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!
Economists say Ohio's heavy data center subsidies are a bad idea. But they say banning construction of large new centers is also a bad idea.
An aerial view shows an Amazon data center. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
By Marty Schladen
As electric bills and executive pay at utility and AI companies spike, Ohioans are questioning why they’re being forced to subsidize data centers.
By Nick Evans
The organizers leading an effort to abolish Ohio property taxes are coming to a crossroads. By July 1, the campaign needs to decide if it wants to attempt to get on this year’s ballot or keep its powder dry and wait for another election down the road.
By Megan Henry
Franklin County’s annual count has identified 2,587 people experiencing homelessness. Sheltered homelessness decreased by 8% with 165 fewer people in emergency shelters and transitional housing, but unsheltered homelessness increased 43%.
COMMENTARY
Jockey James “Jimmy” Winkfield aboard Alan-a-Dale, the winner of the 1902 Kentucky Derby. Winkfield was the last Black jockey to win the Derby. (Public domain photo via Wikicommons)
By Michael A. Wolff
The history of the Kentucky Derby, like the history of voting rights, tells the story of race relations in the United States.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Robbie Sequeira
The U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s annual one-night count of those experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness is projected to show a decline after a record-high surge in 2024, according to a new report.
By Alex Brown
Western states are heading into the summer with a desperately low balance of snowpack that usually covers the Rockies. That low balance is now threatening wildfires, drinking water, crops, electricity, and more.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Stories from the States Podcast
The U.S. Supreme Court decision gutting the Voting Rights Act could upend American politics and hold sweeping consequences for how states and local governments draw district lines at all levels of government, from Congress to school boards.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Shauneen Miranda
The federal student loan system is set to see a dramatic overhaul beginning this summer, and critics warn it likely will make loans more expensive and difficult to obtain for borrowers — driving them to private lenders or altering their plans for higher education.
By Ashley Murray
President Trump’s trade agenda faced another major setback Thursday when the U.S. Court of International Trade handed a win to two small businesses and the state of Washington after they challenged the president's 10% global tariffs.
By Jennifer Shutt
State governments should shoulder more of the cost and responsibility for natural disaster recovery, according to a report released Thursday by the Federal Emergency Management Agency review council.
By Jennifer Shutt
Attorneys for the Trump administration argued before a federal appeals court Thursday the Pentagon should be able to reprimand Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly for reminding members of the military they can refuse illegal orders, and for criticizing the Defense Department.
CATCHING OUR EYE
Water. Cleveland Scene’s Mark Oprea reports, “Cleveland Agrees to $3 Million Settlement in Water Department Discrimination Lawsuit.”
In 2013, after a post-stroke spinal fracture, Albert Pickett, Jr. moved back into his childhood home in East Cleveland. But there was a problem. His mother had about $550 in overdue water bill payments.
On disability, Pickett was denied a payment plan with Cleveland Water. That same year, his water was shut off. He went six years without running water.
A 2019 class action lawsuit against the city detailed his case and those of others that argued residents were denied proper due process: Pickett, like hundreds of other Cleveland Water customers in the past six years, was never directed to the utility’s Water Review Board for a chance to dispute his shut off.Cop cameras. The Dayton Daily News’ Sydney Dawes reports, “‘This doesn’t feel like public safety’: Daytonians call for removal of Flock cameras.”
Dozens of Dayton residents are calling on city leaders to cancel their contract with an automated license plate reader vendor, remove the cameras from the city, release all audit reports associated with the camera system and hold a public hearing where officials must present facts under oath, among other actions.Make pollution great again. ProPublica reports, “Trump Exempted Some of the Nation’s Biggest Polluters From Air Quality Rules. All It Took Was an Email.”
The Trump administration has granted more than 180 polluting facilities nationwide a two-year pause on compliance with Clean Air Act rules.
The administration set up an email address through the Environmental Protection Agency where companies simply had to send an email to make their request.
The EPA’s air quality experts played no meaningful role in determining whether a facility should be handed an exemption to the rules, according to the agency.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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