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!
The chairman of the JobsOhio board, Josh Rubin, will be deposed Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 in advance of a federal civil trial in which Akron-based FirstEnergy is the defendant, according to court records.
FirstEnergy’s headquarters in Akron. (Photo from Google Maps.)
By Marty Schladen
In the suit, state pension systems and other investors accuse FirstEnergy of failing to tell them of "an illicit campaign to corrupt high-profile state legislators in order to secure legislation favoring the company.”
By Susan Tebben
Up for open election in November, the state of Ohio treasurer has the authority to invest state money and oversee the debts, while also watching over programs for small business loans, investment opportunities, and homebuyer savings resources.
By Megan Henry
A pair of Ohio Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill that would increase special education funding.
By Morgan Trau, WEWS
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is pumping the brakes on the current proposal to suspend the state gas tax, warning that taking money away from the Department of Transportation could be devastating.
COMMENTARY
This one-sentence cutline should be identical to the caption used on your website (Photo by Name/Newsroom)
By Randi Pokladnik
Data centers will not make Appalachian Ohio a “benefit zone,” but a sacrificial zone. Appalachian Ohio doesn’t exist to be recklessly exploited by politicians and industry, and after so many decades of abuse, they need to stop.
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
STATELINE
By Robbie Sequeira
The U.S. Department of Education’s suspension of a comprehensive monitoring process puts billions of K-12 dollars at heightened risk of undetected waste, fraud, and abuse, according to a new report by the nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office.
By Kelcie Moseley-Morris
Ten states allow abortion access without gestational restrictions, while 13 states ban abortion at all stages. Many hospital systems have offered different interpretations of how to avoid legal jeopardy under the bans, leading to confusion and delays in care.
By Amanda Watford
The CDC’s 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey report focuses on diet, physical activity, sleep, digital behavior, and mental health and suicide risk, while leaving out findings on substance use, sexual behavior, violence, and disparities among student groups.
By Kevin Hardy
A growing number of state lawmakers worry that buyers don’t fully understand the real estate wholesaling process. Lawmakers and regulators, backed by organized real estate trade groups and consumer advocacy organizations, are pushing for more limits.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Rudi Keller, Missouri Independent
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday drove a stake through the heart of Missouri’s undead congressional map, ordering it be buried for the year and for voters to cast ballots in the districts they’ve used the past two election cycles.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Jennifer Shutt
The Trump administration has infuriated lawmakers from both political parties by using a controversial maneuver to cancel funding previously approved by Congress. The cancelled $810 million would have gone to refugee assistance programs.
By Ariana Figueroa
An appeals panel Friday seemed inclined to agree that more than 100 Venezuelan men Trump sent to a brutal prison in El Salvador are entitled to due process hearings to challenge their removal, which was made under an archaic 18th-century wartime law.
By Ariana Figueroa
The Trump administration last week made an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to allow for rapid third-country deportations of noncitizens to continue, after an appeals court blocked the policy last week.
By Ashley Murray
Despite skyrocketing fuel prices and sinking approval ratings for President Trump’s conflict in Iran ahead of the midterms, U.S. Senate Republicans blocked Democrats’ efforts to check the president’s unfettered military action in the Middle East.
CATCHING OUR EYE
The Ohio Trump rally and the Haitian student’s funeral. The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Patricia Gallagher Newberry reports, “Trump Ohio visit to coincide with funeral for Haitian college student.”
The funeral for a Haitian student who reportedly took his own life will be Oct. 3 in Springfield. Pierre Damas Bel's death has become a flashpoint in the debate over the Trump administration's immigration enforcement policies.
Later on Oct. 3, President Trump is scheduled to attend a political rally about 25 miles away from Springfield.Trump dismantling LGBTQ discrimination protections. The Hill reports, “Education Department formally rescinds Title IX protections for LGBTQ students.”
The Education Department announced Monday it has formally rescinded the Biden-era Title IX interpretation that gave sex-based discrimination protections to students on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Schools now must go back to the Title IX code as held under the previous Trump administration in 2020, which the department says will protect women’s sports.Standing with Trump on Iran. The Statehouse News Bureau’s Karen Kasler reports, “Ohio's U.S. senators stand behind Trump on Iran war as high gas prices continue.”
Ohio’s two Republican U.S. Senators are standing behind President Trump when it comes to the war with Iran. This comes as American drivers face high gas prices and record-breaking diesel costs.
Their comments come the same week that they and most other Republican U.S. Senators voted against a resolution to order President Trump to halt the war with Iran.Big Crypto and the Ohio US Senate race. Signal Ohio’s Andrew Tobias and Jake Zuckerman report, “‘Big Crypto’ behind critical ads of Sherrod Brown again — without talking crypto.”
For the second time in two years, a deep-pocketed political group backed by the cryptocurrency industry is trying to end Sherrod Brown’s political career.
FairShake PAC announced this week it would spend $30 million on new ads targeting Brown. The group’s financial backers include Ripple Labs, which produces a cryptocurrency used for payments and has given $48 million to the PAC. Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, gave the PAC $25 million, according to Federal Election Commission records.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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