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 U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno on Sunday said Ohio Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller, his former son-in-law, is not fit to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives as he faces allegations of domestic abuse from his ex-wife, who is Moreno’s daughter.
Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, leaves a House Republican Conference meeting on Capitol Hill on Nov. 19, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
By Sam Gauntt
Moreno did not publicly address the domestic abuse allegations against Miller when new details of them were reported in mid-July. But in a post on X Sunday, he wrote that Miller “needs serious psychological help” and is a danger to his daughter.
By Marty Schladen
More than 1 million Ohioans are not getting essential safety-net benefits for which they're eligible, according to a new analysis by the Urban Institute.
By Brittany Hailer and Ilica Mahajan from The Marshall Project
At Fox Run, one of Ohio’s largest youth residential treatment centers, kids and former staff detail a litany of trauma.
COMMENTARY
Workers in Ohio unload hydraulic fracking fluids from a tank truck at an injection well, where the toxic waste will be pumped deep underground. (Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.)
By David Jeffery, Ph.D.
Southeastern Ohio has a serious problem underground with fracking waste injection. Now that problem is reaching the surface and threatening our drinking water, writes Marietta College petroleum geologist David Jeffery, Ph.D.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Nada Hassanein
States will have to meet a Jan. 1 deadline to implement new Medicaid work requirements, after a federal judge denied 25 Democratic-led states’ request to pause implementation of the rule.
By Tim Henderson
An abundance of young workers will turn to an undersupply by 2040, with better pay and a surplus of housing, demographers predict. Immigration and artificial intelligence are wild cards, and young workers will still be saddled with taxes to support aging boomers.
By Kevin Hardy
Many states have made marked progress over the past two years in extending crucial care and benefits to children, workers and aging adults. But they will be hard-pressed to fill the void left by impending federal cuts to social services, according to a new analysis.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Madison McVan, Minnesota Reformer
American intelligence agencies believe Iran is behind a cyber attack on more than 30 Minnesota water systems — plus an unknown number in other states. But President Trump blamed Minnesota government for the attack on its own critical infrastructure.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Ashley Murray
President Trump defended Friday his highly criticized, nearly $1.8 billion settlement fund for those who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump has already granted a “full, complete and unconditional pardon” for all Jan. 6 convicts.
By Shauneen Miranda
A bipartisan effort to rein in President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education has cleared its first major legislative hurdle in a bipartisan U.S. Senate committee vote.
By Ariana Figueroa
The Trump administration declined to renew a federal contract with nonprofits that provide legal aid services to more than 20,000 unaccompanied immigrant children.
By Jane Norman
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro moved Friday to dismiss charges against a former Olympian canoeist alleged to have damaged part of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
CATCHING OUR EYE
Focusing on tiny cases. Cleveland.com’s Adam Ferrise reports, “Trump says he’s fighting Medicaid massive fraud. In Ohio, that means hyping tiny cases.”
Though healthcare fraud is a real problem, experts say the Trump administration and Ohio Attorney General’s Office have used their bully pulpits to repeatedly beat the drum on fraud, highlighting even the smallest cases in hopes of distracting people from unpopular healthcare cuts.
Last year, the Trump administration pushed for massive Medicaid cuts that could push millions of people off the program and reduced spending by $900 billion over a 10-year span.
“Factual instances of fraud need to be addressed, but they’re trying to use these press conferences as a dog whistle to try to invoke anger and hatred against Medicaid at a time when a lot of people are angry at the cuts that are happening,” said Allie Gardner, a senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “It feels like policy creation by way of press conference in a way I’ve not seen before.”Property tax rollback? The Statehouse News Bureau’s Karen Kasler reports, “Ramaswamy's property tax rollback would mean billions in cuts, says progressive Ohio group.”
The Republican candidate for governor has said he wants to roll back property taxes to pre-pandemic levels and then cap their growth, starting with his first budget next year. Vivek Ramaswamy’s plan seeks to provide property tax relief to frustrated homeowners, but a progressive think tank said it will likely mean billions in cuts to local services.
Innovation Ohio researchers analyzed that proposal, though Ramaswamy didn't identify a specific rollback point… Innovation Ohio's study showed rolling back to 2021 levels would mean a cut of $4 billion per year in Ramaswamy's first two-year budget if he's elected. In his second budget, that would grow to $6.6 billion a year, or about 60% of the revenue generated by the state income tax—which Ramaswamy also wants to eliminate.Hurting rural Ohioans. Sarah Melotte of The Daily Yonder reports, “As Affordable Care Act enrollment declines, rural Ohioans are being hit hard.”
Since enhanced federal subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans expired in January, Ohio has seen the nation's steepest decline in Marketplace enrollment. The Buckeye State's ACA enrollment fell more than 32% between February 2025 and February 2026, according to the Statehouse News Bureau.
Rural residents in states that participate in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace, including Ohio, are losing health insurance coverage at higher rates than their urban and suburban counterparts, according to a Daily Yonder analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).Haitian Ohioans. WVXU’s Isabel Nissley and Tana Weingartner report, “Hundreds show support for Haitians attending ICE meetings in Cincinnati.”
People of all ages lined the road beside the Cincinnati Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Blue Ash, Ohio, Sunday morning. They came singing and carrying signs protesting plans to begin deporting hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants who've just lost their Temporary Protected Status.
Haitian immigrants began receiving letters in late July, summoning them to appear for meetings with ICE officials.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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