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!
A new bipartisan bill would require more transparency for Ohio private schools receiving Education Choice and Education Choice Expansion vouchers.
Shown are students taking an exam. (Getty Images)
By Megan Henry
Ohio Sens. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, and Bill Blessing, R-Colerain Township, recently introduced Ohio Senate Bill 443, also known as the Take the Dough, We Gotta Know Act.
By Morgan Trau, WEWS
Federal Medicaid chief Dr. Mehmet Oz is supporting Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine after other state leaders accused him of allowing rampant fraud. The allegations of a widespread issue are currently unproven.
By Marty Schladen
Non-wealthy Americans are taking economic hits from all sides these days. Gas, groceries, housing, utilities and healthcare are all necessities and they're rapidly getting more expensive.
COMMENTARY
Cars are flooded in Petersburg, Va., in July 2025. (Photo courtesy of Petersburg Fire Rescue & Emergency Services)
By David Boutt
About two-thirds of the U.S. is in some stage of drought in late spring 2026, yet at the same time the country has been seeing more intense downpours. It might seem contradictory, but both are symptoms of rising global temperatures.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Anna Claire Vollers
Some of the nation’s biggest megachurches are getting into the college business, prioritizing job training and church culture over traditional liberal arts. A franchise-style model from a Christian university in Florida has made it easier than ever for them to launch.
By Kevin Hardy
Vermont became the first state to ban the use of the highly toxic herbicide paraquat after Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed Democratic-sponsored legislation this week.
By Shalina Chatlani
In its latest effort to narrow pathways to immigration to the United States, the Trump administration says it will crack down on attorneys who file fraudulent asylum claims for their clients.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Jack Forrest
Indiana’s infant mortality rate remained at a record low in 2025, per preliminary data from the state Department of Health.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Jonathan Shorman
The Trump administration wants the U.S. Supreme Court to empower states to review their voter rolls for noncitizens just days before elections, a change that voting rights advocates say would risk disenfranchising Americans.
By Shauneen Miranda
A handful of Democratic state attorneys general said Tuesday that expert officials from their offices were denied access to a major White House anti-fraud meeting convened by Vice President JD Vance and attended by Republican AGs.
By Rebecka Pieder / Medill News Service
In a deal that could provide a major trade boost for American farmers, the White House said that during the recent summit, China committed to buying at least $17 billion in additional U.S. agricultural products annually for three years.
HISTORY THURSDAY
On this day in 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation that created the Soil Bank Act, a measure focused on post-Dust Bowl hardships faced by farmers, and aimed at helping soil conservation efforts.
“Although the acreage reserve program was eventually suspended in 1959, it laid the groundwork for future conservation initiatives in the U.S. agriculture policy landscape, highlighting the complexities of balancing economic needs with environmental stewardship.” Read more from EBSCO
CATCHING OUR EYE
Data center breaks. The Columbus Dispatch’s Haley BeMiller is reporting, “Gov. Mike DeWine pauses data center tax break that soared to $1.6B.”
Ohio is pausing a controversial tax break for data centers that cost nearly $1.6 billion last year.Gov. Mike DeWine said the state won't consider new requests for a sales tax exemption that saves companies money when they build data centers in Ohio. The tax break cost nearly $1.6 billion in 2025, according to the Department of Taxation, a number that shocked and angered lawmakers who think it's bad for Ohio.
The 2025 price tag − first reported by Signal Ohio − also blew past estimates that Ohio would forgo just $136 million. A Department of Taxation spokesperson attributed the discrepancy to "significant growth in the data center industry."
Solar and the supreme court. Signal Ohio’s Jake Zuckerman is reporting, “6,000-acre solar project permit nixed by Ohio Supreme Court, for now at least.”
The Ohio Supreme Court overturned a permit that state officials previously granted to a massive, 6,000-acre industrial-scale solar farm and battery operation in Madison County.In a ruling Tuesday, a fractured majority of Republican justices sided with a sweeping challenge brought by local and county officials against Oak Run Solar, which would sit in rural farmland between Columbus and Dayton.
This makes for a significant setback but not necessarily a fatal blow to the facility.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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