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!
Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio are being required to wear ankle monitors and turn their passports over to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Mural in downtown Springfield, Ohio. (Photo by Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal).
By Megan Henry
Haitians in Springfield are getting letters telling them to report to the ICE office in either Blue Ash (near Cincinnati) or Westerville (near Columbus). “When they do, their passports are collected,” said Carl Ruby, pastor of Springfield’s Central Christian Church.
By Siddarth Sivaraman
Ohio’s local governments cannot fast-track new data centers without giving specific reasons, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled last week.
By Morgan Trau, WEWS
Fighting illegal immigration was a rallying cry for the GOP in the 2024 election. As the midterms approach, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is pleading with the president and his administration to allow Ohio to keep its immigrant population.
COMMENTARY
Medications are stored on shelves at a pharmacy. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
By Kathy Oubre
Many people assume counterfeit or falsified cancer medicines are a problem that happens elsewhere in the world. But in reality, these products have already reached U.S. clinics, and reports of counterfeit cancer medicines increased 60% worldwide between 2021-23.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Kelcie Moseley-Morris
In the past two years, Republicans in five states have added specific anti-IVF language to their state party platforms, and some anti-abortion groups have become increasingly outspoken in their opposition to both IVF and surrogacy.
By Tim Henderson
A largely overlooked part of the executive order President Trump issued this week scaling back the schedule for childhood vaccines threatens legal action against the four states that don’t allow personal or religious exemptions to school vaccine requirements.
By Nada Hassanein
A new federal rule will end Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming hormone therapies and procedures for kids under age 18.
By Kevin Hardy
Democratic lawmakers proposed nearly 250 bills in state capitols this year seeking to limit federal immigration efforts as they sought to push back against what they view as federal government overreach.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By McKenna Horsley, Kentucky Lantern
Federal immigration agents may soon be outfitted with a device – electrical shock gloves – manufactured by a Kentucky company.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Jacob Fischler
The Trump administration on Wednesday renewed its request to the U.S. Supreme Court to quickly decide a case over an executive order restricting voting, a day after a Massachusetts federal judge expanded an injunction on the order nationwide.
By Ariana Figueroa
The ACLU has petitioned a federal court to reaffirm a ruling that found Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order unconstitutional, after the president renewed his attempts to redefine American citizenship despite his loss at the Supreme Court.
By Shauneen Miranda
The U.S. Department of Justice has sued New York, Connecticut and Vermont over laws that allow immigrants in the country without permanent legal status to pay in-state college tuition in the states where they live.
By Ashley Murray
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will step down from her position at the end of August to spend more time with her family, President Donald Trump announced on social media Wednesday.
SCIENCE FRIDAY
Forecasts suggest that 2026, while still projected to be a big fire year, won’t dethrone 2023 as the record-holder.
“2023 was bonkers; it was off the charts,” says Flannigan. That year, a record 15 million hectares — an area roughly the size of the state of Illinois — of land was on fire in Canada, beginning in early May. That dwarfed the previous record, a mere 6.9 million hectares.
As shocking as 2023 was, it’s part of a longer-term worrisome trend. A climate attribution study that analyzed the unusually severe fire season in eastern Canada determined that climate change more than doubled the likelihood of extreme fire conditions existing in the region.
Canada is warming at roughly twice the global rate, with longer, hotter summers and earlier snowmelt. A warmer atmosphere much more quickly sucks moisture out of dead fuel in the forest floor or from soils. Shifts in the Northern Hemisphere jet stream are reducing precipitation as well. And warmer winters are expanding the ranges of pine bark beetles that kill trees. All of this means more fuel available to burn.
CATCHING OUR EYE
Income taxes. Cleveland.com’s Laura Hancock reports, “DeWine says Ohio has cut income taxes enough, breaking with Ramaswamy.”
Gov. Mike DeWine doesn’t believe Ohio needs to cut income taxes any further, undercutting a key policy of the man who he wants to be his successor.
“I’ve signed four budgets, and (in) every one of the budgets we have reduced the income tax,” DeWine said Wednesday, speaking to reporters. “We’re to the point where the issue of income tax never comes up when we’re talking to businesses.”Another lawsuit. The Columbus Dispatch’s Haley BeMiller reports, “Lawsuit says Ohio Rep. Max Miller released nude photo of daughter.”
A new lawsuit accuses Ohio Congressman Max Miller and his attorney of sharing a nude photo of his 2-year-old daughter online as Miller pushes back against domestic violence claims.
The image was included in a trove of documents shared by Miller that are tied to a custody battle with his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, according to the lawsuit filed by Moreno Aug. 12. The photo surfaced in a text exchange between Miller and Moreno and showed their daughter's genitals, the lawsuit states.
"This child is an entirely innocent victim who has become collateral damage to her father's political ambition," said Subodh Chandra, an attorney for Moreno.
A spokesperson for Miller declined to comment.Flock cameras. The Dayton Daily News’ Avery Kreemer reports, “DeWine, Ohio AG defend Flock cameras amid public scrutiny.”
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson and Gov. Mike DeWine recently defended the use of Flock cameras by local governments amid growing public scrutiny around the surveillance company’s contracts with law enforcement agencies across the country.
Both Wilson and DeWine noted that, while Flock cameras can be misused, they are hugely valuable to law enforcement officers in Ohio.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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