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!
Ohio lawmakers unveiled a sweeping data center bill Tuesday that reins in incentives and addresses several other public concerns.
Crews work on a data center construction. (Photo by Dan Koeck, States Newsroom.)
By Nick Evans
Drawing on testimony from the Select Committee on Data Centers, Ohio state Sen. Brian Chavez put together a laundry list of changes and then grafted them onto a measure originally meant to study the issue.
By Morgan Trau, WEWS
Ohio Republicans have reversed course after their proposal to restrict home healthcare under the state's Medicaid program received massive backlash.
By Nick Evans
Local leaders and representatives from the building trades have urged Ohio lawmakers to tweak but not block data center development. Although some speakers highlighted shortcomings in current policy, they said data centers are a net benefit.
By Morgan Trau, WEWS
A new proposal by a business trade group is causing Ohio farmers to fear that the state and utility companies could take private property to build data centers. This idea would also allow entities to take the land before the owner gets paid.
COMMENTARY
A view of the death chamber from the witness room at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility shows an electric chair and gurney. (Photo by Mike Simons/Getty Images.)
By Dale A. Baich
Amid debates over criminal justice reform, one of the oldest and least understood powers in American law remains vital as ever: executive clemency. Ohio’s history illustrates how it functions not as a loophole but a final check on irreversible punishment.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Kevin Hardy
The most recent budgets proposed by governors across the country reflect ongoing financial pressures for states as they expect modest revenue growth, rising prices and federal policy changes.
By Anna Claire Vollers
Private equity’s foray into healthcare over the past several years, particularly into hospital ownership, has drawn public outrage and legislative scrutiny. It’s all happening as states are staring down steep federal cuts to Medicaid.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Peter Hall, Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Gun locks and safes would be exempt from state sales tax under a secure firearms storage bill Pennsylvania lawmakers advanced Monday. The law requires gun owners to keep firearms locked in a gun safe or with a locking device when they are not in use.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Jennifer Shutt
U.S. House Republicans on Tuesday approved three years of funding for immigration enforcement without any new guardrails on how federal agents operate.
By Ashley Murray
President Donald Trump said Tuesday the United States will retaliate after Iran shot down a U.S. Army Apache helicopter late Monday over the Strait of Hormuz, and that the two American pilots aboard were unharmed.
By Ariana Figueroa
A federal judge in Massachusetts Monday struck down the Trump administration’s efforts to require a $100,000 visa fee for highly skilled immigrant workers, finding the policy is an unlawful tax.
By Ashley Murray
The Pentagon changed course Monday after its removal of dozens of religious denominations from a list of recognized faiths drew intense criticism for the failure to classify the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Christian.
By Medill News Service
People younger than 25 make up most carjackers, causing advocates to argue that a Congressional proposal to lower the threshold for proving carjackings could result in many young adults, especially Black men, spending decades in prison.
WEDNESDAY WISDOM
“Every lie is a poison; there are no harmless lies. Only the truth is safe. Only the truth gives me consolation — it is the one unbreakable diamond.”
-Leo Tolstoy
CATCHING OUR EYE
The Midwest. The Ohio Newsroom’s Kendall Crawford reports, “For the first time in decades, more people are moving into the Midwest than out.”
For decades, Midwestern cities have struggled to retain residents. As manufacturing jobs left, so did people.
The city of Akron lost one third of its population from 1960 to 2020. In the city of Cleveland, it was 60%. Dayton faced a similar plummet in population – leaving behind shuttered factories and empty storefronts.
But, now there are signs that the trend is starting to reverse. For the first time in a long time, these Ohio cities are seeing more people migrate into their metros than move away.Medicaid. Spectrum News 1’s Chrissa Loukas reports, “Medicaid provider, patient react to payment cuts.”
A company that’s one of dozens that the Ohio Department of Medicaid is suspending payments to, classifying them as high-risk, is now fighting back…
A Mother’s Day gift hangs on Melissa Hudson’s wall. She’s a single mother of three whose life was turned upside down 12 years ago and depends on Medicaid and on home care services.
“Started back in 2014 as a work-related illness that came to me, and ever since I’ve been having medical complications, open heart surgeries,” Hudson said. “I receive nursing services for my many medical conditions: heart, kidneys, lungs, congestive heart failure.”
Hudson receives those services from a company called Dynamic Home Health Care. But just a few days ago, the Ohio Department of Medicaid stopped paying them. They designated the business as high-risk.
Lorna Cook, who’s a registered nurse and legal nurse consultant for Dynamic Home Health Care, said it has caused many problems.New AG. Cleveland.com’s Mary Frances McGowan reports, “Andy Wilson begins work as new Ohio attorney general.”
Andy Wilson began his work as Ohio’s 52nd attorney general Monday, being sworn in over the weekend to finish the final seven months of Dave Yost’s term…
Wilson, a Springfield Republican, was appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine to take over as AG for Yost, who announced last month that he would resign June 7 to take a job with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Washington, D.C.-based conservative Christian legal nonprofit.Billions of dollars worth of Trump family wins. Reuters reports, “Under the Trump crypto playbook, the family always wins. Investors don’t.”
Risking little of their own money, the US president and his sons have added at least $2.3 billion to the family fortune from their main crypto ventures, while the investors they've wooed have taken a $2.3 billion hit, a Reuters examination found.Global conflicts. NPR reports, “Conflicts are on the rise globally, at the highest level since WWII, data shows.”
If you've been thinking it seems like there are more wars raging in the world these days, it turns out you're right and the data proves it.
A new study by researchers at a university in Sweden recorded the highest number of conflicts between states in 2025 since World War II, and the highest number of fatalities recorded since the Rwandan genocide.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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