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!
Early voting in Ohio for the 2026 Election is up by a lot, data from the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office show, while absentee voting has slipped compared to the last midterm election in 2022.
Early voters leave after casting their ballots. (Photo by Daniella Heminghaus/States Newsroom)
By Nick Evans
In 2022, after a week of early voting, Ohioans had cast 50,368 ballots in person and requested 871,041 absentee ballots. This year, 194,841 Ohioans have cast a ballot in person during the first week of early voting, or nearly four times as many as the previous cycle.
Cleveland State University latest Ohio college to offer free tuition for qualified in-state students
By Megan Henry
Cleveland State University is the latest higher education institution in the state of Ohio to offer free tuition for qualified first-year students, starting next year.
COMMENTARY
(Getty Images)
By Marilou Johanek
Do you celebrate an arsonist who brings a cup of water to a fire they started? Is the president a hero for cutting small, healthcare relief checks to people struggling under his policy, the largest rollback of federal support for health care in American history?
HISTORY THURSDAY
By Austin Albanese
In 1836, Cincinnati’s small Jewish community dedicated a synagogue. It was reported to be the first building erected as a synagogue in the western United States. Ohio’s Jewish population would grow considerably in the decades that followed.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By David Montgomery
Under the Fourteenth Amendment, states must provide lawyers to criminal defendants who can’t afford one. But in many states, the number of public defenders is shrinking rapidly, leaving defendants in jail for weeks or months without access to an attorney.
By Sofia Resnick
Providing “labor guides” to pregnant women helps combat misinformation that an increasing number of patients are getting from social media or artificial intelligence, according to a recent study.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Amelia Ferrell Knisely
West Virginia House Democrats are again asking Gov. Patrick Morrisey and Republican lawmakers to address high gas prices by suspending the state’s gas tax.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Jonathan Shorman
Three weeks before Election Day, the Trump administration’s sprawling project to send sensitive personal information on millions of voters to the Department of Homeland Security has been declared illegal by a federal judge.
By Ashley Murray and Jane Norman
A federal judge late Tuesday extended a block on a Trump administration ban of press passes for three news organizations, which will allow them to continue to enter the White House grounds while a legal challenge to the ban plays out.
CATCHING OUR EYE
AI-driven white-collar job layoffs have arrived in Ohio. The Associated Press reports, “Kroger to lay off 3,000 corporate employees over 3 years as it leans into artificial intelligence.”
Grocery store chain Kroger said it will lay off 3,000 corporate employees over the next three years as it ramps up its use of artificial intelligence to streamline operations.
“Technology is reshaping what’s possible,” CEO Greg Foran wrote in a memo to employees on Monday. “The way work gets done is changing across every industry; we must adapt and take advantage of technology. We need to adopt capabilities, reduce duplicative work and look closely at where work is best fit to be done.”Bernie Moreno apparently wants to weaponize the government to go after the press for reporting on possible corruption. Cleveland.com’s Sabrina Eaton reports, “Bernie Moreno seeks federal probe into ABC News story on Trump sons’ Anduril investment.”
U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno wants the Federal Communications Commission to investigate ABC News over a story about President Donald Trump’s sons and defense contractor Anduril Industries that the network pulled from its website, then republished with corrections.
In a Saturday letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, the Avon Republican described the story’s “flagrant lies” as “personal” to Ohio because Anduril is building a factory worth more than $900 million in Pickaway County.FBI using Flock in Ohio. The Dayton Daily News’ Eileen McClory reports, “FBI accessed Dayton Public Schools Flock data for ‘immigration,’ records show.”
Outside agencies accessed Dayton Public Schools Flock camera records thousands of times, including multiple times where the outside agency listed the reason as “immigration,” and thousands more where the reason is unclear, according to records obtained by the Dayton Daily News.Obama coming to Ohio. The Columbus Dispatch’s Haley BeMiller reports, “Obama to stump for Sherrod Brown, Amy Acton in Ohio.”
Former President Barack Obama will return to Ohio this month as Democrats fight to reclaim the governor's mansion and a key U.S. Senate seat.
Obama will join gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton and former Sen. Sherrod Brown at a Cleveland rally on Oct. 24. The event marks Obama's first visit to the Buckeye State since 2018, when he campaigned for Rich Cordray amid a hotly contested race for governor.MAGA Pac supporting Ohio socialist candidate? The Associated Press reports, “Mailers promoting a socialist candidate in Ohio Senate race have links to MAGA super PAC vendor.”
Campaign mailers urging Ohio voters to support a socialist U.S. Senate candidate over Democratic nominee Sherrod Brown are being underwritten by a newly incorporated PAC with ties to President Donald Trump's MAGA Inc., public filings show.
The mailers are sponsored by Enough Promises Ohio PAC and began arriving in voters' mailboxes in recent days. They promote independent candidate Greg Levy over Brown with messages such as "Join the Revolution" and "Send a Worker to the Senate." Levy describes himself as "Socialist running for the U.S. Senate to represent Ohio in 2026" on his X account.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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