown for backing President Biden’s “extreme liberal agenda.” (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“When making the claim, the ad refers to a vote in the U.S. Senate from March of 2021. When we pull up this vote on the U.S. Senate website, we see the amendment that was the subject of the vote had nothing to do with allowing transgender people to participate in women’s sports. It was actually only about money,” Haney told viewers.

“Sen. Brown voted against including an amendment in the American Rescue Plan that would have stripped federal funding from Ohio schools if those schools allowed transgender people to participate in women’s sports,” she continued. “So, we can verify, the claim that Brown voted to let transgender biological men participate in women’s sports is false.”

Haney ultimately ruled that two claims made in the ad were verified as “false,” essentially telling viewers the Senate Leadership Fund commercial was misleading on its face.

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When the Senate Leadership Fund caught wind of the fact-checking segment, it emailed Haney to suggest the “story is missing some key pieces of information and is misleading voters” and pointed out that she never asked the Senate Leadership Fund for comment before airing the segment.

In emails obtained by Fox News Digital, Haney pushed back, insisting the ad was a public comment itself and “that statement” was included.

“I went on to fact check the sources cited in the statement, including the WSYX interview and the roll call vote from 2021. Please let me know what you believe to be missing from the piece,” Haney wrote.

The Senate Leadership Fund’s communications team responded with a scathing email.

“I work with fact checkers all the time. Not once has a journalist, or fact checker, not reached out to me for additional information, context or comment,” the Senate Leadership Fund communications director wrote.

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“What you did here is not industry practice and it’s unethical. You allowed Sherrod Brown the opportunity to respond. Sherrod Brown’s interview with WSYX and his votes to allow men to play in women’s sports are both ‘public statements.’ Yet, you allowed him to clarify, but did not give us the opportunity to provide more information,” the communications director continued. “Also, I’m not sure why you think the ad being a ‘public statement’ makes a difference here.”

The Senate Leadership Fund then informed Haney that the fact-check was missing “key information,” but the Super Pac preferred to share it with her editor or news director.

Haney obliged and added the station’s news director to the email chain, prompting the Senate Leadership Fund to send another scathing takedown.

“I just want to again reiterate that I have never had a fact checker not reach out before publishing a piece. I think it does a disservice to your viewers and the station’s credibility to not reach out for more information. Frankly, I think this ‘fact check’ was more opinion than fact, and a correction needs to be issued,” the communications director wrote.

“Sherrod Brown voted twice (March 2021 and March 2024) to allow transgender biological men to participate in women’s sports. You’re correct that both these votes involve funding, but men are still allowed to participate in women’s sports at schools that received federal funding because Brown voted against the amendment. If the amendment had passed, men would NOT be allowed to participate in women’s sports at schools that receive federal funding,” Senate Leadership Fund’s communications director continued. “Can you point to the portion of Brown’s interview with WSYX where he states he’s against puberty blockers and sex changes for minors? I couldn’t find it.”

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The Senate Leadership Fund and Haney continued to bicker over email and never came to any sort of agreement, with the pro-GOP group insisting the fact-check was inaccurate, represented “an opinion” and needed to be “updated.” 

“What this boils down to is the fact that not denouncing something does not equate to voting for it, or supporting it,” Haney wrote.

Brown’s office did not respond to a request for comment. 

Brown voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act last year. The bill “generally prohibits school athletic programs from allowing individuals whose biological sex at birth was male to participate in programs that are for women or girls.”

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In 2021, Brown sponsored an LGBTQ Pride Month resolution that included language about transgender youth participating in sports and their ability to access health care. Brown has long supported legislation that protects the well-being of transgender individuals.

WKYC and Haney did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment.

The Senate Leadership Fund stands by the ad. 

“Sherrod Brown fully supports allowing minors to receive puberty blockers and sex changes. He also supports allowing biological men to play in women’s sports. These facts are indisputable, and those who claim otherwise are looking through a partisan lens,” a spokesperson for the Senate Leadership Fund told Fox News Digital. 

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The Senate Leadership Fund stands by its ad criticizing Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown despite Stephanie Haney’s fact-check.

Haney’s social media history suggests she’s reliably liberal.

“I believe that Trump is racist and I do not support his policies,” she tweeted in 2016. 

“Trump was right. Mexico will build a wall. And will pay for it. To keep Trump out. God help us all. I’m not being dramatic,” she wrote in another 2016 tweet. 

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Haney tweeted in 2012, “I love you #Ohio! I’m happy both of my “home states” went Blue tonight! #California #Election2012 #Obama #TeamObama.”

Fox News Digital’s David Rutz contributed to this report. 

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North Dakota

WATCH LIVE: Trump speaks in North Dakota ahead of July Fourth

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WATCH LIVE: Trump speaks in North Dakota ahead of July Fourth


The president will deliver remarks at the Burning Hills Amphitheatre after touring the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, which is expected to open to the public on the nation’s semiquincentennial.

Trump arrived in Bismarck aboard the new Qatar-gifted Air Force One plane. From there, he traveled to Medora, in the western part of the state, for a private tour of the presidential library.

His speech is scheduled to start at 1:15 p.m. local time.





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Ohio

Children found in ‘deplorable’ Ohio home were part of same family

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Children found in ‘deplorable’ Ohio home were part of same family


HAMDEN, Ohio (AP) — The 16 children found living in “deplorable” conditions inside a small, dilapidated rural Ohio home are part of the same family, officials said Wednesday.

Authorities arrested four adults Tuesday on felony child endangerment charges after finding the children in the home. Some were in dire need of medical treatment, authorities said.

Vinton County prosecuting attorney William Archer said the four adults were charged with second-degree felony child endangering because it involves “serious physical harm.”

Gary Siders Jr., Gary Siders Sr., Christina Siders and Elizabeth Siders appeared in court Wednesday where a judge entered not guilty pleas on their behalf.. They have not yet been assigned lawyers.

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Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said Wednesday that the conditions inside the house in the tiny village of Hamden were almost indescribable, saying it “really looked third world.”

“It’s just almost beyond comprehension,” he said without providing details about what was inside.

It appeared that the children spent most of their time in just one room for much of the four years they lived there, Wilson said.

The house sits on a road tucked away alongside a steep railroad embankment, where tracks carry rumbling trains through Hamden. On Wednesday, its doors and windows stood open to the 94-degree Fahrenheit (34-degree Celsius) heat. A tangle of discarded children’s items — two busted bicycles, a plastic play table, a beach pail and two infant carriers — stood in a pile in the yard.

The Ohio Bureau of Investigation and local sheriff’s department searched the home on Tuesday.

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The children ranged in age from 1 1/2 years to 18 years old and included both boys and girls, officials said. Seven were transported to hospitals in Columbus and two were flown by helicopters.

Hamden has a population of less than 1,000 people and is about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southeast of Columbus.

___

Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio.

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South Dakota

Transparency, data protection laws take effect July 1

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Transparency, data protection laws take effect July 1


SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Several new South Dakota laws officially take effect July 1 after being signed into law this session.

This includes new rules on government transparency, online safety, and data privacy.

The Attorney General’s office says the changes are designed to protect South Dakotans both online and in public institutions.

The following 10 bills go into effect July 1:

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  • Senate Bill 17: Prohibits a candidate or political committee from accepting contributions or loans made by a foreign national. It was unanimously passed by both the House and Senate.
  • Senate Bill 41: Revise a provision related to criminal invasions of privacy, prohibit the creation and distribution of digitally fabricated material of an identifiable individual, and provide penalties therefor.
  • Senate Bill 42: Enhance the penalties for ingestion, possession with intent to deliver, and delivery of a controlled substance in a state correctional facility.
  • Senate Bill 43: Address search and seizure provisions applicable to digital currency.
  • Senate Bill 44: Establish investigative subpoena authority to gather business records in certain investigations.
  • Senate Bill 45: Revise a provision regulating delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol, THC-O acetate, and hexahydrocannabinol for persons under the age of under the age of twenty-one and to provide a penalty therefor.
  • Senate Bill 46: Modify the requirements for open meeting agendas and provide a penalty therefor.
  • Senate Bill 47: Revise the requirements for executive sessions and closed meetings.
  • Senate Bill 48: Clarify that an official open meeting agenda must be posted online at least seventy-two hours before the scheduled start of the meeting.
  • Senate Bill 49: Safeguards the integrity, privacy, and security of genetic data and provides a civil penalty therefor.

“These bills protect our citizens from online predators, scammers, and illegal drugs, while they strengthen transparency within state government,” said Attorney General Jackley.

Copyright 2026 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.



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