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!
Ohio’s next governor will appoint five members of the Public Utilities Commission, which sets utility rates and sets the parameters for data centers. Ohio’s two candidates for governor have conflicting ideas on the future of data centers in the state.
Vivek Ramaswamy and Amy Acton. (Photo by WEWS.)
By Megan Henry
Democratic candidate Dr. Amy Acton calls for a conditional moratorium while Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says he wants free electricity for those near data centers.
By Morgan Trau, WEWS
Ohio Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller is staying in his race for reelection this November, refusing to drop out before the Monday deadline. This wasn't welcome news to some GOP officials, and now the RNC says they "definitely" haven't committed to helping him.
By Kathiann M. Kowalski, Canary Media
Steel giant Cleveland-Cliffs was supposed to use up to $500 million from a Biden administration grant to usher in cleaner steelmaking in SW Ohio. Now the company plans to instead put those funds toward a project that locks in old coal-based tech for decades.
COMMENTARY
U.S. Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, leaves a House Republican Conference meeting on Capitol Hill on Nov. 19, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
America's sunk so low, dishonor and disgrace don't end political careers. Ohio politicians prove it.
By Marilou Johanek
Dishonor should be disqualifying in politics. It is not. Scandalous behavior or public corruption should end political careers. They do not. Ohio politicians proved the point last week.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Kelcie Moseley-Morris
Anti-abortion organizations sent a letter to newly confirmed U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche urging him to review the Justice Department’s authority to use a 150-year-old anti-obscenity law to prevent people from obtaining abortion medication in the mail.
By Shalina Chatlani
Since President Donald Trump began his second term with a vow to crack down on illegal immigration, more than a dozen states have enacted laws designed to keep ICE away from schools. But state and local authority is limited on immigration enforcement.
By Nada Hassanein
Twenty-eight states this year have reported over 3,500 cases of patients sick with the drug-resistant yeast candida auris, which can cause severe illness and is often reported in healthcare facilities.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Ethan Young, Pennsylvania Capital-Star
A Quinnipiac University poll of 895 Pennsylvania voters conducted last month found that 74% opposed having a data center built in their community while 16% said they supported it.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Shauneen Miranda
President Donald Trump on Monday signed a sweeping executive order that aims to reshape guidance surrounding childhood vaccines, standing alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and was met with immediate pushback.
By Sam Gauntt
Todd Blanche took the oath of office as U.S. attorney general at a brief ceremony in the Oval Office Monday, following the Senate’s narrow vote to approve his nomination as the nation’s top law enforcement official over the weekend.
WEDNESDAY WISDOM
“Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything.”
-Rainer Maria Rilke
CATCHING OUR EYE
Columbus tornado? The Columbus Dispatch’s Lilli Malone reports, “National Weather Service suspects a tornado hit Columbus Aug. 11.”
The National Weather Service suspects a tornado passed through Dublin and moved down to Ohio State University in Franklin County about 10:30 a.m. Aug. 11 during a series of intense storms that hit central Ohio.
The weather service did not issue a warning for Columbus at the time of the suspected tornado because there weren't clear enough signs of one on the radar, but it did issued one in nearby Madison County.
Observers recorded 82 mph winds at John Glenn International Airport and 52 mph winds at Ohio State University Airport. The weather service said it is aware of damage done in the area, including overturned cars, structural damage and downed trees.Getting a little un-Rulli. NOTUS’ Dave Levinthal reports, “An Ohio Congressman Violated the STOCK Act With 22 Late Disclosures: Rep. Michael Rulli failed to properly reveal trades in Palantir, Pfizer and several tech giants.”
Rep. Michael Rulli failed to properly disclose 22 personal stock trades, according to a NOTUS review of new congressional financial records, making him the latest member of Congress to violate a federal insider trading and transparency law.
The Ohio Republican was months late revealing that he had bought or sold shares in companies including defense and immigration contractor Palantir, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and several tech companies, such as Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Oracle.
Rulli is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over telecommunications, consumer protection, drug safety, energy policy, and interstate and foreign commerce.Declaring a national security emergency during the elections? Cleveland.com’s Rachel Cohen reports, “Trump hints at possible next election plan: ‘Stranger things have happened.’”
President Donald Trump is not dismissing the possibility of bypassing Senate Republicans if they don’t muscle through a sweeping federal elections bill that he has made a centerpiece of his second-term agenda.
In a pre-taped interview aired early Tuesday on Real America’s Voice TV, Trump left a door open if the SAVE America Act were to not be passed in the upper chamber by November.
Trump was told by conservative host Wayne Allyn Root that he could declare a national security emergency ahead of the midterm elections.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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