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!
With prices of fuel and other petroleum products remaining high, costs are continuing to rise and consumers find themselves with less money to spend, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Ohio reported last Wednesday.
The Federal Reserve of Cleveland. (Getty Images.)
By Marty Schladen
With data center construction fueling demand for some manufactured goods, overall business activity increased moderately over the past month and a half, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland also reported last week.
By Megan Henry
A federal judge in Ohio is allowing ten businesses to continue selling hemp products and THC drinks while a lawsuit plays out.
By Megan Henry
Ohio has reported 1,316 cyclosporiasis cases as of Thursday, according to the Ohio Department of Health, as the parasite makes headlines around the country for causing gastrointestinal illness described by some as "explosive diarrhea."
By Marty Schladen
With Ohio in a heat wave and an air-quality advisory, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and the Breathing Association are reminding Ohioans that many are eligible for emergency help.
COMMENTARY
A demonstrator, visibly doused in pepper spray, reacts during a federal raid at Bro-Tex, a paper distributor St. Paul Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. Courageous citizenship may again be required this year to ensure a free and fair election. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
By J. Patrick Coolican
Trump used a national address to spew more outlandish misinformation about our election system as a pretext for aggressive federal intervention. The blueprint for pushing back is a memo circulating among pro-democracy leaders, titled, “Act Free to Be Free.”
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Shalina Chatlani
As the Trump administration continues its crackdown on illegal immigration, states and cities that have pushed back with so-called sanctuary policies have faced a barrage of lawsuits from the U.S. Department of Justice.
By Amanda Watford
As ticks spread into new parts of the U.S. and ER visits for bites climb higher than usual, states are scrambling to monitor where they are showing up, what diseases they may be carrying, and how to warn residents before a bite turns into something far more serious.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Stories from the States Podcast
Indiana officials canceled voter registrations for hundreds of immigrant Hoosiers under a new proof of citizenship law. Charrie Stambaugh was one. She has been a U.S. citizen for three decades and has cast a ballot in every election since she became eligible to vote.
NATIONAL NEWS
By David Lightman
A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision makes it easier for political parties to put their stamp on the most important campaigns, just as the struggle heats up for control of Congress in the midterm elections.
By Amelia Twyman
U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told the American Federation of Teachers’ national convention Thursday that, if successful in November’s midterm elections, a Democratic majority in the House would pursue several progressive policies.
By Shauneen Miranda
President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Labor Department on Thursday defended the agency’s major role in a broader drive by the administration to dismantle the Education Department.
By Jennifer Shutt
Republicans on the U.S. House Budget Committee approved their budget resolution Thursday, marking one small step forward in the complicated process that could allow the party to enact a third party-line bill.
By Jennifer Shutt
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that public health officials have linked the ongoing outbreak of cyclosporiasis in five states to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bell restaurants.
CATCHING OUR EYE
Weaponizing the IRS. The Wall Street Journal reports, “Top Treasury Tax Official Ousted After Clashes With White House Over IRS Audits.”
The Treasury Department’s top tax policy official was forced out of his job after he warned that the White House was at risk of violating a federal law prohibiting senior officials’ involvement in IRS audits, according to people familiar with the matter.
Kenneth Kies, an assistant Treasury secretary and acting chief counsel of the Internal Revenue Service, is leaving those posts in the coming weeks. Kies warned that political officials risked breaching a law that limits who can influence tax enforcement.Trump’s ‘Mystery Money.’ The Wall Street Journal reports, “The Mystery Money Powering Trump’s Second Term.”
Presidents have always raised money from private donors—to run for office, throw inaugural balls and build presidential libraries. But Donald Trump has turned his second term into an unprecedented fundraising blitz, raising well over half a billion dollars from wealthy donors and stashing it in a sprawling network of nonprofits, cultural institutions and committees that he and his allies control.
Companies seeking lucrative contracts or favorable policies from the administration have poured millions of dollars into these funds, which have become a key tool for Trump to pursue his political and personal priorities. He has used them to oust his political opponents, change the cultural face of the nation’s capital and boost his post-presidency legacy.
In many cases, details about where the cash is coming from or how it is being spent are shrouded in secrecy, leaving big gaps in the public’s understanding of a significant dynamic at the center of Trump’s presidency.
The Wall Street Journal documented more than $781,948,878 in donations and other payments to Trump-linked groups since the 2024 election.‘Gifts’ and graft. ProPublica reports, “FCC Officials Took Pricey Gifts From Paramount as the Company Needed Approval for Billion-Dollar Deals.”
Expensive Gifts: Despite regulating broadcast media, FCC commissioners have accepted pricey tickets to the Kennedy Center honors gala from CBS or its parent company, now Paramount.
Conflict of Interest: Ethics experts say that by accepting the gifts, FCC commissioners are compromising the agency’s impartiality and should avoid acting on Paramount’s pending merger.
Mixing Business and Pleasure: After voting for a Paramount merger, Commissioner Olivia Trusty took tickets worth over $12,000. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has accepted tickets worth at least $63,000.Profiteering off the presidency, part infinity. CNN reports, “Trump promoted companies on Truth Social days after buying their stocks.”
President Donald Trump hopped on Truth Social last year to share some “very big and exciting news.” Nvidia, the computer chip manufacturing behemoth, had just announced plans to build AI supercomputers in the United States.
“All necessary permits will be expedited and quickly delivered” to Nvidia and similar companies, Trump vowed in the April 15, 2025 post to his more than nine million followers.
What the president didn’t disclose at the time was that days earlier, he had purchased between $200,000 and $500,000 of the company’s stock.
A CNN investigation found that Trump has promoted more than 20 companies on his Truth Social account days after buying stock in those firms – at times announcing government actions that could benefit the companies he just invested in.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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