The morning newsletter of the Ohio Capital Journal
Reporting for the People
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By David DeWitt | Editor-in-Chief
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Health disparities between racial and ethnic groups have proven devilishly hard to eradicate in the United States. In Ohio, they're particularly stark between white people, Black people, and Hispanic people.
Members of the Minority Strike Force’s healthcare subcommittee meet to discuss racial equity and disparities in Ohio.
By Author Name
A panel of experts recently said a raft of cuts passed by congressional Republicans and signed by President Donald Trump will only make them worse — which may be why Trump is trying to make them harder to measure.
Ohio will get a National Women’s Soccer League team, but residents oppose training facility location
By Megan Henry
Ohio will be home to a new National Women’s Soccer League team, but the team’s training facility will be built where a city park in an underserved area was previously promised various improvements.
By Morgan Trau, WEWS
The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that a major utility company does not need to refund customers nearly $75 million after being accused of overcharging to support two unprofitable and scandal-ridden coal plants.
By Susan Tebben
The candidates running on the Republican ticket to unseat the 6-1 court’s only Democratic Ohio Supreme Court justice, Jennifer Brunner, came to the law through different means, but they all claim that partisan politics won’t be a part of being a supreme court justice.
By Kathiann M. Kowalski, Canary Media
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the cases of the only two people who have served prison time related to the largest utility corruption scandal in Ohio’s history.
COMMENTARY
The Trump administration has paused a rule on silica that would have helped prevent black lung in coal mining. (Photo provided)
By William McCool
Black lung is getting younger miners sicker than I have ever seen. I’m very disappointed in the coal operators and in the government because they have not tried to do more. In fact, they’re now going in the opposite direction, writes retired coal miner William McCool.
STATELINE
The big challenges and policy issues that cross state lines.
By Shalina Chatlani
Massachusetts and Rhode Island are considering dropping GLP-1 drugs for obesity treatment from their Medicaid programs, continuing a trend of states that have stopped coverage of these expensive medications.
By Alex Brown
A new effort to force states to affirm the Trump administration’s views on DEI, transgender athletes and immigration when signing contracts with the U.S. Forest Service is threatening millions of dollars in wildfire grant funding and fire reduction projects on federal lands.
THE RUNDOWN
News from other states
By Kyle Pfannenstiel, Idaho Capital Sun
Six transgender Idahoans last week sued to attempt to prevent from going into effect a new state law that criminalizes transgender people using bathrooms that align with their gender identity, including in private businesses.
By Mukta Joshi
The number of detainees at Mississippi’s Adams County Correctional Center appears to have nosedived in the past few weeks, leaving several housing units vacant and prompting rumors that the facility was closing, according to many of the people being held there.
NATIONAL NEWS
By Jonathan Shorman
President Donald Trump on Thursday moved to capitalize on a U.S. Supreme Court decision weakening the federal Voting Rights Act as he urged one governor to gerrymander his state and praised another for suspending an approaching primary.
By Jonathan Shorman
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision gutting the federal Voting Rights Act could upend American politics and trigger a new rush to redraw congressional districts.
By Ariana Figueroa
Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus raised serious concerns Thursday about the impact of a recent Department of Justice decision that will make it easier to deport hundreds of thousands of people brought into the country unlawfully as children, referred to as Dreamers.
CATCHING OUR EYE
The Browns. The Statehouse News Bureau’s Karen Kasler reports, “DeWine joins groundbreaking for Cleveland Browns' stadium, saying Ohio 'needed this'“
The Cleveland Browns broke ground on Thursday for their $2.6 billion domed stadium project in Brook Park, which is set to open for the 2029 NFL season. Gov. Mike DeWine joined team owner Jimmy Haslam, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and others to celebrate construction on the project, which actually began last month.The Cleveland lakefront after the Browns leave. Ideastream’s Steven Litt reports, “Analysis: Cleveland engages a new lakefront planning team to see what’s possible after Browns leave.”
Cleveland’s nonprofit North Coast Waterfront Development Corporation has hired a new team of planners to create a fresh vision for the Downtown Cleveland lakefront.
|Their mission includes revising an earlier lakefront plan to capitalize on opportunities made possible by the planned departure of the NFL Browns from the city’s lakefront stadium to a new covered stadium in suburban Brook Park in 2029.Browns stadium funding. Cleveland.com’s Rich Exner reports, “Browns stadium funding: Gov. DeWine reveals Plan B amid court battle over unclaimed funds.”
While the transfer of $600 million in Ohio’s unclaimed funds for the Cleveland Browns indoor stadium project is held up in court, Gov. Mike DeWine stands firm in his opinion that the project should get the money.
His Plan B, if necessary, is to return to the funding method he first proposed more than a year ago - increase the tax on sports gambling companies operating in Ohio.Gas prices. The Columbus Dispatch’s Haley BeMiller reports, “Ohio gas tax suspension proposed as prices near $5 a gallon.”
A state lawmaker wants to give Ohioans tax relief at the pump.
Rep. Ty Mathews, R-Findlay, is finalizing legislation that would temporarily suspend Ohio's gas tax. The move comes as motorists nationwide contend with high prices driven by the U.S.-Iran war, including nearly $5 per gallon in parts of Ohio.
Mathews said his plan is still taking shape, but he hopes to pitch a three-month gas tax holiday that would overlap with the busy summer travel season.
THE POD
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW, FOLKS.
Mahalo!
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