The morning newsletter of the Ohio Capital Journal
Reporting for the People
Make a tax-deductible donation supporting our work.
By David DeWitt | Editor in Chief
Good morning Ohio!
Ohio will lose 51,000 jobs and $5.3 billion from the state economy in 2029, according to a new analysis.
Advocates gather to protest Medicaid cuts. (Photo by Bert Shepherd/Courtesy of Protect Our Care PAC)
By Marty Schladen
That's the effect that cuts to Medicaid and food assistance under a massive 2025 spending law will have when they're fully phased in. It's also the consequence of Republicans allowing Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire at the end of the last year, according to a Commonwealth Fund analysis which was published earlier this month.
By Megan Henry
Ohioans will not have a chance to vote to eliminate the same-sex marriage ban in the Ohio Constitution in November. Ohio Equal Rights announced they will not try to get two amendments on this year’s ballot, but will instead sight their sights on 2027.
By Patrick O’Donnell, The 74
Letting students decide how they learn is almost as important a goal of Mayfield High School near Cleveland, Ohio as learning itself. The school lets students skip traditional classrooms if they don’t fit how a student learns best.
COMMENTARY
The entrance to Salt Fork State Park, Jefferson Township in Guernsey County, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original article.)
By Cathy Cowan Becker
Gov. DeWine officially proclaimed June 1 to 7 as Ohio State Parks Week. That would be wonderful if Ohio wasn’t the only state to frack its own state parks. DeWine signed onto that, now he has to decide whether to sign a bill that will make things even worse.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Anna Claire Vollers
A half dozen Republican governors are pushing alternative labels for June, which is widely recognized in the United States as Pride Month. They have labeled June with monikers that celebrate one type of family unit: a man and woman married with children.
By Nada Hassnein
The Trump administration told states last week it will exercise more stringent financial oversight of waivers that states use to design pilot programs under Medicaid, the state-federal program for low-income people and those with disabilities.
By Kelcie Moseley-Morris
Family planning organizations have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Health and Human Services agency alleging that it is politicizing the Title X grant funding program and violating the intent of the law.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Claire Michal, NC Newsline
Voting rights advocacy groups warned last week that a North Carolina House bill proposing extensive changes to state election laws is “harmful” to voting rights.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Jacob Fischler and Jonathan Shorman
Democrats are growing hopeful they can recapture the U.S. Senate in this fall’s midterm elections amid President Donald Trump’s plummeting approval ratings.
By Ashley Murray
Final peace negotiations between the United States and Iran officially began Thursday, Vice President JD Vance said at a late morning press conference in Washington, starting a 60-day countdown for the two nations to hammer out a deal.
By Jonathan Shorman
U.S. Senate Democrats introduced legislation on Thursday to require Congress to sign off on any deployment of federal troops to the polls, as President Donald Trump and his administration refuse to rule out the idea.
By Ariana Figueroa
As the Trump administration increases the scale of its immigrant detention program, now up to 68,000 immigrants in custody, reports have surfaced of inhumane conditions and inadequate medical care at U.S. ICE detention facilities.
By Jonathan Shorman
American teens are driving less than in previous decades, prompting civic advocates to warn that fewer young people may register to vote.
By Shauneen Miranda
The U.S. Department of Education will temporarily reduce interest rates for federal student loan borrowers enrolled in auto pay starting July 1, the agency announced Thursday.
CATCHING OUR EYE
Social media. The Statehouse News Bureau’s Karen Kasler reports, “Panel of federal judges upholds Ohio's age verification law on social media, websites.”
A federal court in Cincinnati has upheld a 2024 state law requiring age verification on social media and websites for kids under 16, ending the order blocking the law. But the court battle over the law is likely to continue.
Three judges on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the state, which said the age verification provision that was tucked into the budget signed in 2023 would protect kids’ mental health. The tech lobbying group NetChoice challenged on First Amendment grounds, claiming requiring ID to access lawful online material is an unconstitutional restriction on free speech. The group also claimed the law is unconstitutionally vague.Midterms. WOSU’s Debbie Holmes reports, “More than half of Ohio's Black voters not showing up at midterm elections, new report says.”
The Ohio Legislative Black Caucus Foundation has released a report on the state of Black civic power in Ohio. It's the first county-level study of Black midterm non-voters in the state. One of the main findings is that more than 600,000 Black Ohioans did not vote in the last midterm elections in 2022.Data centers. Cleveland.com’s Jeremy Pelzer reports, “Ohio shelves data center crackdown as lawmakers head into summer break.”
Ohio lawmakers have officially abandoned their push to fast-track new regulations on the state’s booming data center industry, as House leaders on Thursday canceled their last potential session day before heading into a months-long summer break.
The House’s decision to cancel next Wednesday’s “if-needed” session, announced Thursday, comes after lawmakers failed earlier this month to pass a data center regulation bill in time for the 2026 campaign season, amid disagreement over how far to scale back a controversial state tax break.
Neither the Ohio House nor the Ohio Senate is now scheduled to come back for sure until shortly after the Nov. 3 general election, when the legislature’s month-long “lame duck” session kicks off.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
Thanks for reading The Eye-Opener. Did you know our weekend digest is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.