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!
More than a hundred Ohioans submitted testimony ahead of state lawmakers' Select Committee on Data Centers hearing. They raised concerns on environmental impacts, the cost of tax breaks, and the use of nondisclosure agreements to avoid public scrutiny.
An aerial view shows an Amazon data center. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
By Nick Evans
Lawmakers also received pointed critiques from Ohioans who say elected officials have been too slow to respond to their frustrations, and their response thus far has been inadequate. Many pressed lawmakers for a data center moratorium — a step they seem unwilling to take.
By Susan Tebben
Before Ohio lawmakers head for summer break, a measure to institute a 24-hour waiting period prior to an abortion is up for consideration. It would reinstitute a previous provision in state law despite a state court barring enforcement of it.
By Marty Schladen
With gas prices, utilities, and groceries going up, financial stress is a pressing issue. A new analysis by the Brookings Institution shows 40.6% of Ohio households not making enough to make ends meet, including 73% of single-parent Ohio households.
COMMENTARY
The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., which the center’s board renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center, a move now blocked and ordered reversed by a federal judge. (Photo courtesy of the Kennedy Center)
By Marilou Johanek
Congress designated The Kennedy Center as a living memorial to a slain president in 1964. Trump had his name slapped on it. An Ohio congresswoman fought back and won. With the current lawlessness, this modest vindication of the rule of law matters.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Kevin Hardy
The racial wealth gap is widening as many workers of color go without retirement savings.
By Robbie Sequeira
There were fewer homeless people in the United States on a single night in January 2025 than in January 2024, but homelessness increased in 28 states, according to the latest federal count.
By Elisha Brown
Black midwives in the South, a region rife with racial disparities in maternal health access and maternal mortality, are leading lawsuits over state regulations that they say limit their ability to provide care.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Anna Barrett
Plaintiffs seeking to maintain Alabama’s current congressional map on Monday afternoon urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a lower court’s ruling requiring Alabama to use a “race-blind” congressional map for the 2026 elections.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Author Name
President Donald Trump’s nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund appeared to be on shaky ground Monday as he continued to face opposition from his own party.
By Ashley Murray
Transgender military members won a temporary victory against the Trump administration in federal appeals court Monday when two judges ruled a policy banning them from service violated their constitutional right to equal protection under the law.
WEDNESDAY WISDOM
“A man who is so exceedingly civil that for the sake of quietude and a peaceable name will silently see the community imposed upon, or their rights invaded, may, in his principles, be a good man, but cannot be stiled a useful one, neither does he come up to the full mark of his duty; for silence becomes a kind of crime when it operates as a cover or an encouragement to the guilty.”
-Thomas Paine
CATCHING OUR EYE
Ohio public schools stressed. The Columbus Dispatch’s Cole Behrens reports, “Ohio public schools 'under tremendous stress,' with growing number facing cash deficits.”
More than 120 public schools in Ohio are projected to have negative cash balances by 2029. This is the highest rate of projected negative balances since the Great Recession.
Districts are cutting staff and programs to address multi-million dollar budget shortfalls. Experts and officials disagree on whether state funding levels or district spending is the primary cause.Big Data’s Big PR Pitch. Signal Ohio’s Jake Zuckerman reports, “As political pressure mounts, Ohio’s data centers buy $10,000 in ads and lobby up.”
As data centers face increasing political and public scrutiny, the industry in Ohio has built up a lobbying and PR apparatus to punch back.
At the statehouse, the Data Center Coalition, a trade association, and its individual members have hired a fleet at least 51 lobbyists, according to a review of state lobbying disclosures. The bulk of them work for either Google (19 registered agents) or Meta (14).Guns for perpetrators of domestic violence. Laura A. Bischoff reports in the Cincinnati Enquirer, “Ohio Supreme Court says people convicted of domestic violence can get guns back.”
In a case closely watched by domestic violence groups, the Ohio Supreme Court on June 2 said a man with a criminal history of domestic violence can petition a state court to get his gun rights restored.
Justice Pat DeWine authored the 6-1 majority opinion. Justice Jennifer Brunner dissented.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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