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Good morning Ohio!
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is urging his successor to leave the state's income tax alone.
By Morgan Trau, WEWS
Year after year, Ohio has whittled down that state income tax. The governor is saying enough is enough.
By Megan Henry
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine recently signed an executive order that gives the Ohio Department of Behavioral Health the power to create a statewide-certification program for recovery housing operators.
By Kathiann Kowalski, Canary Media
Following a key legal deadline last Friday, the stage is now set for the Ohio Power Siting Board to make a final decision about whether the state’s largest solar and energy storage project to date can move ahead.
COMMENTARY
By Rin Reczek
Family estrangement often happens when these two ideas of family collide and cannot be reconciled – when one member insists that biological or origin ties and hierarchies reinforce the family unit, and another insists that behavior does.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Amanda Watford
Families who believe local officials prematurely ruled their loved ones’ deaths suicides or accidents — rather than investigating whether domestic violence played a role — are pushing lawmakers in a growing number of states to require additional scrutiny.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Madison McVan
Homeland Security investigators secretly recorded conversations, infiltrated Signal chats and obtained financial records for labor unions and progressive groups as part of a wide-ranging surveillance effort during Operation Metro Surge, according to court documents filed Thursday morning.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Amanda Watford
Flock Safety is tightening privacy and oversight controls for its nationwide network of automated license plate readers as more communities pull back from the technology and lawmakers across the political spectrum push for new restrictions.
By Amanda Watford
Some proposals would impose youth curfews or establish new requirements for parents to perform community service or pay fines — measures considered in places such as Albany County, New York; Chicago; and Columbus, Ohio.
By Amanda Watford
For more than three decades, researchers have been tracking ticks, mice, oak trees and other wildlife in a New York forest to better understand what makes Lyme disease more likely to spread.
CATCHING OUR EYE
Power. The Ohio Statehouse News Bureau’s Karen Kasler is reporting, “More Ohio households lost power because of nonpayment in the last year than previous years.”
In the last year, more Ohio households lost their power because of lack of payment than in previous years, according to an annual report from the state’s six regulated electric utilities filed with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. The leader of the state agency that advocates for ratepayers says that’s a real concern.
From June 2025 to May 2026, 344,589 Ohio households had their electric shut off for not paying. That's an average of 7.7% of customers with AEP Ohio Power, AES Ohio, Duke Energy and the three companies associated with FirstEnergy, which are CEI, Ohio Edison and Toledo Edison.
"We're in an affordability crisis," said Ohio Consumers’ Counsel Maureen Willis. "People are paying more and more for commodities like groceries and gasoline, and they're having to make choices about, should I pay my utility bill or should I pay my medical bill? So yes, affordability is a really big a big concern. And I think it's reflected in the disconnections, the rising disconnection rates."Data centers. WYSO’s Adriana Martinez-Smiley is reporting, “Springfield's $1.3B data center brings economic hope — and environmental skepticism.”
The new data center in Springfield has been meeting new construction milestones, with the first phase of construction expected to be completed within the next few months.While the company and economic development leaders see a big opportunity for job growth for the Clark County city, the new project has also been met with some resistance. This includes concerns about energy use, diesel generators and more.
The Canada-based AI infrastructure company 5C Group is constructing the $1.3 billion data center facility at Prime Ohio Corporate Park. The company is retrofitting the former LexisNexis data center to make a new, larger data center, scaling up from 67,000 square feet to 214,000 square feet.
All bets are on. Signal Ohio’s Jake Zuckerman is reporting, “DeWine called for a prop betting ban a year ago. Little has changed in Ohio.”
As Major League Baseball last July announced the suspension of two Cleveland Guardians pitchers in a sports betting scandal that would escalate into a federal wire fraud case, Gov. Mike DeWine made a bold proclamation.He said it was time to ban “all” prop bets, referring to bets on events that occur within a sport, like whether a given rush play will yield more than 7 yards or who will lead after the first half of a basketball game.
“The prop betting experiment in this country has failed badly,” DeWine said at the time.
A year later, Ohio hasn’t passed any law or rule restricting prop bets.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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