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 American Medical Association says the Trump administration has unlawfully imposed a rule that could threaten health coverage for at least 140,000 Ohio Medicaid recipients.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, speaks at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
By Marty Schladen
The AMA made that statement last week in a friend-of-the-court brief in support of a lawsuit in which Columbus is a plaintiff. It seeks to stop an element of planned Medicaid work requirements that the city said will burden taxpayers and city services.
By Susan Tebben
The race for Ohio’s auditor of state will come down to a small town mayor with years of experience working with the state office, or the current Ohio Secretary of State.
By Morgan Trau, WEWS
Of the competitive statewide races in Ohio, the candidates for attorney general share the most similar policy positions.
By Megan Henry
In the wake of a controversial attack ad, Ohio Democratic governor candidate Dr. Amy Acton said her opponent Republican Vivek Ramaswamy is a “danger to my state.”
“I just think (the ad) is a travesty,” Acton said to reporters Friday afternoon.
By Morgan Trau, WEWS
Ohio Republican candidate for governor Vivek Ramaswamy has pulled down his controversial advertisement featuring Democrat Dr. Amy Acton’s estranged mother, one that has received bipartisan backlash for the past week.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Tim Henderson
The Trump administration cut naturalization sharply over the past year, leading to accusations it’s holding back hundreds of thousands of people who might have voted in the midterms.
By Shalina Chatlani
Medicaid recipients who are disabled or have a chronic illness will not have to prove they are unable to work to be exempted from new work requirements that take effect next year, a federal judge ruled last week.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Madison McVan, Minnesota Reformer
More than nine months after immigration agents disarmed, shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, the site of his death is marked with carefully arranged flowers, candles, and art. Lately, caretakers have been facing another challenge: vandalism.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Jonathan Shorman
The Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to combat noncitizen voting and assert authority over elections came under intense scrutiny in courtrooms across the country as Democrats and voting rights groups alleged federal election interference.
By Jennifer Shutt
With a short time left before election officials begin counting ballots, there are just 16 U.S. House races rated as toss-ups by at least two of the three prominent election analysts — the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, Inside Elections and Sabato’s Crystal Ball.
CATCHING OUR EYE
Measles in Ohio. The Columbus Dispatch reports, “Measles cases in Ohio nearly 600% higher in 2026 compared to 2025.”
Ohio is experiencing its third measles outbreak of 2026, with cases surging in Southern Ohio. Measles cases in Ohio and nationwide have reached a 35-year high, driven by declining vaccination rates. The vast majority of measles cases in Ohio are among individuals who have not been vaccinated.Fracking waste in Ohio drinking water. Rolling Stone reports, “Ohio Denies Evidence of Fracking Waste in Drinking Water. Its Own Records Show Otherwise.”
“In Ohio's rural southeastern corner, Marietta College geology professor David Jeffrey was among the residents worried that industry activity in America's booming natural gas region could be polluting their drinking water. That's "the biggest fear," he said at an August meeting with top Ohio officials.
When Jeffrey and residents from advocacy groups Buckeye Environmental Network and Washington County for Safe Drinking Water met with Ohio officials, those state officials repeatedly assured residents that despite the up to 1.4 billion gallons of oil and gas wastewater injected in underground wells in their county and across Ohio each year, the state was unaware of any resulting drinking water contamination there…
What officials did not tell the group that day is that five years earlier, the state did receive a call and, on Vendel's orders, investigated a drinking water well for oil and gas wastewater contaminants in eastern Ohio, roughly 80 miles away from Washington County. Independent experts say the results are consistent with fracking wastewater contamination. Despite that and the water well's location near two oil and gas wastewater injection wells, ODNR concluded fracking wastewater was not to blame, according to documents DeSmog and Rolling Stone obtained via public records request.Healthcare. NBC News reports, “Many with ACA coverage face a new crisis in 2027: Insurers fleeing the market.”
Many Americans are heading into ACA open enrollment with the likelihood of higher premiums and fewer insurance companies to choose from…
Insurers that offer ACA plans are proposing a premium increase of about 15%, on average, for 2027 — the second straight year of double-digit increases, according to an analysis from KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group, that looked at public filings from insurers across all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
At the same time, 11 insurers have announced plans to leave the ACA marketplaces in 2027 in at least some states where they currently offer coverage, according to KFF.Trump v. Veterans. NPR reports, “Trump's VA killed a home loan program. Thousands of veterans are paying the price.”
Thousands of military veterans with VA-backed mortgages have been hit with higher interest rates and monthly payments since last year, when the Trump administration shut down a low-interest program designed to help them.
Among veterans who had their loans modified after a financial hardship, more than 15,000 saw their monthly payments increase by at least $150, according to an NPR investigation that obtained previously unreported data from the Department of Veterans Affairs.Retaliation. The Washington Post reports, “She spoke about her husband’s ICE custody death. Now she could face deportation.”
A Maryland woman who spoke publicly about her husband’s death in ICE custody has been placed in deportation proceedings, according to documents shared with The Washington Post.
Veronica Ramirez received media attention this month after her husband, Julian Curo Churata, died in an ICE detention center in Louisiana. Curo Churata, originally from Peru, had lived in the United States for more than a decade before he was detained by immigration officers in June. He died Sept. 29.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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