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!
Nearly 90 degree programs have been identified to be cut at Ohio’s public universities since Senate Bill 1 was signed into law a year ago.
On the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for the Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original story.)
By Megan Henry
The Ohio Senate Bill 1 law also bans diversity efforts, regulates classroom discussion, prohibits faculty strikes, creates post-tenure reviews, puts diversity scholarships at risk, and creates a retrenchment provision that blocks unions from negotiating on tenure.
By Marty Schladen
As Ohio lawmakers try to put limits on online sports betting, a new analysis shows that 60% of the revenue flows out of state.
By Morgan Trau, WEWS
An Ohio Republican is proposing raising the sports betting tax to fund public stadiums and K-12 education.
COMMENTARY
Social media apps are seen on a mobile phone. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
By Rob Moore
A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers have introduced a bill to require social media platforms to come with addiction warning labels. A large body of research shows social media has caused problem addiction among large swaths of the population.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Kelcie Moseley-Morris
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision that overturned the constitutional right to abortion and allowed states to regulate the procedure, 13 states have implemented near-total abortion bans.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Doug Bock Clark, ProPublica, and Jen Fifield, ProPublica
As Trump attempts to go around the U.S. Constitution to nationalize control over voting — flying against the bipartisan decentralization that keeps U.S. elections secure — experts say 2026 will serve as an unprecedented stress test of the integrity of American elections.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Jonathan Shorman
The Department of Justice’s stated reason for obtaining sensitive personal data on millions of voters masks the Trump administration’s true intention for obtaining state voter lists, Michigan’s top election official asserted in federal appeals court Monday.
By David Lightman
Tucked into President Donald Trump’s new budget request is a plan that could dramatically change — and, critics say, slash — how much money and help states provide to people needing jobs and training.
By Jennifer Shutt
Republicans in Congress are once again looking toward the complex budget reconciliation process as a way to achieve some of their policy goals without Democratic votes.
By Jennifer Shutt
U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday he plans to use the complex reconciliation process to fund immigration enforcement for the next three years, though it wasn’t immediately clear if House Republicans were on the exact same page.
HISTORY THURSDAY
On this day, April 16, in 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann accidentally discovered the psychedelic properties of LSD, a drug he had first synthesized in 1938. Learn more from Brittanica
CATCHING OUR EYE
Ohio school districts in funding crisis. The Dayton Daily News' Eileen McClory reports, "More levies on horizon as Ohio schools facing ‘funding crisis.'"
Ohio voters should brace for more school tax issues on local ballots as districts across the state say their budgets are harder to predict due to property tax reform, less state funding than expected and changes to the U.S. Department of Education.
“What we're hearing is that districts are either moving to take steps to be on the ballot this year or in the next two years,” Ohio School Board Association president Tom Hosler said in a recent interview with the Dayton Daily News.Trump vs. the Pope. The Columbus Dispatch's Cole Behrens reports, "Columbus bishop speaks out on Trump's 'juvenile' attacks on Pope Leo."
The bishop of the Columbus Catholic diocese said he was "aghast" after what he said were "juvenile" attacks by President Donald Trump on Pope Leo XIV.
Bishop Earl Fernandes' remarks to The Dispatch come after Trump began a public clash with Pope Leo XIV over the pope's criticism of the war in Iran. On April 12, Trump blasted the pontiff on social media, calling him "weak on crime" and "terrible" for foreign policy.Vance and Moreno choose Trump over the Pope. Cleveland.com's Sabrina Eaton reports, "JD Vance and Bernie Moreno side with Trump in dispute with Pope Leo XIV."
Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, who are both Catholic, are siding with President Donald Trump as he escalated a feud with Pope Leo XIV, who has spoken out against U.S. military strikes on Iran and the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.
Moreno offered a pointed rebuke Monday of the first American pope in televised remarks shared by WEWS on social media. “I think my mother would be ashamed of the current pope,” Moreno, a Westlake Republican, said. “I think he has become way too political.”The tick. The Statehouse News Bureau's Jo Ingles reports, "The number of tick-related illnesses in Ohio is skyrocketing. Here's why."
In 2010, there were 40 reported cases of Lyme disease in Ohio. That soared by nearly 1,000% to 415 in the next ten years. But that number has exploded in recent years.There were more than 2,800 reported cases of Lyme disease in Ohio last year. That’s seven times more than in 2020. The disease is caused by a bite from a deer tick. Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said there are several reasons why Lyme disease case numbers are climbing in Ohio.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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