The morning newsletter of the Ohio Capital Journal
Reporting for the People
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By Susan Tebben | Ohio Capital Journal
Good morning Ohio!
A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers are urging the state’s Director of Transportation to take down automated license plate readers on state roads.
Flock Safety license plate readers are typically mounted on tall poles, with a camera and solar panel on top. The company says its technology is used in more than 6,000 communities across 49 states in partnership with thousands of law enforcement agencies nationwide. (Photo courtesy of Flock Safety)
By Nick Evans
The lawmakers also urged state transportation officials to reject future permits and publicly share data about any camera that have gotten permits.
By Marty Schladen
A new report finds that as the gap between low-income workers and CEOs explodes, CEOs are not interested in protecting the social safety net.
By Kathiann Kowalski, Canary Media
Ohio has emerged as one of the top states for data center developers, with roughly 100 of the facilities already up and running and nearly 150 more on the way.
COMMENTARY
Daughter originally from foster care with mother who adopted her. (Photo by Getty Images)
By Rob Moore
Foster care is expensive. Caring for children, especially children with serious behavioral or mental health needs, requires staffing, supervision, specialized training, transportation, facilities, and crisis management.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Author Name
President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war with Canada is creating headaches for Republicans ahead of November’s midterms as high prices remain a top concern among voters.
By Robbie Sequeira
The country’s two largest school districts — New York City and Los Angeles — banned most student use of artificial intelligence in classrooms for this school year as anxiety over AI’s effect on learning intensifies.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Christine Sexton
Florida physicians want a formal hearing on the DeSantis administration’s latest effort to weaken vaccine requirements for Florida schoolchildren.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Jacob Fischler
The hotly contested U.S. Postal Service rule restricting mail-in voting usurps Congress’ authority, as well as states’ power to administer elections, more than 250 current and former members of Congress said in a filing to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday.
By Ashley Murray
Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on American goods kicked in Tuesday, escalating a trade war with one of the largest U.S. trading partners that President Donald Trump continued to antagonize over the holiday weekend.
By Jacob Fischler
The Democratic-led states and voting rights groups suing to block enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive order to restrict mail-in voting warned in briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday the policy would have disastrous consequences for the upcoming midterm elections if it is allowed to move forward.
By Ariana Figueroa
The Trump administration wants to overhaul the U.S. census to exclude noncitizens who don’t have a green card from the country’s next population count in 2030, according to a Wednesday notice in the Federal Register.
HISTORY THURSDAY
“On Sept. 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the deadliest terrorist attacks in American history. The story of that dreadful day is mostly told through the shocking video footage captured by live news broadcasts and stunned bystanders on the streets of lower Manhattan.” Read more at History.com
CATCHING OUR EYE
ICE in Springfield. WYSO’s Kathryn Mobley is reporting, “Judge issues temporary restraining order against Springfield ICE agents in ACLU case.”
A federal judge has granted a temporary restraining order against seven ICE officers operating in Springfield.
This is related to a complaint the ACLU of Ohio filed on behalf of client Sean Moorman, saying the the agents are infringing on his First Amendment rights.
The case is being heard in Dayton before Justice Michael Newman in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Moorman is a volunteer ICE watcher, who monitors the public activities of ICE agents through pictures or video. For weeks, Moorman has been documenting the agents as they detain Haitian immigrants.The Courts. WOSU Public Media’s Allie Vugrincic is reporting for The Ohio Newsroom, “Homeless people are frequently charged with crimes. How one specialized Ohio court is responding.”
For more than a year, Wednesdays in Licking County Municipal Court have been H.O.M.E. Court days.
The Housing Opportunities through Municipal Engagement court diversion program connects homeless people charged with nonviolent misdemeanor crimes to emergency housing, mental health services, doctors and more.
Judge Teresa Liston oversees the program. The mood in her court is largely joyful. Laughter punctuates the proceedings. Participants — they aren't called defendants here — talk comfortably with one another and service providers.Community Colleges. Signal Ohio and Open Campus’ Amy Morona is reporting, “‘Ghost students:’ Ohio’s community colleges are targets of financial aid fraud.”
The red flags became hard to miss at Central Ohio Technical College.
A group of applications all got filed around the same time. Applicants wanted to enroll in online-only programs and used email addresses that followed similar naming conventions. The phone numbers listed on their documents were out of service.
“It was a culmination of those patterns that made us say, ‘There’s something going on here,’” Sarah Morrison, the college’s enrollment management dean, recently told Signal Statewide.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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