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!
When CNBC announced it rated Ohio the "Top State for Business," Republican leaders claimed it as proof that their economic policies were working for Ohioans. But that's not what the rating was meant to assess, said a journalist who helped produce it.
President and CEO of JobsOhio J.P. Nauseef (left) with Gov. Mike DeWine and First Lady Fran DeWine at a groundbreaking ceremony for Intel’s semiconductor manufacturing site, September 9, 2022, in Licking County, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for the Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original story.)
By Marty Schladen
Critics said the rankings don't pay proper attention to the severe financial difficulties in which millions of now Ohioans find themselves.
By Megan Henry
Despite Ohio ranking 12th in education overall, 68% of Ohio fourth graders were not proficient in reading and 68% of Ohio eighth graders were not proficient in math, according to the latest Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Data Book.
By Morgan Trau, WEWS
Despite saying they have plans, it is unclear how the candidates for Ohio governor will pay for their proposed property tax cuts.
EDITOR COMMENTARY
The Ohio Statehouse in Columbus. (Photo by David DeWitt, Ohio Capital Journal.)
By David DeWitt
Donald Trump lost the 2020 Election. It's a very simple, straightforward fact of history. But Ohio Republican politicians can never say this. Instead, they’ve been relentlessly attacking Ohio voters for six years in service to Donald Trump’s election lies.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Alex Brown
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, issued an executive order Tuesday that puts a moratorium on the construction of large-scale data centers.
By Nada Hassanein
Organizations serving American Indian and Alaska Native survivors of violence say reductions in federal funding have led to over 1,000 unmet requests for help, according to a new report.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Peter Hall, Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Electricity prices will remain elevated in PJM Interconnection’s 13-state service area, including Ohio, following an auction setting prices for future generating capacity. The $325-per-megawatt-day price in 2028 and 2029 is at the maximum price allowed.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Ariana Figueroa
President Donald Trump directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to resume traffic stops Wednesday, reversing a one-day pause on the policy after officers killed two immigrants who were in their vehicles in Texas and Maine.
By Jennifer Shutt
U.S. House Republicans released their latest budget resolution Wednesday, the first step in a long and complicated process that could allow Congress to approve a third party-line bill.
By Ashley Murray
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh promised Tuesday to “put these years of high inflation behind us” and lower prices, including mortgage rates, for everyday Americans as inflation remains at the highest level in two years.
By Jennifer Shutt
Members of Congress from both parties indicated Tuesday they will support additional security funding for the U.S. Supreme Court after two justices testified about a sharp rise in threats.
By Amelia Twyman
The U.S. House voted Tuesday to make daylight saving time permanent nationwide in a bipartisan move that pushes the country one step closer to ending the long-contested ritual of semiannual clock changes.
By Author Name
Sen. Darline Graham joined the U.S. Senate Tuesday, temporarily filling the seat of her late brother, Lindsey Graham.
HISTORY THURSDAY
“On this day, July 16, in 1945 the United States detonated the world’s first atomic bomb during the Trinity test in the desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico. The successful culmination of the top secret Manhattan Project marked the beginning of the atomic age and paved the way for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — and the end of World War II — just weeks later.” Learn more from Britannica
CATCHING OUR EYE
Data center dumping into rivers and streams? WBNS’ Doug Petcash reports, “Ohio EPA still reviewing proposed permit changing data center water discharge regulations.”
It has been eight months since the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency proposed a new permitting process for data centers that discharge water, and the agency said it is still working through a large volume of public feedback before making a final decision.
An Ohio EPA spokesperson said the agency is reviewing more than 7,000 public comments submitted on the proposal. There is no timeline for when a final decision will be made, the spokesperson said.
The proposal has drawn concern from advocates who worry about what could end up in the water that data centers discharge into surface waterways, including rivers, streams and lakes.Republicans have been claiming this about supply side economics for more than 50 years. Cleveland.com’s Jeremy Pelzer reports, “Vivek Ramaswamy bets economic growth will fill local funding ‘gaps’ from his proposed property-tax cuts.”
Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy suggested Tuesday that any financial “gaps” that local governments and public services would face from his plan to slash property taxes would be filled by economic growth generated from the cuts.
Ramaswamy’s comments, made Tuesday as he accepted the endorsement of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, came as the Columbus-area Republican has offered few details so far on how he would fill the significant budget holes that would be created by his proposed property-tax rollback to “pre-pandemic” levels, as well as his plan to phase out Ohio’s state income tax entirely.
Such moves, if implemented, would likely involve significant hikes to other taxes and/or major cuts to government services.Profiteering off of the presidency. Forbes reports, “Trump Is Making Three Times As Much In White House As He Did In Business.”
Donald Trump, who decades ago described himself as “a bit of a P.T. Barnum,” has finally found his most lucrative act: being president.
He took in $2.4 billion last year, according to a Forbes analysis, which overlayed his financial disclosure report with bond filings, securities documents and court records to pinpoint a more specific number than the “at least $2.2 billion” widely reported in recent weeks. The $2.4 billion figure, a combination of operating revenue and proceeds from asset sales, dwarfs the estimated $760 million Trump received in 2024. It is also 6,000 times the current U.S. presidential salary of $400,000.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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