The morning newsletter of the Ohio Capital Journal
Reporting for the People
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By David DeWitt | Editor in Chief
Good morning Ohio!
FBI agents last week conducted a statewide sweep targeting an Ohio group that promotes voting rights and registration. Federal law enforcement hasn't given any on-the-record explanation of its actions or produced any legal documents justifying them.
The back of an FBI agent. File photo from Getty Images.
By Marty Schladen
The Ohio Organizing Collaborative has mostly been mum as well. Meanwhile, condemnations by other rights groups of the searches and seizures continue to flood in. They accuse the Trump administration of trying to suppress voter-registration efforts.
By Megan Henry
The future of Haitians living in Ohio with temporary protected status hangs in the balance of a United States Supreme Court decision that could come as soon as this week or next.
By Tyler Spence, NOTUS
A top aide to Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted maintained a paid consulting relationship with an Ohio lobbying firm while serving as the senator’s senior adviser, according to a federal financial disclosure filing.
By Nick Evans
Ohio Democrats are making a final plea to Gov. Mike DeWine to veto a bill setting the ground rules for submetering companies in the state. The measure includes several provisions meant to rein in the utility resellers, but critics say it doesn’t go far enough.
By Molly Ashford, Nebraska Public Media
Investigators were reportedly tipped off to the plot an attempted shooting and explosive drone attack at the White House UFC fight that took place on Sunday after the family of 19-year-old Ohio man became alarmed by his alleged recent behavior and activities.
COMMENTARY
File photo of fracking pumpjacks. (Getty Images.)
By Rob Moore
A proposed Ohio bill would require more chemical reporting by fracking well owners and establish wastewater testing. Requirements like this can be an effective tool for making energy markets more efficient and safeguarding environmental and public health.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Kevin Hardy
Families are facing rising grocery prices at the same time that many of the most vulnerable are losing access to food assistance. More than 4 million Americans lost SNAP benefits between February 2025 and this February, according to analyses.
By Tim Henderson
May housing starts fell to the lowest level since the pandemic disrupted construction six years ago, the U.S. Census Bureau announced Tuesday. Builder confidence has dropped recently because of higher material and financing costs.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Ben Solis, Michigan Advance
Michigan Senate Democrats on Tuesday celebrated the passage of a state-focused Voting Rights Act, although the legislation now heads to the Republican-led House of Representatives, which is unlikely to rush the four-bill package to the governor’s desk.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Shauneen Miranda
The U.S. Department of Education announced sweeping efforts Tuesday to outsource its special education programs and civil rights enforcement to other agencies, in another major step by President Trump’s administration to dismantle the department.
By Jennifer Shutt
U.S. senators from both political parties said Tuesday they had yet to see the text of the deal Trump administration officials struck over the weekend to end the war in Iran, though several indicated any final agreement will require their approval.
By Sam Gauntt
The Atlantic Ocean is predicted to have a tamer-than-usual hurricane season this year, but experts say it’s necessary to remain vigilant as it can take only one serious storm to cause significant damage.
By Ariana Figueroa
The Department of Justice Tuesday issued a new indictment against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the man accused of killing one West Virginia National Guard member and wounding another in an attack in the nation’s capital, including six new charges that qualify for the death penalty.
HISTORY THURSDAY
“On June 18, 1812, President James Madison was authorized by a declaration of war against Great Britain to use military forces, which marked the beginning of the War of 1812. Frustrated by Britain’s maritime practices and support of Native American resistance to western expansion, the U.S. entered the war with ambitious plans to conquer Canada, a goal that was never realized.” Read more from the Library of Congress
CATCHING OUR EYE
Oil prices. The Economist reports, “Deal or no deal, oil prices will stay high for months.”
Most analysts expect overall Gulf production to reach 30-50% of February levels by mid-July, 60-70% by mid-September and 80-90% by the end of the year. In this scenario Brent would edge towards $75 a barrel. Prices in the Gulf and outside it, which diverged when the strait was first shut, are converging again.
Still, the pre-war world of abundant oil is a long way off. For one thing, even if outbound vessels start crossing Hormuz soon, inbound ones may not return in full for four or five months, predicts BRS, a ship broker. The 50 or so of the biggest crude carriers waiting outside the Gulf or off the Indian coast can load only about two weeks’ worth of pre-war Middle Eastern exports. Many ships that migrated to safe and lucrative Atlantic routes when the war started must complete their current voyages and will wait for Gulf freight rates to rise before heading back. Insurers will lower premiums only when freedom of navigation is guaranteed and large operators have been crossing the strait for weeks, says Ellis Morley of Howden, an insurance broker.Taxpayer-funded ballroom. The Washington Post reports, “Trump said no taxpayer money would be spent on the ballroom. A contractor’s invoices show otherwise.”
Five months after the demolition of the White House’s East Wing, President Donald Trump claimed that the project to construct a massive ballroom and a bunker in its place would cost up to $400 million and that private donors would pay for all of it.
“This is taxpayer-free. We have no taxpayer putting up 10 cents,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on March 31, describing the project as including bomb shelters and major medical facilities.
But a detailed project summary prepared for the White House by the contractor more than three weeks before Trump’s comments estimated the total construction cost at $600 million — with more than half coming from taxpayers, according to a copy of the contractor estimate obtained by The Washington Post.Peter Thiel’s secret society. WIRED reports, “Leak Exposes Members of Peter Thiel’s Secretive ‘Dialog’ Society.”
More than 200 of the world's elites registered for a retreat whose agenda runs from panels on cult-building and sex to prepping for World War III. An associated app offers matchmaking.
A trove of internal records from a secret society for powerful figures in US politics, finance, and tech was left exposed online, WIRED has confirmed, naming participants in its events and revealing sensitive personal details they were assured would stay private.
The group, called Dialog, is a private, invitation-only organization cofounded in 2006 by the billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel. It convenes US officials, foreign government figures, and Silicon Valley executives at off-the-record annual retreats. Dialog has spent two decades declining to disclose its members.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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