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 Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wants to overhaul the state Medicaid system to combat unproven allegations of fraud, as GOP leaders blame Gov. Mike DeWine for a lack of oversight.
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By Morgan Trau, WEWS
While Republican lawmakers point the finger at DeWine, in the last state budget lawmakers got rid of the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee, a body that looked into waste, fraud, and abuse.
By Susan Tebben
An Ohio House bill creating in-person requirements for “high-risk” medications is now in an Ohio Senate committee after passing the House last year. Advocates question the bill's metrics and say it's a back-door way to attack abortion pill access.
By Marty Schladen
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland virtually gathered three experts together this week to discuss why independence from political interference with the Fed banking system are essential to setting policies that will fight inflation over the long term.
COMMENTARY
Bob Henry on his 50th birthday. (Photo courtesy of Megan Henry).
By Megan Henry
“My dad passed away peacefully in his sleep early in the morning on May 10, 2026, ending his nearly 10-year battle with Alzheimer’s,” writes Megan Henry in a personal reflection that includes data and resources on Alzheimer’s for Ohio readers.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Sofia Resnick
An anti-abortion group last month sued seven Utah fertility clinics, claiming their disposal of embryos as part of the in-vitro fertilization process violates the state’s wrongful-death law. Other states could be next.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Adam Friedman, Tennessee Lookout
Tennessee’s new U.S. House map dilutes Memphis’s Democratic power and the largest block of Black voters in the state. Also, districts were drawn precisely to create nine seats where Trump won 60% of the vote in the presidential election of 2024.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Jonathan Shorman
Republicans on a U.S. Senate panel suggested Tuesday a recent Supreme Court decision weakening the federal Voting Rights Act invalidated U.S. House districts in Democratic states where most residents belong to a racial minority group.
By Shauneen Miranda
The Congressional Black Caucus and NAACP on Tuesday urged pushback against GOP-led redistricting efforts in Southern states via college sports, including a boycott of public universities by athletes and supporters.
By Ashley Murray
After voting no seven times, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., flipped and cast the deciding vote to advance a War Powers Resolution to rein in President Donald Trump’s war in Iran without authorization from Congress.
By Shauneen Miranda
A coalition of Democratic attorneys general and governors sued the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday over forthcoming regulations that will impose new borrowing limits for students pursuing certain advanced degree programs.
HISTORY THURSDAY
Pericles lends his name to an entire era of ancient Greek history, but we know little about him for certain. Statesman, demagogue, or Athenian original: who was he really?
CATCHING OUR EYE
JD Vance on the taxpayer-funded Trump and friends fund. Cleveland.com’s Sabrina Eaton reports, “Vance defends $1.8B political prosecution fund; won’t rule out Jan. 6 payments.”
Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday defended the Trump administration’s creation of a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who say they were targeted by political prosecutions, pushing back on critics who have called the arrangement a slush fund and refusing to rule out payments to Jan. 6 defendants convicted of violence…
When asked directly whether people who attacked police officers on Jan. 6 should receive payments, Vance declined to rule it out, saying the administration would evaluate claims individually.Ohio abortion rights. The Statehouse News Bureau’s Jo Ingles reports, “Abortion opponents continue fight against Ohio's 2023 reproductive rights amendment.”
Two lawsuits recently filed in Ohio are taking on the 2023 voter-approved constitutional amendment that legalized reproductive rights and abortion access.
The lawsuits are on different grounds and in different courts. One was filed in Trumbull County and the other in Butler County. They both challenge the amendment voters approved in 2023 as unconstitutional.The great river river. Ideastream’s Zaria Johnson reports, “The bipartisan push to fund Ohio River Basin restoration.”
The Ohio River Basin spans more than 200,000 square miles across 15 states, including Pennsylvania, Kentucky and, of course, Ohio. But unlike other major watersheds, it doesn’t have a dedicated EPA office, and the funding that comes with it.
The Ohio River Basin Alliance, a Cincinnati-based cooperative, has spent the past two decades working to change that. And with federal bills introduced in the House and Senate, the tide may finally turn.Trumped. NPR reports, “Endorsed by Trump, Ed Gallrein defeats Rep. Thomas Massie in GOP House primary.”
Massie, who says he agrees with Trump more than he conflicts, has frequently acted as a Republican foil to the president's agenda.
He made national headlines as the Republican leading the fight, alongside California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, to call for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. He consistently opposed Trump's involvement in foreign conflicts, introducing war powers resolutions to block further U.S. hostilities. He was also one of two House GOP opposition votes on Trump's signature tax and spending package, the One Big Beautiful Bill.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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