The morning newsletter of the Ohio Capital Journal
Reporting for the People
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By Susan Tebben | Ohio Capital Journal
Good morning Ohio!
Federal courts have blocked a voter registration provision slipped into Ohio’s latest two-year transportation budget. The change requires Ohioans registering to vote at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to present proof of citizenship in order to register.
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
By Nick Evans
The organizations Red, Wine and Blue and the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans challenged the policy in federal court. Secretary of State Frank LaRose has promised to appeal.
By Morgan Trau, WEWS
Ohio's county election officials are warning against President Donald Trump's proposed changes to mail-in ballot procedures, saying the restrictions could delay access, increase costs and add significant stress to already busy workers.
By Kathiann Kowalski, Canary Media
A troubling trend has shown up in some communities around the U.S.: Public officials are being inundated with seemingly fake public feedback that aims to block renewable energy and promote fossil fuels. In Ohio, one of the states grappling with this issue, regulators have done little to crack down on the problem.
COMMENTARY
By Todd Larsen
Data centers are notorious energy hogs. With each hyperscale data center using as much energy as an entire city, they’re polluting surrounding areas, straining grids, and raising electric rates nationwide.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Anna Claire Vollers
A summer of food recalls, including the record-shattering cyclosporiasis outbreak tied to iceberg lettuce that has sickened thousands, has raised many Americans’ fears of contracting a foodborne illness.
By Kelcie Moseley-Morris
A federal judge in Texas on Sunday paused a lawsuit seeking to revoke nationwide approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, saying the case won’t be heard until at least Dec. 1 and granting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s request for a stay to continue its safety review of the drug.
By Alex Brown
The Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from 22 states sued Amazon Monday, claiming the online retail company used artificial bids to inflate costs for advertisers, bringing in tens of billions of dollars.
By Nada Hassanein
LGBTQ+ adults are more likely than other adults to miss healthcare appointments due to cost or other reasons — with a third reporting their health worsened as a result, according to a new survey by health policy research group KFF.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Greg Childress
Ronald Hayes says he agreed to talk to a video crew about his son’s murder because he thought he would be featured in an ad against gun violence. But the ad is actually aimed at smearing the political record of former Gov. Roy Cooper, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Jacob Fischler
A Massachusetts federal judge on Monday declined the Trump administration’s request to overturn the temporary restraining order she signed last week that blocks the U.S. Postal Service from carrying out a rule placing new restrictions on mail-in voting.
By Ariana Figueroa
A federal judge over the weekend allowed the Trump administration to force-feed the man charged with shooting two National Guard members, killing one and injuring another, in the District of Columbia in November.
By Ashley Murray
President Donald Trump does not have to follow a lower court order to stop aboveground construction on his $400 million East Wing ballroom, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday in a 5-4 decision, all but guaranteeing work on the new complex will continue to accelerate.
CATCHING OUR EYE
Beef. The Statehouse News Bureau’s Karen Kasler is reporting, “Ohio farmers push back on Trump's 90-day tariff free imported beef plan.”
Ohio’s farmers could be hit hard by President Trump’s new round of 50% tariffs on most goods from Canada that started Aug 22, and Canada's retaliatory tariffs starting Sept. 8. But they're also very concerned about another big tariff action that starts on Tuesday.
Farmers support the goal of leveling the playing field with other countries, which tariffs seek to do, said Jack Irvin with the Ohio Farm Bureau. But they’ve been mostly critical of tariffs, including the 90-day expansion of lower-tariff imports for up to 300,000 metric tons of beef, which Trump said will lower record prices consumers have been paying.Vaccines. The Ohio Newsroom’s Erin Gottsacker is reporting, “More Ohio kindergartners are getting vaccine exemptions, amid measles outbreak.”
A growing share of Ohio parents are opting not to vaccinate their kids for diseases like measles and polio.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows nearly 6% of the state’s kindergartners got vaccine exemptions last school year. That’s more than double the percentage of Ohio kids who got vaccine exemptions prior to the COVID pandemic — and it’s higher than the national exemption rate of about 4%.
“Unfortunately, when parents do not vaccinate their children, diseases that aren't normally seen can pop back up,” said Valerie Wallace, a communicable disease nurse with the Tuscarawas County Health Department. “We in Tuscarawas County are having a measles outbreak right now that's happening in the unvaccinated community.”ICE. WYSO’s Adriana Martinez-Smiley is reporting, “As ICE agents descend on Ohio towns, many local agencies are silent on whether they’re assisting.”
On July 27, the Department of Homeland Security ended Temporary Protected Status for Haiti, Syria and Yemen.
Temporary Protected Status allowed hundreds of thousands of Haitians, Syrians and Yemeni people to live and work legally in the U.S. while their home countries experienced political violence and turmoil.
With the change in legal status, locals in Springfield have noticed a heightened Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence and arrests in the community in recent weeks. Local law enforcement agencies are deciding what level of cooperation they want to have with them.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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