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!
Three former Ohio Supreme Court justices marched to their former workplace last week as part of a national movement to emphasize the importance of judicial independence.
Carlo, the 19-month-old dog of former Ohio Supreme Court chief justice Maureen O’Connor, walks with her, former justice Michael P. Donnelly, and other justices and judges on Wednesday. The group walked to the Ohio Supreme Court building as part of Justice in Motion, a movement urging preservation of judicial independence. (Photo by Susan Tebben / Ohio Capital Journal)
By Susan Tebben
Former Ohio Supreme Court Justices Yvette McGee Brown, Michael P. Donnelly, and former Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor decried the state law that requires party labels on state supreme court races, an Ohio Supreme Court decision to allow judges to endorse political candidates, and movements throughout the country to politicize judges' seats.
By Alan Johnson
A plan that threatens some historic Washington, D.C., cherry trees to make way for President Trump’s planned golf course is “very unfortunate,” said the great-grandson of William Howard Taft who received the Japanese trees more than a century ago.
By Doug Livingston, Brittany Hailer, Beth Schwartzapfel for The Marshall Project
Some on Ohio’s death row praised Gov. DeWine for having the courage to come out against the death penalty. Others said actions speak louder than words, and they want the governor to commute their death sentences to life without the possibility of parole.
COMMENTARY
Election workers process ballots. (Photo by Spenser Heaps, States Newsroom.)
By Doug Oplinger
Ohio’s mail-in ballot grace period began as an effort to help all Ohioans vote and avoid embarrassing catastrophes like 2004, but axing it has become a tool for disenfranchising Ohio voters and concentrating power in the hands of Republicans.
SPECIAL INVITATION
A Public Policy Briefing from States Newsroom and KFF
Spending Cuts, Work Requirements and What's Next for States, Providers and Families
July 23, 2026
12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT
Featuring
Moderator: David DeWitt - Ohio Capital Journal Editor in Chief
Robin Rudowitz - Director of KFF’s Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured
Jen Tolbert - Deputy director of KFF’s Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured and director of State Health Policy and Data
Kyle Pfannenstiel - Idaho Capital Sun reporter
Anna Claire Vollers - Stateline staff writer
**************************************************
Significant changes to Medicaid – the publicly-funded health insurance for people with low incomes – are expected to put new pressures on states, healthcare providers and those who depend on the coverage. Families and individuals are already feeling caught up in unpredictable and confusing changes, at times when they’re dealing with significant health crises.
Join healthcare policy experts from KFF and journalists from States Newsroom who cover these issues at the state and national level for an in-depth discussion on the impacts that federal funding cuts, work requirements and state policy are having on healthcare in the U.S. They’ll explain the latest developments and discuss the political debate around these changes.
Audience Q&A to follow.
ABOUT KFF
KFF is the leading health policy organization in the U.S. As a one-of-a-kind information organization, we bring together substantial capabilities in policy research, polling, and journalism in one organization to meet the need for a trusted, independent source of information on national health issues—one with the scope and reach to be a counterweight to health care’s vested interests and a voice for people.
ABOUT STATES NEWSROOM
States Newsroom is the nation’s largest nonprofit news organization dedicated to state coverage, providing non-partisan coverage of state policy and politics from all 50 states. With the acquisition of Stateline and the expansion of our D.C. bureau, we now have more than 220 full-time journalists and support staff dedicated to state-level news. Most importantly, all of this content is free to readers and to other outlets to reprint. Thousands of news organizations across the country rely on States Newsroom for coverage from their state capital.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Kevin Hardy
Household water costs could nearly double in some American cities, new research suggests, as climate change further stresses municipal water systems.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Whitney Downard, Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Roughly 98,000 Pennsylvanians no longer receive food benefits due to newly imposed requirements under the Trump/Republican One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Jacob Fischler
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s guidelines to states on how to request funding under counterterrorism grant programs include potentially illegal demands related to election administration, Democrats on the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee said Thursday.
By Amelia Twyman
President Donald Trump’s latest attack on the Smithsonian Institution represents an attempt to replace a shared American history with his own ideology, academics said as the Smithsonian defended its longstanding position as a nonpartisan actor.
By Sam Gauntt
Four senators from Maryland and Virginia, all Democrats, said Thursday they have sent a letter to the Department of the Interior, demanding answers on the Trump administration’s plan to redevelop the East Potomac Golf Links.
By Shauneen Miranda
Students pursuing several advanced degree programs can now access higher loan caps, but the temporary relief has ushered in a wave of uncertainty amid an ongoing legal battle.
By Jennifer Shutt
The former U.S Olympian charged with damaging a section of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool pleaded not guilty during a brief court hearing Thursday and was released on his own recognizance.
CATCHING OUR EYE
Data centers. Signal Ohio’s Andrew Tobias reports, “‘He’s trying to win this election’: Sherrod Brown attacks Jon Husted’s support of data centers.”
Sherrod Brown has made going after data centers a more prominent part of his campaign for the U.S. Senate, putting the influential, pro-union Democrat notably at odds with some members of his party as well as one of the state’s largest organized labor groups.
Brown released an ad this week attacking Republican Sen. Jon Husted, his opponent in the November election, as “the face of data centers in Ohio.” The ad says Husted “cut sweetheart tax deals” and fast-tracked approvals “while ordinary residents watched their electricity bills explode.”Populism versus ‘Do what we want.’ Cleveland.com’s Laura Hancock reports, “Populism issues forcing Ohio GOP to abandon their ‘do what we want’ approach before election: 5 takeaways.”
The political landscape in Ohio is shifting as populist issues begin to bridge long-standing partisan divides, forcing the Republican-controlled Statehouse to address voter concerns they previously sidelined.
From surging property taxes to the rapid expansion of data centers and private school vouchers, these developments are creating new pressures on leadership ahead of the upcoming November election.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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